Education

IT’S BEEN PROVEN: KIDS NEED ART!

Kids NEED Art! When it’s added to their Educational ‘Diet’, EVERYONE WINS!

In the report of the National Council on the Arts 3/30/2012, Dr. James Catterall presented conclusive evidence that “High arts kids considerably outperform Low arts kids” in every area.” His work revealed why students engaged in the arts do better academically, linking art and cognitive development and leading to pro-social behavior later on in life. “Why?” to paraphrase Dr. Catterall,

“Doing art is solving problems, is stimulating, and helps brain function in a variety of ways… It helps spatial reasoning, cognitive development, engagement and motivation…which also adds to social and cultural engagement in school.”

(More info at Dr. Catteral’s Centers for Research on Creativity)

Since the removal of the Arts from low income schools, children in the U.S. have fallen behind in math and critical thinking skills. People say that “children are our future” – yet few know what to do. That’s why EDU DESIGNS is determined to lend a hand in a practical way. Donating EDU DESIGNS Art presentations to schools, plus our character building books, (including SEE WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT, the first Art Textbook to reference the Core Standards) allows Art to once again be back in the classroom where it belongs, inspiring kids to learn and increasing their creativity.

(Note: Find out more about the book, HERE.)

His report clearly confirms earlier findings which reveal:

“More and more emphasis has been placed upon performance in the standards testing process today. Unfortunately this has created an atmosphere of greater stress – on the student as well as the teacher. Ironically, it is a well-known fact that Stress inhibits learning [1]. Fortunately, Art is a stress reliever [2], utilizing the parts of the brain that increase memory and higher thought. [3] With this in mind, ART employs a hands-on approach to logical reasoning, using relevant objects in our environment to connect us to the need for mathematical and spatial understanding. This book is unique in correlating concepts of ART and MATH. By developing creative and critical thinking skills, children gain confidence in their problem-solving skills. [4]“ Students with high levels of arts participation out perform “arts-poor” students on virtually every measure. [5]

Music may help children with “behavior problems”, too, acording to Claudia M. Gold, MD, writing in Psychology Today. Quoting Berklee’s Music Therapy Department Chair Dr. Suzanne Hanser, about a program fo music therapy for autism spectrum disorders, she shares:

“There is scientific evidence that music therapy influences children on the autism spectrum in several ways, like enhancing skills in communication, interpersonal relationships, self-regulation, coping strategies, stress management, and focusing attention,” and “… children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders are often overwhelmed by sensory input. It makes perfect sense to me that music would help them to organize their experience and engage with the world around them.”

The ARTS help EVERYONE develop! Learning takes place best when the spatial areas of the brain are awakened, which is why children engaged in art have been shown to improve their math scores by up to 15%! Since research clearly shows that studying art actually increases one’s ability to learn, EDU DESIGNS created the first Art Textbook that references the California Math Standards. Through our experience in Art and expertise in education, we have created a program that develops analytical skills and builds character.

The MISSION of EDU DESIGNS

As our mission declares, “EDU DESIGNS is dedicated to produce and distribute multimedia materials for the education, motivation and character development of children”. Our all volunteer Board of Directors has invested time and energy to create program substance that will inspire children to be positive members of society. When we visit schools, we experience an enthusiastic response from appreciative parents and teachers who applaud our efforts to provide educational materials that teach virtue and integrity.

EDU DESIGNS offers ART and storytelling presentations to schools (limited to Southern California at this time) and donate materials that can be used in the regular or afterschool programs to schools upon request. Since Edu Designs is run entirely by volunteers, 100% of contributions are used to reach students who would otherwise miss out on the programs we present! We acknowledge each donation with a receipt for tax purposes.

The founders of EDU DESIGNS have been active in program development with an emphasis on character, compassion and arts education since 1999. EDU DESIGNS gives children opportunities to engage their analytical skills, develop their creativity, and motivate them to make a positive impact in the world now. We are determined to to bridge the gap during this time of economic hardship for the schools.

As a Registered Trademark of EDU Designs, GoMommyGO® also helps provide tools for parents to aid character development children. Providing illustrated behavior charts and over 90 images free of charge, GoMommyGO® is a resource listed on Autism Now.

Never miss an opportunity to do a good deed!
There are many character lessons we inspire children to learn. Each person’s life impacts others, for good or ill. Every child we reach today, will bring a change for the better – and YOU can help make it happen! Please Donate, NOW:

Footnotes:

[1] Researcher Paul MacLean, chief brain researcher at the National Institute for Mental Health. Plus, David Sousa, author of How the Brain Learns: A Classroom Teacher’s Guide and Learning Manual
[2] Professor Terry Looker and Dr. Olga Gregson, of the Department of Biological Sciences at MMU.
[3] In the 1999 article: Linking Brain Research to Art, Perry & Janet Rettig indicated, (quoting Goleman, 1995), that “students are more likely to recall information when it is embedded in an emotional context.
[4] (from the research by The Imagination Project at UCLA, by James S. Catterall, Richard Chapleau and John Iwanaga, July 1999). “…gains for arts-involved youngsters …become more pronounced over time…this pattern also holds for children from low-income and low parent education level homes.” Plus in Nicholas Bezruczko’s Study, “Links Between Children’s Clay Models and School Achievement” (1997), Art trained groups had 15% higher reading and math scores on standardized tests than did students without arts education.
[5] • The arts have a measurable impact on students in “high-poverty” and urban settings.
• The arts in after-school programs guide disadvantaged youth toward positive behaviors and goals.
• Learning through the arts has significant effects on learning in other domains.
• Arts experiences enhance “critical thinking” abilities and outcomes.
• The arts enable educators to reach students in effective ways.
Taken from Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning and Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons From School Districts That Value Arts Education provide arts education supporters with both evidence of why the arts are critical to teaching and learning…

Both studies were developed with the support of the GE Fund and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Arts Education Partnership, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Some people are only GOOD for being a BAD EXAMPLE – or: “How I GOT my own way by NOT getting my own way!”

Peanut Butter Sandwich and Apple on Top — My PBJ never made it to lunch in good shape...

Every day in Elementary school I ate the same thing for lunch: an apple and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which of course would get squashed by the apple before I could get to it.

At lunch I sat next to a chubby little red haired girl who, along with her frown, always had a gourmet meat sandwich she would nonchalantly pull out of her fancy designer lunch pail with a huge dessert of 2 hostess cupcakes, Twinkies or Ding-dongs.

I drooled.

At home we would have to share if we had dessert. So, seeing that she always seemed to have extra and wasn’t getting any skinnier, one day I mustered up the courage to ask her,

“Since you have two cupcakes, would you share one with me?”

But she recoiled in horror, saying,

“NO! There’s only enough for me!”

No matter how politely I would change my phrasing, each time she would consistently reply in the same manner. Day after day this hurt me terribly, as I pondered her insensitivity and the cruel injustice of the world.

But it did teach me two things:

1- There are mean people in the world.

2- Your job is not to become one of them

And when the light bulb went off in my head, I knew what I had to do:

WALK AWAY and

SIT somewhere ELSE.

I found some nice kids to sit with. They didn’t share their lunch either because they only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too! But we all smiled, and shared laughs instead.

Hoping to get that other girl’s goodies had been a trap for me that ruined my happiness for as long as I hung out with her. You don’t have to HATE your enemies, but you shouldn’t have to hang out with them either!

So – What did I learn from my new friends?

1- IGNORE GOODIES.

2- Choose nice PEOPLE to hang out with instead.

They may be hard to find, but not impossible!

BEING one of the nice people? Well, that’s harder.

However, being RIGHT all the time is even HARDER!

Yeah…like that’ll work…

If you’ve already chosen PEOPLE over GOODIES – the Next CHALLENGE is:

How do you spot REAL love from others when you see it?

1- Real love is a ONE WAY street – which means it goes in ONE direction – from the inside OUT, expecting nothing in return.

2- Real Love is KIND, FORGIVING and PATIENT with our shortcomings.

3- Real Love looks out for OUR best interests.

4- Real Love never gives up on us, even when we DO make mistakes

5- Real Love tells us the truth.

LOOK for those LOVING individuals to hang out with.

Learn to recognize them hidden in the crowd of ‘me-first’ types out there.

Then WHAT TO DO with the SELFISH ones?

Ignore them.

They are probably already ignoring YOU. Giving more won’t help.

They paid attention to what you could give them, not what they could give you.

And WHAT TO DO WITH the PAIN?

Ouch. It still Hurts.

I read somewhere that people who are truly loving or very funny have usually been hurt deeply in their lives.

It seems so unfair.

But think again:

We’ve ALL been hurt at one time or another!

So why isn’t EVERYONE very funny or truly loving?

BECAUSE WE All make CHOICES in how we react!

How Do YOU React When YOU Are Hurt (and don’t get YOUR own way)?

That doesn’t work EITHER!

Here are a few reactions to choose from (See if you can guess which DON’T work!):

1- Become angry and mean yourself. (Like in the picture above, my daughter once said: “Unforgiveness is like taking poison and hoping the other guy dies.”)

2- Conclude that ‘love isn’t worth it’ – and build a wall to sheild yourself from your need to be connected with others. Call it ‘strength’.

3- Become a doormat. Go along to get along, hoping the mean ones will stop hurting you if you are ‘nice’ to them.

4- Retreat into a fantasy world where you imagine if only you were perfect, then you would deserve to have your needs met. Strive for that unattainable daydream.

5- Immerse yourself in work, activities, food or substances to try and numb the pain.

In case you haven’t figured it out, NONE of these work! Wasting our energy trying to protect ourselves from the pain actually ‘protects’ us from FINDING the nice people in the world who DO exist and who WOULD love us, warts and all.

Though PAIN is unavoidable, there IS an AUTHENTIC secret to HAPPINESS you can take hold of NOW (even if you don’t get the Ding Dong or Twinkie for lunch).

(Pay attention, parents, so you can spring this on your children the next time you’re in the toy aisle at Wal-Mart):

It’s called: ‘GRATITUDE’.

It’s already been Scientifically verified that GRATITUDE makes you HAPPIER, but here is MY analysis of the 2 step process, (proven by years of not getting my own way)!

I love what Tim Hansel once said:

“Pain is inevitable, but Misery is Optional”

Well? Now YOU have a CHOICE to make!

Ruth Elliott

Director, Edu Designs

director@edudesigns.org

PS – If you’re on Facebook, Please ‘LIKE’ my page! Then check out some quick videos from a class where I taught kids how to SHOW EMOTIONS through EYES and SHOW EMOTIONS throughBody Language!

LOVE is a Messy Business. Is it WORTH it?

This Love stuff is pretty insecure…

First they love you, then they don't! — How many times have we wanted love and not gotten it? A million? A trillion?

LOVE is a MESSY BUSINESS!

Scary, too. The risk when we decide to open our heart to another. We have no guarantee it will ever come back! There is nothing so agonizing as the pain of love not returned.

So – shall we STOP giving? Keep that box of chocolates for ourselves until someone else gives us one of theirs? Or avoid love altogether and return to a safer existence of order and control?

Some people say, “THERE JUST ISN’T ENOUGH LOVE IN THE WORLD”

I think it’s more likely that there’s plenty of LOVE, but people are just stingy with it!

Regardless of their religious persuasion, most people would agree that ‘God is Love’. God created us, so it belongs to all.

The great teachers of the world have given us the same truths:

Buddha taught us to purify ourselves and have compassion for all creatures.
Jesus Christ asked us to love all beings as we love ourselves.
Rabbi Hillel taught us: “Not to do to others what we wouldn’t want to be done to ourselves”.
Krishna taught us to see the Divine in each and everyone in the world.
Mohammed taught us to submit to the will of God and be his instruments.
St. Augustine said, “To love each person as though you had love for them alone, and to love all, as though all were one.”

If only we could all do that. But how?

LIFE IS GOD

Leo Tolstoy said, “The most important thing, and a difficult one, is to LOVE LIFE, for life is God, and to love Life, is to Love God.”

Pascal said, “Love has reason, that Reason does not know.”

But, people are afraid of the unknown…

Woody Allen said, “Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die.”

In the 1958 movie, “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness”, the character played by Ingrid Bergman feels her heart calling her to serve the poor in China. Everyone tells her she is making a mistake if she doesn’t plan her life better. But her emphatic response is,

“The planned life is a closed life. It can be endured perhaps, but not lived!” Luckily, she follows her heart, and finds more security in the unknown.

Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we had planned to be able to have the life that is waiting for us.”

[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”550px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]“Love is giving the other person what they need the most when they deserve it the least.”[/dropshadowbox]

The MYSTERY of Love is that the more we GIVE, the more we GET

You can’t CONTROL love, but you can let yours out. And your store will grow as you do.

Someone said: “If all else fails you can always get a pet.” Love even crosses the boundary lines of species.

Speaking of dogs, Groucho Marx said, “The best friend outside of a dog, is a book. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

Whatever you do, LOVE is NEVER wasted. It makes the world a better place, and WILL come back to you, somehow, some way.

All you can do is:

Jump in and pour forth what YOU have to give,
Don’t worry about getting it back from the same place you gave,
Then watch – and see what happens!

And by the way, I need some of it too, if you have any to spare.

We’re all in this together – this leaky boat called Life. So while we’re here, let’s try not to poke holes in the other guy’s side of the boat!

Love to you,

Ruth Elliott-Hilsdon

Director, Edu Designs, Creator, GoMommyGO ®

Email me at: director@edudesigns.org

If you’re on Facebook, please ‘LIKE’ my page!

EDU Designs and GoMommyGO are reaching around the World!

EDU DESIGNS and GoMommyGO® REACH AROUND THE WORLD to HELP KIDS!

While mailing off some materials to the island of Malta recently I suddenly realized how far we’ve come. Since 2007 people all over the world have been getting benefited by the materials EDU Designs and GoMommyGO® provide. So I decided it was time to celebrate – with a MAP – showing a quick view of the many states, countries and people represented by our scope of influence. Even though I’ve never been to all these places physically – virtually, I have!

Are YOU in a place we haven’t been yet? Sign up for our free Newsletter and See how we can help! Visit http://www.edudesigns.org/ to examine our work with the Arts and Character Education. Even if you are not in our local area, check out what we can do for you.

If you have children or are a caregiver, you will definitely want to take advantage of the Free tips and Behavior Charts Illustrated by Award Winning Animation Artist Ruth Elliott.

And Thank YOU!

PS – Did you know that EDU Designs stops BULLYING, too, with free posters you can download and print in any size? Just click on the link, & scroll down.

Kids will be glad you did!

Thanks again.

🙂

Finland’s Education Phenomenon

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcC2l8zioIw&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

“The Finland Phenomemon” (Trailer)

Excerpt from “The Finland Phenomemon: Inside the world’s most surprising school system”, By E.D. Kain, Forbes, May 2, 2011

The Finland Phenomenon, from documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton, follows Dr. Tony Wagner through Finland’s extraordinary school system. It’s a short, to-the-point documentary, but it had quite an effect on me, if only because it illustrates so succinctly why our recent approach to education reform is so wrong-headed.

In Finland there are no standardized tests. In fact, there is really very little testing at all. Finnish teachers are not monitored or rated based on test scores, and teachers (as well as their students) have a great deal of autonomy. It is a system built on trust, and the film really drives home the notion that trust – rather than faux accountability – leads to real results, leads to teachers and students and members of government all wanting to live up to the trust given to them rather than simply scraping by.

Read the full article at Forbes.

Excerpt from “Education in Finland”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2 December 2011

The Finnish education system is an egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees and with free meals served to full-time students. The present Finnish education system consists of well-funded and carefully thought out daycare programs (for babies and toddlers) and a one-year “pre-school” (or kindergarten for six-year olds); a nine-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (starting at age seven and ending at the age of sixteen); post-compulsory secondary general academic and vocational education; higher education (University and Polytechnical); and adult (lifelong, continuing) education. The Nordic strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on constructing a publicly funded comprehensive school system without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their common basic education. Part of the strategy has been to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes whenever possible or, if this is not feasible, e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed schools. Inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical of Nordic educational systems.

Read the full article at Wikipedia.

Excerpt from : The Children Must Play: What the United States could learn from Finland about education reform”

By Samuel E Abrams, The New Republic, January 28, 2011

While observing recess outside the Kallahti Comprehensive School on the eastern edge of Helsinki on a chilly day in April 2009, I asked Principal Timo Heikkinen if students go out when it’s very cold. Heikkinen said they do. I then asked Heikkinen if they go out when it’s very, very cold. Heikkinen smiled and said, “If minus 15 [Celsius] and windy, maybe not, but otherwise, yes. The children can’t learn if they don’t play. The children must play.”

In comparison to the United States and many other industrialized nations, the Finns have implemented a radically different model of educational reform—based on a balanced curriculum and professionalization, not testing. Not only do Finnish educational authorities provide students with far more recess than their U.S. counterparts—75 minutes a day in Finnish elementary schools versus an average of 27 minutes in the U.S.—but they also mandate lots of arts and crafts, more learning by doing, rigorous standards for teacher certification, higher teacher pay, and attractive working conditions. This is a far cry from the U.S. concentration on testing in reading and math since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2002, which has led school districts across the country, according to a survey by the Center on Education Policy, to significantly narrow their curricula. And the Finns’ efforts are paying off: In December, the results from the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an exam in reading, math, and science given every three years since 2000 to approximately 5,000 15-year-olds per nation around the world, revealed that, for the fourth consecutive time, Finnish students posted stellar scores. The United States, meanwhile, lagged in the middle of the pack.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama outlined his plans for reforming U.S. public education, including distributing competitive grants, raising test scores, and holding teachers accountable for student achievement. But there is much Finland can teach America’s reformers, and the rest of the world, about what outside of testing and rigid modes of management and assessment can make a nation’s schools truly excellent.

Read the full article at The New Republic.

Excerpt from “An Interview with Henna Virkkunen, Finland’s Minister of Education”

By Justin Snider, The Hecklinger Report, March 16, 2011

The Hechinger Report: It’s well-known that Finland’s teachers are an elite bunch, with only top students offered the chance to become teachers. It’s also no secret that they are well-trained. But take us inside that training for a moment – what does it look like, specifically? How does teacher training in Finland differ from teacher training in other countries?

Virkkunen: It’s a difficult question. Our teachers are really good. One of the main reasons they are so good is because the teaching profession is one of the most famous careers in Finland, so young people want to become teachers. In Finland, we think that teachers are key for the future and it’s a very important profession—and that’s why all of the young, talented people want to become teachers. All of the teacher-training is run by universities in Finland, and all students do a five-year master’s degree. Because they are studying at the university, teacher education is research-based. Students have a lot of supervised teacher-training during their studies. We have something called “training schools”—normally next to universities—where the student teaches and gets feedback from a trained supervisor.

Teachers in Finland can choose their own teaching methods and materials. They are experts of their own work, and they test their own pupils. I think this is also one of the reasons why teaching is such an attractive profession in Finland because teachers are working like academic experts with their own pupils in schools.

Read the full interview at The Hechinger Report.

Excerpt from “Finnish Lesson #3: What we can learn from Educational change in Finland”

By Pasi Sahlberg, The Pasi Sahlberg Blog, November 5, 2011

…the first lesson that Finland offers to other educational reformers is that whole-system reform can be successful only if it is inspiring to all involved and thereby energizes people to work together for intended improvement. I often use the thinking of Martin Luther King as an example of an inspiring dream that moves people. Dr. King’s dream was not that his country would have a 5-percent annual economic growth rate. That wouldn’t have inspired many people. Similarly, making a country number one in PISA rankings doesn’t excite too many educators. The Finnish Dream since the 1970s has been to provide a good public school for every child in the country. This goal inspired many and was a source of energy that was needed to push through necessary political and educational changes. It was powerful enough to bring different people and political groups to join forces for fulfillment of this dream. The Finnish Dream looks like the dream of John F. Kennedy in 1961: to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was challenging, required hard work and political consensus, but in the end rewarded the entire nation through its outcomes.

Second, some observers have concluded that the secret of Finnish educational success is its well-trained teachers. Yes, it is true that teachers and leaders have higher academic education in Finland than in many other countries. But that alone is not the way to whole-system change. What is significant in the Finnish approach is that it has focused on improving the professional knowledge and skills of teachers and leaders as a collective group, not only as individuals, which is the common practice in many current reform programs elsewhere. Finnish teachers learn to work together with other teachers…

Read the full post at The Pasi Sahlberg Blog.

Finland’s Education Phenomenon, contributed by EduDesigns correspondent C. G. Blick, December 16, 2011

Ruth Elliott, EDU Designs Director

Edu Designs is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which produces and distributes multimedia materials for the education, motivation and character development of children.