Better FCAT and school scores for students
Better FCAT and School scores for students
Every parent wants better FCAT scores, better grades and for their child or children to do better in school – at least any concerned caring parent. But the question is – how do you go about it? How do you accomplish this if your child is more into video games than he is about learning?
Every child is different – I should know because my 9 yr. old son is completely the opposite of my 15 yr. old daughter, like day and night. My daughter has always been quiet, reserved, she could be considered to be the epitome of the perfect child (never made a fuss usually did what she was told). When it came to school, she did her work and loved to read. My son, well that was a whole different ball game.
My son turned out to be a rambunctious tyrant of mischief who loved to get into everything. His idea of fun is playing video games and reenacting video game war battle scenes on my pool table with the hundreds of toy soldiers he has – which he never picks up afterward. Getting him to read a book was like asking him to jump into a vat of acid – it just wasn’t his thing.
While my daughter would read two to three books at a time, my son would read one book in three months. It was becoming an overwhelming challenge to try to motivate this child of mine to be interested in learning. Luckily – just as I was starting to give up and wondering if I should teach him some manual trade he could learn so that he could be a productive member of society – my son a 9yr old third grader comes home with a 99% on his performance matters test, a 5 on his FCAT reading and a 4 on his FCAT math – my response was “what?”
It turns out that in my desperation to motivate my rambunctious child to learn, to be motivated in learning – I implemented some strategies that must have worked. For instance, I threw away the “one fits all” cookie cutter plan and realized that what worked for my daughter was not going to work for my son. I also found that if I incorporated what he liked into how we learned (studied) that he was more inclined to want to learn. Of course I still kept some of the basics of my teaching methods – such as explaining the reason behind learning, the need to desire to learn and my favorite – bribery. Nothing worked better with my son than to explain to him that until he finished his homework (which I checked to make sure it all was correct) and his studies – he could not play any games.
Another tactic I pursued was teaching through playing, such as playing monopoly, the game of life, allowing him to play games that required solving puzzles or problem solving. One particular time my son came home wanting to download a game called Roblox, his friends at school where playing it – after I looked it over I realized this actually might be good for him. The main objective of the game was building and creating – which I found to be creatively stimulating for him. These tactics and also being an example to him, such as children are they love to imitate – so wanting to be like dear old sis and dad he too started showing interest in reading books. Now I never knew if he ever finished the books, it continues to be a chore to get him to read but at least he has the desire to read.
Currently he is interested in playing a game called minecraft? It is pretty much similar to Roblox whereas you build homes, motes, and fortress as you gather food – all while you fight off block shaped monsters and zombies. He surprises me because he goes online and he watches videos on youtube (research) in order to play the game better and to be knowledgeable of the game. He is always proud to show me what he has accomplished and has built in the game. He enjoys telling me about the videos and excitedly tells me about the new tricks he has learned from the video tips.
If there is one thing my son has taught me – it’s to never judge a book by its cover. He was starting to concern me; the future does not look bright for our children – the economy, higher taxes, and so few jobs that do not require higher learning. Not to say that my job as a parent is over – there is still much work to do, but at least I can see that my son – yes, he does have a brain….. (LOL) and my methods to stimulate that brain have been more successful than I thought.
The author of this article also wrote the following two books:
For children how to become Rich Successful and do well in school
You are worth Millions you just don’t know it
Every parent wants better FCAT scores, better grades and for their child or children to do better in school – at least any concerned caring parent. But the question is – how do you go about it? How do you accomplish this if your child is more into video games than he is about learning?
Every child is different – I should know because my 9 yr. old son is completely the opposite of my 15 yr. old daughter, like day and night. My daughter has always been quiet, reserved, she could be considered to be the epitome of the perfect child (never made a fuss usually did what she was told). When it came to school, she did her work and loved to read. My son, well that was a whole different ball game.
While my daughter would read two to three books at a time, my son would read one book in three months. It was becoming an overwhelming challenge to try to motivate this child of mine to be interested in learning. Luckily – just as I was starting to give up and wondering if I should teach him some manual trade he could learn so that he could be a productive member of society – my son a 9yr old third grader comes home with a 99% on his performance matters test, a 5 on his FCAT reading and a 4 on his FCAT math – my response was “what?”
It turns out that in my desperation to motivate my rambunctious child to learn, to be motivated in learning – I implemented some strategies that must have worked. For instance, I threw away the “one fits all” cookie cutter plan and realized that what worked for my daughter was not going to work for my son. I also found that if I incorporated what he liked into how we learned (studied) that he was more inclined to want to learn. Of course I still kept some of the basics of my teaching methods – such as explaining the reason behind learning, the need to desire to learn and my favorite – bribery. Nothing worked better with my son than to explain to him that until he finished his homework (which I checked to make sure it all was correct) and his studies – he could not play any games.
Another tactic I pursued was teaching through playing, such as playing monopoly, the game of life, allowing him to play games that required solving puzzles or problem solving. One particular time my son came home wanting to download a game called Roblox, his friends at school where playing it – after I looked it over I realized this actually might be good for him. The main objective of the game was building and creating – which I found to be creatively stimulating for him. These tactics and also being an example to him, such as children are they love to imitate – so wanting to be like dear old sis and dad he too started showing interest in reading books. Now I never knew if he ever finished the books, it continues to be a chore to get him to read but at least he has the desire to read.
Currently he is interested in playing a game called minecraft? It is pretty much similar to Roblox whereas you build homes, motes, and fortress as you gather food – all while you fight off block shaped monsters and zombies. He surprises me because he goes online and he watches videos on youtube (research) in order to play the game better and to be knowledgeable of the game. He is always proud to show me what he has accomplished and has built in the game. He enjoys telling me about the videos and excitedly tells me about the new tricks he has learned from the video tips.
If there is one thing my son has taught me – it’s to never judge a book by its cover. He was starting to concern me; the future does not look bright for our children – the economy, higher taxes, and so few jobs that do not require higher learning. Not to say that my job as a parent is over – there is still much work to do, but at least I can see that my son – yes, he does have a brain….. (LOL) and my methods to stimulate that brain have been more successful than I thought.
The author of this article also wrote the following two books:
For children how to become Rich Successful and do well in school
You are worth Millions you just don’t know it
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