The Supreme Court

Your blogger has never argued a case before the Supreme Court, although I was admitted as a member of the Supreme Court bar many years ago with other students from my law school alma mater. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Court again, this time as our eldest son was admitted to the Court with members of his law school class. We had the chance to meet in a small group with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. We got to attend a reception in the Court building and to sit in the courtroom and listen to the Court issue its decisions in a number of cases before our son and his colleagues were sworn in as members of the Supreme Court bar. It was a very memorable experience.

If you have been on a remote island without access to the internet, you might not be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court is very much in the news today. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who will turn 82 in July, has tendered his resignation. Since his appointment by President Reagan in 1987 (he actually took his seat on the Court in early 1988), Justice Kennedy has often served as the "swing vote" on many important cases. His replacement will be appointed by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate. It can be expected that Justice Kennedy's replacement will be more conservative than he has been. Since Supreme Court justices have lifetime tenure (unless they resign, as happened here), Justice Kennedy's replacement can be expected to have an impact on our laws for many years to come. 

Whatever your views of the Supreme Court or its future, you might want to take advantage of some excellent materials geared for kids to discuss these current events with your school-aged children.

A real-life story of a current Supreme Court Justice, geared for four through eight year olds (although this adult enjoyed it greatly), is I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy. With lively illustrations to help children access the story, this explanation of how Justice Ginsburg broke down gender barriers throughout her life is a satisfying read. [Adults who enjoy I Dissent might want to read Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.]

A whimsical tale for elementary students, with guides for parents and teachers included, is 

Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse: A Tail of the U. S. Supreme Court, by Peter W. Barnes.

Finally, Channel Thirteen, a PBS station, has a list of resources about the Supreme Court for children and for young adults and teens. Unfortunately, the links in this list are no longer live, but a search engine can help locate these helpful books.

TeachUNICEF

Promoting global citizenship among my students was one of my most important goals as a classroom teacher. One of my favorite, top-notch resources for infusing global education into my classroom has always been TeachUNICEF, which houses a rich wealth of units, lessons and multimedia tools that are all available to teachers and parents. The best part of this resource is that every single one of  the beautifully and thoughtfully crafted resources is free. Not only have I used these tools in my classroom, but I have had the opportunity to meet some of the small but incredibly talented and passionate team behind TeachUNICEF. Each TeachUNICEF person I have had the privilege to speak with is not only passionate about global education, but also has a background working with kids both in and out of classrooms and understands the environments for which they are creating their resources.

The resources are designed to be cross-curricular, and all align with current educational standards. This means you will find a variety of social studies, math, science and language arts content on the TechUNICEF website. Furthermore, most topics are broken down into grade specific ranges which allow you to select the appropriate resource for your population. We have written before about how the best way to bolster students' reading and writing abilities is to simply have them read and write often. Furthermore, to develop vocabulary we need students to read and write about a variety of topics across multiple genres- including fiction as well as non-fiction. However, motivating reluctant or struggling readers and writers can be a challenge for any teacher or parent. What I have found to be so valuable with the TechUNICEF resources is that they use authentic, true stories from real world events to get their message across. The high quality photographs, diagrams and videos further bring the content to life to offer multiple means of engagement for each student. I have found that even my most reluctant students engage with the TeachUNICEF content, as they are inspired by the tales and activities to make a meaningful difference on their global community. In my experience, these tools not only help cultivate a sense of global citizenship in students, but also get them avidly reading about current events while learning new vocabulary and non-fiction text features. So, go explore the TeachUNICEF materials, and if you are interested to see what U.S. Fund for UNICEF is doing beyond the TeachUNICEF program check out their website as well.

Exciting Resources for Teaching Current Events

National News Engagement Day was October 7th, but just because we missed it this year doesn't mean it's too late to get young people thinking about current events. Devoting just one day to something as important as global news is silly, anyway; in our opinion, engagement with news should be ongoing. The New York Times has compiled a thoughtful list of fifty excellent ideas for teaching with current events. Many can be tweaked to suit students of different ages, and parents can use many of the ideas at home to help kids discuss and understand the news they see, hear, and read.

The list is divided into the following categories: Reading and Writing; Speaking and Listening; Games and Quizzes; Photographs, Illustrations, Videos, and Infographics; Design and Creativity; Making Connections; and Building Skills. Some ideas, like an assignment to write an editorial about a newsworthy issue, would be excellent to implement as a regular classroom routine. Others, like creating a news-inspired theatrical performance, would be fun one-time projects.

Of course, the ideas on this list can be used to support kids in exploring any news source, not only The New York Times. One of our favorite resources for non-fiction texts is NewsELA. The site allows teachers to adjust the readability of news articles to fit their students' reading levels; this means that students in the class can read differently leveled articles about the same topic and discuss it together, even if they have widely differing reading skills.

A recent Times experiment may also be of interest to educators. A new feature allows young people to pick the Times articles that interest them most and either tweet about them using the hashtag #NYTLNreads or post about them in the articles' comment sections. In a sentence or two, readers should explain why they think their peers would enjoy reading the article, too. Check out the page where, once a week, The Times features a compilation of articles selected by students in individual classrooms around the country.This feature is in its beta stage, but educators should investigate it and encourage their students to participate. Young people can also submit their choices independently.

Tips for Helping Children Cope with Tragedy

Beth traveled to Boston to watch a friend run the marathon. Luckily, she left the finish area about an hour before the explosions, and she and her friends are safe and unharmed. 


Lately, Americans have played witness to a particularly ugly streak of senseless violence. A country that is still haunted by the school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, was hit on Monday with a horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon that caused the deaths of three spectators and grievous injuries to nearly 200 others. These events leave adults confused and frightened, but parents and teachers have the additional burden of discussing tragedies with the children in their lives. We've compiled a list of useful resources and some of the most common — and sensible — tips for talking to kids of all ages when the unthinkable happens.

In our research, we came across the following themes and tips repeatedly:


Act as a filter for your kids, no matter how old they are.

Turn off the news and insist that the family take a media break once you have a sense that terrible information has overwhelmed the household. No one can be unaffected by a bombardment of horrific facts.


Talk to kids about what happened, and be honest.

Consult the National Associate of School Psychologists’s helpful guide for information about developmentally appropriate explanations. Be aware that children’s understanding of language may not match yours. A wonderful article on the PBS website reminds adults that “far away” may mean Afghanistan to you but the other side of town to a young child. Be specific. Use resources like maps to make things concrete for kids, if that will help them find peace. Reassure kids that they are safe. Explain the safety measures taken by their school (guest badges for visitors, teacher training, etc.) and by your family to keep them out of harm’s way.


Be sure that it’s a two-way discussion.

Give kids the chance to voice their concerns and ask questions. Remember to clarify questions before answering them to get a sense of what the child really wants to know and what kind of understanding must be established. Ask them to tell you what they've heard.


We all feel powerless in the wake of tragedies.

Help kids combat this with three different plans of action:

1. Make sure they know both school and family emergency plans.  
2. If children seem particularly anxious, practice techniques for self-soothing such as repeating a calming mantra (“I’m safe, nothing will happen to me.”) or doing deep breathing exercises. 
3. Help empower kids by making them part of a positive outcome. Collecting donations for tragedy victims can be a very productive way to work through tough feelings. Monetary donations can be raised through bake sales or collections, but don’t forget that resources are often needed, too.

Maintain a normal routine.

Going about business as usual is enormously comforting to children. Be sure to be more available than usual to your kids, however. Read a book with them during the day, take a special trip to the library, ask your kids to help prepare dinner, or join in their play. Be sure to model calm and assurance for your kids – they’ll need you to show them how to feel and behave.


Be extra-sensitive to children’s behaviors.

Watch for difficulty sleeping or nightmares, changes in eating habits, difficulty separating from parents, etc. Changes may be an indication that your child needs extra support. At the same time, remember that some kids will need less help than others. A child who seems to be coping well may begin to feel panicked if her parents are too comforting when she doesn't need it.

The tips above were compiled from the following resources:

• NASP Online
• PBS’s guide Talking to Kids About Violence
• Save the Children’s How to Help Children Cope with a Crisis 
• Gina Unplugged, a blog by a parent of a student enrolled at Columbine during the 1999 shooting

We also found the following resources, which may be of further use to educators and parents:

• Teachers of middle and high schools may be interested in this lesson plan, available through The New York Times, which helps kids articulate their feelings about school violence and take actions which may help them feel safer
• Scholastic offers some cogent tips for teachers to keep in mind in the wake of a horrible event
• PBS provides these “age-by-age insights” to help adults understand how to discuss tragedy with children in a developmentally appropriate way
• A New York Times article published in the days following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.offers excellent insights from prominent, wise child psychiatrists

Finally, some words of hope: Fred Rogers, beloved host of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” This may be one of the best messages we can share with our children, and each other.

Photo: Nick Ledford/Flickr

April is National Poetry Month

It's April 1st and -- no fooling -- we are going to spend an entire month of blogs celebrating poetry! National Poetry Month was established in 1996 by The Academy of American Poets. The Academy was founded in 1934 with the dual missions of "supporting American poets at all stages of their careers and fostering the appreciation of contemporary poetry."

In addition to sponsoring National Poetry Month, the Academy operates a website which features lesson plans for educators and an audio archive of poetry readings and lectures, as well as publishing American Poet, a biennial journal.

Of course, we reserve the right to interrupt our month of poetry blogs with other items of current interest, but we hope that our focus on poetry will prove an interesting sojourn for both our readers and our writers and add a bit of variety to our roll of more than 540 posts to date.

Today we want to mention a terrific supporter of poetry, Caroline Kennedy, whose love of poetry came from her mother, Jacqueline. Caroline has compiled several poetry collections, including The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the just-published Poems to Learn by Heart, aimed at younger readers. There is a terrific interview of Kennedy by Associated Press reporter Jocelyn Noveck appearing in a number of places, including NPR.




And so, with apologies to the real poets out there,

For all this month we will focus on poems

On types of poetry and on poetry tomes

And as you read the posts we write

We hope you share in our delight

In this wonderful world of words and rhyme 

Where rhythm and language create worlds sublime 

Children, Football, and Concussions

As a parent, pediatrician, and lifelong football fan, I was naturally drawn to the article on the first page of yesterday’s New York Times, “A 5-Concussion Pee Wee Game Leads To Penalties for the Adults.” The article was particularly timely as we embark on a major initiative at The Yellin Center to better understand and address how concussions affect academic performance. As I read the Times article, I followed the narrative as the litany of concussions in this single football game in Massachusetts unfolded. As Chris Nowinski, president of the Sports Legacy Institute aptly noted, there were undoubtedly many more concussions than those that were diagnosed. While I do believe that adults need to be held accountable for their decisions when they are responsible for children’s safety, I think we are fooling ourselves if we believe that this alone is an effective way to address this problem.

As a former Chief Medical Officer of a hospital, this football game is what we would call a “sentinel event.” Like the canary in the coal mine, sentinel events often tell us that there are big problems that need to be confronted. In almost every case, individual errors in judgment can be identified. However, when one looks closely through a process called a “root cause analysis” one usually finds that these kinds of errors in judgment are often more widespread and that the sentinel event represents a “perfect storm” of causes. Taking an immediate punitive approach often short-circuits the root cause analysis and discourages people from coming forward in the future to report minor problems before they become major ones.

It’s clear that concussions are not only a problem for the youngest players. A follow-up article in today’s paper about concussions in high school football refers to a study from the Pediatric Brain Trauma Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital that found that 486,000 combined head impacts had been recorded over a five-year period among players from the football teams at Brown, Dartmouth and Virginia Tech, as well as two men’s and two women’s hockey teams.

Was I the only one that was stunned when I read that based on the rules of “safety” the weight limit for 10 year olds in the Pee Wee game was 120 pounds? 120 pounds is more than 20 pounds above the 95th percentile for 10 year olds! Furthermore, as the Times notes, “rules are only as effective as the adults charged with enforcing them. Four of the five injured boys have resumed playing football…”

So, I think that we all have some serious work ahead of us in examining the safety of contact sports for young children. We need to begin with a root cause analysis of the Massachusetts sentinel event. And we have to seriously entertain the question about whether it is ever possible to make these contact sports safe enough for young children.

Photo: woodleywonderworks / Creative Commons (modified)