Resources for Parents

RESOURCES FOR LANCE KING’S LIVE SEMINARS FOR PARENTS

LANCE KING’S NEW BOOK FOR PARENTS – ONE CHAPTER AT A TIME:

EVERYTHING SCHOOLS DON’T TEACH

Very few schools world-wide are actively developing their taught curriculum to meet the demands of the modern world. Most are using a subject-focused curriculum very similar to what was in place 50 or more years ago. Until schools change, parents are going to have to fill the gap between what is taught at school and what their children need in order to be successful in their digital, AI-enhanced futures.

This book will show you exactly what skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours your children need to learn now to guarantee their future success – in school, university, jobs, careers & business

CHAPTER 1: SUBJECT-BASED CURRICULA

CHAPTER 2: 

IDEAS FOR PARENTS

Click for useful articles, blogs and websites:

Covid19 Survival Kit:

25 excellent critical thinking apps – thinking and problem solving games for all devices [More…] 

17 Fun and Free educational websites for kids – of all ages [More…]

Lots of simple Science experiments that children can do at home – full lessons [More…]

Nine interactive educational websites for your children that are fun for them to use [More…]:

Choosing Colleges in the USA – which have the best professors in 2020? [More…]

Advice for social media and mobile-savvy parents on making remote learning work [More…]

The Importance of Childhood – children learn best from other children through play [More…]

Haim Omer – the best strategies for dealing with disagreements with teenagers [More…]

The Antidote to the Tiger Mother Syndrome – in January 2011, Amy Chua, a Professor of Law at Yale University, published The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, where she espoused a philosophy of unrelenting pressure, drive, motivation, organization and planning from parents as the best way to help children achieve lofty goals…. [More … ]

TIPS FOR PARENTS

For relevant tips and ideas just click on the time of year you are interested in.
Please feel free to leave a comment at the end of the post or ask a question.

TIPS: 1. BEGINNING A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Beginning a new school year, developing the resilient learner

The biggest difficulty I have always had is simply getting involved. Like you I am sure, I find my own life to be very busy and there is not much time available to get involved in my children’s schooling and it is so much easier just to leave it all up to the school. Also my children do not want me to be involved, they do not want to be picked out as having an interfering parent and would much sooner I just kept out of it! And of course I have chosen the school they attend because I believe it will do a good job for them so my tendency is to just let them get on with it. [More … ]

TIPS: 2. HALF-YEAR – BEFORE MID-YEAR EXAMS

Half way through the year, before mid-year exams – independent learning

Holidays are over, it’s as cold as it ever gets where you are and your children are back at school feeling like their holiday was too short, they’ve forgotten everything they learned last term and they are already behind in their work. Have I got it right? [More … ]

TIPS: 3. AFTER MID-YEAR EXAMS

After mid-year exams – using their results to help prepare for end-of-year exams

In the last couple of months your children will most probably have sat their mid-year exams, by now they will have got all the results back and as they are now looking down the road a bit to their end of year exams it might be a good time to go over those mid-year exam results: [More … ]

TIPS: 4. BETWEEN MID-YEAR EXAMS AND FINALS

Between mid-year exams (or mocks) and final exams – motivation and focus

Your children have all sat their “mock” exams (I think that is a terrible name for an important set of exams because what does to mock mean? And we wonder why they don’t take them seriously?) and I set out in my last blog how to process those results. Now your children are moving inexorably closer to their greatest challenge of the year, their final exams. [More … ]

TIPS: 5. EIGHT WEEKS BEFORE FINALS

The Run-up to Exams – 8 weeks before finals

Eight weeks until the major band of GCSE and IGCSE examinations, a bit longer for A Level and IB exams. Is it serious yet? Is the nervous tension starting to crackle a little around your house? [More … ]

TIPS: 6. DURING FINAL EXAMS

Final Exams – final preparation, pressure, stress and the value of education

By now your children will be seriously into their study, and will be starting to wind up for their first exam. If they haven’t started serious study yet then either they are so brilliant that they can retain information perfectly after having heard it only once and consequently don’t need to study, or they are procrastinating or they just don’t care. [More … ]

TIPS: 7. SUMMER HOLIDAY TIME

Summer holiday time

Now is the time to build great holiday memories. Get away from home as much as you can. Create summer adventures for your children. What’s the definition of an adventure? No fixed destination! [More … ]

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (3):

  • Beneficial and gave me a great insight to how skills can be taught
  • Awesome, very knowledgeable on the subject very much involved in the IB
  • Well worth the time. Very useful information was shared
  • I found Lance to be engaging and thoughtful. Clearly extremely knowledgeable and experienced working with learners and educators.
  • He is a very good facilitator. He catered to all the questions with candor and ease. He knows what he is talking about.
  • The presenter is very engaging and encouraging towards the attendees
  • Very knowledgeable and shared practical examples of how to implement ATLs also shared good links
  • Persuasive, emotional, good public speaker
  • Great, he was very clear & precise also engaging & motivating! Very glad I attended this session.
  • Presented ATL as part of our tools to help our students learn

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (2):

  • Knowledgeable, friendly and listened to people’s comments
  • Very knowledgeable, asked interesting questions, thought provoking
  • Knowledgeable, had insightful input, able to show real examples and interact with participants
  • A unique and a great opportunity to learn more about ATL skills
  • Better than I expected and one of the best workshops I’ve attended
  • Very useful to me, I will transfer many strategies and information I have got to my school
  • Excellent and worth my weekend
  • Awesome and knowledgeable
  • Very knowledgeable and answered all questions
  • Knowledgeable, adaptable, engaging, helpful towards MYP & DP

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, Tokyo, Cebu & Nanjing (1):

  • Worth giving up a weekend for, I have much to bring to my lesson planning and to share with my department
  • Full of teaching skills, a person who can inspire my teaching
  • Dynamic and made lessons attractive
  • Excellent presenter – good pace and level of understanding
  • Insightful and courageous – open questions with no fear
  • Clear and gave me good thoughts to consider and discuss with my school
  • Very knowledgeable and good at animating discussions
  • Enthusiastic and passionate
  • I definitely would recommend it to others
  • Absolutely amazing!

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (3):

  • Excellent, above and beyond my expectations
  • Thorough, knowledgeable, approachable, helpful
  • Very clear and objective, providing a great balance between descriptive lecture and interactive exercises
  • Very professional, very advanced, utterly experienced, efficient, structured, balanced
  • Perfect!
  • Engaging, motivating, knowledgeable, pleasant to listen to, clear, inspiring
  • Dynamic, energetic, respectful, professional, knowledgeable. I appreciated the multifaceted use of technology to inform
  • An excellent investment of time and resources
  • Very knowledgeable. Accommodating to participants needs. High number of practical applications.

From Margy and John (New Zealand parents):

“xxxx hasn’t stopped talking about it (this morning and after school) and I believe Lance has instilled into her some fabulous tips for being a great learner. John and I got lots out of his presentation to the parents and we also haven’t stopped talking about it. At dinner tonight the four of us had fantastic discussions on “learning” – not the usual topic of conversation!.”

From Sue (a New Zealand parent):

“Yesterday you spoke to my daughter xxxx’s, Year 10 class at xxxx College.  She moaned about having to attend this while she was at home at breakfast day, thinking it would be one of those ‘find your learning styles’ things yet again…

HOWEVER…!  When I picked her up at the end of the day I had a different child.  She was so animated and excited about life.  She is keen to go on a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam but didn’t have the get up and go to fund-raise.  She came home, knew how she could do it, and promptly started on her plans.  She said she knows why she can be a little negative at times, what her weaknesses are etc and that she now understands how to turn these around to make positives.

xxxx has told me she feels like a new person!  I have heard about it ever since I picked her up yesterday!

Anyway, the main point of this email was just to say how impressed we all are and to say THANK YOU for your efforts.”

From a Hong Kong parent:

“My 15 year old daughter xxxx attended your seminar at xxxx this spring and she came home as a different person. She was beaming and didn’t stop talking about what she had learned from your seminar. She sat her little sister down and told her everything she had learned from you. xxxx felt she had learned something that day that would make her a better student and something she felt she could use for her whole life. Thank you for that, Lance! That was a real gift you gave her.”

From Bauyrzhan Serikov – General Director, Tamos Education, Almaty, Kazakhstan:

“On behalf of Tamos Education, I wanted to extend our deepest gratitude for taking the time to join us and conduct the world-class IB workshop. Your expertise and insights into the International Baccalaureate program have been invaluable, and the feedback from our faculty and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.

The dedication you demonstrated in imparting knowledge and best practices of teaching 21-st century skills to our educators will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the quality of our curriculum and, most importantly, the learning experience for our students. It’s rare to find someone who can present such intricate material with clarity and passion, and we feel privileged to have had you lead this workshop.

I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate the professional and approachable manner with which you addressed every question and concern. Your willingness to engage with our team, understand our unique challenges, and tailor your guidance accordingly was truly commendable.

I look forward to any future opportunities for collaboration and would be honoured to welcome you back to Tamos Education anytime.”

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (1):

  • Clear, knowledgeable and engaging, easy to listen to and to follow
  • Energetic, knowledgeable and enthusiastic
  • Very well organized and worthwhile professional development
  • Absolutely brilliant and delivered the course in a very efficient and productive manner
  • Well worth it, rewarding and very informative
  • Really a positive course. Well spent time
  • Very clear, structured, a great listener with very valuable feedback to what was said by the teachers – challenging and keeping us engaged the whole time.
  • Excellent, very knowledgeable and good at listening/responding to the audience
  • Amazing!!
  • Excellent! Lance was entertaining, knowledgeable in his field and able to answer all questions and confirm our areas of concern as appropriate, personably and professionally.

Feedback from teachers in Lance’s most recent workshops in schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Norway, England, India, Vietnam and Kazakhstan (2):

  • Some of the best PD I have been on in years
  • Engaging, dynamic, confident and experienced
  • Excellent, one of the best bits of PD I’ve done in 13 years of teaching
  • Outstanding, truly an expert in his field. He had a very engaging easy way of making me understanding ideas that are new to me
  • Today was indeed very productive, enlightening and enriching
  • Useful and inspiring to see clear ways of helping my school move forward in this area
  • Very interesting and thought provoking, made me make connections between my department PYP, MYP and DP
  • Entertaining, thought provoking, engaging, interesting. Inspirational, transforming
  • Interesting, relevant, informative and supported by evidence

From Lies Goodchild, ex-Head of Learning Support, Kings College School, London:

“The pupils explore and work through a number of skills, which they need to be successful at
learning. In that process they raise their self-esteem and confidence and they learn the importance of being resilient. The impact is immediate and amazing.
A follow up workshop for staff and a separate workshop for parents complement this programme, thus ensuring that all parties in the “pupil, parent, teacher partnership” are aware of the strategies and the level of support which are required to make learning successful. That is where the strength of this programme lies. It allows for a whole school approach to learning, which is clearly set out, well understood and most importantly easy and fun to use.

Without any hesitation, I recommend this programme to any educational establishment.”

From John Rolfe, ex-Director of Studies, Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, Thailand:

“Lance spent the whole day with all of our Year 11 pupils, the majority of whom were second language learners. In the time I spent with Lance and the pupils I saw that they were really interested in what he had to say, as I was myself. Talking to them afterwards their enthusiasm for the course was overwhelming; they were unanimous in their opinions of how useful and interesting it was, but also how much they enjoyed it. Much of this is to do with the friendly and approachable nature of Lance who seems to draw the pupils out of themselves.

Lance is friendly adaptable and utterly professional. He will adapt courses that he has to the needs of the school and the pupils; he also runs courses for parents and teachers. I would thoroughly recommend his organisation to other international schools.”