KidsLearn with Prof. Suki: Recent Episodes
KidsLearn
A blog and podcast just for kids about learning and life! Prof. Suki explores all sorts of concerns that kids might have, along with cool information about your brain and learning. Please visit https://sukiwessling.com/kidblog for read-along text and word definitions.
In our world, there’s a lot of emphasis on the end goal:
- We have to take tests
- We have to turn in projects and present them
- We have to show that we’ve read a certain number of pages, written a certain number of words, or memorized a certain amount of information
All of these are examples of “products” of our learning, and they can be important.
But even more important is your learning “process.”
Process is the actual experience… Read the rest!
The post Process, not product first appeared on KidsLearn.
Have you ever heard the phrase “snake oil salesman”? Maybe not—no one has sold “snake oil” since before your grandparents’ time.
But snake oil is sold in many forms on the Internet, and it’s your job to recognize it and reject it.
What?? I hope I don’t get oil on my keyboard!A “snake oil salesman” is someone who is selling you a fake product. These days, that product could be a thing…
cure your acne in 24 hours with this
… Read the rest!
The post Are you being fooled? first appeared on KidsLearn.
I bet you think you know what success is. We all do, right? It’s not like every little kid doesn’t learn the meaning of that word.
But in every culture, words have both their definition and their connotation.
The definition of “success” is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” Easy, right?
The connotation is much harder to explain, though.
What’s a connotation?Google tells me that a connotation is “an idea or feeling that a word invokes … Read the rest!
The post What is success? first appeared on KidsLearn.
When you were a baby, you knew how to learn. Think of everything you learned in the first few years of your life!
Learn how to learn like this guy! [Wikipedia]* You learned how to feed yourself * You learned how to walk * You learned how to talk * You learned how to annoy your siblings or friends!
But then you got older and suddenly it seemed like learning was different. You were supposed to study. What’s that about?
It … Read the rest!
The post Learn like a baby first appeared on KidsLearn.
I had a realization at some point which was really helpful: I don’t really know what I think about something until I write about it. I wondered why that is, and I came up with four reasons!
- Writing puts thoughts into a concrete form
- Writing makes you focus on details
- Writing makes you clarify your thoughts
- Writing makes you organize your thoughts
Writing puts thoughts into a concrete formThoughts—what are they made of? That depends on whether you want … Read the rest!
The post Learning to write = learning to think first appeared on KidsLearn.
You probably know each of these words separately:
Media refers to all the forms of information that we access, from TV shows to newspapers to books and what we call “social” media—interactive online media.
Hygiene is keeping yourself clean.
These two words together sum up an approach that I think will help all of us be happier, better-informed, more productive human beings.
Media includes entertainment and informationThe two major reasons for accessing media are entertainment and information. You can … Read the rest!
The post What is “media hygiene”? first appeared on KidsLearn.
One of the hardest parts about being a kid is that it always seems like someone is criticizing you!
At home, your parent tells you when you’ve done something wrong… or when you were supposed to do something but you didn’t.
In classes, your teacher tells you when your work isn’t as good as it could be.
Sometimes classes have “peer review” and other students get to tell you what’s wrong.
Why is it so hard? Hearing that you … Read the rest!
The post Taking criticism first appeared on KidsLearn.
Fan fiction can be so much fun to write and share! When you write fan fiction, you set your stories within a world that someone else created. You may create your own new characters, or borrow characters that already exist.
In any case, the pleasures of fan fiction are clear: You get to spend more time in a fictional universe that you love from a book, show, or game. And you can share that passion with other people.
Kelly Heigert/KQED … Read the rest!
The post The Pleasures and Perils of Sharing Fan Fiction first appeared on KidsLearn.
Most of my readers aren’t quite to the point where they will be applying to four-year universities yet. But if you are getting started thinking about it early, or if you are in the planning or applying stages, here are some tips.
- College is not unattainable In my goal-setting classes, we talk a lot about setting attainable goals. When you set unattainable goals, you’ll be certain to suffer disappointment and failure. But most goals that look unattainable from … Read the rest!
The post Tips for thinking about… college first appeared on KidsLearn.
One of the things that my book club students often notice in children’s books is the Dead or Missing Parent Syndrome. In one class, we read:
- Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World: Dead mother
- Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider: Missing parents
- Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden: Dead parents
- Diana Wynne Jones’s Charmed Life: Dead parents
- Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn: Dead father
- Kacen Callender’s King and the Dragonfly: Dead brother
- and just to top it off,
… Read the rest!
The post Why are authors so MEAN to their characters? first appeared on KidsLearn.
It’s been all over the news, and maybe you’ve even tried it out: You can now ask AI bots to do your homework, write an essay, compose a note to Grandma, explain the history of skateboarding… pretty much anything!
Sounds nifty, doesn’t it? So why not use it to do all your work for you?
I can give you three reasons to do your own work!
Reason #1: Doing the work yourself is how you learn Have you watched a … Read the rest!
The post Should you use AI to do your homework? first appeared on KidsLearn.
Bad things happen. Life can be hard. Sometimes it seems as if all the news is bad, and everyone you know has a complaint.
First, let’s get this straight: Acknowledging challenges is not a problem. In the past, kids were encouraged to pretend that everything was just fine. We had phrases like “suck it up” and “be a man” and “don’t rock the boat.” But our culture has changed. We now know that it’s good to express emotions. It’s good … Read the rest!
The post The hazards of focusing on the negative first appeared on KidsLearn.
I can hear what you’re thinking already: Prof. Suki’s a writing teacher and she made a typo? Nope, freewriting is a single word, even if spell checker doesn’t like it!
Freewriting is a writing technique that writers use the way athletes use stretching. A runner doesn’t stretch to win a race—they stretch to get their muscles ready to win the race.
Writers use freewriting to stretch out their brains, to free up their thoughts. In freewriting, you don’t worry about … Read the rest!
The post What is freewriting? first appeared on KidsLearn.
I assigned the book King and the Dragonflies to my students, but in some places they might not be able to get this book from their school library, or maybe even their public library. Why?
This is a complicated question! The people who want books banned (such as parents and politicians) might have a different opinion from the people who are told to ban them (such as librarians, school administrators, and teachers). People who want to ban books certainly have … Read the rest!
The post Why do adults ban books from school libraries? first appeared on KidsLearn.
A lot of kids say they “don’t like” old books—otherwise known as “classic literature.” I’m not surprised to hear this: old books can be quite different from what you’re used to. They tend to move more slowly, have unfamiliar vocabulary, and go in unexpected directions.
New books follow new rules If you’re a typical modern kid, you probably watch lots of action-packed shows, play fast-moving videogames, and read manga and other graphic-heavy text.
When kids read, you tend to read … Read the rest!
The post Old books=modern time travel! first appeared on KidsLearn.
If you think it’s confusing that some kids you know have been called “gifted,” you’re not alone. Most adults are confused, too! I think the reason people are confused is because of a poor word choice.
“Gifted” makes it sound like no one else has gifts, which is absolutely untrue!
Let’s look at another “gift”
Here’s an analogy:
Imagine you developed extra-long legs in comparison to the average when you’re 9 years old. When you are 10, maybe it … Read the rest!
The post What is a gifted learner? first appeared on KidsLearn.
So many kids have eating issues. Sometimes those issues come from being highly sensitive—maybe certain types of foods bother you. Sometimes those issues come from mental health—maybe you use food to express anxiety or depression. And sometimes those issues come from having medical conditions like allergies.
This article is specifically for kids who are what we call “picky eaters,” not for kids with mental health or physical health issues. But in any case, feel free to listen to this and … Read the rest!
The post Becoming a better eater first appeared on KidsLearn.
When you study literature in a traditional class, you’ll learn to look for a book’s theme. Theme is what a book means, but it’s pretty specific and not really about what you see in a book.
What I actually want to talk about here is figuring out what a book means to you, and that might be more complicated than figuring out the theme for a literature test at school.
Here’s an example:
A really important book to … Read the rest!
The post What do stories mean to YOU? first appeared on KidsLearn.
You’ve probably heard people say it: “Don’t tell me what happens—I don’t want any spoilers!”
However, I’m here to tell you that if a book or movie is good enough, there is no such thing as a spoiler. And I’ve got research to back me up.
It turns out that when people know the ending of a book or movie, they don’t enjoy it less—they may even enjoy it more. It’s the same reason why people read the same book … Read the rest!
The post There are no spoilers first appeared on KidsLearn.
How to keep from being overwhelmed in the digital age Some of you might already have your own phone or computer. Or you might have a family that says you’re not ready yet. But sooner or later, all of you are going to be faced with TMI.
TMI? Too Much Information!
When I was your age, there were no mobile phones. (OK, that’s not completely true. In the TV Show Get Smart, Maxwell Smart had a phone in his … Read the rest!
The post Too Much Information? first appeared on KidsLearn.
There is so much stuff to deal with online that none of us can learn it all. But here’s one thing I think you should understand: the difference between email you don’t want and “spam.”
I found out from my students that lots of them were marking notification emails from our class website as “spam”—because spam is email you don’t want, right?
Nope.
Spam is not just unwanted email
Email you don’t want could be…
A note from your parent
… Read the rest!
The post Overwhelmed by email? Don’t just spam it! first appeared on KidsLearn.