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What Can Parents Learn from the Faculty at the McKay School?

Research is being conducted on topics as varied as literacy, behavior, diversity, speech and hearing, English language learning, effective instruction and much more.

The Alumni and Friends web site is dedicated to sharing some of this research with parents with the goal of providing tools or resources that may support you in building a great family.

Jacobs, Tunnell, and Children's Literature

Here is just one example. Michael O. Tunnell and James S. Jacobs are experts on children's literature. Children's Literature Briefly in its fourth edition is a rich overview of why and how children should read, how we can help them read, and how we can keep from inhibiting their natural interests. Chapters such as "Why Read?" and "What is a Good Book?" provide insight for teachers and parents alike. "The words make the book" chapter seems obvious on the face of it, but well-written books are different because they "stir deep emotional responses in readers." The reader, being part of the reading experience, gets to decide whether the book is well-written or not.

Children's Literature Briefly Cover

Tunnell and Jacobs have produced a rich and diverse list of chidlren's literature that is available in a CD that accommpanies their book but is also available by clicking here: Children's Literature Reading List.

You Can Do This: An Approach to Raising Wonderful Children

The McKay School of Education sponsors a web site at http://education.byu.edu/youcandothis containing the "You Can Do This" video that discusses the keys to building a nurturing home and raising happy, successful children. In addition to the video, which has been broadcast numerous times in BYU-TV, there are suggestions for building positive relationships, preventing and correcting misbehavior and showing more kindness in the family. Specific tips can be found for helping children learn valuable social skills and overcome the normal, day-to-day conflicts that arise. Articles from BYU researchers and LDS church authorities on families and children can also be found along with a list of books on teaching children how to contribute to a happy family life.

Kindness: A Celestial Touchstone

K. Richard Young, Dean of the McKay School of Education, delivered a BYU Devotional talk entitled Kindness: A Celestial Touchstone and here is an excerpt from that talk:

"To develop a habit of kindness, we need to seize every opportunity available. In his book The Promise of Discipleship, Elder Maxwell wrote of times when we encounter others who at that very moment are in need of an act of kindness—times when the need for help, whether small or large, is urgent. These moments are character-building opportunities. As Elder Maxwell explained:

'Such individualized opportunities may be deflected or rejected by us, of course. Or they may simply go unrecognized. Nevertheless, the moments were there, and they could have been seized “for [our] good” (D&C 122:7). Granted, such moments may be fleeting, but they can still be defining, depending upon our responses. . .

For instance, we can decide daily, or in an instant, in seemingly little things, whether we respond with a smile instead of a scowl, or whether we give warm praise instead of exhibiting icy indifference. Each response matters in its small moment. After all, moments are the molecules that make up eternity, affecting not only ourselves but others, because our conduct even in seemingly small things can be contagious.'"