Monday, September 30, 2013

Parent's Playbook Tour



Blurb:
A detailed, practical guide to help parents (and teachers!) understand how different personality types learn best. INCLUDES PERSONALITY QUIZ!

The techniques revealed in this book will teach parents specific, research-backed, actionable strategies amassed from nearly 100 reference texts with respect to:
* How to create a learning environment that allows their kids to excel and develop confidence in their abilities.
* How to support and encourage their kids' educations in ways that are best for him or her.
* How to teach their kids the strategies that help them each play to their individual learning strengths.

Book reveals how each of the eight personality types naturally:
* Get organized
* Get motivated
* Approach new concepts
* Learn in groups
* Take notes and "file" knowledge
* Tackle homework and test prep
* Gravitate to certain extracurriculars and teachers

* Handle successes and failures

Buy Links
I received an e-ARC copy of this book for a blog tour in return for an honest review. I don't have children of my own, but I found this book has a lot of great points about helping your child to learn effectively and efficiently for their own unique spirit. This book is very interesting and a fascinating read that all parents and teacher even, should pick up and read. This is a recommended must read and wonderful learning tool.


Most of my favorite authors are indie or self-pubbed, what made you decide to go that route?
I started writing the book after I started Kidzmet, so I knew there were a decent number of parents that would be interested in the information. My main goal was to get the information out to parents as quickly as possible, since the techniques had been so helpful in my own house—not just with my son and daughter, but I actually used some of them on myself with good results! And when I looked at the percentages that everyone takes along the way, I thought it might make better sense to get something out on the market, see what people liked (and didn’t like) most about the book, and then potentially get to a place where I could talk to a publisher with a higher likelihood of them wanting to work with me.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?
How long some of these strategies have been around, yet they have not been implemented in large part in education. It was so refreshing to be reminded in both the researching and writing phases that there’s not one “right” way to learn.

Do you have a particular writing habit?
I’m an early bird, so I get up around 4am to write pretty much every day. If I try to write after work, it’s just not as cohesive. It’s also nice to have a couple of hours of silence with only my thoughts before the whirlwind starts. It doesn’t matter whether I’m working on a book, an article, or just journaling…I like the act of writing. (Though my eyes probably wish I didn’t spend this much time in front of a screen.)

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
In the non-fiction realm, if you haven’t read Kathleen Cushman’s book Fires in the Mind, I highly recommend it. In the fiction realm, I love Veronica Roth’s Divergent and Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang. I’ve been a part of a monthly book club for years (shout out to my Read Wine book club!) which has been a great place to discover new authors. We each pick a book for the month we host and we’ve always gotten a broad spectrum of book styles, which means I pick up books that I never would on my own. I love books in general, though. I spend most of my “play money” on Kindle.

What is the hardest part of your writing?
Editing things for brevity. I tend to be long-winded and use too many 50 cent words in my first drafts. I like a lot of words and love how precise language can be, so I forget that people prefer USA Today or Twitter-based reading these days…not the New York Times.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
If you love to write, carve out time for it. It doesn’t matter if you end up producing anything, the act of writing in-and-of-itself will put you in a better place. Now I just need to figure out how to make time for making music again!

Describe yourself in three words.
My daughter just told me she would describe me as “nice, caring and helpful.” That’s a much nicer description than I would use, so I’ll go with that. I tend to be self-deprecating, as many of the adults I know are. (Why are we like that??)

Any song or songs that could basically sum up the overall mood of your writing?
I have four Spotify playlists that I click on when I’m writing. If you look them up, you’ll see that my mood while writing tends to vary dramatically! I listen to Hector and Serafin’s playlists the most, though.
  • Creativity Music by Hector Acuna
  • Seraphinsky by Serafin Canchola
  • Motivating by Jana Zilcher
  • Inspiration by Raymond Lau

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider the biggest influence in your writing?
Richard Bach. Even though he writes fiction, his writing feels very honest and poignant to me. I aspire to have the same kind of voice in my writing that he brings to his books.

What are your current projects? Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I’m slowly working on a book that overlays the 8 types of learning personality types on Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind. I’ve done a couple of Webinars on it, but could never get the audio aspect to be “listenable,” so I’m in the process of doing it as a book instead. I am looking for a way to translate A Parent’s Playbook for Learning to an audiobook, though. We love Audible and LearningAlly in our house. After reading, my kids each go to bed with an audiobook every night.
Jen completed her undergraduate senior thesis on Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligence
and its effect on self-esteem, attendance rates and love of learning in 1994 and in the years prior to
founding Kidzmet, she worked in the education industry in various capacities including brand and
product management for Jump-start educational software and in marketing for a non-traditional
post-secondary certification. Once she became a parent, she started seeing just how differently her
kids learned than she did...and was reminded how critical it is that teachers and parents “get” how
each unique student likes to learn in order for kids to become engaged, enthusiastic learners. She
also started to realize how many parents didn’t know personality-based techniques and strategies that
could help their kids learn how to learn better.
Ms. Lilienstein currently serves on the Editorial Board of the National After-school Association, the
Publications and Platform Committees of the NAA, the Quality Committee of the CA After-school
Network, and advocates for After-school for All with the After-school Alliance. She is also a member of
BOOST and ASCD. Ms. Lilienstein is also a weekly contributor on the Total Education Network,
which is syndicated on 80+ networks and heard by more than a million people in 180 countries
around the world.
At home, Jen is Mom to an extroverted seven year-old daughter--who has already dabbled in music,
swimming, gymnastics, ballet, nature, yoga and art--and an introverted four year-old son who loves
to do puzzles, build with LEGOs, examine the lives of animals and insects, and admire anything with
an engine.
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