Helping Younger Children Manage Their Homework

Longtime education administrator and advocate Lori Manning spent several years as an upper primary and secondary science teacher at the Pinnacle Academy of Fine Arts, as well as three years as the school's principal. Later in her career, Lori Manning served as the executive director of ZES Educational Services, an after-school program that helps students build strong study skills and offers homework assistance.

Children generally start receiving homework around the 3rd or 4th grade, these assignments helping children review concepts taught in class. Parental involvement can make at home learning much more effective, and there are many ways parents can help their children complete their homework in a timely manner.

Create a Routine: Parents can help children learn basic time management skills by making homework a part of their daily routine. Parents can also create a quiet physical space where the child can focus on the work, such as a clear desk or at the kitchen table.

Be a Guide: While parents should be prepared to sometimes answer their child’s questions, they should not routinely be providing answers or completing work on their behalf. It is important that children complete their homework on their own to best build their academic skills.

Assess Your Child: Parents can use homework to identify subject areas where their child may need extra support. If a child is continually struggling to complete his or her homework, parents should relay this information to the child's teacher.

Three Players on the 2018 Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List

Lori Manning is a former educational administrator who is attending Western Governors University in pursuit of an MBA. Prior to her career in education, Lori Manning coached multiple college softball teams and was a standout player herself at Oklahoma Baptist University. 

The highest honor in college softball is the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. In January, USA Softball released its 50-player Watch List of potential award recipients and it included three of the following players.

1. Kelly Barnhill - The winner of the 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, Barnhill has continued her dominance through 2018. The University of Florida pitcher has a win-loss record of 21-1 and has allowed only 47 hits through 146 innings. She also has a team-high 224 strikeouts and an earned run average (ERA) of 0.82.

2. Alyssa Barrera - An outfielder with the University of Utah, Barrera boasts a .313 batting average to go along with six doubles and 11 RBI through 42 games. 

3. Kaylee Carlson - A senior with the University of Auburn, Carlson is a 5-foot-10 right-handed pitcher who has already earned a multitude of accolades, including All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Defensive Team in 2017. Through 29 games this season, she has a record of 19-4 and a 0.92 ERA.

Building Skills with Fielding Drills

Western Governors University student and former executive director of ZES Educational Services Lori Manning attended Oklahoma Baptist University, and earned its Female Athlete of the Year designation in 1995 for her skill in softball. Lori Manning has continued to play and coach softball since graduating from college.

Softball coaches need to be able to impart good fundamentals to their players, and even those who coach at advanced levels can benefit from taking their players back to basics. Drilling can highlight weaknesses that might be covered up by other strengths in actual play situations. Fielding drills, in particular, can help point out situations where one or more players is unclear on good positioning.

In a fielding drill, the coach should call out a fielding situation, such as a fly ball on a particular side of the field. All fielders should move toward the appropriate position, and then freeze. This provides the coach an opportunity to assess who may not be reacting properly or providing the right situations for the rest of the fielders. The addition of live baserunners or actual ground balls can enhance the drill, but is not necessary for the learning exercise to function.

A Brief History of Softball at the Summer Olympics

Having recently completed a two year term as executive director of ZES Educational Services, Lori Manning is pursuing a master of business administration at Western Governors University. Beyond her professional and academic work, Lori Manning is an avid sports fan and experienced coach of softball. 

Softball made its debut at the Summer Olympics in 1996, despite American and Japanese efforts to have the sport added to the Olympic program as early as the 1940s. These efforts were unsuccessful mostly due to the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires a minimum of 11 countries to be capable of fielding a competitive team and for at least 29 countries to maintain some semblance of a national program.

In 1995, the IOC announced that softball would make its Olympic debut in Atlanta, Georgia, the following year. The first gold medal in softball went to the United States, 3-0 winners over China. The US team repeated as gold medalists in 2000 and 2004 and as silver medalists in 2008, when the gold medal went to Japan at the Beijing Olympics.

The international softball community was disappointed to learn that the IOC had voted to eliminate softball from the summer program for the 2012 London Olympics, a decision that was upheld for the 2016 summer games in Brazil. However, an IOC vote in 2016 to expand the summer program included the reintroduction of both softball and baseball. Both sports will return to the Olympic stage in 2020 at the Tokyo summer games.

Kelly Barnhill Wins 2017 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year

A former executive director of ZES Educational Services, Lori Manning is pursuing a master of business administration at Western Governors University. Lori Manning previously earned a bachelor's in family psychology from Oklahoma Baptist University, where she was an award-winning member of its varsity softball team.

The highest individual honor in college softball is the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year. The 2017 trophy was awarded to Kelly Barnhill of the University of Florida. Barnhill, who also won the 2017 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Pitcher of the Year, helped Florida return to the NCAA Women's College World Series for the eighth time in school history with an impressive pitching win-loss record of 24-3 to go along with 333 strikeouts. In fact, the sophomore only allowed nine earned runs and recorded a 0.36 earned run average through Super Regional play. 

Barnhill didn't allow a single hit on four occasions in 2017 and earned SEC Pitcher of the Week five times, which set a University of Florida record. She didn't simply thrive off weaker competition; rather, the second-year pitcher recorded 14 wins and 9 shutouts against top 25-ranked teams. Megan Good of James Madison and Meghan Gregg of Tennessee were the other two finalists for the award.