Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-March 2005 Edition--- (current subscribers: 14,683)-
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News and updates to http://brains.org and Kathie Nunley's
Layered Curriculum (tm) Site for Educators: http://help4teachers.com

Newsletter subscription available at: http://help4teachers.com/newsletter.htm
UNSUBSCRIBE & email change information/link at the bottom of this newsletter

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SECTION ONE: Teaching Tips -
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Teaching Tip #1: Write the word "original" on original copies with a
yellow highlighter. It keeps original recognizable but doesn't show on
photocopies. --Toni Margaretta, Burlington City, NJ.

Teaching Tip # 2: As part of the student's back to school supplies, ask
them to bring in 4 postage stamps so they can send things to parents,
friends, grandparents, etc. This would include things such as letters,
cards and requests for information from businesses or companies. It
encourages real world writing skills. Bill Osman, Hamilton Township, NJ.

Teaching Tip #3: I use dry erase markers to highlight points of images
on the TV or computer screen to draw the attention of students. A cloth
erases the marker easily. R. Alexander, Hopewell School, NJ.

Send your favorite teaching tip to: kathie@brains.org

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SECTION TWO: Hot Topics
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HOT TOPIC #1. For those of you collecting gender differences in
the brain, you may want to read a new study out of Tulane University
in New Orleans. Researchers there are studying brain gender differences
for auditory processing. The Perisylvian region of the brain is heavily
involved in processing the information we hear. There are 4 subunits of
this region and the study found significant volume differences in 2 of these
areas in female brains. They found organizational differences as well.
So women and men do listen differently. (I know many of you are thinking,
"for THIS we need research?")
Knaus, T. et al (2004). Neuropsychology, Vol 18(4), 738-747.

HOT TOPIC #2: A study in London, UK is tracking long term, residual
problems in former Ecstasy (MDMA) drug users. They are finding that
the psychological problems associated with that drug, such as deficits
in verbal recall, moderately impaired memory function, depression and
phobic anxiety - can continue for years even after the individual has
stopped using the drug. Soar, K, Parrott, A, & Fox, H. (2004).
Psychological Reports, Vol 95(1), 192-196.

HOT TOPIC #3: Ohio State University released a longitudinal follow-up
study on pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury. They followed children
(under the age of 12) with moderate to severe TBI for several years.
Residual problems include executive functioning issues, pragmatic
language, and social problem solving. Yeates, K. et al. (2004).
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Vol 10(3), 412-426.

Read more Hot Topics at the websites!

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SECTION THREE: What's new at the Websites
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**** New Layered Curriculum Units
In addition to the new HS Math units and elementary units I mentioned
earlier this month, we now have five new foreign language units for
Spanish II (High School) sent in by Lori Morris in Huffman, Texas.
Thanks Lori!!!!

**** BRAINS.org Shop
One of the best books on dyslexia and working with struggling readers,
"Overcoming Dyslexia" by Dr Sally Shaywitz is now available in
paperback at the shop. "A Student's Brain", the "Layered Curriculum"
text & workbook, and video training kits are always available at a
discounted price at the shop. You can find those and browse the
recommended book section at: http://brains.org/store/

**** Newsletter: If your ISP is filtering your mail and you get this
newsletter only sporadically because of it, you can always read the
latest version online at: http://www.nunley.blogspot.com/

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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Dear Kathie,
Does your article (This is Your Brain on Drugs) include the use of drugs
for ADHD and depression and other psychological differences? That is
my fear. What if giving my son medication for his ADHD will impair
his brain in the future so that he is worse off when he has the maturity
to deal with his attention differences. This is so hard having a child
with amazing potential that struggles to focus on mundane tasks
essential to his progress. Thank you, E. S.

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Hi E.S.,
As a mother of four myself I can attest that being a parent is a very
difficult job so I really appreciate your concern in helping your son. To
answer your question in a nutshell, No.

Recreational drugs usually mimic a neurotransmitter or manipulate
the actual levels of neurotransmitters in the nervous system. The
brain's attempt at homeostasis, or balance creates a host of problems
when this happens as I explained in that article.

On the other hand, pharmaceutical drugs, such as those used for ADHD
and depression usually fall into the category of "Re-uptake Inhibitors" which
means they shut off or slow down the vacuum system that reabsorbs a
neurotransmitter from the synapse back into the nerve cell to be recycled.

To give you a simple analogy, let's say your family was hungry, despite your
attempt at feeding them. If you were to act as a recreational drug, you would
put larger portions of food at the table - big heaping bowls. If you were to act
as a pharmaceutical drug, you would put the usual amount of food on the
table, but you would keep it out there on the table for a longer period of time.

It may make you feel better to know that most research supports the
safety of pharmaceuticals for ADHD. While there are no guarantees,
an interesting paper was presented last year at the American
Psychological Association's annual conference in Toronto. The research
revealed that long term studies on treating ADHD show that treating
ADHD with some type of pharmaceutical actually significantly reduce
the likelihood that a child would abuse substances later in life. It was
untreated ADHD that created the most problems in the long term.

Best of luck to you, Kathie

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Dear Kathie,
I have so many gifted students in my classroom that I find it easier
to design and use two separate Layered Curriculum units - one for
my gifted students and one for my average and lower ability students.
What do you think? -- A workshop participant.

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Dear w p,
Let me preface this as I usually do. It is your classroom and you have
to do what you feel will work best with your population and your teaching
style. That said, however, I would encourage you to try to make ONE
Layered Curriculum unit that would fit your entire class. One of the
purposes of Layered Curriculum is to reduce the stigma attached to
belonging to special populations. You are trying to create a level
playing field. Try adding more variety to the unit. Break complex
assignments down into simple components. Leave a few, high point,
very challenging assignments in the C layer for your gifted population.
I think you will find you can include everyone on one unit sheet. - Kathie

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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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Woooo-eeee - only 4 more days until Spring!!! I'm counting them down.

I am writing to you today from an airplane on my way to Milwaukee where I'll
be presenting Layered Curriculum tomorrow for about 150 educators out at
Lake Lawn Lodge in Delavan. Should be a great day.

I want to thank the teachers in the Trenton, New Jersey area for their
hospitality earlier this month and some great teaching tip ideas for this
newsletter. I also had the opportunity last week to visit with the teachers in
Harnett County, North Carolina. I enjoy any opportunity to visit the southern
part of the US as I can spend the day speaking in my native dialect without
worries!

The rest of my 2005 calendar is complete. If you'd like to see when I'll
be in your region, you can check my calendar on line at:
http://help4teachers.com/calendar.htm

As usual, my best to you and yours,

Kathie
=================================================
Dr. Kathie F. Nunley
http://help4teachers.com
http://brains.org
Layered Curriculum (tm) - because every student deserves a special education (tm)
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Workshop information is available at the website
http://help4teachers.com/workshops.htm
or
call: 603-249-9521
email: kathie@brains.org
Brains.org and Help4Teachers is located at:
54 Ponemah Road
Amherst, NH 03031
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- posted by Kathie @ 4:23 AM