Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-April 2005 Edition--- (current subscribers: 14,810)-
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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: Buy a box of golf pencils and give those to students
who forget their pencils for about 7 bucks you can get about 150
pencils. This will serve as a reminder to bring your own pencils.
Tamara.Taliaferro-Thomas, via email.

Teaching Tip # 2: (Follow-up to last issue's tip on using toilet paper
as Kleenex): We call this "roll kleenex". In Thailand my daughter bought
me a container/basket which is just for this purpose. The lid has a whole
in the top center, so that if you crush the cardboard and remove it, the roll
pulls easily. Maybe they have something there. Marcia Meabon, Michigan.

Teaching Tip #3: I was always labeling my groups with numbers but could
never keep the numbers straight. Now I label my 5 groups by the days of the
week. I never have to remember which group lines up first, goes to the board
first, etc. - I just think of the day of the week! Kate Bowski, Encino Park
Elementary, San Antonio, Texas.

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

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SECTION TWO: Hot Topics
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All Hot Topics in this issue are from the February 2005 Journal of
Educational Psychology.

HOT TOPIC #1. Middle and high school educators may want to
take a hard look at a study out by Walls & Little on school adjustment,
success and well being among young adolescents. Their study looked at
the factors influencing school success which comes from a strong
personal belief system involving motivation and personal agency (one's
willingness to put forth effort and confidence in one's ability). One of the
strongest predictors of school well-being was personal effort resulting from
an internal motivation and an understanding of the purpose for the learning.
Of serious issue is the strong data here showing once again that extrinsic
rewards-based instructional systems are extremely detrimental to the learning
process. In fact the more extrinsic rewards are used, the lower the
school grades, the more negative student affect, and the less the sense
of well-being. Administrators may want to use the chart on page 28 of
this study for staff development consideration. The chart graphically shows the
relationships between school well-being, affect, school grades and the source
of motivation as well as personal agency issues. It is certainly a point for
discussion! Walls, T. & Little, T. (2005). J. of Ed Psych. Vol 97(1),23-31.

HOT TOPIC #2: Preservice teachers start out with a very favorable view of
critical thinking activities for both high and low-ability students. After finishing
their teacher education programs, these new teachers have lost support for
the use of critical thinking assignments and this low level of support continues
fairly unchanged through inservice and many years of teaching experience.
This, from research conducted by Bruce Torff at Hofstra University. His study
of over 400 teachers from early in their education through 10 years of teaching
experience shows that support for the use of critical thinking erodes quickly
through teacher education programs and never regains strength. While most
pre and inservice teachers find critical thinking activities valuable for both high
and low-ability students, inservice teachers tend to use critical thinking activities
less for low ability students and view them as more beneficial for high-ability
students. Torff, B. (2005). J. of Ed Psych. Vol 97(1), 13-22.

HOT TOPIC #3: Many have criticized schools for not modeling life in that
learning and problem solving tasks are too structured whereas in real life,
problem-solving is rather ill-structured and ambiguous requiring a dependance
on one's ability to infer, make decisions and identify reliable sources of
information. But a new study compared student's self-efficacy for learning
and problem solving on both ill-structured and well-structured learning activities.
They found that many high-ability students found well-structured tasks difficult
and that gifted students may need a lot of support in the early stages of
well-structured (think basic, C layer) tasks. On the other hand, lower ability
students found the ill-structured (think B and A layer) tasks more difficult in the
beginning, but as they gained confidence in their skills, they gained in their
feelings of both performance and learning self-efficacy. Lodewyk, K. & Winne,
P. (2005). J. of Ed Psych. Vol 97(1), 3 - 12.

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
David Kirkhart in Las Vegas recently sent a new Middle School unit on
Weather and Atmosphere.
Trainer Fred Goerisch just finished teaching a class in Layered Curriculum and
sent 6 new units the teachers designed. I'm just waiting on the names so I
can post those for you too. Thanks all!!

**** BRAINS.org Shop
You'll find an assortment of my recommended books on brain-based learning,
learning challenges, non-traditional learners and parenting as well as my own
books, "A Student's Brain" and the Layered Curriculum text and workbook
at the shop. 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/

**** Video Kits: Layered Curriculum training is now available in a video kit for
your school or district. The training kit consists of texts, workbooks, handout
masters, instructions and a 90 minute, two-part video on Layered Curriculum.
Order information is available at: http://help4teachers.com/video.htm

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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Dear Dr Nunley, I find the information provided in your newsletter very
informative. I would like to get more info about HS mathematics and
Layered Curriculum. Dr. Frank M.

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Hi Frank, Thanks for writing. Math was one of the last disciplines
to "come on board" with Layered Curriculum so I'm excited to see so
many math teachers now using it with success. The trick seems to
be in modifying the model so that the C layer remains a fairly traditional
math format. Much of the C layer may need to be teacher-centered with
a lot of direct instruction. Choice and options for students though can
remain heavy in the B and A layer. The layer proportions will vary
depending on what type and level of math you are teaching. Geometry for
example may be heavily weighted in the B layer.
I hope we continue to receive more HS Math units. - Kathie

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Dear Kathie, Just wondering if you could clarify something for me. I am in
my second year teaching 8th grade. What I don't understand is how
unmotivated students who might think that a "C" grade is perfectly acceptable
will be motivated to earn a "B" or "A". If these students chose to just stop at
a C, then little higher level thinking has occurred for these students. My
question then is what is the difference if they chose not to be motivated by the
way I teach or if a Layered Curriculum is being presented. Either way, it seems
they don't challenge themselves, experience higher level problems, etc. Jesse M.

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Jesse, Yes, this is one of the most frequently asked questions - what
do you do with students who quit at the C layer? As much as possible,
do not allow it as an option. That said of course, we all know just telling
students they must go forward doesn't always work - especially reluctant
learners and those with a lot of school failure history.

That's the reason I really encourage teachers to keep those B layers
interesting - especially in the beginning of the year. You have to think of
something that students would rather do than nothing. Food works well,
gross, or emotionally exciting things work well. You're going to have to
force a success in the beginning with your reluctant learners. Fortunately after
they see they can succeed, you generally don't have to be so creative as you
get later in the year. One of the real advantages here to the B layer is that it is
so conducive to "fun" types of learning. Discovery, problem solving and other activities
that require a lot of student creativity work well in the B layer and these are usually
things that are intrinsically motivating to students anyway. Best of luck, Kathie

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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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For most of us, we're in the home-stretch of the school year. April is a mixed
blessing - the end of the year is in site, but it's also a time of stress as we face
end-of-the-year testing. Try to keep things in perspective as the year wraps up.

Today I am heading to central Pennsylvania to visit with some teachers just
south of Altoona tomorrow. Next week I'm back up north in Ontario Canada with
the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board and that will wrap up my
April workshops as we get ready for spring break here in New Hampshire.
(Yes, spring break comes late for those of us who have a school year that
ends June 23rd!).

New workshops are in the making for Chicago, Vancouver, Boise, and central
Pennsylvania. My 2005/2006 calendar is posted on-line. I now have some
availability for early 2006. If you need Layered Curriculum training prior to that,
please contact me for information on video training or information on a Layered
Curriculum trainer that may be in your region and available for workshops and
follow-up support.

As usual, my best to you and yours,

Kathie
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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 @ 11:52 AM