Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---October 2005 Edition--- (current subscribers: 15,669)
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News and updates to http://brains.org and Kathie Nunley's
Layered Curriculum (tm) Site for Educators: http://help4teachers.com
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Newsletter subscription available at: http://help4teachers.com/newsletter.htm
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SECTION ONE: Teaching Tips -
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Here are a couple of tips I gathered personally this week at schools:
TEACHING TIP #1. On days when the students seem particularly "bouncy"
(spirit week, holidays, etc) have a drawing activity on the overhead as
they come in. In my environmental science class I have step-
by-step illustrations for some type of insect, bird, mammal, etc.
Every few minutes I expose the next step. They love learning to
draw wildlife and it settles them right down in a matter of minutes.
Dan Bisaccio, Souhegan H.S., Amherst, NH
TEACHING TIP #2. I found this banner hanging high and prominent in the
gymnasium at Somerset School, Manitoba this week. The welcome from
the Manitoba High School Athletic Association read:
**************************
WELCOME!
Attendance at this event entitles you to enjoy an exhibition of skills
developed by student athletes in an educational setting. Please be
RESPECTFUL and ENCOURAGING in your approach to ALL
Athletes, Officials, Coaches and fellow Spectators.
BE A FAN . . . NOT A FANATIC.
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Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org
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SECTION TWO: Hot Topics
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HOT TOPIC #1: Can children have anxiety disorders? The question
has created much debate in recent years in the medical and
psychological community. Researchers at the University of
Illinois - Urbana have used a technique known as "voxel-based
morphometry" to compare the brains of children diagnosed with Anxiety
Disorder and a group of "normal" children. It turns out that the children
with Anxiety Disorder had significantly reduced gray matter volume
in their left amygdala (an area very much involved in emotional response.)
Milham, M. et al. (2005). Biological Psychiatry, Vol 57(9), 961-966.
HOT TOPIC #2: Asperger Syndrome: nature vs nurture? Asperger
syndrome (one of the autism spectrum disorders) can be caused
by chromosome abnormalities, prenatal events, or genetics. Most of the
time Asperger syndrome has a genetic component (55% of all cases).
It tends to follow paternal blood lines as about half of all people with
Asperger syndrome have some type of autism spectrum disorder
in their father's family line. About 25% of Asperger syndrome cases result
from some prenatal or birth event.
Gillberg, C. & Cederlund, M. (2005). Journal of Autism &
Developmental Disorders, Vol 35(2), 159-166.
HOT TOPIC #3: While many feel that learning a 2nd language after
the age of 12 changes the way the brain processes that language,
new research out of France may show otherwise. French researchers
used fMRI scans on French / English bilingual speakers. Half were
bilingual from birth and half learned their second language after age 12.
Articulation of both languages showed little difference in the brain regions
involved. The extent of the neural networks involved was also similar.
This contradicts other research we've seen so we'll have to watch and
see how this develops.
Frenck-Mestre, C. et al. (2005). Neuroreport: For Rapid Communication of
Neuroscience Research, Vol 16(7), 761-765.
More Hot Topics at the websites!
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SECTION THREE:
Website updates and Layered Curriculum training materials
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**** New Layered Curriculum Units
Jada Jackson in Columbus Ohio sent math units for middle school and
Cari Barragree at Kansas State University sent a unit on
Negro Leagues Baseball which is now posted in the Adult Ed / Higher Ed
section of the samples menu. http://help4teachers.com/samples.htm
Thank you both.
Please send any Layered Curriculum units you've designed to us at:
kathie@brains.org
***NEW****: Faculty Meeting Presentation Kits
Does this sound familiar?
"I've been using Layered Curriculum in my classroom this year and now I've
been asked to do a presentation for my whole school - Help!"
Because so many of you have asked for ideas on presenting and sharing your
success with Layered Curriculum to your whole school or department, I've
designed the "Monday Afternoon Faculty Meeting Presentation Kit" to help.
The kit contains a couple copies of the key books for your school library,
a presenter's booklet with tips and strategies for your brief presentation
and electronic slides you can use - in hard copy and electronic versions.
The high school version is available now. The middle school / junior
high version will be coming soon. You can get information and order your kit at:
http://help4teachers.com/books.htm
**** All Layered Curriculum training materials - videos, texts and workbooks are
available at a discount when ordered direct from us. You can order
them from the Brains.org shop or at http://help4teachers.com/books.htm
Information on ordering the video training is at: http://help4teachers.com/video.htm
**** BRAINS.org Shop
Our bookstore is always open. http://brains.org/store/
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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Kathie, I have a student this year who is labeled with "high functioning
autism". Someone told me this is the same as Asperger syndrome, but
I've heard they are different. Can you help me with ideas?
Carlee W., Idaho.
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Hi Carlee,
I know it is difficult to sometimes see the difference between
persons with Asperger's syndrome and persons with Autism if they
are high functioning. This is especially true after the child grows up.
There is however a significant difference. (NOTE: They are NOT the
same thing, despite what some people may have told you).
The biggest difference between the two diagnoses is in language
impairment. Sometimes you need to go back to the parents and
ask about language development during childhood. Children with
Asperger's syndrome generally develop good verbal language. They
can speak with ease. Their social understanding of the give-and-take
of language may be atrocious as they ramble on and on about their
narrow focus of interest - but they do speak and sometimes have
incredible vocabularies at an early age. Children with autism almost
always struggle greatly with language. Their verbal language skills are
significantly impaired. Even as teens and adults, persons with
high-functioning autism will struggle with verbal communication though
they may learn great compensation skills for that.
So while the two may look similar in say a high school classroom, be
aware they you will need to provide many non verbal-language-based
tasks and assessments for the child with high-functioning autism.
Best of luck to you. - Kathie
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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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Fall is most definitely in the air. In fact for me today, here in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, it almost feels like winter is in the air! The colors are changing
here north of the border and I'm sure the colors are heading your way soon.
I've had a wonderful week here in Manitoba visiting with over a thousand
educators from a variety of Manitoba schools including many Mennonite
and Hutterian schools. Thank you all for the welcome and the education
too! I'm currently heading back to the US for a quick visit tomorrow in
Minnesota and then home. Next week I look forward to my trip to
Rapid City.
I want to thank Dana Villicano at Fruitville Junior High in Bakersfield,
CA and Laura Baker in Florida and Rob Wearing at Selwyn House School
in Canada for their support and answer to my request in the last newsletter
for help for Lake Elementary in St. Amant, Louisiana. I heard from the
principal and they are very grateful for any and all help from other schools.
They are also more than happy to disburse any surplus materials to their
neighboring schools in their parish. If any of you need additional contact
information please let me know. And again, thank you to those who wrote
with offers of help. As we know things just went from bad to worse even
since the last issue in mid September. Our thoughts and prayers continue
to go out to our colleagues in those area.
I guess I'd better wrap this up and head over to the Winnipeg airport for
my flight today. Watch for my new book set to be released in the next
several weeks, "Differentiating the High School Classroom."
I'll have order information in the next issue.
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)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 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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