Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-October 2005 Edition--- (current subscribers: 15,812)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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I asked teachers today from Newfoundland - Labrador to give me
some special teaching tips from their region. Their response:
Eat codfish every day!
And now for some of the more serious ones they gave:

Teacher Tip # 1. Tired of losing your eraser? Use a magnet(rare earth works
best, available from leevalley.com) and using a piece of duct
tape, fasten the magnet to the eraser. The eraser can then be stuck
to the board or any metal surface. - Glen Coates, Newfoundland.

Teacher Tip #2: For primary grades - instead of having to students announce
when they leave for the washroom, have a teddybear or other large stuffed
animal that they set on their chair or desk so the teacher can see at a glance
who is out. - no name, Newfoundland/Labrador.

Teacher Tip #3: To help with organization, photocopy the cover of textbooks and attach
to the front of exercise packets that go with that text. no name, Newfoundland/Labrador

Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org

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SECTION TWO: Hot Topics
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Mirror neurons. Since their discovery was reveled in the early 1990's,
they have taken the neurology and psychology world by storm! These
neurons are apparently responsible for our human ability to imitate
and empathize. With their discovery we now can begin to understand
how watching a football game excites us almost as much as playing
the game. Or how watching your child sled gives us similar emotions
to sledding ourselves.The research, of course, has great implications
for educators. The current issue of APA's Monitor summarizes the
major areas of research on the implications for mirror neurons.
I'll summarize each of their articles for this issue's Hot Topics.

HOT TOPIC #1: The first article summarized the discovery and research
on mirror neurons done in the late 1980s by Giacomo Rizolatti at the
University of Parma. They were first discovered in monkeys when
researchers noticed that the brain responses in a particular area of the
brain that are active when monkeys reach for a peanut were also active
when monkeys simply watched a researcher pick up a peanut. Further
research showed that many of the same neurons that activate for a
particular task are just as active when we simply watch someone else
do the same activity. Eureka - our first major insight into empathy,
mimicry and learning.
Winerman, L. (2005) Monitor on Psychology (APA), Vol 35(5) pg. 48-50.

HOT TOPIC #2: The second article in this issue deals with one of the
first big educational arenas to run with this research on mirror neurons,
and that is the field of autism. Could a faulty mirror neuron system be
the major cause of autism? It made sense that the system that allows
us to learn through mimicry and empathy, both major factors of autism,
may be responsible for the disability. There are many researchers and
theorist working on this topic. Brain imaging studies are showing that
autistic people's mirror system is different than others, but there are still
issues to be addressed such as repetitive movements and self-injury.
Dingfelder, S. (2005) Monitor on Psychology (APA), Vol 35(5). pg 52-53.

HOT TOPIC #3: The third and final article on mirror neurons in this issue
deals with their relationship to language development and other issues
in human evolution. In particular, theorist are looking at the relationship
between mirror neurons and language development. Several researchers
theorize that it may have been these mirror neurons that made language
and social communication possible in our earliest ancestors, and that
there is a strong relationship in the brain between manual dexterity and
language and social world - that we may have first communicated with
hand movements, then spoken language. Azar, B. (2005) Monitor on
Psychology (APA), Vol 35(5) pg 54 - 56.

More Hot Topics at the websites!

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SECTION THREE:
Website updates and Layered Curriculum training materials
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We've got several new additions to the shop this month including my new
book on Differentiating the High School Classroom, our new "Monday afternoon
Faculty Meeting Presentation Kit" for Layered Curriculum and we now are carrying
Monte Selby music CD's for educators and administrators. See what's new at:
http://brains.org/shop/

***NEW at the shop****:
Faculty Meeting Presentation Kits
If you need to present your experience with Layered Curriculum to your department
or faculty, there's now a kit to help you with that. You'll receive 2 Layered Curriculum
texts and 2 Student Brain books for your library, an outline of how to give a brief
presentation, some handouts specific to high school, and even and electronic
slide presentation you can use. You can order the kit at:
http://help4teachers.com/books.htm

NEW BOOK: My newest book, "Differentiating the High School Classroom" is
due out this month. The shop is now taking pre-orders for it at:
http://help4teachers.com/books.htm
We'll ship your book the day it comes in.

**** 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

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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Kathie,
I really enjoyed your presentation in Rapid City last week. It was so energizing.
A couple of teachers in my department are working on designing some units of
Layered Curriculum. We're having a disagreement though on where to put some
assignments. For example, if we want students to make a timeline, would that
be a C layer or B layer assignment? What about journaling?
Thanks again for a great day! Mark S, South Dakota.
..
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Hi Mark,
I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation. I always enjoy my visits to South Dakota
and this was no exception. You ask an excellent question here regarding where
to put an assignment. Actually most any type of assignment can fit in any of
the 3 layers, depending on what you expect the students to do with it. Take
your timeline example: if you just want them to pull information from a text chapter
and sequence it to scale on a time line and you will grade it against a rubric that is
the "right answer" sort of thing, then that's a C layer assignment. If you are having them
gather information from a variety of sources and mix perhaps information from another class
period together and each timeline would be a unique creation, then that would be
a B layer assignment. If they are making a value judgement on the most significant
events to put on a display timeline or judging whether a timeline is the best way to
display the information from a particular story or report - or judging the best design
of a timeline, then you could even use it as a A layer assignment. Remember C layer
assignments generally involve rote learning, with objectively right and wrong answers in
one discipline. B layer asks students to mix new learning to prior knowledge such as
interdisciplinary assignments or problem solving labs, and A layer assignments
require research, logic and information mixed with ethics, values, and personal judgement.

Have fun with your design, and please share them back with us when you are finished!
Kathie

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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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Greetings today from Gander, Newfoundland. And what a wonderful
place this is, despite the gray, rainy weather we're having. Thank you
to the wonderful educators from Newfoundland - Labrador for their very
welcoming hospitality today.

After a quick stop at home tomorrow to check to see if my house is still above
water, I'll be heading out to Billings Montana for a reading conference
and then later this month to Detroit for the MAPSA conference.

We've got new Layered Curriculum units coming in, but they are still in the process
of being posted, so I'll catch you up on those in the next newsletter issue.
I apologize to those of you looking for Jada's math units at the website, apparently
there was some problem getting those posted, but it should be corrected now or
shortly.

Many of you have been inquiring about my new book for high school teachers on
differentiating instruction specifically for high school. That book is now slated to
be released by Corwin press at the end of this month. We're taking pre-orders at
the website.

Enjoy the rest of your October.

As always, 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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Dr Kathie F Nunley
http://help4teachers.com
http://brains.org
Layered Curriculum(tm) . . ..because every child deserves a special education.
- posted by Kathie @ 9:39 AM