Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-November 2005 Edition--- (current subscribers: 16,121)
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News and updates to http://brains.org and Kathie Nunley's
Layered Curriculum (tm) Site for Educators: http://help4teachers.com
~~The NO-MEMBERSHIP-REQUIRED website ~~
Newsletter subscription available at: http://help4teachers.com/newsletter.htm
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SECTION ONE: Teaching Tips -
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Teacher Tip # 1. Use tape to attach a plastic spoon to the end of some
pens. Put the pens into a cup and leave the cup on your desk. Let
students know that they may take a pen whenever they need but they
need to return it at the end of the period. I never have to add to my original
supply. It seems students have a hard time forgetting to return a pen with
a spoon attached to it. Diane Sekula, Berlin High School, Berlin, CT.
Teacher Tip #2: Piggybacking on the vinyl table cloth idea [from last issue]
I use inexpensive fabric I purchase at a discount chain store as a background
for my bulletin boards. I find that if I choose a neutral color; yellow, blue, green
or a tiny pattern, that I can use any seasonal material on the board. The fabric
is fade-resistant and the holes made by either tacks or staples are self-healing!
I leave the fabric up year-round--even over the summer, with no ill-effects of the
color. I usually purchase the fabric for $1.00 per yard and it's a low-cost, one-time
purchase for my bulletin boards. Just measure the area inside the bulletin
board frame and fold under any excess fabric.
Karen Fohey, German teacher, Burlington, WI
Teacher Tip #3: Sing directions. Sing instructional material. Sing
anything to kids and they'll remember it. The change of rhythm gets
student attention and assists learning. My students all seem to
remember things if they can hook rhythm and words together.
Mary Reynolds, Kindergarten, ECStevens Elementary, Cromwell, CT.
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: While in recent years there has been much pressure
to screen pre-K children for reading difficulties, the challenge has been
to find exactly what constructs to measure. What exactly will predict
reading difficulties? A new study from Texas and Florida researchers
took a look at what measures done in kindergarten will actually predict
reading problems in 1st and 2nd grade. They found that letter naming,
letter sound knowledge, naming speed, and phonological awareness are
pretty good measures for predicting reading success for a kindergarten when
they reach grades 1 and 2. On the other hand, perceptual skills, oral
language and vocabulary were not good predictors.
Schatschneider, C. et al. (2004). Journal of Educational Psychology,
Vol 96, (2), 265-282.
HOT TOPIC #2: Have you ever felt completely paralyzed for a few seconds or
even a minute as you woke from sleep? The phenomenon is call sleep
paralysis and while it can be very frightening, it doesn't appear to be harmful.
New research out of New York, shows that sleep paralysis is actually more
common in African American populations than white American populations,
and is more common in persons who may experience panic attacks during
the day. About 23% of African Americans report some incidents of sleep
paralysis compared to about 6% of white subjects in their survey. If you
look only at persons who also experience panic attacks, you find sleep
paralysis in 59% of African Americans and 7% of whites. The researchers
hypothesize the higher incidents in African American populations may be
due to a higher level of psychosocial stressors such as poverty and racism
found in many communities. Paradis, C & Friedman, S. (2005). Transcultural
Psychiatry, Vol 42(1), 123-134.
More Hot Topics at the websites!
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SECTION THREE:
Website updates and Layered Curriculum training materials
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***NEW at the shop****:
At long last, my new book, "Differentiating the High School Classroom"
has been released. I got the first copies yesterday! The book specifically
targets the problems unique to high school teachers in attempting to
differentiate instruction. I wrote it not only for current high school teachers
faced with diversity in their classroom, but as a valuable resource for
undergraduate and graduate methods classes as well. If you teach
pre-service or graduate courses for secondary educators, you'll want to
request a exam copy from Corwin at: http://corwinpress.com
Or to order discounted copies direct from us go to either the Help4Teachers
website or the Brains.org shop:
http://brains.org/store
http://help4teachers.com/books.htm
If you sent a pre-order, you do not need to order again. Those orders are currently
being processed and shipped.
*** Layered Curriculum Texts, workbooks, videos and presentation kits are
all available at the website at educator's discounted prices. The Brains.org
shop carries a wide variety of books on brain-based learning as well as those
hard-to-find colored overlays and now music CD's but our very talented colleague,
Monty Selby. (My personal favorite is track 6 on his "To Catch Them When They
Fall" CD).
Many of you liked the idea of free holiday wrapping for shop purchases made by
newsletter subscribers, so we'll continue the policy. If you are ordering books or
CD's as holiday gifts, just note that in the special instructions on the order page
and we'll wrap it for you at no additional cost. Click on either of the links above
to shop.
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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Hi Kathie Nunley! My name is Evalee Parker and I teach several courses
in the School of Education at North Carolina Central University in
Durham, NC. For the past couple of years I have used your book: "A
Students Brain: The Parent Teacher Manual." I feel all teachers should
read this book and so do my students! This semester I gave the students
several choices as to how they wanted to present their ideas about this
book. One of my students wrote an awesome poem and I thought you would
enjoy it so I am attaching here. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
When I was in the classroom I used the Layered Curriculum with much
success so I always ask my students to create a Layered Curriculum unit.
I encourage them to send them to you! I created an online course on
Classroom Management Strategies using the Layered Curriculum model
and I am also attaching it as well. - Evalee Parker.
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Evalee,
Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful works! I'm posting your unit
on Classroom Management Strategies at the website so others can glean
ideas. The poem by your student Mike Oechsle is terrific. Maybe we can
get education's musical genius, Monte Selby to set it to music?!
I'll include a few stanza's of it here in this newsletter. With Mike's permission,
I'd like to post it in its entirety at the website! Thank you again to both you
and Mike. - Kathie
A Poem in 25 Stanzas by Mick Oechsle
(summarizing: "A Student's Brain: The parent/teacher manual.")
The nervous system is made of neurons,
Throughout the body right up to the brain.
Wack your head on the floor
Or slam your hand in the door,
It's the brain that tells you that's pain.
To start the nerves talking is simple.
It takes chemicals, touch, heat or light.
Neurotransmitters jump gaps
With their chemical zaps.
Agonists and antagonists must be just right.
Coffee and soda speed up the system,
While alcohol just slows it down.
A hyperactive child's
Isn't going too wild;
Their system's too slow it's been found.
(hopefully to be posted in its entirety at the website)
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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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Happy autumn! It's a chilly gray day here in New England. The short days
remind us that winter is just about here. - and so are the holidays! Just
about everyone will be celebrating some type of holiday in the next several
weeks so I should start now wishing you safe and happy travels and
good times with family and friends.
Here in the US we celebrate Thanksgiving next week. This year I'm taking
all four children to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City
- something I've wanted to do since I was a little girl. Watch for us on
television -we'll be waving. :>)
I had a wonderful trip earlier this month to Bermuda where I spent the day
with the very dynamic educators at the Bermuda High School for Girls in
Hamilton. I was glad so many guests could also be with us form the
Ministry of Education there in Bermuda. Thank you again to all of you
for the very warm welcome. It was my first trip to Bermuda and I hope
it won't be my last. What a beautiful country.
I want to thank the educators in Connecticut as well for my day with them
at their multi-district PD day last week. It was great to see so many of you again.
After Thanksgiving, I'm heading back to Michigan for a day in Howell with both
teachers and administrators wanting help with Layered Curriculum and then
I'll make my 3rd visit to the Pinckney Schools to work with their teachers and
parents. Then I'm home for the remainder of this year to spend time with
my family.
We've got several new workshops in the making for 2006. That calendar is
just about full, but I still have a few slots left in August. Let me know if I
can hold something for you.
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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