Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---August Edition--- (current subscribers: 17,518)
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News and updates to http://brains.org and Kathie Nunley's
Layered Curriculum (R) Site for Educators: http://help4teachers.com

~~The NO-MEMBERSHIP-REQUIRED website ~~

You can subscribe to this newsletter at:
http://help4teachers.com/newsletter.htm
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SECTION ONE: Teaching Tips -
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Teacher Tip # 1: With a new year beginning, make sure every teacher has
a large sign/poster with his or her name on it stored near the classroom
door. (a "picket" type sign with a wooden stick that allows you to hold
the sign high works best). In the event of an emergency, the teacher
grabs the sign on the way out the door. Held up high in the school
yard, this provides a simple way for students to find their class or
emergency assigned-group for roll call. Make sure your students
know what it looks like (especially if you teach pre-readers).

Teacher Tip #2: Each six weeks I give a new seating assignment to every
student so that they may sit by someone new. This way the students
learn to get along with everyone and they are forced to socialize with
others. Otherwise, they tend to stick with their little clic.
Sue Martinez, Anson High School, TX

Teacher Tip #3: Here's a strategy for students who lose focus moving from
the textbook to their paper while working math problems: Cut a hole in a
3 X 5 card the size of most math problems. The students can use the card
as a bookmark in their math book, and when working a math problem, lay the
card with the hole over the current problem. This helps them track back and
forth from paper to book without losing too much time relocating the current problem.

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: If you work with young Spanish speaking students in an
English speaking school system, you know the difficulty in predicting
English reading problems early-on. But new research out of the University
of California shows that measuring Spanish Short Term Memory (STM)
and Working Memory (WM) will predict English reading performance.
In grade 1, a test of Working Memory which uses both Spanish and
English works best at predicting English reading success, but by the
3rd and 4th grade, a test of WM alone becomes your best predictor.
Swanson, H., Saez, L. & Gerber, M. (2006). Journal of Educational
Psychology, Vol. 98(2), 247-264.

HOT TOPIC #2: Working Memory(WM) is a complicated system. It
involves the 2 types of Short Term Memory (STM)(speech-based
loop and visual-spatial sketch pad), an executive function which
accesses Long Term Memory (LTM), and a monitoring component which
manipulates and recombines information from both LTM and STM.
While WM problems are frequently blamed for math and reading
struggles, researchers are finding that each piece or component
plays a unique role in learning problems. In particular, the executive
function appears the biggest influence in mathematical problem-solving
deficits.
Swanson, H. (2006). Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 98(2), 265-281

More Hot Topics at the websites!

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SECTION THREE: Website updates
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***NEW at the Help4Teachers.com****:

NEW LAYERED CURRICULUM (R) UNITS
Lots of new units came in over the summer!!

~~~~An ART unit (perspective/watercolours) from
Melanie Maxwell, Durham District in Whitby, Ontario.

~~~~An Environmental Science and a Science Skills unit from
Angela Hammer, Gateway M / H S, Grand Rapids, MI

~~~~ A Business Law and a Personal Finance unit from
Roger Mayo, Arvor View H.S., Las Vegas, NV

--AND - Mark Sailer at Pioneer Jr. / Sr. High School in Indiana,
sent us 23 (YES, 23) Science Layered Curriculum units from
his school year!!!! He sent in units from his 7th grade science,
High School Physics and an integrated Chemistry/ Physics program.
Wow - thank you Mark for sharing all these. I won't list all 23, but
your can see them all at:
http://help4teachers.com/samples.htm

NEW DISCUSSION FORUM: Our discussion forum is back!! If you have
a question you'd like me to answer, please post it at the forum.
http://help4teachers.com/forum.htm

The Layered Curriculum(R) TEXT, workbook and video training materials
can be found at: http://help4teachers.com/books.htm
If you are using the any of our books for supplemental texts in your
college classroom, have your bookstore contact Brains.org for
order information or give them this page:
http://help4teachers.com/resellersorderform.htm


***NEW at the Brains.org SHOP: ***
David Sousa's "How the Brain Learns" now is in its 3rd Edition and we
have it in stock at the shop. Also new: "The Light Barrier" - a new look
at light-based reading difficulties, and we have a new High School Teachers'
bundle of books. http://brains.org/store/index.htm

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SECTION FOUR: Kathie's Email
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Kathie-I am intrigued with the concept of Layered Curriculum and student
accountability for learning and demonstrating declarative and procedural
knowledge, not just doing the tasks. As a new subscriber I have a question
posed by a parent: Is it fair to allow students to choose to settle for C and how
will that level prepare students equitably for state assessments? Thank you for
your valuable contributions to quality teaching and learning.
Collegially, Helene Alalouf in NY

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Hi Helene,
To answer the parent's question "is it fair to allow students to choose
to settle for C?" - absolutely not! Layered Curriculum teachers never
"allow" students to settle for a C. I tell teachers nearly every day,
remember, this is NOT contract for grade. At no time would you ever allow
a student to get through the C layer, then quit. You need to expect all
students to tackle all 3 layers - even though many may not complete all
the work or a sufficient amount / quality to earn the actual grade.
I hope that helps. -Kathie

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Hi Kathie,
We used your video training with a group of teachers and they are very excited
about using Layered Curriculum in their classroom. One of the questions
they had concerned their current situation where they have children of
the same "age" level but of significantly different achievement levels,
for example a class of 5th graders with a few children who read on
a 1st grade level. Do you have any suggestions how to offer activities
that will engage the lower reading level students without stigmatizing
them and will not allow the higher reading students to select those
activities? Thanks again for your help, Gay B., Cleveland, Ohio.

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Hi Gay,
Layered Curriculum can be used very effectively in inclusive settings,
even if there is a wide range in abilities. Make sure you have enough
C layer activities so that your lowest ability child has choices which he
or she can do. You may need to include a lot of these as they will be worth
very few points. Also include a few very challenging assignments for
your highest-ability students. Heavily weight the points on these. You
will find that with few exceptions, students choose the highest point
assignments they can handle. In other words, your higher ability students
choose those heavily weighted assignments as they look to be the "easiest
way to get points" while your lowest functioning students are happy to do
several of the easier assignments because they can complete them
with success. They may have to do a lot more, but it works out.
-Kathie

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SECTION FIVE: Workshops/calendar schedule/misc
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Hello again and welcome back to a new year!! (Educators get to say "Happy
New Year!" twice in a calendar year.) I hope those of you in North America had a
wonderful and relaxing summer. Many of you are heading back to your
classrooms this week and some of you still have another week or two
before you get back to the classroom, but August brings a mental shift for
most all of us.

I took the month of July off as usual and enjoyed my time with family in our
mountain cabin. I'm back home in New Hampshire now and excited for a
busy month. Next week I'll be attending the annual American Psychological
Association's national conference which is in New Orleans this year. I'll be
sharing new research and findings with you all in the coming months. The division
of Educational Psychology has had a productive and busy year and I'm looking
forward to catching up with the latest breaking research and researchers.

After the APA convention, I'll be heading to South Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin
and Michigan to conduct Layered Curriculum teacher training. I know many of
you have emailed inquiring about how to attend a workshop. If a workshop is
open to outside attendees, I try to post that link and registration information on
the calendar page at the website. New workshops and conferences are posted
on my calendar as they are confirmed. http://help4teachers.com/calendar.htm

My summer and fall 2007 calendar are open now if you need to schedule a
conference or training session. The Layered Curriculum Video Training program
has become very popular this year as well, so your school may want to investigate
that as a more convenient option http://help4teachers.com/video.htm

I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months. Stay in touch.
And, as always, my best to you and yours,

Kathie
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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

Layered Curriculum(R) is a registered trademark owned and developed
by Dr. Kathie F Nunley. Usage information available at:
http://help4teachers.com/usage.htm
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- posted by Kathie @ 11:59 AM