Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Friday, March 19, 2010
Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-March '10 Edition--- (current subscribers: 21,401)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
News and updates to Kathie Nunley's Layered Curriculum® Sites for Educators:
http://Help4Teachers.com
http://brains.org
You can subscribe to this newsletter at:
http://help4teachers.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--------SECTION ONE: TEACHING TIPS ------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teacher Tip # 1: I make powerpoint presentations that include common
number and letter songs - things they can write from songs they're hearing.
Irene Phaup. Lake Pointe Elem., EMSISD, TX.
Teacher Tip # 2: Write on the student desks using dry erase markers instead
of handing out boards. Monica Lopez, 3rd grade, Eagle Mtn - Saginaw, TX
Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------SECTION TWO: HOT TOPICS in Neuro & Educational Psychology------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOT TOPIC # 1: Those of you who support summer home literacy programs
may want to look at a piece of research out in this month's J. or Ed Psych.
The research involved 4th graders from language minority families. They randomly
divided almost 400 students into 3 groups. Group 1 children each selected
10 books to read over summer vacation. Group 2 children each selected 10 books
to read and their families were involved in a family literacy program over the summer
as well. Group 3 children were the control group with no reading suggestion. While
the first two groups did read more over the summer, the researchers found no
significant effect on reading comprehension or vocabulary between the groups.
The researchers give suggestion on making summer reading more beneficial.
Kim, J. & Guryan, J. (2010). The efficacy of a voluntary summer book reading
intervention for low-income Latino children from language minority families.
Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol 102(1),20-31.
HOT TOPIC #2: High School students' academic self-concept is influenced not only by
the achievement levels of other students in their class (so called, "frame of reference"
effect) but also by the prestige or standings of the school they attend (so called,
"reflected glory" effect). In a large study, researchers found that among equally
achieving students, those placed in high-achieving learning groups had lower
academic self-concepts than their peers. But, the negative effects of being placed
in high-achieving learning groups were weaker for high-achieving students. For both
groups, academic self-concept was positively influenced by their perceived school
standings in the community. Trautwein, U., et al. (2009). Within-school social
comparison: How students perceive the standing of their class predicts academic
self-concept. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 853-866.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---SECTION THREE: WEB UPDATES ---
YouTube Videos, FB, & Twitter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
====WEBSITE UPDATES====
Looking for Layered Curriculum® sample units? They are at:
http://help4teachers.com/
I have 3 new videos posted covering hot topics:
#28: Early signs and diagnosis of Autism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
#30: Listening to music while studying or testing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
====TWITTER====
You can also get Teaching tips from me at: http://twitter.com/
Looking for the new Layered Curriculum® Individual Study Kits. We are now
re-stocked and ready, so please feel free to order either the regular kit or the
deluxe version at: http://help4teachers.com/
------SECTION FOUR: KATHIE'S EMAIL -----
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Dr. Nunley,
I have been utilizing the Layered Curriculum in my sixth grade classroom
and have found new energy and enthusiasm for both myself and my students.
I submitted a unit and it was published, thank you very much. I was
wondering if you would be interested in adding a feedback section to your
website where teachers who have used various units or parts of units can
share. This can be help educators grow and learn.
Thank you for the Layered Curriculum. I have been teaching for a long time
and it is wonderful to try something new and find such tremendous success.
Sincerely, Jayne Perkins, 6th gr. Knowlton School, Berwick, Maine
=============================
Hi Jayne,
Thanks so much for the note and for the 3 new units you sent! I would love to
have a discussion section at the website for teachers to share unit ideas.
Unfortunately in the past, we've found those discussion group pages to be
landing points for spammers and other people who really were not sharing
appropriate information. So, I'm hoping that our facebook page will do the
same thing in an easier-to-monitor location. Feel free to post ideas,
questions, etc on the wall there. http://facebook.com/layered.
- Kathie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------SECTION FIVE: WORKSHOPS / SCHEDULE / MISC CHAT------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Spring Everyone!! Gee, we've had the most beautiful weather
here in New England this week. I hope it lasts.
I want to thank the teachers in Lodi, Ohio and Toronto, Ontario for the
warm hospitality last week. We did several Layered Curriculum® workshops.
I'll be back in Toronto next month as well as Oklahoma. New workshops are
in the making for Illinois, Wisconsin, New York and Idaho. My calendar is
posted on the website. If you are looking to schedule a workshop for the next
school year, please send me and email or visit:
http://help4teachers.com/
the Springs Alive village school outside of Kampala. If you are not aware of
our African humanitarian project, please visit our page at:
http://help4teachers.com/
I will be bringing teaching materials to the school and will be doing a couple
of days of teacher training with their staff. I am still in need of some lesson plans
both paper and power point that I can take for the elementary staff. If you are willing
to make a short lesson for a teacher, on how to teach basic letters, numbers,
addition, subtraction, health, etc., please let me know. If your students or class
would like to make a donation of school supplies, we are gathering those as well.
We are limited on the amounts we can carry with us, so please email for specifics.
As always, my best to yours,
Kathie
==============================
Workshop information is available at the website
http://help4teachers.com/
Email: kathie@brains.org
Brains.org and Help4Teachers is located at:
54 Ponemah Road
Amherst, NH 03031
Layered Curriculum® is a trademark developed by and registered
to Dr. Kathie F Nunley. Usage information available at:
http://help4teachers.com/
You are receiving this newsletter because you requested to be on my
mailing list by entering your email address at one of the two websites.
I NEVER share or sell my newsletter list, nor is it used for any other
purpose other than this bi-monthly newsletter. Should you need to be
removed from the list, or need to CHANGE your email address, you
can do so by simply clicking this link:
http://s1.seffylists.com:81/
Layered Curriculum® . . . because every child deserves a special education (tm)
