Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Monday, January 24, 2011
Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---Mid-January '11 Edition--- (current subscribers: 21,360)
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News and updates to Kathie Nunley's Layered Curriculum® Sites for Educators:
http://Help4Teachers.com
http://brains.org
Do you have a NEW EMAIL address? You can unsubscribe your old one and
subscribe the new one using the link at the bottom of this newsletter.
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--------SECTION ONE: TEACHING TIPS ------
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TEACHER TIP # 1:Paint the walls of your classroom with chalkboard paint.
Leave colored chalk around for students to create. - seen at Brooklyn
International High School.
TEACHER TIP # 2: Rather than the school hallway, install your student
lockers inside classrooms - limits access and allows adult supervision
around locker areas. - seen at Brooklyn International High School.
Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org
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------SECTION TWO: HOT TOPICS in Neuro & Educational Psychology------
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HOT TOPIC # 1: While "discovery-based" instructional strategies may have
enjoyed a resurgence, they have recently come under scrutiny, particularly
those strategies which provide no teacher assistance in the learning process.
A new study compared unassisted discover to explicit instruction and then
compared assisted discovery techniques to explicit instruction and other
teaching methods. They found in the 580 classroom comparisons, that
unassisted discovery does not benefit learners. Classrooms which allowed
enhanced discovery, using feedback, worked examples, scaffolding and some
explanation were most successful in learning outcomes.
Alfieri, L et al. (2010). Does discovery-based instruction enhance learning? Journal
of Educational Psychology, (Nov issue preview).
HOT TOPIC #2: More research now out supporting the perception of student choice in
classroom assignments. In this study, half the classes received a choice in their
homework options, half did not. In the following unit of study, the options were reversed.
Results show that when students received a choice of homework activities, they
reported higher intrinsic motivation to do the homework, were more likely to complete the
homework, felt more competent in the work, and performed better on the unit test.
Patall, E. et al. (2010). The effectiveness and relative importance of choice in the
classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol 102(4), 896-915,
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---SECTION THREE: WEB UPDATES ---
BRAINS.ORG & HELP4TEACHERS.COM
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Notes from the Bookshop http://brains.org/store
This month we're featuring books for secondary teachers:
Strategies for Learning: Empowering students for success, grades 9 - 12 (Rooney)
Common-Sense Classroom Management for Middle and High School Teachers (Lindberg, et al)
Engaging Adolescents in Reading (Guthrie)
New Books we're carrying:
How the ELL Brain Learns (Sousa)
As always, we have discounted prices on all Layered Curriculum® materials and
the Layered Curriculum® study kit for individual teachers.
http://brains.org/store
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-----SECTION FOUR: KATHIE'S EMAIL
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Kathie - I have heard you/learned from you twice over the last few years and
respect your work greatly. I am working with a student that is truly puzzling
to me. While reading with him today, he began to experience more difficulty
with the text. He said, "Let me try it this way." He turned the book upside down
and began reading. I gave him other texts and he read them in similar ways.
I have never encountered a student who reads quite like this. I am very interested
in how his brain processes text and how I can help him to read at higher levels.
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Denise, OH.
==============================
Hi Denise,
Though unusual, I have heard of students reading books upside down. As you
probably know, images come into our eye upside down and our brain flips the
image so that we "see" it as right side up. When learning to read, the brain
has to learn to flip the words so that they appear right side up. Sometimes
this doesn't happen - as you have witnessed with this boy. I would guess,
given his young age, his brain could probably be trained to flip the words still.
However, I would consult someone who is an expert in this type of dyslexia to
get their advice and ideas.
I'd be curious as to what you work out with him. - Kathie
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------SECTION FIVE: WORKSHOPS / SCHEDULE / MISC CHAT------
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Stay warm, stay warm, stay warm.....I just keep repeating that this week
here in New England where winter is bringing us bitter cold with wind chills
of 30 below zero! Brrrr. My cat has the right idea - let's just sleep til March!
I am looking forward to leaving frigid New England on Wednesday and heading
to warm southern California for a day with the teachers at El Monte Union
High School. After that, I'll return to NYC for another day at the Brooklyn
International High School. I spent a wonderful day there last week too, meeting
students and observing lots of great Layered Curriculum® lessons in their
classrooms.
We have a new workshop on the calendar for New York City on March 18th
which is open to outside participants. So those of you in the New York area
who have been waiting for a Layered Curriculum® workshop to attend - check
the contact information on the calendar page. We also have an open workshop
in Missouri for March 1st. Again, just check the calendar page
http://help4teachers.com/
I still have some calendar openings for workshop in late spring of 2011 and my
fall calendar is now open. If you are wanting to have Layered Curriculum® training
brought to your school or district, send me an email.
As always, my best to you and yours,
Kathie
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