Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---September '11 Edition--- (current subscribers: 16,343)
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News and updates to Kathie Nunley's Layered Curriculum® Sites for Educators:
http://Help4Teachers.com
http://brains.org
unsubscribe and email change links at the bottom
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--------SECTION ONE: TEACHING TIPS ------
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TEACHER TIP # 1: Always have a wide selection of magazines in the room
for students to read and peruse. Older ones can be used for them to cut-out.
Sephra Khan, Niagara Street, ON.
TEACHER TIP # 2: I put students in groups of 3 or 4. In front of each I place
small cubes - either 4, 8 or 12. Each child can only speak using the number
of words according to their cube number. It causes them to focus on their
thinking and use more concise language.
Kathleen Schratz, Ryerson Community School.
Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org
Watch for more tips via Twitter: http://twitter.com/
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------SECTION TWO: HOT TOPICS in Neuro & Educational Psychology------
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As usual, the Fall "Hot Topics" will come from sessions at this year's
American Psychological Association's National Conference.
HOT TOPIC # 1: Trying to decide whether to use incentives in your school
or classroom? The latest research sheds some light on when, what and how.
Using incentives to reward "input" seems to work much better than incentives
for "output". For example, offering rewards for reading can be productive whereas
offering rewards for good grades doesn't seem to work. And remember that
rewards only work if people know what they need to do or change - merit incentives
rarely work if the person is doing their best already.
David Bergin: Use and MisUse of Incentives in School Settings. Presented at the
American Psychological Association's National Conference, Washington DC.
August 5, 2011
HOT TOPIC #2: From the same research team - Incentives can make a difference
in behavior and learning, but can also be counterproductive. If an incentive
causes a person to try something they may not otherwise have, and it ties them
into the natural flow of intrinsic reward, then it is worthwhile. As one researcher put
it, "If you've never eaten an artichoke and I pay you $5 to eat one - and you then
discover you love artichokes and eat them often for life, that was a good incentive."
Robert Slavin. Use and MisUse of Incentives in School Settings. Presented at the
American Psychological Association's National Conference, Washington DC.
August 5, 2011
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---SECTION THREE: WEB UPDATES ---
BRAINS.ORG & HELP4TEACHERS.COM
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We have combined the Brains.org Bookshop with the Layered Curriculum®
training materials shop.
"One Stop Shopping" at: http://brains.org/store/index.
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The Brains.org BOOKSHOP
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New Book:
=> "ENHANCING YOUR LAYERED CURRICULUM CLASSROOM:
Tips, Tune-ups and Technology"
Just arrived this week and now available at a discounted price and
bundled. It's my latest book for Layered Curriculum® teachers.
=> "Buddha's Brain: The practical neuroscience of happiness,
love and wisdom. "
=>"Pictures of the Mind: What the new neuroscience tells us
about who we are."
http://brains.org/store/index.
*** We always offer the Layered Curriculum® TEXT and WORKBOOK set
for the direct, discounted price of $42.00.
** The "deluxe version" of the Layered Curriculum® Study Kit now includes
FOUR books along with a powerpoint presentation and video.
You can order any of these and other recommended books at either online bookshop:
http://brains.org/store
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------SECTION FOUR: KATHIE'S EMAIL ------
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Dr. Nunley,
With all the research you do and quote how can you possibly include and
presumably endorse Teacher Tip #1 in the August edition of your newsletter?
Current research about motivation shows clearly that if we want to develop
students as self-directed independent learners that the types of extrinsic
motivation used by teachers are not only wrong, they damage students.
As Daniel Pink says in his book "there is a mismatch between what
science knows and schools do."
It is bad enough that the Layered Curriculum uses grades as (extrinsic)
motivators instead of using learning success but please don't encourage
teachers to use silly little motivators that research shows clearly should
not be used. - Ken O.
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Hi Ken,
Thanks so much for your note. It arrived with uncanny timing because
it arrived on my Blackberry as I was literally walking into a session at the
APA conference entitled "Use and MisUse of Incentives in School Settings"
by none other than the team of Robert Slavin, David Bergin AND Daniel Pink!
- what are the odds of that!?
Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts and I think I've been fairly clear on how
I feel about grading schemes (we are contracted to use them). I write about
my philosophy in my books and in my online article "If We Must Use Grades,
Let's Make Them Reliable" ( http://help4teachers.com/
The research on extrinsic rewards / incentives shows that they do in fact have
a place in schools - I've detailed some of that in this issue's Hot Topics.
- Kathie
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------SECTION FIVE: WORKSHOPS / SCHEDULE / MISC CHAT------
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AUTUMN!! Can you feel it in the air? No? Then you must live in Texas.
I know the heat has been oppressive down there, but stay strong - it
can't last forever. Here in the northeast, hurricane Irene not only brought
wind and water, she brought cool days. Our first day of school already
involved jackets. So, I'm thinking Autumn.
Speaking of Irene, she did knock out our power for a few days, but we are
back up and running now and all book orders have shipped - including those
of you who pre-ordered "Enhancing Your Layered Curriculum® Classroom".
That came in last week and is now in stock.
New Layered Curriculum® workshops are in the works for Michigan,
New York, and Ohio. Several fall workshops are open to outside participants
and registration and contact information can be found on the calendar page:
http://help4teachers.com/
I still have 2 calendar openings left for this fall and my spring 2012 calendar
is now open. If you are looking for a Layered Curriculum® workshop for this
school year, just send me an email.
As always, my best to you and yours,
Kathie
Dr Kathie F Nunley
Layered Curriculum® . . . because every child deserves a special education (tm)
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