Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter
---mid-November '11 Edition--- (current subscribers: 15,242)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--------SECTION ONE: TEACHING TIPS ------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TEACHER TIP # 1: I do "Think, Pair, Share" in my class. I allow students
time
from having to share with the whole class when they are unsure.
January Dabrowski, Orangeville District Secondary School, ON
TEACHER TIP #2: Teacher-in-Role: The teachers takes on a temporary
character to introduce a new topic or concept - NOVELTY.
Tony Culp, Orangeville District Secondary School, ON
Send your favorite teaching tip to me at Kathie@brains.org
Watch for more tips via Twitter: http://twitter.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------SECTION TWO: HOT TOPICS in Neuro & Educational Psychology------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOT TOPIC # 1: Most people associate adolescence as a period of
social anxiety. In fact, it is a key period for the development of serious
anxiety problems. Researchers have studied the relationship between
pubertal timing and social anxiety in 12 - 17 year olds. Early maturing
girls had the highest levels of social anxiety. Early maturing boys and
on-time maturing girls had lower levels. Blumenthal, H. et al. (2011).
Developmental Psychology, Vol 47(4), 133-1140.
HOT TOPIC #2: When learning a foreign language, pictures help.
That's true as long as the student is not too over-confident in the power
of the picture to help. Researchers had students learn new foreign
vocabulary from words, from pictures and from pictures paired with
words. The pictures were helpful in the learning process except for those
students who were overconfident in their view of depending on the picture.
Carpenter, S. & Olson, K. (2011). " Are pictures good for learning new
vocabulary in a foreign language? Only if you think they are not."
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
Jul 25 issue.
More Hot Topics at the webstie: http://brains.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---SECTION THREE: WEB UPDATES ---
BRAINS.ORG & HELP4TEACHERS.COM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Layered Curriculum® Units:
Thanks to Jayne Perkins in Maine who sent a couple of new units for middle
school social studies and science.
See all the sample units at:
http://help4teachers.com/
The Brains.org Bookshop carries Layered Curriculum® texts,
workbooks, videos and training kits. We appreciate your support.
http://brains.org/store/index.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------SECTION FOUR: KATHIE'S EMAIL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathie, I am just learning really how to implement Layered Curriculum®
into my Honors World History classes. It seems like formal assessments
in the form of paper and pencil tests are really taken out of the format. What
about in situations, like my own, where we are required to give a department
test over each unit? Would you just give a unit grade for the unit and also
give a separate test grade for the department test or add the department
test in as points within the layers? Is this defeating the point of Layered
Curriculum because you are adding the formal assessment back into the
picture? Thanks for your time! Pam B., Georgia.
======================
Hi Pam. You've brought up a common point of confusion with Layered
Curriculum® - formal assessment. First, I'll tell you that most teachers
still use formal written assessment (e.g: paper-pencil tests). You can
have them at the end of every unit, every other unit, or as needed. These
can be teacher-made, department-made, or even state mandated. How
you combine the marking is also up to you. You may want to have the unit
worth 50% of their grade and the test worth 50% - or 80 / 20... there is no
right way to do it - make it fit your needs. - Kathie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------SECTION FIVE: WORKSHOPS / SCHEDULE / MISC CHAT------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I want to wish everyone here in the US a pleasant Thanksgiving.
Next week we all take a few days off to enjoy feasting on traditional
turkey, stuffing, potatoes, squash and pies. Enjoy!
I recently returned from Canada where they had their Thanksgiving
weeks ago. I had a great day with school counselors at the Ontario
School Counselor Association's conference. I'll be heading back
up to Ontario this week to work with the teachers at the Orangeville
Secondary School on Friday.
I've got new workshops in the works for Ontario, Maine, Missouri
and the southern region of Africa. To see a list of all my workshops,
check the calendar page: http://help4teachers.com/
If you are looking to host a Layered Curriculum® workshop this school
year, I have a few spring openings left and my summer and early fall
calendar for 2012 is now open. 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)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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, simply reply to this and let me know.
==============================
Layered Curriculum® is a trademark developed by and registered
to Dr. Kathie F Nunley. Usage information available at:
http://help4teachers.com/
