Which Intelligence Are You?

Here is another site I stumbled on in my ventures around the web. This graphic comes from Bestcareermatch.com. I find this article interesting, not only because it gives homage to the theory of multiple intelligences, but it encourages job seekers to consider their own weaknesses and strengths in terms of the multiple intelligences, as well.

Obviously, multiple intelligence theory has implications beyond the classroom and it's good to see that those uses are being explored out in the world.

Ancient Classroom Secrets?

When I was a classroom teacher I kept a secret from my parents, my administration and even my students--we practiced meditation every day.  Right after lunch I would turn out the lights for a minute, ask my students to close their eyes or put their heads on the table, then I would lead them through a few minutes of guided meditation where we imagined ourselves to be calm, emotionally and mentally ready for the afternoon of learning to come.  My other secret was that we practiced deep breathing and movement in the morning to get our day going.  People wondered why I had such a well-behaved, productive classroom.

Apparently I am not the only one who feels that energy flow, meditation, emotional and mental grounding are important in the classroom.  I caught a glimpse of a news program featuring Goldie Hawn and the work her Hawn Foundation is doing to promote these skills in the classroom.  I knew I had to find out more.  Mind UP, Hawn's program focuses on the social, emotional and academic learning for all students.  According to their literature,

Our program provides children with emotional and cognitive tools to help them manage emotions and behaviors, reduce stress, sharpen concentration, and increase empathy and optimism.

Isn't that what we want for all of our children? If this sounds interesting to you, you can check out the website at Mind UP.  Scroll down to watch the video featuring Hawn and one of the scientists who worked with her on formulating this program.  It's a (ahem) mind-opener.

Teaching your parents well . . .

As teachers we are often called upon by parents for advise on how to improve home life so that students are better able to succeed.  I don't like to give parents specific advice, which can often be misunderstood as telling parents what to do or accusing parents of not running a proper home.  Instead, I like to point them to different websites that I believe they will find helpful in developing, implementing or modifying their ideas on parenting.

I have to admit I am a New Age-y, love-a-thon type of parent myself, so most of the sites I find are of this type.  Some parents appreciate them and others don't, but to my mind, I am providing them with the best information I have. 

One website I stumbled upon that I found interesting was The Missing Secret to Parenting, a take off on the popular book The Secret, a proponent of the Law of Attraction (LOA).  At its most basic, the LOA posits that we attract into our life those things which we mirror.  In other words, if we want to have loving children, we must show them love.  If we want our children to love learning, we must show them the way.

Of special interest to me was a recent article, How Do Your Children Start Their Day?   The piece talks about how parents help set the tone for their childrens' day by what they say and the behavior they model.  It is also helpful for teachers to consider how they start their day with their students.  Do you start the day dreading the eventual acts of misbehavior or apathy from students or do you start the day with high hopes and anticipation?  Either way, the law of attraction says you're likely to get whichever one you expect.

(Un)Wired for Excellence

Like many schools, Hollis Brookline High School in New Hampshire wanted to improve their internet connectivity.  Wiring the entire campus with ethernet cables was both costly and time consuming.  Their second choice was a laptop cart, but due to scheduling and other concerns, that too was not a solution.

Instead, administrators decided to take advantage of a free beta test of one of U4EA's systems. What is interesting about this story is the ease with which implementation occurred.  First, the school started out slowly, connecting only a few classrooms or laptops at a time, making sure they functioned properly before moving on. 

Three unanticipated benefits came from the school's new connectivity.  First, the school's existing computer labs were freed up so that teachers were able to use existing hardwired computers in more efficient ways.  Reluctant teachers, freed from fiddling with wires and other connectivity issues, became more adventurous in using the new system.  Finally, traveling teachers could go from class to class without worrying about connectivity issues.

Now Hollis is looking to complete another piece of its five-year technology plan--improving on its distance education program.  Something tells me they're going to do all right.

2010 Emerging Technologies

Technology Review selects technologies based on the editor's reporting of key fields. They asked this simple question, will this technology the world? Several of these changes are on the major scale that's likely: better bio fuels, which is a renewable fuel that is derived from biological matter. Other changes will be more local and involve in how technology is used;for example 3D screens on mobile devices, new applications for cloud computing, and social television. There will be new ways to implant medical electronics and develop drugs for diseases. These will affect us the most important.

Enhancing Students Learning Through Technology

Favorite Icebreaker Activity

ICE BREAKER


The memory game is my favorite game I play with my students on opening day as an icebreaker. I start by saying my name and an exciting thing I did during the summer. The next person does the same, but has to repeat what I said. The game continues until everyone has a time to share. Students have a blast trying to remember everything that was said. To end the game I have to repeat every name that was said and an activity. This is a great way to learn students names.

WHATS YOUR FAVORITE ICE BREAKER??????

Enhancing Curriculm With Technology

What is a Classroom Document Camera?

It’s an incredible tool that allows students to have a more energetic and interactive classroom. No matter what the subject a teacher is teaching, document camera will help make the most out of any lesson plan by allowing a teacher to move past the whiteboard and into the world of three dimensional shapes.

A teacher can throw out the old:

v No messy transparencies

v No old maps that wear out over time

v Use blank sheets of paper

v More convenient, less expensive

v Replaces overhead projectors

With a New Life to 2-D Classroom document camera can be an efficient tool to:

ü Display notes and math problems

ü Maps

ü Magazines

ü Newspaper Articles

ü Zoom into specific details you want to present

ü Share articles and clips without having to spend money on copies

The 3^rd Dimension Camera

The most exciting aspect of using document cameras in the classroom is the extra dimension that it brings to your presentation. In addition to showing notes and written materials to your classroom with your document camera, you can display three-dimensional objects as well.

It is a great tool for science classes; students can see the teacher dissecting a frog. Math students can see the complicated world of pyramids, cone and cylinders. Art classes can see more clearly techniques on molding clay and making perfect brush strokes.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The most common cancer in women in the United States is breast cancer, aside from skin cancer. Information from the American Cancer Society (ACS) states, an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. An estimated 40,170 women are expected to die from the disease in 2009 alone. Today, there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.

If you're worried about developing breast cancer, or if you know someone who has been diagnosed with the disease, one way to deal with your concerns is to get as much information as possible. In this section you'll find important background information about what breast cancer is and how it develops.

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that grows in one or both of the breasts. Breast cancer usually develops in the ducts or lobules, also known as the milk-producing areas of the breast.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women (after lung cancer). Although African-American women have a slightly lower incidence of breast cancer after age 40 than Caucasian women, they have a slightly higher incidence rate of breast cancer before age 40. However, African-American women are more likely to die from breast cancer at every age. Breast cancer is much less common in males; by comparison, the disease is about 100 times more common among women. According to the American Cancer.

Healthy Recipe

Red Lentil Curry Soup

“What is in this soup? This soup has some interesting flavors, textures, and colors to make it very appetizing and appealing. It was good, very good. I am so glad I made a big pot of it! Eat healthty.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen fish broth

4 cups frozen vegetable broth

1 quart canned tomatoes

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 small onions, peeled and chopped

6 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 15 oz. can large white beans, like cannellini, drained and rinsed to remove salt

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 cup frozen chopped sweet red pepper pieces

1-2 cups frozen kale strips (fresh would also be great)

1 cup red lentils1

Tbsp. sweet curry powder1 small shake of hot curry powderSalt to taste – use only a very small smidge to start (that is all I used, less than 1/8 teaspoon

(1) Directions: Thaw all broths, make your own, or purchase some vegetable and/or fish broth (the added fish broth does add a real depth to this soup’s flavor).(2) In large soup pot, heat olive oil, then lightly sauté onion and garlic.(3) Add all broths, canned tomatoes, canned beans, frozen vegetables (except kale), lentils, and curry powder to soup pot.(4) Bring to boil and simmer 20-30 minutes or so until red lentils are thoroughly cooked and soft.(5) Add kale 5-10 minutes prior to eating. Do not overcook or overheat from this point forward so that the kale retains its beautiful green color.(6) Salt to taste and add more curry powder if desired (sweet or hot per your family’s tastes).

This recipe makes a big pot of soup! Freeze what you have left or share with a friend. It will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days or so, so you can also have lots available for quick lunches all week long.

Foxy Polly

Hello, my name is Polly; I am a Family and Consumer Science and Study Skills Teacher at a small rural school in Ga. My educational experience of teaching is 25 years. Teaching is a big enjoyment in my life, because I love students to experience learning with my students.
I am learning a new twist in my life with technology I am Blogger and Twitter. My goal is to change from the traditional teacher and explore the technology world and learn the new techniques to make learning more exciting for my students and me.
I was born under the sign of Scorpio which I share with my partner Dee. We Scorpios are fun people.

I have two children, four grandchildren and a cat. My greatest getaway is the walking on the beach and fishing off the pier on a lazy Saturday.

Psychological Perspectives on Learning

The past half-century has seen the rise of several psychological theories on how students learn and consequently how teachers should teach.  Each theory has its own emphasis on particular psychological aspects of learning.  Each has its own value and use in the contemporary classroom.

Behaviorism     

B.F. Skinner, one of the first scientists to work in the field of psychology, also had a profound impact on educational theory.  Skinner was a behaviorist which means he was concerned with how students acted, as opposed to how students learned or a student’s internal processes.  For Skinner, learning was something the teacher imparted on a student.  Student behavior and learning depended on what they were conditioned to do through reinforcement.  Skinner’s theory was based on experiments he’d conducted with pigeons who learned to press a lever in order to receive food.  Skinner equated other organisms (including students) to his birds, believing that they all continued behavior for which they were rewarded.  In terms of student learning, Skinner’s theories are limited by their emphasis on observable behavior. 

Cognitivism

The latter half of the 20^th century saw the rise of the cognitivist perspective on learning.  Based on the work of another psychologist, Jean Piaget, cognitivism “made new contributions to learning theory by creating models of how learners receive, process, and manipulate information” (Smaldino, et al., p. 10).

The concept of long- and short-term memory, where information that is not rehearsed is sloughed off and not remembered, comes from cognitivist psychologists.  Unlike behaviorists, who were concerned only with behaviors they could observe and therefore influence, cognitivists advanced the science of learning by turning inward to the psyche and mental processes of the student.

Constructivism

Constructivists take learning theory to a new level in examining how students “build” learning.  For constructivists, the emphasis shifts from the idea of the passive learner on whom information is imparted and processed, to learning as an active inquiry of problem-solving and discovery.  The role of the teacher becomes one of forming opportunities for experiential and authentic learning.  Constructivists believe that children learn best when they can assimilate new information with prior knowledge to erect new learning constructs.  Consequently, for constructivists, the best gauge of learning is the ability of students to access and utilize new information in everyday situations (Smaldino, et al., p. 10).

Social-Psychological Perspective

As expected, the social-psychological view of education is concerned with the group dynamics of the classroom.  They are concerned with the structure of authority and independence in the classroom, as well as how rewards and punishments are decided on and meted out.  More importantly, social psychologists advanced the concept of cooperative learning, in which a small group of learners take on assigned tasks to assist the entire group.  Cooperative learning, they posit, is more effective and “socially beneficial” than competitive learning. 

Conclusion

In order to be most effective, teachers need to decide their own preferences in terms of these four theories, adopting what they find useful and discarding the rest.  No one theory holds the answer to all classroom situations or learning challenges.  In each situation, the teacher should utilize the theory or concept that best suits their needs and the needs of their students.

The Four Psychological Perspectives