With the longer days and warm weather approaching look for ways to incorporate outdoor education into your classroom. Below Penny offers some insight into outdoor education, the benefits of it, and how you might want to incorporate it into your classroom, with multiple resources for further investigation. I recently found a new outdoor education site in the United Kingdom, Learning Through Landscapes, and read the following:"A quarter of a million children are persistently … [Read more...]
Does the Seating Arrangement Matter
As I share new evidence-based tools for increasing calm, focus and achievement in school, I also look for any research on more traditional approaches. Recently, I focused on the traditional practice of sitting in rows. Here is what I turned up: "Seating Arrangements That Promote Positive Academic and Behavioral Outcomes: A Review of Empirical Research," by Rachel Wannarka & Kathy Ruhl. Support For Learning, 2008 "There is no single classroom seating arrangement that promotes positive … [Read more...]
When Children are Unable to Regulate their Behaviors and Emotions
During this winter season when I am confronted with an unhappy student who can't easily or is unwilling to follow directions, I find it helpful to pause and remember some important principles of behavior management. Here are some thoughts to remember when children are unable or unwilling to regulate their behaviors and emotions: You can't control another person's behavior, only your own response. No matter what it seems, students do not want to be in control of the … [Read more...]
Using Frequency, Intensity and Duration to Improve Learning Outcomes
It is a well understood neurological fact that to increase learning, improve automaticity, and embed skills and concepts in memory, one needs to be sure there is sufficient frequency, intensity and duration of the particular skill or stimulus. We decide this every day when we determine the correct use of a medication, the right training program for an athlete, the nature of pregnancy contractions, and peak performance requirements that produce quality results in, say, a factory assembly … [Read more...]
School Practices that Downshift Students
A well-known term in the brain-based world is "downshifting." According to Renate and Geoffrey Caine who first coined the term, downshifting is "the psychophysiological response to threat, accompanied by a sense of helplessness or fatigue. The downshifted person experiences a sense of fear or anxiety, not the excitement of a challenge. Downshifting is accompanied by a feeling that you cannot access your own ability to deal with the situation. Downshifting can result from very drastic conditions … [Read more...]
Introducing Zentangles
The following article is contributed by Penny Cunninggim, co-founder of NEARI. Peggy will also be speaking at our INSPIRE 2014 conference.A teacher recently told me about this wonderful multipurpose activity for creating structured patterns that she used as part of student journaling: it is called zentangles. The website she found is: What Do We Do All Day. This activity blew me away. Thank you, Liz!I think this is the perfect, light, enjoyable, and easy yet creative technique to … [Read more...]
Five Ways Traditional Education Has to Change
The following post is contributed by Will Richardson. Will Richardson is a speaker, educator, blogger and author of four books, most recently Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere (September, 2012) published by TED books. Will Richardson will be the opening Keynote for the INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Students conference in October 2014.1. From Answers to Questions - In a world where we have access to the sum of human knowledge (almost), 2.5 … [Read more...]
Will Richardson and Diana Laufenberg to Speak at Education Conference: Inspire 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TED Speakers Selected for Keynotes at the Second Annual NISCE Conference on Student-Centered Education -- INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Student Winchester, MA, May 7, 2014—TED Speakers, Will Richardson and Diana Lefaunberg, will be the keynote speakers at INSPIRE 2014: Engaging Today's Student, NISCE's second annual conference on student-centered education.The two-day event hosted by the National Institute for Student-Centered Education (NISCE) is open to education … [Read more...]
Being Careful About What We Say
I imagine we may have a few differences when it comes to what we believe is appropriate communication with our students. For me, the goal is to increase communication and deepen relationships with students rather than increase distance between us and strengthen our negative assumptions about them. Lastly, and most importantly, we want students to love coming to our classes, to feel relaxed and comfortable in our presence, to feel safe enough to ask spontaneous questions, to take risks and to … [Read more...]
Woodshop vs. Computers
The other day I was asked by my supervisor whether I thought my students were enjoying shop class as much as they used to. I had to admit that fewer students had been signing up for shop at recess than in previous years. She was surprised. She knew during tours of our school the shop is always a big draw. It’s true. I see the potential students on the tour. They get to the shop and their eyes widen and a look of great excitement comes over most of them. Their parents/guardians too get … [Read more...]
