Issue 32: Jan 12, 2009 Connections Newsletter
Can Standing Up Boost Thinking?
Denise Burson
Jan 12, 2009
Are we wasting learning time by having students sit too much? Dr. Max Vercruyssen, of the University of Southern California, discovered that the body's posture affects learning. His research showed that standing increases heartbeats by 10 extra times per minute. Standing sends more blood to the brain, which activates the central nervous system to increase neural firing. On the average, there is a 5-15% greater flow of blood and oxygen to the brain when standing. Researchers say standing up will create more attention arousal for learning.
Frequent physical breaks are important for every type of learner (adult and children) and in every type of learning situation. Through movement we can reduce stress, improve short-term memory, help our neurons communicate better and become more creative. Next time you notice that the group energy seems to be lagging, ask your learners to stand up and share with their partner.
Examples:
Tell your partner 3 important points you have learned so far.
Tell your partner one sentence that summarizes your learning.
Something new I learned today. . .
Use these exchanges as opportunities for distributed summarizing in your acquisition lessons.
Doing Mathematics
Laurian Phillips
Jan 12, 2009
What does a standards-driven mathematics classroom look like? It is a classroom where students are doing mathematics. What does it mean to do mathematics? Stop here, and take a moment to list some words that to you suggest "doing mathematics."
Is it working problems, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing?; or does your list include words such as investigate, conjecture, justify, represent, verify, explain, predict, describe, and use? These words, and more, are found in the Principles and Standards from NCTM and are also found in most state standards now.
When students are engaged in activities suggested by the above list, they are "doing mathematics." They cannot be passive listeners or simply be copying examples. They must be mathematically mentally engaged in the task at hand. Classrooms where these types of activities are the norm are the classrooms where students are taught to understand the mathematics, not just to memorize a set of facts and procedures for the test, only to be re-taught those same facts and procedures next year. Teaching this way is not easy, especially if it is new for you; but, as we move toward standards-driven education, this is what is expected of us and what is needed for our students. You will not become an expert at this type of teaching overnight, but with planning and patience, it will happen!
Look at the LEARNING-FOCUSED Math Instruction Collection for ideas to help in the standards-driven math classroom
Positive Thinking
Barbara McSwain
Jan 12, 2009
Mary Kay Ash, owner of Mary Kay Cosmetics once said, "If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't you're right!" That quote is the essence of positive thinking. Often, when we are asked to change, we are initially blinded by negative thinking.
Negative thinking dooms one to say, "I'll never be able to use Collaborative Pairs because it won't work for me", or "I could never really plan a lesson that lasts for 2-3 days!" My reply is always the same, "Why not?" There is no reason why you cannot be a great Learning-Focused teacher or administrator.
In order to think positively, the first thing that we must address is motivation. When we find ourselves not achieving and unwilling to change, we may want to ask the question that Dr. Phil poses to guests on his show, "How is that working for you?" Next ask yourself, "Am I willing to learn a few new researched and evidence based strategies?" If the answer is "yes," then let us start with the top five learning strategies that students need to use to raise achievement.
The first time that I attended a Learning-Focused workshop, I thought, "I can do this! I can plan collaboratively for students to have the opportunity to use the following strategies:
The Learning-Focused unit/lesson framework affords the opportunities for students to connect these strategies. The result in achievement gains is the multiplier effect, because the strategies are not being used in isolation.
I began to see student engagement increase. Once the students were more motivated to learn, they began to achieve at higher levels. When the students who had not previously performed at high levels experienced success, I began to know that these strategies work! I wanted to learn more about what the research was saying! Success breeds success. It was important to learn more about the Exemplary Practices that were in place in schools/districts that were experiencing high achievement in a climate of high accountability. The 36 evaluators that went into these schools looked for patterns. Learning-Focused addresses each of these in the Learning-Focused workshops.
The school that I was working with began to meet success "head on." It was a thrilling experience in a school that had not experienced success for a number of years.
I noticed that the most successful classrooms were where teachers had not allowed irrational thoughts of not succeeding to enter into their team planning sessions. They never spoke negatively about themselves or their students. Their attitude was that "you must believe in yourself and give yourself permission to be successful." We are living in a remarkable time. Enough research has been done to allow us to know "how children learn." It is our privilege to implement the research! If we do, the sky is the limit of what our students will be able to accomplish.
According to http://www.marykaytribute.com/HerLife1.htm : "Mary Kay grew her dream from a small direct sales company to the largest direct seller of skin care and color cosmetics in the United States. Accordingly, Fortune Magazine recognized her company with inclusion in "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America", and also named Mary Kay one of the 10 best companies for women. The company today includes more than 800,000 Independent Beauty Consultants in 37 markets on five continents."
I believe through the implementation of Learning-Focused that we can grow our classrooms into "world class" learning environments where all children have the opportunity to achieve.
