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Training the Brain to Listen: A Practical Strategy for Student Learning and Classroom Management

Training the Brain to Listen: A Practical Strategy for Student Learning and Classroom Management
Image credit: iStockphoto Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University. They have written several books, including Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. During the school year, students are expected to listen to and absorb vast amounts of content. But how much time has been devoted to equipping students with ways to disconnect from their own internal dialogue (self-talk) and to focus their attention fully on academic content that is being presented? Explicit instruction on cognitive strategies that can help students learn how to learn may have a positive impact on both academic performance and classroom management by emphasizing that students are in charge of their own behavior and learning. The Anatomy and Psychology of Listening Teaching Students to Focus and Listen

untitled Solving the Hand Raising Problem Advice from Real Teachers Every Wednesday at 8:30 pm EST, I'll post a call for teacher questions on my Facebook page. I'll review the questions and choose a few to feature on Facebook each day, and you'll be invited to chime in with your advice. When I see a post that receives a large number of responses, I'll compile the best answers to create a helpful blog post. That way your great ideas won't get lost in Facebook land! Today's Question D'Anna asked for advice about how to handle students who raise their hands constantly while she's giving instructions. There were so many great responses to D'Anna's question - 175 in all! Peggy Seals: I have 2 very anxious seventh grade students that used to do this. Thank you to everyone who took time to answer this question. I am so grateful for this question. And Melissa:

How To Master Your Time The secret to time management is simple: Jedi time tricks. Imagine you were a Jedi master called Bob (your parents, whilst skilled in the ways of the force weren’t the best at choosing names). The love of your life – Princess Lucia – is trapped in a burning building as you hurry to save her. You might think of Lucia as the embodiment of your dreams, your aspirations – she is your most important thing. Unfortunately, before you can reach her an army of stormtroopers open fire. The incoming stream of lasers demand your attention – if you fail to dodge them, you’re dead. We all know how a hero resolves this dilemma. And so it is with your life. The secret to mastering your time is to systematically focus on importance and suppress urgency. Look at what you spend your day doing. Say no. Schedule your priorities. One final lesson from the Jedi: they’re heroes. Heroes inspire us for many reasons: they make tough decisions, they keep going and they get done what matters.

Reader Idea | ‘How The New York Times Saved My Class’ Lance Rosenfeld for The New York TimesPrimate pets can require unusual home improvements. Dave Viguers and his wife built an addition and put a big cage in their living room for six capuchins, including Eldon. Our Reader Idea today uses this related 2009 article. Welcome to a week of Great Ideas From Readers. We begin with an idea from an English teacher from New Jersey, Margueya Poupko, whom we met at a Learning Network presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English annual convention in November. We hope this week of lessons inspires you to write in and tell us how you’ve taught with The Times, too. Teacher: Margueya Poupko Institution: Bruriah High School, Elizabeth, N.J. Grade Level of Students: High School Idea: Students express their opinions and learn how to write critical analyses of issues they care about, using human-interest articles from The New York Times as their text. Why We Chose It: Ms. We think that other teachers will appreciate reading about how Ms. What Ms.

Anorexia and other eating disorders - Family Lives Understanding eating disorders "Food can become the new four letter word when your family is affected by an eating disorder," says Mary George of beat (the Eating Disorders Association). "To your child, food is the enemy." Contrary to popular belief, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia have nothing to do with wanting to be thinner or a size zero, says beat. "An eating disorder is a serious mental illness - not a fad or a diet gone wrong," says the charity's Mary George. Research suggests that more than one million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, but only a small percentage will have been diagnosed to receive appropriate treatment. We've called on the expert knowledge of beat, to give you details of different types of eating disorders, and the signs and symptoms to look out for if you’re concerned. Types of eating disorders Anorexia nervosa As the disorder progresses they become seriously underweight and are likely to suffer from malnutrition. Bulimia

School Report's 10th News Day under way - BBC School Report BBC News School Report's 10th annual News Day is under way, with about 30,000 students in schools across the UK making and broadcasting the news. School Reporters are striving to post stories to their websites by a 14:00 GMT deadline, when the BBC will link to those sites via its interactive map. Pupils are also going on air and online on the BBC throughout the day, from the Today programme to BBC News at Six. Some will even guest edit part of the News Channel and CBBC's Newsround. There will also be behind-the-scenes visits for School Reporters to BBC buildings, including visiting the Chris Evans Breakfast Show in London, taking part in a computer coding workshop in Salford using the new BBC Micro:bit and going behind the scenes of the John Beattie programme in Glasgow. There will be seven special radio reports on BBC World Service from young people around the world in Delhi, Moscow, Soweto, Hamburg, Rio, Mexico City and Jerusalem. And l 10th anniversary Busy students What is School Report?

Classroom Management: The Intervention Two-Step All of us have had major classroom disruptions that try our patience and push our limits. These incidents can threaten our sense of control and generate fear of looking weak to other students. We fear that other students might do the same thing if we don't take a strong stance. Couple these feelings with the possibility of taking the disruption personally, and we have a recipe for disaster. It's important that we divide our response into two parts: Immediate stabilization Intervention to resolve these issues Crisis Management If you go to the emergency room, the goal is not to make you better (unless the required treatment is minor). The same is true in the classroom. Calming down requires time for both the student and teacher to depersonalize the incident. Common wisdom tells us to intervene as fast as possible, that waiting is a bad thing. Do's, Don'ts and 5 Examples Understand that stabilizing is not excusing, letting the student get away with anything or ignoring. Things to avoid:

Teachers Top 100 Books for Children The following list was compiled from an online survey in 2007. Parents and teachers will find it useful in selecting quality literature for children. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo Oh! 35 Psychological Tricks To Help You Learn Better - InformED : Forcing Kids To Stick To Gender Roles Can Actually Be Harmful To Their Health Raising children in societies that adhere to rigid gender roles, with fixed ideas about what should be considered “masculine” and “feminine,” can actually be detrimental to their physical and mental health, according to a study that observed 14-year-olds’ interactions over a three month period. “Usually we think of gender as natural and biological, but it’s not… We actually construct it in ways that have problematic and largely unacknowledged health risks,” lead researcher Maria do Mar Pereira, the deputy director for the University of Warwick’s Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, explained in an interview with ThinkProgress. Pereira drew her conclusions after being embedded in a class of teenagers in Lisbon, Portugal. Pereira observed both boys and girls regulating their behavior in potentially harmful ways in order to adhere to gender norms. “All of the girls were within very healthy weights, but they were all restricting their intake of food in some way.

25 Attention-Grabbing Tips for the Classroom Posted 03/13/2014 11:55AM | Last Commented 03/06/2015 8:04PM Whether you're a new or experienced teacher, strategies for getting student attention are an important part of your classroom-management toolkit. In this presentation you’ll find 25 tips for quieting a noisy class. You can view the presentation here: 25 Attention-Grabbing Tips for the Classroom These attention getters were contributed by educators from Edutopia’s community in response to a plea for help from a student teacher. One important point highlighted in the discussion and the guide is that what works for one teacher, might not work for another. Be playful.

Learning languages is a workout for brains, both young and old UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Learning a new language changes your brain network both structurally and functionally, according to Penn State researchers. "Learning and practicing something, for instance a second language, strengthens the brain," said Ping Li, professor of psychology, linguistics and information sciences and technology. "Like physical exercise, the more you use specific areas of your brain, the more it grows and gets stronger." Li and colleagues studied 39 native English speakers' brains over a six-week period as half of the participants learned Chinese vocabulary. Of the subjects learning the new vocabulary, those who were more successful in attaining the information showed a more connected brain network than both the less successful participants and those who did not learn the new vocabulary. The researchers also found that the participants who were successful learners had a more connected network than the other participants even before learning took place.

Study Finds That Brains With Autism Fail to Trim Synapses as They Develop Photo As a baby’s brain develops, there is an explosion of synapses, the connections that allow neurons to send and receive signals. But during childhood and adolescence, the brain needs to start pruning those synapses, limiting their number so different brain areas can develop specific functions and are not overloaded with stimuli. Now a new study suggests that in children with autism, something in the process goes awry, leaving an oversupply of synapses in at least some parts of the brain. The finding provides clues to how autism develops from childhood on, and may help explain some symptoms like oversensitivity to noise or social experiences, as well as why many people with autism also have epileptic seizures. It could also help scientists in the search for treatments, if they can develop safe therapies to fix the system the brain uses to clear extra synapses. Dr. The findings are the latest in an area of autism research that is drawing increasing interest. Dr.

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