Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. I read this chapter twice it is an important topic to me. I also read it with two minds the biologist in me and as a person continually struggling with stress. Our body was designed to handle stress in short bursts. The fight or flight response, evolutionary speaking, is necessary for our survival. But now we experience long term stress lasting days, if not months. We produce stress hormones they increase…
Rule #7 Sleep well, think well. When I read this chapter I kept going to my husband to say see I told you so. This chapter was vindication for how I work. Back in our grad school days, my husband and I took the same classes. We wrote the same papers but we did it in different ways. I slept, while he struggled over note cards. This does not mean that I did not take notes, nor have a ton…
My son started this year as a 6th grader in a charter middle school in my area, the same school my daughter attended. He came home from school the very first day saying “school was cool” a day later school “was awesome”. After an experiment in the parking lot shooting corks he exclaimed “science was awesomely wicked cool”. I asked why it was so terrific, “because we DO stuff mom!” said with a certain middle school attitude. He placed heavy…
Rule #6: Remember to Repeat As an educator I am concerned with student learning. In my opinion that means aiding a learner to reach their full potential in a variety of areas; the core academic subjects, the arts, critical thinking, etc. This a long term view, for learning never really ends. But in this day and age much of our focus is student success on mandated test which is a short term goal with the underlying assumption that all students…
Rule #5: Repeat to Remember Back when I was a doctoral candidate (never defended dissertation, a long story for another time) I studied constructivism. The dissertation was based on this theory. Sections of chapter 5 remind me of my studies. “The more handles on the door, the more access points were available for entrance†(pg 114). We are more apt to remember things if they are familiar to us or, can relate, connect to what we already know. We build…
I find I am frequently talking to parents about teens and the web. Their questions go beyond saftey issues they seem more about management concerns and why and how kids connect. When I talk to parents I go through the usual; keep the computer in the public room, refer them to a variety of internet safety sites, and how our family has an AUP. But they want more. How do you check who your kids are chatting with? How much…
Rule # 4: We don’t pay attention to boring things. Ironically I had trouble attending to this chapter. I was reading this at my parents’ home and was constantly distracted. This is not to say the chapter was boring, just illustrated to me that it was difficult to keep refocusing if there are many distractions around. As I read this chapter I was thinking of the many special education classrooms I have visited. Often these students have difficulty maintaining attention….