Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 12/16/2015

    • MRI imaging shows the physical harm done by bullying, not to the body, but to the brain. Bruises heal and broken bones mend, but neuroscientific research shows that emotional abuse can leave permanent scars on the brain.
    • When students do report on teacher or coach bullying, parents are instantly in a double bind, because the teacher and coach may still have power over their child. Reporting the harm might make the child more of a target. This is why teachers and coaches need greater oversight if we want children and parents to be confident speaking up about bullying.
    • Teenagers' brains are at a developmental stage that makes them as fragile as a 0- to 3-year-old child.
    • bullying causes a stress response that releases cortisol to the brain. That hormone has been directly linked to depression, a mental illness reaching epidemic proportions in our teen populations.
    • Bullying leaves neurological scars on the brain that can be seen on MRI scanners.
    • “MRI imaging shows the physical harm done by bullying, not to the body, but to the brain. Bruises heal and broken bones mend, but neuroscientific research shows that emotional abuse can leave permanent scars on the brain.” Students need to be told to report adult-to-student as well as student-to-student bullying.
    •    <!--[endif]-->Teens are almost adults and need to develop thick skins. Just the opposite is true for adolescents, says Fraser. They’re at a highly vulnerable state of development.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Bullying is actually tough love meant to make kids stronger. In fact, bullying causes a stress response that releases cortisol to the brain – which is linked to depression and other neurological problems. “None of this makes any child stronger, smarter, more artistic, or more athletic,” says Fraser. “It just harms his or her brain permanently.”

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Emotional abuse isn’t as serious as physical or sexual abuse. Nonsense, she says. The damage is just as great and can last a lifetime.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Bullying is just part of growing up. This idea needs to be stamped out, says Fraser.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Students and athletes reach their potential under bullying regimes. Cortisol damages brain structures affecting learning, memory, concentration, and decision making.

    • How people perceive the practices, procedures, and behaviors that promote new knowledge and ideas is a key factor in their willingness to take risks and share ideas that improve performance. People won’t go out on a limb with new suggestions if the climate isn’t receptive.
    • People’s belief that they can take actions resulting in successful outcomes is a key factor in their being persistent in the face of obstacles.
    • leaders who aren’t confident in their ability to produce results will drag down the productivity of their colleagues.
    • t appears that high self-confidence is associated with an unwillingness to listen and adapt to change and take others’ views into account, leading to difficult relationships.
    • “reading is not seen as a cause worth fighting for. Academics who ought to know better have accepted the idea that students no longer possess the attention span required to read a book. Such claims serve as justifications for adopting a narrow, instrumental attitude toward reading… [but this] merely intensifies the problem that it is meant to avoid: intellectually switched-off students will become seriously distracted.”
    • He lists several qualities that the best teachers possess:

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Enthusiasm – Students often catch this in their classrooms.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Charisma – Teachers can be Pied Pipers for their subject.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->A capacity to clarify and make sense – This quality illuminates any subject.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Humor – It lightens the hard work students need to do.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Kindness – A teacher’s power is enhanced when there’s a human connection.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->A genuine interest in students’ progress – This involves constantly checking for understanding and responding accordingly.

    • Good teachers have these qualities in varying proportions, and the net effect is that students begin to teach themselves. “And that, paradoxical as it may seem, is the best outcome of good teaching,”
    • Good teachers are those who remember being a student,” he concludes. “They hear themselves as their students hear them.
    • They point to clear benefits in having students wrestle with complexity, uncertainty, and difficulty and coming up with their own answers rather than being guided through every step.
    • But Ermeling, Hiebert, and Gallimore worry that “struggle” may become an end in itself, rather than a means to higher levels of student learning.
    • the instructional goals must be richer learning, not just struggle.” The key is getting students engaged with a task that captures the central idea of the lesson or unit.
    • Here are some other key elements in successful “struggle” lessons:

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Determining the timing and placement in a curriculum unit;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Crafting the problem so it hits students’ zone of proximal development (ZPD) – the level of difficulty that will challenge them without undue frustration;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Making sure they have the prerequisite knowledge and skills – for example in the problem above, knowing how to add fractions with like denominators before tackling problems with unlike denominators;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Doing ongoing assessments to gauge students’ current level of understanding and proficiency;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Providing a safe environment that encourages student thinking, collaboration, and risk-taking;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Using probing questions to nudge students into their ZPD;

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Providing appropriate help – “Success depends on teachers recognizing when a little timely assistance sustains student persistence but does not prematurely terminate productive struggle and learning,” say the authors.

       

      <!-- [if !supportLists]-->-   <!--[endif]-->Following up each struggle episode with carefully structured lessons that build on students’ ideas, address misconceptions, and help them reflect on their new understandings.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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