[This is a repost from November; particularly relevant to this week’s ADD focus] Is ADHD a myth? Why does it occur more on the east coast? And how can animation spice up a lecture? [EF]
In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.
Link to video: RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms
Harry Campbell
In this week’s posts we’ll start with the Journal, take a turn through New York, whisk through gender-equity, learn about life from a science teacher, and then preview a new search engine. Just an average week in the life of a teacher…
“What was he thinking?” It’s the familiar cry of bewildered parents trying to understand why their teenagers act the way they do.
How does the boy who can thoughtfully explain the reasons never to drink and drive end up in a drunken crash? Why does the girl who knows all about birth control find herself pregnant by a boy she doesn’t even like? What happened to the gifted, imaginative child who excelled through high school but then dropped out of college, drifted from job to job and now lives in his parents’ basement?
Adolescence has always been troubled, but for reasons that are somewhat mysterious, puberty is now kicking in at an earlier and earlier age. A leading theory points to changes in energy balance as children eat more and move less….
…What happens when children reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? The answer is: a good deal of teenage weirdness. Fortunately, developmental psychologists and neuroscientists are starting to explain the foundations of that weirdness.
LINK: What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?
Post Source: EdWeek: K-12 Talent Manager
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We’ve seen this one forwarded around three times already…
What do we make of a boy like Thomas?
Thomas (his middle name) is a fifth-grader at the highly competitive P.S. 334, the Anderson School on West 84th. Slim as they get, Thomas recently had his long sandy-blond hair cut short to look like the new James Bond (he took a photo of Daniel Craig to the barber). Unlike Bond, he prefers a uniform of cargo pants and a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of one of his heroes: Frank Zappa. Thomas hangs out with five friends from the Anderson School. They are “the smart kids.” Thomas’s one of them, and he likes belonging….
…But as Thomas has progressed through school, this self-awareness that he’s smart hasn’t always translated into fearless confidence when attacking his schoolwork. In fact, Thomas’s father noticed just the opposite. “Thomas didn’t want to try things he wouldn’t be successful at,” his father says. “Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn’t, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, ‘I’m not good at this.’ ” With no more than a glance, Thomas was dividing the world into two—things he was naturally good at and things he wasn’t.
LINK: The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids
Post Source: New York Magazine: News & Features
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While this video has generated 23,842 YouTube views and 93,118 TedTalks views in its first three days, it’s more interesting that the dislikes are outpacing the likes. The posts below the video may be more interesting and discussion-provoking. Maybe the “lesson plan” would be to have students watch at home and then analyze the posts…
Women aren’t micro–so why do they only get micro-loans? At TEDxWomen reporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that women running all types of firms– from home businesses to major factories– are the overlooked key to economic development.
LINK: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Women entrepreneurs, example not exception (YouTube)
LINK: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Women entrepreneurs, example not exception (TedTalks)
Post Sources: TedTalks
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We hang our hat on the fact that the lessons we teach are about more than our subject-matter. You never know when a lesson or activity just really might alter someone’s life experiences…
I had a fantastic middle school science teacher, Mrs. McLean, who retired last year after nearly 30 years in the classroom. (Such a shame for the district, but well deserved!) She was not afraid to go outside the box and get messy to enhance the learning experience for her students. She blew things up during class experiments and dropped objects off the school roof to make her lessons more engaging. She took us on field trips and supported her students in extracurricular activities. She also gave students compliments in class and pulled them aside to offer encouragement if she thought they could do better.
There are many lessons I still carry with me from Mrs. McLean’s class, but one in particular has relevance for talent managers…
LINK: What My 7th Grade Science Teacher Taught Me About Talent Management
Post Source: EdWeek: K-12 Talent Manager
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The EdFive is edited by Corbett Simons
The EdFive 