Focused Attention: It Gets Easier, Kiddos!

Memorization.  When I mention this word to newly identified Talented Theatre students, I am often met with groans and whining.  For students that have hit their three-month mark in my class, memorization is a piece of cake! On page 117, Zadina identifies the "Zombie practice" of assigning students a poem to memorize. She admits that the benefits of this activity include attention, focus, and memory training.  

Every four to six weeks, my students perform their plays or one-acts and begin working on new scripts.  As my students will attest, they cannot add character voices, movement, or facial expressions to their acting without memorizing their lines.  As I have learned, my students are dealing with limited working memory capacity whilst trying to read off of a script onstage while trying to use an accent, change their body movement, and show their character's emotion on their face. 

Because students' minds have to remain focused in order to fully memorize the material, I tend to group new students (who tend to lack focused attention skills) together.  I begin these new groups with a small skit, requiring a few lines of memorization for each student.  As time goes on, the scripts get longer and a miraculous transformation occurs: Classroom teachers come to me, praising my efforts in Theatre class since the student we now share can focus for an entire lesson and completes more assignments than ever.  Students gain confidence in their ability to memorize and their motivation to memorize their lines for homework improves dramatically.  It is always amazing to witness students developing attention control which will benefit them throughout their entire academic career and into employment.

-Jamie Hipp

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation...a Balance

In Chapter Four, Zadina states that intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic motivation.  I have applied this theory in my classes this week:

Extrinsic:
In a class of 8 students, I offered each student's candy choice if all lines were memorized prior to a dress rehearsal.

Intrinsic:
In a class of 7 students working on similar material as the first class, I kept repeating this phrase: "If you don't know your lines, and the rest of the cast does, who will look silly onstage?"

In the extrinsic group, 3/8 were completely "off-book" and memorized.
In the intrinsic group, 7/7 were completely "off-book" and memorized.


While my intrinsic group were clearly more motivated to achieve, I do see the benefit in extrinsic motivation as well. I will never forget my mother's sticker chart for memorization of multiplication facts.  She had given me a deal regarding my multiplication fluency: learn all of your times tables through 12x12 and we will take a family trip to Disney World.  Man, I wanted to see Mickey Mouse SO BADLY, so in a few short weeks, I could complete rapid fire drills correctly. (I didn't have to know that she and my father were already planning this trip!)

-Jamie Hipp

Initial Response/Brainstorm based on Zull Chapter 2

Experiential Learning (Student Centered/Active Learning): Teacher is only the sensory input, providing the concrete experience.

*Major reform is needed in educational assessments.  If the brain comprehends via experiential learning, how can prompts and worksheets truly assess for learning? 

*Teachers should provide opportunities for students to utilize all learning cycle stages. At my three schools, very few teachers allow for student experimentation/testing of abstract hypotheses, much less scaffolding students to construct a hypothesis.

*Finally, the science to back up the data on experiential learning and evaluation systems like COMPASS!

 

Creating New Knowledge While Sleeping

Response to Dr. Baumgartner's post:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150129125546.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28Mind+%26+Brain+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

Recently, I have read many articles focused on napping at work, which many say leads to an increase in workplace productivity. Teacher napping during the instructional day at any school seems impossible but I do believe a built-in nap time similar to Pre-K programs and nurseries would be beneficial to students and would increase achievement. I have attached a link to 2013 TODAY article that shows some companies' 'energy pods' for on-the-job relaxation/napping: http://www.today.com/money/nap-rooms-encourage-sleeping-job-boost-productivity-1C8881304 

I've always thought adults should have "rollover" naptime minutes that were unused from childhood :). The research from this week's article might just be the brain-based boost my idea needs!

Jamie Hipp

Can Music Improve Attention and Learning?

Response to Maya's article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbXQdE3mhMndFVFaFhFU1JfZnc/view

Music’s effect on brain structures to increase engagement, attention, word recognition, and mathematical achievement is well documented in the research cited in this article. I do not incorporate music as much as I should in my Talented Theatre courses, as I spend a majority of time trying to integrate drama/theatre with the core curriculum. There is also much research on the arts-integration versus arts-enhancement debate. It has been shown that arts-integration is better for students and increased success in both the core curriculum subject AND the art form subject.

I believe classroom teachers feel more comfortable with music enhancement versus music integration. Here are two examples of each:

Music Enhancement:

-Singing the ‘Fifty Nifty United States’ song to remember the states

-Songs from “Schoolhouse Rock” that aid in memorization

Music Integration:

-Teaching rhythm/steady beat/time signatures of music and connecting this to ELA through Poetry Rhyme schemes

-Teaching a genre of music (i.e. “jazz”) and connecting this to Social Studies via the Harlem Renaissance

As much as I advocate arts integration versus enhancement, I believe that the right music in any setting leads to increased happiness and reduced stress. I see the joy students get from joining choir and our annual Spring musical. The music teachers at all three of my schools have the least amount of student discipline issues and write-ups. Therefore, there are implications for every teacher, especially those trying to reduce anxiety and stress and increase positivity within their classroom climate.

-Jamie Hipp

Why Focus on the Negative?

Response to Dr. Baumgartner's question:

The prominence of research on negative emotions as opposed to positives ones is not surprising to me. I believe the same is probably true with anything that is considered 'abnormal.' Students with normal frontal-lobe function and a propensity for self-regulation can typically make it through school. They can make average to above-average grades and can graduate. 

This reminds me of the research and spending on different ends of the spectrum. According to Time Magazine, schools in the United States spends over $8 billion dollars educating students with intellectual disabilities. Alternately, our country only spends $800,000 on educating gifted children. Gifted students can typically get through school, make average or good grades, and graduate without incident, just like positive-emotion children. 

As a teacher of Talented students, I find it more difficult to find research pertaining to teaching Gifted and Talented students than to find research on students living with disabilities. In watching the TED Talk with Shawn Achor (which made me feel positively awesome!), I feel that a multitude of positive emotion research is absolutely necessary. The 'Happiness Advantage' theory should be a call to action for scientists to research best practices for positivity as this allows the brain to be productive and rewarding!

-Jamie Hipp

Have Technology and Multitasking Re-Wired the Ways Students Learn?

Based on Maya's article posting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbXQdE3mhMndmdrU2VrV3lPV3c/view

I incorporate technology into my Talented Theatre classes on a daily basis. My three Title I schools have received grants to purchase instructional equipment such as microphones, light boards, theatre Parnell lights, and soundboards. When casting any show, some students audition for my cast, while others beg to be crew members who open the stage curtain, run the boards, stage manage, etc. I am also a strong proponent of using videos as exemplars of outstanding work. I utilize Youtube and BlueGobo.com to show students different speeches, accents, and clips from plays and musicals. Recently, my students completed a playwriting unit entirely on computers, improving their keyboarding skills. We also use computers when analyzing/reviewing/critiquing peer work. Finally, I always start class with an improvised scene and use a stopwatch to time student progress.

As the article indicated, students need working memory space to accommodate multimedia and technology in the classroom. Therefore, teachers that incorporate technology have to account for students' individual differences in working memory capacities. As Zadina states in Chapter 3, students with a lower capacity may experience anxiety when this capacity is overloaded. Teachers should use a variety of modalities in teaching and allow for varied modalities for students to express what they have learned. Additionally, based on research about the brain's plasticity, teachers incorporating small doses of technology and scaffolding students may actually see a genuine improvement in students' working memory.

-Jamie Hipp

The Importance of Keeping Arts in Schools

SPEAKING OF ARTS-INTEGRATION...