Communication with Dr. Zadina

The opportunity to communicate with the author of our text is unbelievably awesome!  I have gone through my notes from every chapter and have compiled a list of burning questions for her here:

- Do you place limits on homework menu choice to still allow for student choice whilst ensuring students do not choose the same type of activity/exercise repeatedly?

- Given the importance of working memory and its effect on both reading and math achievement, do you feel it wise that parents utilize strategies to improve working memory prior to formal schooling? If so, should parents also work on attention training?

-    Are there currently any school systems or universities that you know of that employ educational neuroscientists in the capacity you discuss in Chapter 1?

- Since the act of speaking is important for transfer, are you a proponent of more oral exams as these may possibly lead to longer-term potentiation?

- If learning is state-dependent, should teachers/administrators/parents hype-up high stakes tests for students, even though this will likely increase anxiety?

 -In chapter 6, you state the importance for students to understand the number system and, for example, that 8 = 2 groups of 4.  Twenty+ years ago when I learned multiplication, I memorized times tables. With curriculum packages such as EngageNY Math, students are taught this expression through a variety of pathways including arrays, number bonds, tape diagrams, etc.  In my experience, high achievers in these classes persist in asking, “Why,” when they are taught multiple options for solving a problem. Would you allow student choice in this situation, even if the high achievers were unable/unwilling to demonstrate knowledge in every way? 

-  Jamie Hipp

Refer to Class Blog Post (Environment Pictures)

Here are the pictures to accompany my response to this week discussion leader's (Katy) post:

The best example of a classroom environment I have seen is Mrs. Bush's 3rd grade class at Parkview Elementary. As you will see in the pictures on my individual blog, desks are grouped with ample space between for movement, students have posted jobs each week, groups can change easily, and directions for the morning are clearly outlined on the board. Students have ample supplies in plastic cabinets at their table groups, making them self-sufficient and not reliant on the teacher. The walls boast great work and important information. I think this environment is a key factor to Mrs. Bush's students showing huge growth year after year.









-Jamie Hipp

Week 6, Day 3 Lyrics and Long-Term Memory

Recently, my students have been working on a musical theatre unit.  I have been looking for a great lyric-writing lesson, so the Week 6: Day 3 workbook lesson came at just the right time.  Spatial awareness and knowledge of stage directions are crucial to musical theatre choreography.  I charged my students with choosing a well-known song and changing the lyrics to ones that helped better their understanding of stage directions.  Students then voted on the 'best' song.  I have shared it below:

To the tune of "M-i-c-k-e-y  M-o-u-s-e"
By: Imani, Ja'Lia, and Nyla

When you're lookin' at the audience
Standing Center Stage (CS!)
From left to right
Stage Left, Stage Right
Don't look at the page!

If you are directin' the show
This is good to know
It's opposite
Stage Right, Stage Left
Now on with the show!

The concept of stage left being the actor's left and the director's right is a difficult one for fourth graders. Since creating this song, I hear students humming it onstage to help them remember!

-Jamie Hipp

He Had Part of His Frontal Lobe Removed...Should He Get The Death Penalty?

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missouri-killer-cecil-clayton-fights-halt-execution-over-brain-damage-n324281

I came across this article on NBCNEWS.com.  It details the case of Cecil Clayton, who killed a police officer in 1996. Twenty-four years earlier, he had 1/5 of his frontal lobe removed due to a workplace injury at a sawmill.  Evidently, this executive dysfunction led to suicidal thoughts, depression, hallucinations, and violent tendencies.

Obviously, I related this article to my knowledge gleaned from Zadina Chapter 7 and the Frontal Lobe Pathway.  The frontal lobe controls, among other things, emotion and judgment.  She even states that 'normal' frontal lobe function is crucial to a good, quality life.  It is difficult to understand why Mr. Clayton did not (as far as we know) snap for over two decades after losing a key part of his brain.  A study by in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry found that, "No study... shows that disorders of prefrontal cortex predict violent crime (Brower & Price, 2001)."

I believe the Supreme Court has a very difficult decision ahead of them.  The research shows dysfunctionality when the frontal lobe is injured through trauma, however, this man is a killer.  I wonder if there are any intensive cognitive behavior therapy for patients who have damaged/lost part of their frontal lobe and if this kind of training would benefit adults as it does children.

References:

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/71/6/720.full

-Jamie Hipp

Workbook Week 5 Day 5: Visualize meanings

Friday, March 6, 2015

This week, I wanted to really focus on the cooperative nature of learning and the social pathway, as well as visualizations.  I allowed for entirely group-oriented cooperative learning in each of my classes and ensured that all students felt included and valued by asking each member of a group to start class by giving a compliment to the other members of the group.  My students at Brownfields Elementary began working on making their own drama concept posters.  We have all seen the motivational posters like these...

...so I asked my students to create posters for a drama concept (their choice) including a picture of themselves representing the concept.  They also had to provide a concise definition of the concept. As per the workbook, they had to visualize the meaning of the word and discuss which image they thought best represented their concept.  Here was one of the most amazing posters:

All students pictured have media release forms signed by parents/guardians on file at the school.

HAMMING IT UP

The process of stealing focus from castmates onstage

Now these students have created a poster that will act as a visual aid for other castmates.  

This was a great activity and they will not soon forget any concepts they learned with visuals.

-J. Hipp

Workbook, Again (Week 4, Day 3) Making Connections

I am a huge proponent of helping students make neural networks by teaching information in such a way that my students can form connections.   When the workbook called for students to detect relationships and patterns, I thought it would be great to utilize tableau, a theatre concept to learn the cross-curricular concept of sequence.  Tableau is the French word for 'picture,' and is a strategy where students create frozen pictures with their bodies to demonstrate knowledge of concepts.  I do not explicitly tell students what they should portray, nor do I set them up with various levels.  The possibilities for teaching sequence with tableau are endless, including the following: any science cycle, timelines in social studies, PEMDAS and place value in math, story sequence in ELA and many more.

All of the students in the pictures below have signed media releases in the school's office so that pictures and videos may be taken of them in class.  

I asked students to show me the sequence of the science cycle of their choice:

 These fourth-grade students chose the life cycle of a human: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

 Other fourth-grade students, given the same prompt, chose the life cycle of a butterfly: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly.

I also asked students to show me sequence of place value:

 From right to left, these third-grade students portrayed the ones, tens, and hundreds place.

These students will not soon forget the concept of sequence.  They saw it on the board and in writing, discussed it, molded their bodies to portray it, and evaluated other peer work.  Talk about multiple pathways and neural networks!

Workbook (Week 4: Day 2) combined with Cool Writing!

In my five years of teaching, I have found that student motivation, ownership, and enthusiasm increases when they are given choices in class.  Last week, I came across an amazing image on Pinterest regarding the brain and writing.  I enjoy incorporating playwriting and script adaptation in my Talented Theatre classes but thought I would change it up this week, as per the workbook.  In lieu of choosing a short script for the students to work on, I allowed them to write stories and adapt these stories into plays.  I also asked students to vote on which script they would like to perform at the end of the week.  The fact that they were writing for a genuine purpose of potentially using their story for performance really made my students buckle down and focus on their work.  (They are also extremely competitive, which helped!)  I showed them this Pinterest image and students were fascinated by what areas were working as they wrote and even wanted to point to the various areas of the brain they felt were working hard as they planned their stories and worked on them.