Are we really surprised this teacher won't wear the mik?

You may have heard the disturbing story of a Florida teacher who in 2008 had a kindergarten student with autism "voted" out of class by his peers. According to court documents, the teacher had the student stand in front of the class while his peers stated why they "hated him". The Florida State Department of Education settled the lawsuit this student's mom filed for $350,000. This mom is still fighting, however, determined to have the tenure system in her state dismantled. Can we really blame her? Click here for the newsbrief.

But this teacher wasn't done. After this incident, and after she had been suspended (never without pay) and was then back teaching, she and two other teachers refused to wear the amplification system that had been installed in the elementary school in order to meet 504 requirements for a student. She is now being pursued by the Office of Civil Rights, who administers 504s.

If this makes you mad, please read the Newsweek cover story by Michelle Rhee titled "I'm Not Done Fighting: The Battle For School Reform Begins Now" by clicking here. School reform  -- one retirement at a time.

Books for struggling students

There are a lot of great books out there for helping us help kids who struggle. I found a great one at Barnes and Noble the other day. The title is "School Success for Kids with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders". It was only $16, plus I bought it at the fundraiser for Rocky Mountain (go panthers!). They also have a great companion book for kids with ADHD that I love. What sets these books apart is that they are geared to the school setting. Many times there are great books out there for kids with various mood disorders, but they aren't necessarily geared toward school. This book has a great deal of info about Response to Intervention -- namely, the Top 10 Quality Indicators for Schoolwide and Classroom Interventions:
1. A problem solving framework is used
2. Intervention is sought early
3. Consequences are used rather than punishment
4. Staff is prepared, ethical, and from different disciplines
5. Language and reading needs are examined
6. Academics are paramount
7. Each school has a full continuum of support in the least restrictive environment
8. Data drive decisions
9. Both classroom management tools and behavior change tools are used
10. Parent partnerships are valued.

How does your school rate?

 

School Pride

"School Pride" is a great new show on NBC -- if you like the concept of Extreme Home Makeover -- take it and apply it to schools. What I loved about this show is that it shows the kids individually. To our surprise, kids who are in poverty and live in one of the toughest communities in the country (Compton), really do care about school and will help to make it better (deep gasp). In this episode, it shows the team members who are helping to clean up the school confront the principal about the fact that there is a warehouse full of supplies that the teachers desperately need. The school (Enterprise Middle School) has been nicknamed "Enterprison". There is mold in many classroom, absolutely mind-numbing bathroom facilities, and a football field full of gopher holes which has caused the players to sprain their ankles. If you missed it, watch it on their website by clicking here.

 

Do Parents Favor Kids who are Average Weight?

I was pretty interested in some new research that suggested that parents are more likely to purchase a vehicle for college-age children who are average weight than those who are overweight. Since this is just one isolated study, we can't draw too much from it. I saw the study in a research journal and then the Today Show picked it up in a more consumer-friendly way. See the story by clicking here.

I'm not sure about the validity of this study or how much you can generalize from it, but I do know one thing for sure. The news anchors probably don't know "better"; however, the psychologist and psychiatrist should definitely know to use "person first" language. That is, you should never refer to a child as an "autistic kid" or "ADHD kid"; rather, that is a "child with autism". The person is first -- the disability second. We would never say "cancerous kid", so why would we say "overweight kid"? How about "a child who is overweight"! That drove me nuts during this entire segment!

Can great teaching be measured?

If you are an educator or parent and haven't been following educationnation.com, I will forgive you temporarily, provided you get your butt over there STAT before NBC pulls the 150 some odd videos. Isn't it awesome that we can watch at home (hopefully on a treadmill) the great minds of education at one spot for FREE!

I was listening to a podcast this morning where the person discussed "cognitive refocusing". That sounds really academic, it basically means that instead of wasting time watching television, people are now wasting time online! The good news -- there is actually useful, thought-provoking information online that you can use in your line of work and life! 

Along those lines, I had a conversation with an educator last week that caused a great deal of reflection. The teacher stated that she now spends so much time testing that she has no time left for teaching. Since this teacher had not done any universal screening or progress monitoring, I was a bit confused. Her grade level didn't take the state exams. The only state-mandated test for this teacher was a 1 minute reading probe administered by someone else. 

Along those lines, can great teaching be measured? If Bill Gates is willing to spend a half billion dollars finding out, maybe we should care enough to ask ourselves, what makes a great teacher? 

Click here to see some possibilities in this video. 

That was easy!

Sometimes we like to make things that should be easy, hard. Case in point: A kid with ADHD wants to move around the class all day, constantly fidgets and acts basically like a yo-yo, spinning out of control. Hard answer for those who work with these kids: Get upset, go toe to toe with him or her every day, scream and/or pout, call the kid various names (defiant, lazy, etc). Easy answer for those who work with him: provide a simple outlet that lets him or her move without you losing your mind. 

Take, for example, this kindergarten class; click hereto see how they addressed the issue by using stability balls in place of chairs. Notice how easy it was to find a "punishment" for those who mess around with the stability balls: make the student sit in a chair! 

Waiting for Superman on Oprah this Friday

Watch Oprah dish about the movie this Friday!

I really am going to stop talking about this movie, but I would be remiss if I didn't pay forward that Oprah is hosting the film maker, Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee on her show this Friday. I'm sure that (as with all things Oprah touches), this is huge for the film. Although I've haven't watched Oprah for years, I'm definitely tuning in on Friday!

Education Nation

If you have kids in school, work in a school or care about kids, I would highly recommend you plan to join Education Nation starting this Sunday. If you're an overachiever, go there now because they are already a ton of great resources on the website. Education Nation is an NBC news week-long  "town meeting" style education summit that is being held the week of the release of Waiting for Superman.

Plan on this movie doing for education what "An Inconvenient Truth" did for global warming. This documentary is on the cover of Time and Parenting: School Years this week. If you work in education and haven't heard of this movie (which opens in Idaho Falls at the Edwards theater Friday the 24th), send yourself straight to detention.

Kids' Study Myths Debunked

This kid, for example, carries books to the grocery store and reads while walking!

I need to get better at remembering to post! I do love it, though, when research backs up what most school psychologists have been saying all along. The days of sit down, fill out the worksheet learning should die. I have very vivid memories of pacing around my kitchen during graduate school talking to myself about the subject matter, keeping a huge poster board in front of me and jotting down facts stream-of-consciousness style. I would then meet with 1 friend (more than 1 is just hanging out) and we would sit in the library conference room and discuss the topic for hours, pros and cons, things we didn't understand, etc.  So, the National Center for Education Statistics is backing up what most of knew all along. And now for the myths . . .  


MYTH: STUDY IN ONE SPOT 
Individual learning can be researched very closely, as you can control for many variables. Currently, what is being found is that students who study in different environments actually retain information much better. This happens because of how the brain processes material. Even though the perceptions may be unconscious, the brain makes associations between what is studying and the background sensations that are occurring. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material, may provide the support needed to improve recall of it. Basically, changing the background can enrich the information and slow down the forgetting of material; you are building knowledge in multiple contexts.

MYTH: FOCUS ON ONE SKILL 
If you are studying a foreign language, for example, you may want to study vocabulary, read and speak the language, all within one sitting. Participating in multi-modal learning (reading, speaking, listening) leaves a deeper impression of the material on the brain.

MYTH: DON'T CRAM FOR TESTS
Cramming, let's be fair, will help someone achieve a good grade on an exam. The likelihood, though, is that the material will disappear as quickly as it was shoved in.

Researchers suggested these tips for retaining information and getting help for your kids:

• If you mix up the type of practice being done in a specific subject, you have to learn to apply the problem solving skills to each situation, thus strengthening your knowledge base. If you only do one type of problem repeatedly, you only have one strategy, which doesn't help in other aspects of the subject. In many ways, this is in direct opposition to what we have been taught and are teaching. If problems/situations are varied slightly, the brain has to find the subtleties, which strengthens the learning.

• Spacing the studying improves later recall, without necessarily requiring more effort overall. Why? It is believed that when you revisit material, you reinforce it continuously, which helps maintain it in your memory.

• Testing helps this process. Retrieving information does help students store the information better, making it more accessibly in the future. Testing requires us to remember difficult things, making them harder to forget in the future. The harder it is to get it into our memories, the more likely we won't forget it.

• Don't underestimate motivation. We've thought a lot about the learning style question, if kids are auditory learners or visual learners. The fact is no research supports this. Even when they've done studies, it shows us that kids can learn regardless of the teaching style of their teacher, regardless of their learning style as long as they're engaged. They're finding learning style and teaching style don't necessarily have to mesh as long as you're work on motivating and keeping your kids in school. You want to keep them interested, get them to be involved. You want to space their studies out. Cramming isn't going to keep it in their brain. Spacing it out over time will help more. We hate the idea of testing, but testing reinforces, it keeps it in our memory.

• Getting Help: You want to ask the teachers how your kids are doing. There are lots of learning centers. Go to the school, they might have tutors they can recommend, there might be older students that can work with your kid to help them. But try not to only have all help be you because then you'll have conflict. See if you can bring in external people. Talk to your kids about finding learning support. Don't just spring it on them. 

Kids will be kids?

This has little if anything to do with ADHD, what I was supposed to focus on this month, but I got sidetracked (ironically)! This little clip about school bullying is only about 2 minutes but says a lot. Watch by clicking here.

If I had a quarter for every time that I have heard "Well, in my day, bullying was just a part of growing up" . . .  I would probably, well, I would go buy something really expensive! If you are an adult reading this "your day" is dramatically different from anything that our children experience. Due to myriad factors (increased technology, decreased social barriers, increased stress), not only has bullying become an epidemic, because of Facebook, Twitter, etc., now everyone else in school knows about it!

It's a big deal. Take it seriously if someone you love is being impacted. Talk to them openly and with empathy, being glad they are trusting you to share -- it's shameful for many kids. Then take action. Talk to those involved, navigating carefully (parents sometimes find out that their child is not the innocent bystander they once believed). Other times, however, the incidents are one sided and the student needs an advocate.

For more help, check out more info than you thought you needed by clicking here for resources from Teenagers Today -- much of it applies to any age group.

Would You Eat School Lunch Every Day?

Well, an "anonymous" teacher in the Midwest (Mrs. Q) is blogging about her adventures doing just that! If you want the mother load of info about school lunch, click here.

I swore when I started working in education that I would never eat school lunch and I haven't yet! I pretty much eat the exact same thing every school day:
5:00 a.m.: Banana
7:00 a.m.: Protein shake
10:00 a.m.: Kashi granola and Greek yogurt
1:00 p.m.: Apple and peanut butter
3:00 p.m.: Protein shake and fruit (usually grapes)
I then eat a family style dinner (almost always containing meat) and some form of "junk" food for dessert.

I have no idea if this is some perfect make up, I pretty much got lazy and this was easy to pack every day. I get the entire thing ready for the week every Sunday night. I avoid faculty "lounges" (I've never seen anyone lounge in there), don't drink any soda and try to keep it simple. My kids' packed lunches, however, are a complete joke. That is my goal for the new school year -- no more PBJ every day!

When is ADHD not ADHD?

Disorders seem to come and go out of style -- it seems as if every kid and their dog has been labeled something -- from ADHD to Asperger's Syndrome to Oppositional Defiant Disorder. My basic viewpoint is if you just grab the DSM IV (the manual that mental health professionals use to guide them in making a diagnosis), at least 75% of the general population could be diagnosed with something. If, however, you consider frequency, intensity and duration, that becomes a different story. A person who is a bit distracted, can't work on a task for long, needs to move around, etc., probably has some ADHD-like tendencies, but as long as that person is performing at work or school or wherever, does it really matter? Maybe we should bag the label and just do what we need to do (provide support, let the kid stand to work, etc).

I firmly believe that ADHD is kind of like porn -- it's hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Anyone in education who has paid the slightest bit of attention knows that every once in awhile you will have a kid in your class who you would define as "not being able to sit still -- no matter what"! It doesn't seem like the kid is being defiant, or trying to annoy you, or whatever, he just can't stop.

Brain research now suggests that for someone with ADHD, certain areas of their brain can be underactive -- which seems like a contradiction. For this kid, the brain seeks out stimuli. There is no rhyme or reason to it. It's simply a biological reaction. This may be why stimulant medication tends to help these kids. The brain is stimulated and the focus is suddenly there.

All kids need stimuli -- and maybe cats do too! 

How many kids with ADHD does it take to change a lightbulb?

Let's go ride bikes! If you can relate to this joke about ADHD, you probably understand it a bit. I am convinced that the vast majority of educators, especially those in administration, could probably be diagnosed with ADHD and maybe, just maybe, a few of them were "a handful" as kids. Just saying.

There is a huge amount of info on ADHD and "executive functions" available online and everywhere else. Some of it is great, a lot of it is garbarge. For the month of September, I am going to try to navigate what's what. What might help and what is a huge waste of time and energy. I have read and liked these fact sheets from the National Resource Center on ADHD. They are easy to understand, give research-based information and are a great resource for parents and educators. Check them out! I downloaded them all to Evernote as well, so if you'd rather go that route, click here. I have about 90 notes on ADHD at this spot, so see my very first post (above Evernote) for some quick instructions. Anyone without ADHD will understand them - - ha ha.

Food (and school) Revolution

There were two great stories on ABC this week that everyone in education or who cares about kids should watch. The first segment was on education reform and the moderator interviewed Arne Duncan (Secretary of Education), Rande Weinburger (National Teacher's Federation President) and Michelle Rhee (Chancellor of DC Public Schools) where they all stayed very civil!
We all have different stances on education reform. If you find the topic interesting, you may want to check out the upcoming film Waiting for Superman. I believe that it will be shown in Idaho Falls around the end of September. Regardless of where you stand on the debate, isn't it great that we can discuss it openly and rationally and then choose for ourselves?
The second segment was about the show Food Revolution. I think that full episodes may be hard to find now, but search around because it's worth a view. It spotlights chef Jamie Oliver's attempt to revamp the school lunch program in the "nation's most unhealthy city".

Even the impossible can be broken down into possibilities . . .

I was trying to focus on the subject of change for the month of August. August is almost like a "do over" month for families. You get to try to be super organized and at my house it lasts about a day. I found out that my kids could send me online "notes" through our web based job chart. I got a note from my 13 year old that said "Get a life". Sigh. Anyway, I'm really into technology lately since listening to the super cool expert who spoke for our school district. I can't remember her name, but I remember a lot of things she said! I decided that I am a "digital immigrant" but I am trying hard! For all you other educators who are also immigrants (virtually speaking), check out this website. It's a tutorial where you get to learn all about wikis, podcasts, tagging, etc. No, tagging is not just a recess game, and no, you don't need an IPod or any other gadget to listen to podcasts. Check it out!

Don't think

This week I rode my bike 60 miles. Too bad that most of it was done in pitch black and about 40 degree temperature. I have found that in those moments at 5:00 am it makes sense to take some advice I learned long ago -- don't think. That may sound counterintuitive, but thinking will bring up many reasons I should not ride (too cold, bad lighting). The same can be applied to working with kids who are sometimes challenging -- don't think. Have a one liner in your mind that is your go to instead.

Changing when change is hard

"In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

                                                                  -Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)


I love this quote! Change sometimes really stinks. Sometimes you have to try to "influence" others to want to change -- bottom line is -- you can only change yourself. With this mind, one of the best books on change in the history of mankind is "Switch" by Dan and Chip Heath, brothers who also wrote "Made to Stick", another awesome book with huge implications for educators. In Switch, the Heath brothers use an analogy of an elephant and a rider to represent what we need to do and what we want to do. The rider is the "Type A" part of our personality -- the one that gets your butt out of bed and to the gym, to work, etc. The elephant represents your desires to sit still, eat chips, basically "eat, drink and be merry". You can learn more about this analogy by clicking here. They have tons of freebies, scroll down and check out the right hand column. 

Thought of the day

"All the King's horses and all the King's men, can't put the past back together again. So let's stop sawing sawdust!" I got this quote from one of my favorite parenting websites, Screamfree Parenting. This site also has tons of resources for schools, coaches, etc. Although I usually don't like daily emails, the ones from his site are actually relevant and helpful.

Website spotlight of the week

I've found that with motivating my 4 kids to do their daily chores in the summer can seem pointless. One kid can finish jobs faster than most adults to see if he can "earn" extra computer time, while another fakes amnesia about the idea that chores were even assigned. I ran across a great website called my job chart. It's easy to set up, you can add as many kiddos as you want, add your own chores or choose from theirs and then give rewards at the end of the week (or whenever). Rewards are not necessarily cash -- they include things like playing a board game, spending time with a parent, a favorite activity, etc. Best of all, it's free. I have it set up for back to school, so I'll keep you posted, but it may help your family too!

Why Evernote will save the world . . .

This year my employer, School District 93 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, is focusing on implementing technology in the classroom. In my role as a school psychologist, I would also like to better utilize technology. I feel like I often have a surplus of information but a lack of knowledge! 
This past summer I developed online "notebooks" through Evernote. Evernote creates notebooks that are stored on everywhere -- online, your desktop, your smart phone, etc. I decided to use Evernote as a way to organize all the documents related to education and psychology that I have received through the years -- a total of nearly 2,000 documents! Whew! My oldest son, Craig, helped me and now everything is in one spot! 
If you haven't used Evernote, check it out ASAP by clicking here. If you are like me and transitioning from being a paper junkie, imagine Evernote as a huge filing cabinet in your colleague's office: you can waltz in, look at the whatever you like, keep what you like and ignore what you don't! You can download Evernote for your desktop or phone, but if you don't feel the need to do that, you can still download my notes! 
My goal is to use this blog and Evernote as a resource for students, parents and educators. For example, I attended an RtI conference in Boise this past April. This notebook contains all the handouts from that conference. When Evernote appears on your screen, each document will look like a little box with a title below. Click on a box that looks interesting. Evernote will then call up a document  title with a paperclip graphic. Click on this graphic. The document is then loaded to your machine for you save, review, etc. 
Evernote also makes searching for information super simple. Let's say you want to only look for notes that contain the phrase "progress monitoring". Type these in the search box in the upper right hand corner and only notes that contain that phrase will appear. 
I have more than 100 notebooks which I will be adding. If you find a notebook you like, simply save the address to the your bookmarks. Whenever I add notes the website will be updated as well! Whee!