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.