Education
Short Circuit
Teachers can learn something from electricians. For example, taking the path of least resistance isn’t always the best way to go. If we want the lights to go on, the current needs to flow through the full circuit, and a short cut, like a nail lying across the wire, usually results in darkness. English teachers,…
Read MoreAt Winsor School, the Student-Teacher Relationship Drives Academic Support
Laura Vantine Academic support is a significant concern for independent schools — more so today than in the past. On the surface, the trends seem worrisome: A number of schools say more students are struggling, while others report that more parents are pushing for individual support and accommodations, specifically so their children can gain extended time…
Read MoreMotivation
It was cold, a November evening, and I was the administrator on duty, so I was walking around the campus shortly after dinner on my way to the athletic center to lock the building. The last coach to leave after practice was supposed to lock up but never did. My mood was not good. The…
Read MoreThe Costs of Paying Attention, The Value of Reflection
Recent studies done by neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (University of Southern California) and her colleague Joanna Christodoulou (Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT) suggest that educators need to consider much more carefully the role of reflection in learning.1 They cite new theories of two brain systems that control our attention. One is activated when we engage with…
Read MoreStop telling kids you’re bad at math. You are spreading math anxiety ‘like a virus.’
“How was skiing?” I asked my 14-year old daughter as she hauled her boot bag into the car. “Well, the ratio of snow to ground was definitely low,” she replied, adding that she had tried to figure the ratio of snow-to-ground during practice but had received only mystified looks. “Stop the math!” demanded a coach. “You…
Read MorePeer Mediation as a Viable Option for School Conflict Resolution Programs
Editor’s note: This is an interesting research article written by an undergraduate when she was attending the University of Buffalo. It is the voice of a student providing insight into adolescent aggression and conflict resolution. Albert Bandura (1977) developed the Social Learning (SL) theory to explain that people learn how to act from each other.…
Read MoreLearning Disabled or School Disabled?
According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, my grandson is one of about 6.4 million children who have been diagnosed with ADHD. The symptoms of ADHD include inattentiveness in school, distractibility, inability to sustain attention, difficulty finishing school work, difficulty shifting from task to task, procrastination, and fidgeting when seated. In other words, if you…
Read MoreYour Mind Is Not Like a Computer; It Is Like An Ecosystem: Minding Your Metaphors About the Mind
I am what is often referred to as a “high-achieving dyslectic.” From a very early age, I was made aware that my mind simply worked differently than other people’s. Fortunately, while in elementary school, I was surrounded by caring special educators (including my mother) who taught me to embrace my uniqueness. But it was not…
Read MoreAssessments That Provide Real Insight into Learning
A math teacher described a problem he was having with his 2nd graders: “One of the goals of our math curriculum is to enable the students to articulate their mathematical reasoning. We would like them to explain, ‘The problem said two more came, so I knew I needed to add,’ but instead we get, ‘I…
Read MoreAdolescents Struggle to Identify Fake News
Given the multitude of phony news stories spawned during the 2016 election, culminating in the shooting at a D.C. pizza restaurant, the Stanford History Education Group’s study of adolescents’ ability to judge the credibility of all the information vying for their attention in cyberspace is amazingly timely. The study focused on over 7,800 middle school,…
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