I understand it, I know it- but I can't say it

This week we are talking about language and math pathways. Zadina talks about students that struggle with issues such as knowing information, but are unable to say it or pronounce a sound or have trouble remembering math formulas. Have you had an experience with a student that has exhibited a problem discussed in the chapter? How did the student behave? What id you believe the problem to be at the time? How did you address it then? What would you do differently now?

Standardized Testing and Working Memory

Janet Zadina made a post just this week on her Facebook page. She linked to the following and made this comment: 'Many of the questions are actually testing working memory, rather than rote or long term memory-knowledge. This is a problem. Deficits in working memory are associated with poverty achievement gap, as well as other situations. So the tests are not measuring what they purport to measure." http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/ar-buds-computers-needed-new-standardized-tests/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=newshour

What are your thoughts, based on what you have learned so far? 

The Adaptable Brain

Greetings everyone! I have been waiting to start this discussion for a few weeks now, so I am eager to get things started! I am Shelli, your discussion leader for this week, and we are going to talk about the adolescent brain and its adaptability! The adolescent brain's adaptability is important to teaching because you, as the teacher, have so much power in shaping your students' brains and social development. Please watch the TED talk posted on Moodle for this week and take a look at the Powerpoint review of the talk. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this topic. I'll start by posing a few questions and we will progress from there.

Now knowing that development is still taking place in the adolescent brain as late as 30 years old, does this change how you view your teaching? Do you feel like you can really make an impact on your high school or above aged students?

One thing that I found interesting was that during adolescence risk taking is high, but I find that students are so reluctant to take risks in school. What are your thoughts on this?

Have a great week!

J. Livingston Intro Video

Can music improve attention and learning?

Hi all, here's another article that I thought was really interesting: Bridging Music Neuroscience Evidence to Music Therapy Best Practice in the Early Childhood Classroom.
You can find a summary of the article here.

Do you use music in your classroom?  If so, do you think it has helped students learned?  How does the information in this article align with and/or contradict other chapters/ articles we've read so far this semester?

Have technology and multitasking rewired how students learn?

Hi everyone! I'll be posting two articles for discussion this week.  The first is an article on how technology impacts thinking and learning, and implications for technology use in the classroom.
You can find the article here and an overview of the article here.
Please comment on the following questions...
-What have you observed when students interact with technology in your classroom?  What are you currently doing and how can you use technology more effectively after reading this article?
-What role does working memory play in the effectiveness of technology?  What considerations need to be made to differentiate for all learners when we use technology in the classroom?

Why focus on the negative?

So in the powerpoint yesterday I posed a question: Why do you think researchers started with the negative emotions first? And do you think it is important to consider the positive emotions? If we could really understand, completely understand the implications of negative emotions and how they work, would it be important to know about positive emotions? Love to hear your thoughts.