Connect
Grey Matters
  • About The Film
    • Filmmaker & Crew
  • Buy The Film
    • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Press
  • Contact

Social emotional learning is the starting point:

10/25/2021

1 Comment

 
A recent survey cited "the pandemic and a greater focus on racial injustice as driving the rise in interest in social and emotional learning in their schools."

​Social Emotional learning is not new. At the heart of SEL, is an understanding that a stressed brain is not learning. If our students are coming into the classroom in a state of anxiety or fear or hunger or if they feel the classroom isn't an emotionally safe space for them, they will not learn. Their amygdala is hyper focused on keeping them safe. Learning about the distributive property or the Mexican-American war, or whatever your class is focused on, is not a top priority for that student.

Your teacher training toolbox has to include a few tools to take the emotional temperature of the your students and find ways to get it to a place where learning can take place.  Understanding the basics of how the brain processes emotions can help to move your students out of the stressed stage and into the learning stage. 

Here's a 5 minute strategy to get your students into the learning stage:
​1. High five each other for showing up.
2. Slow deep breathing to calm your nervous system
3. Find something you're grateful for today
4. Share something you're excited about
5. Remind students that most emotions last 90 seconds; it's the rumination that keeps us stuck in the feeling.

Watch Grey Matters on Vimeo today: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/Greymattersdocumentary



1 Comment

From short-term memory to long term memory

1/7/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
The darkened portion, housed within the medial temporal lobe of the brain is the hippocampus.  And it's tasked with moving information from short term memory to long term memory.

Stress has been found to shrink the hippocampus, so if you're teaching students who are living with chronic stress or trauma, you may need to explore additional options.  
To help your students successfully move information from short term memory, i.e.. what you taught today, into long term memory, i.e. retrieving it during another class, on a related subject, or for a test in a few weeks from now, try these: ​​
​
1. Art
Studies have shown, when art is incorporated into content, it increases retention, and retrieval. Think of it this way - you're offering your students a different way to remember the information. Maybe it's a flow chart to visualize process, or a funny comic strip (complete with stick figures) to map out complex sequences.  

Still not sure where to start?

This list of graphic organizers might help.  Graphic organizers help to organize content heavy instruction, into manageable, bite-sized pieces. 

2. Consistent Note Taking

Taking notes is key.  But what does it mean to have good notes? Start with giving your students a format for note taking, outlining the central idea at the beginning of the lesson and the goals for the section. This helps to narrow their focus and outline the expectations.  Recommend a two column method - one column for making notes, and the second for the questions generated by the notes.  Build in a few minutes where students can share their questions; this will help you to understand both their knowledge gaps and their perspective.  

This format is from Cornell University and while it's recommended for high school and up, I think it's easily adapted to early elementary and middle school year.

3. Relevancy and Recall

The more you can connect information to real-world examples, or things that are relevant to your students, the greater the likelihood it will be remembered. Things make more sense when we have some degree of personal connection, we can discern a similarity, or connect it something we already know. That's why, when we are explaining something, we usually say, "It's kind of like...", in an attempt to connect the new, to the known.

In this clip, from the trailer of Grey Matters, at second 0:33, Zoe talks about wanting things to be more connected, to see the bigger picture.  

4. Active Retrieval 

Encourage students to quiz themselves.  Whether it's covering up the information and trying to remember everything on a list or using flashcards where the definition is on one side and the vocabulary word on the other, or whatever the content lends itself. Additionally, work in quizzes into your instruction, as well as, review time.  

Read more about active retrieval practices here.

​When it comes to long term memory incorporate the visual arts into your lesson; offer students a choice of how they would like to demonstrate their knowledge in a visual format - maybe it's a graphic organizer of some kinds, a poem, or a drawing.  Consistent note taking is key; ensure students know the objectives of the unit study. Following on this, illustrate the connection of what they are learning to what they already know. And finally, encourage active retrieval practices or quizzes. 

Share your in-class practices in the comments. 
0 Comments

The dreaded school supply list

7/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
This year, the National Retail Federation estimates a total spend of $4.9 billion dollars (USD) on school supplies such as notebooks, folders, pencils, backpacks and lunch boxes, with an average of $114 per K-12 child.

$114 may not seem that bad. After all, that’s only $11 per month of school.  

But, inevitably, there’s the ask from teachers for school supplies to be donated - the extra pencils, crayons, and the inevitable truck load of glue sticks (no, they’re not eating it).

Numerous conversations with parents reveal a resentment, tinged with shades of guilt, for the resentment.  The conversation always goes back to school taxes, as in, “I pay my school taxes. I don’t understand why I need to donate school supplies.  I’ve expenses just like everyone else and I’m not asking for anyone to help me pay them.”  

Then I read the shocking news story about Teresa Danks, a Columbus, OH teacher, who decided to panhandle for the money she needed to purchase school supplies for her classroom. 

Here’s the thing - you’re sending your child to school with the requisite supplies. Maybe someone else couldn’t. Maybe their child is one of the 51% of US public school students who live in poverty. 

Buying extra supplies is one way to alleviate stress in the classroom, for teachers, and for students in need.  If a student is stressed, they’re not learning.  They’re thinking about whatever it is, that’s stressing them out. As in, “Crap. I don’t have any more paper. Gotta ask Mom to get me some. How much does paper cost anyway? She’ll probably say I was wasting it and she doesn’t have any money to buy it anyway. I wonder who I can borrow some from. Who haven’t I asked yet?”

Let’s keep our learners focused on learning.  And let’s keep our teachers teaching.  
So the next time you see that list come home with the extra supplies request, or you take a few tags from the giving tree at preschool/early elementary, relish the chance to be a good neighbor…think of it as your personal Santa Claus moment.  You'll feel good and lower your stress.   

And if your state participates in the tax free weekend for school supply shopping, take advantage.  Here’s a list of the participating states and times: http://hip2save.com/2017/06/26/2017-tax-free-shopping-dates-save-on-back-to-school-shopping-select-states-only/ 

For more on
how schools are funded, check out this piece from NPR; i
t is a complex and multifaceted story, subject to frequent changes.  

0 Comments

The power of connection and caring

4/16/2017

0 Comments

 
I recently read J.D.Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy (fascinating read and I highly recommend) where he credits his academic turnaround in high school to the stability he gained after he moves in with his grandmother.  Throughout the latter part of the book Vance talks about the importance of role models and expectations - thinking that you can do something - and most of all, how a support network can help, even in the most challenging of family situations.  

One of the things touched on in Grey Matters is the impact of stress on learning.  Keep in mind, all stress is not equal.  The stress of a kid not having their favorite cereal versus hoping there’s something to have for breakfast this morning.  Or the stress of not finding their new jeans versus hoping there are clean clothes.  It’s an omnipresent stress.  If a student is stressed, they’re not focused on learning.  Research has found stress physically changes the brain, shrinking the hippocampus, which plays a key role in memory.  

Dr.Mariale Hardiman, author of the book, “The Brain Targeted Teaching Model for the 21st Century School,” the basis of Grey Matters, discusses stress and learning in Brain Target 1 - establishing the emotional component for learning.  When a teacher prioritizes establishing a positive emotional classroom climate and striving to connect with their students, it “broadens cognitive associations  and results in better performance on creative thinking measures” (Fredrickson B.L.)

So what does this look like in a classroom, when a teacher understands how severely stress impacts on learning?  Jeremy Mettler, a high school teacher at Batavia High School, a rustbelt city in upstate New York, aims to eliminate the barriers to learning in his classroom.  “I keep pens, pencils, snacks, and water in his classroom.  It’s there. They know where it is. If they need something printed, I can do that.  I want them to know that I care. Because when they know I care about them, I can get them to go so much further in my classroom.  

For Vicky Krug, a developmental education professor at Westmoreland County Community College, it’s a tougher crowd.  Students in her classes arrive angry, because they’ve tested, and unfairly they feel, into her class.  For Krug, when she was a student, the most important thing to her was knowing that she mattered and she wants her students to know they matter. Despite feeling like they’re starting their college career off at a disadvantage.
​

Hardiman’s book quotes research studies that show “students who report having personal connections with adults in school have stronger academic performance (WIlson, 2004), attendance (Croninger and Lee, 2001), and school completion rates (Connell, Halpern-Felsher, Clifford, Crichlow, & Usinger, 1995; Finn & Rock, 1997).  They are also less likely to engage in disruptive behavior and violence in school (Goodenow, 1993; Lonczak, Abbott, Hawkins, Kosterman, & Catalano, 2002).

 If you want your students to care about learning, let them know they matter.

Show your students, you care about them.


Yours in learning and filmmaking.
Ramona
0 Comments

    Author

    Ramona Persaud

    Archives

    October 2021
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    March 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Academic Intervention
    Active Retrieval
    Ancient History
    Annie Murphy Paul
    Arts Integration
    Assessment
    Assumptions
    Back To School Shopping
    Bad Day
    BAM Radio
    Bias
    Born To Learn
    Brain
    Brain Rules
    Brain Targeted Teaching
    Brilliance
    Broken
    Building Community
    Calming Techniques
    Caring
    Cartoons
    Change The Way We Teach
    Circadian Rhythms
    Civil War
    Classroom
    Classroom Culture
    Context And Cues
    Coronavirus
    Covering
    Covid-19
    Creative Thinkers
    Creativity
    Critical Thinking
    Cross Curricular Teaching
    Curriculum
    Designing The Lesson Plan
    Detachment
    Distance Learning
    Donations
    Doubt
    #edchat
    Education
    Educational
    Education Reform
    Effective Teaching
    ELA Reading
    ELA Writing
    E-learning
    Elections 2020
    Emotion
    Emotional Intelligence
    Emotional Regulation
    Emotions
    Empathy
    End Of Year
    End Of Year Exams
    Engagement
    Environment
    Evaluating Learning
    Extensions
    Failing
    Failing Students
    Failure
    Feelings
    Flash Cards
    Fun
    GIving
    Goals
    Grit
    Growth
    Healthy Eating
    Helping Teachers Excel
    Hippocampus
    How To Study
    Improving Teaching Practice
    Inquiry Based Classroom
    Inquiry Learning
    Insecurity
    Jeremy Mettler
    Jessica Lahey
    Jobs
    John Medina
    Johns Hopkins
    Justin Holbrook
    Ken Robinson
    Knowledge
    Language Arts
    #leadupchat
    Learning
    Learning Curve
    Learning Spaces
    Learning Styles
    Learning Styles Irrelevant
    Lesson Plans
    Life
    Long Term Memory
    Love Learning
    Lynne Kenney
    Mariale Hardiman
    Math
    Measuring Growth
    Memorable
    Memory
    Memory And Recall
    Mental Health
    Metacognition
    Modeling
    Multi Sensorial Learning
    Neuroeducation
    Neuroplasticity
    New Parents
    Novelty In Learning
    NPR
    Obstacles
    OnPoint
    Pandemic Schooling
    Parental Involvement
    Parenting
    PBS
    Pedagogy
    Planning Time
    Plasticity
    Portfolio Learning
    Positive Academic Out Comes
    Poverty
    #professionaldevelopment
    Professional Development
    Psychology
    PTO
    Public School Students
    Purdue University
    Quizzing
    Race
    Racial Inequities
    Reaching Your Students
    Reading
    Real Life
    Research
    Research Based
    Resilience
    Retention
    Retention And Retrieval
    Roland Park Elementary Middle School
    Scantron
    School
    School Supplies
    School Taxes
    Science
    Self Regulation
    Short Term Memory
    Silo
    Sleep
    Snacks
    Social Emotional Learning
    Social Studies
    Special Education
    Standardized Testing
    Stress
    Stressed Students
    Struggling Readers
    Student Engagement
    Student Feedback
    Supportive
    Teacher
    Teacher Efficacy
    Teacher Isolation
    Teacher Portfolio
    Teacher Retention
    Teachers
    Teacher Training
    Teaching
    Teaching During Coronovirus
    Teaching For Mastery
    Teaching Framework
    Teaching Practice
    Teaching Teams
    Teaching Technique
    Team
    TED
    Teresa Danks
    Testing
    Time Of Day Instruction
    Ulrich Kraft
    Uncertainity
    Unit Study
    Vicky Krug
    Vimeo
    Visual Arts
    Vocabulary
    Westmoreland County Community College
    Why Kids Hate School
    Words

    RSS Feed

info @ changethelensproductions dot com | c 2017 | All Rights Reserved