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Arts integration offers big gains

8/15/2019

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Arts integration continues to receive big accolades when it comes to garnering student engagement in the classroom.  Yet, it sounds intimidating to most teachers, especially when you don't consider yourself "artistic" or "creative".  

At the end of the day, integrating arts into a lesson can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like.  Simple might be using a graphic organizer or a famous painting to teach history, or something more involved as teaching a concept and having students demonstrate their understanding using poetry, or a skit.

This South Carolina school has taken it a step further (click the link to read the full story).  
“I chose to have a creative writer come to my class to help introduce the writing concept of poetry,” she says. “I was pretty sure this was not going to be a well-received project with my students.”  

​Arts integration isn't just "another thing for teachers to do".  Research shows huge gains in both retention and recall of material, which bodes well for mastery of a topic.  Check out this recent interview with Dr. Mariale Hardiman of Johns Hopkins School of Education.

 
​Have you tried integrating arts into your lesson planning?  

Join the conversation and comment below.

If you'd like to learn more about the film, email info [at] changethelensproductions [.] com or just hit the contact button below. 

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Math in the morning?

8/29/2017

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Picture
.Does time of day matter when it comes to planning instruction time? 

Is it better to have Math in the morning and Language Arts in the afternoon?
​Some research says it does, like this study: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/REST_a_00525 and this one from David Sousa, a renowned educator, advocate for neuroeducation, and author: https://howthebrainlearns.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/impact-of-circadian-rhythms-on-schools-and-classrooms/.  


But there are others that suggest otherwise and students will advocate strongly for no early morning classes. 

So what’s the deal anyway?

Circadian rhythms, our body’s 24-hour clock, drives the cycles of alertness and drowsiness.  Most adults will experience the biggest energy dip in the middle of the night between 2:00-4:00 a.m and after lunch.  Theoretically early elementary and middle school aged kids will have a similar pattern.  Teens however are quite different, for a number of reasons from technology to anxiety.  These two resources are worth a read: 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/from/sleep.html
https://www.thesleepjudge.com/teens-and-sleep/

Scheduling classes
If you have autonomy over planning your schedule, and you’re working with elementary to tween students, you may want to to organize your time blocks with subjects that require higher focus in the morning.  That might look like math first thing in the morning, or math directly following recess.  

If you don’t, and that’s the majority of teachers I know, or you're working with teens and college students, an alternative would be to schedule a two minute exercise activity to get your kids moving.  John Medina, molecular biologist and author of Brain Rules, reminds us in brain rule #1: Exercise increases blood and oxygen flow in the body which makes our brain perform better.  Check out more on this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-tQt0S0Os (cue in at 0:51).  

Pediatric psychologist Dr. Lynne Kenney recommends 5 minutes of cognitive motor activity every 45 minutes.  

Sample classroom workout:

Here’s an easy 2 minute exercise routine for you to try in your classroom: https://darebee.com/workouts/2minute-workout.html
Each exercise is 20 seconds long, with no rest in-between:
Jumping Jacks
Jump Squats
High Knees 
Side to Side lunges or regular lunges
Squats
Mountain 
Climbers, if space allows, or end with Jumping Jacks
​

You can laminate copies for your students to grab as they enter class.

I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below. 



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Test time!

3/18/2014

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Testing - just what do they really know and how do they stack up?

We all want to know how our students are doing.  That need to compare. Are they really getting it or am I just wasting my breath talking? Is it going in one ear and out the other? Are they making connections? So we test.  And sometimes, in order to prove they know it, we teach exactly what we know is going to be tested.  But there is rarely one way to do anything and assessments are no different.  

While you can't escape the tests driven by policy, you can control the other assessment periods.  The challenge is to balance single-answer tests with those that call for students to construct open-ended responses, solve problems, and apply knowledge. (Hardiman, 2012).

What does this look like in practice? 

Portfolios or bodies of work over a term or year; projects; a student in Vicky Krug's developmental writing class illustrated her knowledge of process paragraphs by bringing in a cake and sharing the recipe (process paragraphs explains how to do something). 

If you like what you're reading, show your support. Donate here:  http://t.co/BuEOrRcOuX 
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In conversation: Mariale Hardiman

3/17/2014

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Picture
Have you ever tried to put together a puzzle without having the end result image to reference? It's hard to do.  Yet that's what we do with students all the time. We give them work, content, and leave out the connections - telling them how it all fits together.  The brain is designed to look for connections and if those connections aren't being made or facilitated, students will tune out.  

Keep them engaged by helping them look for connections.  Help them to relate it to previous material they've learnt or are learning; to their lives; to other classes; to pop culture.  It's all connected.  Think web.  

Support this documentary here:   
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grey-matters-teaching-the-way-the-brain-learns

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Brain Target 3: Designing the Learning Experience

3/12/2014

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Picture
When Justin Holbrook is tackling a new topic in his class, he searches for real situations where the lesson is applicable, "I have to keep in mind, everyone's background knowledge is different so I can't just assume this will make sense for everyone."  This taps into the brain's tendency to look for patterns and associations between information at the forefront of thought and information stored in memory (Posner & Rothbart, 2007, p.205).  "You have to connect the known to the unknown," Vicky Krug explains in layman's terms.  See the trailer at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grey-matters-teaching-the-way-the-brain-learns/x/2765447.

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How to engage your students and create a supportive classroom.

2/19/2014

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Teachers often think their job is solely about filling their students' heads with knowledge as efficiently and effectively as possible, yet students say knowing their teacher cares makes a huge difference in their engagement levels. “If they believe I can do it, I believe I can do it," says Bri Parker, high school senior. Research from the neuro and cognitive sciences indicate cognition and emotion are intricately connected in terms of brain structure and function. Simply put, if your heart's not engaged, neither is your brain!

Here are 3 ways teachers show their students how much they care, on a regular basis:
“I write inspirational quotes on sticky notes and as I walk around the class, I subtly place them down for a select student. I keep track in my grade book so that I can mix up who receives them”. Vicky Krug, Professor, Westmoreland County Community College
“I ask them non-content related questions about work, sports, etc.” Jeremy Mettler, Batavia High School
“I praise for specific things like pushing in chairs, listening skills, etc.” Justin Holbrock, Roland Park Elementary Middle School.

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info@changethelensproductions.com

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    Author

    Ramona Persaud

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