How Technology Affects the Way Our Brains Work
Technology has transformed the way we live, work, communicate and entertain ourselves. While technology has countless benefits, it also has some drawbacks. Maybe we should be more mindful of how often we use technology since it’s been found to alter our brains in these 5 ways.
We’re Not Doing Enough to Support Teachers of Color
Teachers of color leave the profession at a higher rate than their white colleagues, says John King Jr., former US Secretary of Education, and Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute. In this commentary, they call for leaders to "engage teachers of color in conversations about what they need to be best supported."
What is the Future of Technology in Education?
The future of education technology is all about the cloud and anywhere access, anywhere learning and collaboration, both locally and globally. Teaching and learning is going to be social. Schools of the future could have a traditional cohort of students, as well as online only students who live across the country or even the world.
TEACHERS: What Happens to Student Behavior When Schools Prioritize Art
This article is an excerpt from You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education by Sir Ken Robinson, Ph. D and Lou Aronica, published on March 13, 2018 by Viking. Read how changing schools in the right ways and many of the problems of poor behavior, low motivation, and disengagement tend to disappear.
TEACHERS: How Seeing and Using Gestures Make Ideas More Memorable
Susan Wagner Cook, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Iowa states that “gesture seems to help build understanding across really abstract things and really concrete things – numbers, words, a whole bunch of stuff.” She explains how using physical movement recruits more parts of the brain than using language alone, and we activate more memory systems.
TEACHERS: Say Anything: Inside a Writing Assignment Gone Right in North Philadelphia
Eighth-grade English teacher Monique Trauger got her students at a Pennsylvania school to express themselves through an open-ended writing prompt that asked them to explain a time when they had to care about something bigger than themselves. The project included having students share their essays and artwork at a public exhibition. Read excerpts from some of the essays here.
TEACHERS: 50 Alternatives to Lecturing
A large part of the content the TeachThought site/blog is to provide alternatives to lecture. The site at large could be seen as a compilation of alternatives to lecturing. But for those educators that’d like to see a kind of index all gathered in one place, with certain links to more in-depth analyses elsewhere, this list might help scratch that itch. The idea is to see a lot of awesome possibilities in one place, not write a book.
TEACHERS: How One Teacher Uses Live Video to Foster SEL and Connect to Classrooms Around the World
North Carolina teacher Zerifa Radlein-Grant exposes her students to the wider world in order to encourage their hopes and dreams. Using a free tool, a live video linked her class with one in British Columbia. Students discussed games and local weather, learning “there’s more to life than what they’re experiencing.” There’s also an SEL aspect to the connected experience, she says—one that fosters empathy.
TEACHERS: Optimism is a Learnable Skill
Researcher Martin Seligman has found that people who explain their experiences in pessimistic ways have a higher risk for depression, lower academic and professional achievement, and lower physical health than those who hold optimistic views. The good news is that we are not born pessimistic or optimistic—these are ways of thinking that we learn from our families and teachers, the media, and our social context. Check out these three strategies for nurturing optimism in students.
PARENTS: Seven Symptoms of Too Much Social Media Use
50% of teens say they are addicted to their cell phone. While more study is needed to determine how deep the digital addiction is, teens feel the symptoms and consequences of it. Here are the signals a young person naturally sends that they’ve spent too much time on social media platforms or on their mobile device in general.
PARENTS: Does Your Child Give Up Easily?
There can be a number of reasons that kids give up rather than persevering until a job or task is completed. The question is how to handle those situations so children come out stronger. This article looks at some common reasons that kids want to quit and how best to respond.
PARENTS: What’s Going on in a Child’s Brain When You Read Them a Story?
These days parents, caregivers and teachers have lots of options to share stories with their children. They can read a picture book, put on a cartoon, play an audiobook, or even ask Alexa. A newly published study gives some insight into what may be happening inside young children's brains in each of those situations. Is one option better than another?
LEADERS: INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION: Breeding a Culture of Best-Practice
A trusted school leader exemplifies competency when he or she “ensures faculty and staff are aware of the most current theories and practices and makes the discussion of these a regular aspect of the school’s culture.” Intellectual stimulation is a key factor in the facilitation of continual improvement in a school - the primary function of school leaders.
LEADERS: Everyone Sweeps on Our Team
Is your school a place where everyone sweeps? A setting where no job is too unimportant for anyone to help with? A school where everyone is expected to help regardless of their title or position? An environment where all act with humility and an understanding of what it looks like to wield the broom?
How do you sweep in your position?
LEADERS: Education Buzz Words: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Educators have a love-hate relationship with buzz words. Listen to this Bam radio show in which four educators discuss why we use them and the benefits and downside of using them.
LEADERS: Hospitals See Growing Numbers Of Kids And Teens At Risk For Suicide
The number of kids who struggle with thoughts of suicide or who attempt to kill themselves is rising. New research, published in Pediatrics, finds children ages 5 to 17 visited children's hospitals for suicidal thoughts or attempts about twice as often in 2015 as in 2008. The study found kids of all ages are affected though increases were greatest for older adolescents. It is important for educators to talk about this and ask about it.
Center for Christian Urban Educators
The Center for Christian Urban Educators seeks to encourage, equip, and empower Christian educators as they impact the lives of the children entrusted to their educational care.
Email: hpotoka@ccuechicago.org
Website: ccuechicago.org
Location: Chicago, IL, United States
Phone: 312-310-5617
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Twitter: @HJPotoka
