Category: curriculum

Mediation teachers like to use two animal metaphors for the mind, doggy mind and monkey mind.  Doggy mind is like the dog running after every bone, every impulse, every desire and every aversion.  Any thought can occasion the chase.  Monkey mind swings from tree to tree from thought to thought.  It is active restless and wild.  Whether it is doggy mind or monkey mind this restless activity of thought keeps your from being in the present moment.  Children are unskilled and undisciplined in the arena of self-control.  Their impulses lead them not only into the doggy chase or the monkey climb but also into inattention and distraction.  A growing body of research indicates that many children start school not ready to learn because they lack the critical ability of self-control.  Self-control has a stronger association with academic achievement than either IQ or reading readiness.  The encouraging news is the elements of self-control can be taught.  Tools of the Mind  is a  program that promotes intentional and self  regulated learning.  In Tools:

• Teachers use scaffolding to structure activities.  Children have learning plans and play plans.  Their activity is more more interactive and sustainable.
• The notion of being able to sustain one’s own interest is the core building block.  Children are less distracted because they are so consumed in the activities they have chosen.
• Development of the internal voice or thought conversation helps children avoid distraction.

The exciting results of this program are children who are not merely behaved but self-organized and self-directed.  Tools teachers in New Mexico reported fewer classroom incidents and less need for discipline.  And while these techniques might sound fuzzy and theoretical the program has support in neuroscience.  The development of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls impulses begins in early childhood.  This high level executive function can be developed and strengthened using the Tools techniques.  When I first read about Tools I was struck by how similar this teaching was to the practice of mediation.  The goal is not to eradicate thinking but to observe what is going on in the mind.  Neuroscience is finding amazing implications for learning.  Any school looking for methods to promote self-control and intrinsic motivation needs to look to the research.  It’s there for those willing to take a risk and look outside of the box  for new applications to promote learning.

The story goes that one-day while sick in bed his father brought him a compass.  Albert Einstein was mystified when he learned that the needle of the compass would always point to the north.  He examined the needle and wondered what powers lie behind it.  That was the beginning of his journey.

Sherry Turkle professor at MIT says all scientists are born in childhood.  For the past thirty years she begins all her classes by asking students to write about their path towards science.  They all share a common intellectual curiosity about the way things work.  She recalls one student who wrote about braiding the hair on the tail of her little pony doll.  She was completely absorbed in the task and practiced it for hours.  Dividing the hair over and over.  The repetition testifies to the importance of studying objects in the development of understanding how things work.

Children are drawn to they mystery of science by sand castles, by playing with marbles, by taking apart broken things.  This investigation is really the manipulation of learning the mechanism.  I have to wonder if schools are using this natural curiosity to teach children greater truths?  If children are only being fed bite sized morsels of information that are quickly memorized and just as quickly forgotten then they are missing the opportunity to discover. 

Hands on learning allows children to experience ideas first.  The old saying goes; it is better to teach a man how to fish than to simply give him fish.  For most schools the current curriculum largely gives children fish without teaching them a thing about how to fish for themselves. 

Psychologists recognize that we are not particularly good memorizers.  Most of us have a shaky grasp of logic, tend not to examine our beliefs and only notice data that support our theories.  The problem is not that children can’t find information it’s that they lack the skills to evaluate it. 

This is why hands on learning is so critical.   Hands on gives children direct experience and trial and error process that demands they start over and learn from past mistakes. The long-term goal of schools should be to give their students a sort of users guide to knowing about how they learn.  This guide will teach them the architecture of the mind, what it does well and what it doesn’t.  Instead of emphasizing facts students will learn how to evaluate evidence, consider their own biases and use logic and reason to make choices. 

Systematic changes are necessary if our schools are to thrive.  What do we really want?  My hope is for children to step back and notice the world just like Albert Einstein did and appreciate the miracle they really are. 

Teachers talk a lot about self-esteem, but do they really understand how it is the cornerstone of health and positive behaviors?

A simple definition of self-esteem is having respect and positive regard for yourself.  Children learn to feel right about themselves from the loving attention of their mothers.  If a child basks in the love of the mother the connection between the orbitorfrontal brain and the body is established.   This connection makes it easier for a child to go within itself to feel what is right and to know how to go after it.  This also establishes a connection for empathy.  Without empathy self-esteem becomes self-centeredness and narcissism.

The first way children experience self-esteem is by feeling confident in their body through physical strength, endurance, and flexibility.   Schools can become the primary place to promote this physical poweress.  Unfortunately schools often tap into competitive sports as the measure of physical fitness.  This template sets up a compete and compare mentality that can contribute to failure and low self-esteem.  There is a wide range of sports abilities among children and a wide variation in the rate of development of these skills.  If every child is expected to conform to the same standard then it’s inevitable that some of them will fail. 

Malcolm Gladwell the author of “Outliners” writes about the phenomenon of relative age.  What he and others found is that the cut-off birth dates for participation in all sports was the predictor of success. 

This effect was first observed in Canadian professional hockey players.  Overwhelmingly most have birthdates in January.  Now this has nothing to do with astrology it simply means that in Canada the cut-off for eligibility to play hockey is January 1.   There is an enormous difference in size and ability between boys born in December and one born January 2. 

What happens is that this skewered age distribution favors certain birthdates.  Larger more coordinated players receive more attention and instruction than smaller less coordinated players.  Becoming proficient in sports is a product of a sort of natural selection because who gets to the top is not just the hardest seed but  the one given the most sunlight. 

This phenomenon is also seen in European professional soccer and in American college players.  Schools are victim of this same birth date cutoff because students are not learning with others of the same age and maturity levels.   This selection favors older students in every aspect of learning but is most obvious in physical fitness. 

If a school’s physical fitness class is structured and limited to playing sports than a large number of students will never experience the power of their own body.  The school’s approach and attitude toward fitness must recognize the connection between the mind and the body. 

The best way to do this is make the school a “fit” environment.  Fitness becomes part of every day, not just during gym class.  Walking, stretching, moving are essential to create flexibility and strength and should be incorporated into all aspects of the school day.  As children work through their day they gain energy and appreciation of their own healthy bodies. 

Yoga, Pilates, aerobics, dance, or movement to music can help all students regardless of natural ability achieve fitness.  And this  is accomplished without competition and without fear of failure. 

Self-esteem is an inside job, but schools are a part of the proving ground to promote it.   If children are comfortable in their own skin developing social skills and self-discipline will be easier.

Physical fitness is the first requisite to happiness; the ability to feel strong and capable in your own body is an essential element for feeling safe and secure in the world.  Of all the lifetime factors that have been studied physical fitness is the  most accurate predictor of longevity and health. 

Leaving the theatre after watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire I was buoyed with a sense of hopefulness.  It is the story of Jamal an orphan boy forced to fight for survival in the slums of Mumbai India.  He travels the treacherous terrain between doing what’s right and doing what’s easy.   The heart of the story answers the question how does anyone come to know what’s right about life and love.

This journey of coming to know about what’s right is one all of us must travel and like the character of Jamal each one of us must decide what is most important.  The question I must ask is: how are our values determined?

There are powerful emotions and circumstances that will influence where we line up on the character continuum.  Will we use love as our guide or bitterness?  Will we seek to do what’s right over what’s advantageous? 

There is no certainty in answering this question but one thing must not be ignored.  The environment in which we live must reflect respect, love and justice. These principles are like rich compost nourishing our spirit and our values. 

Our children need to see daily examples of character in order for them to develop and embrace it.    Creative World Connections is dedicated to being part of that compost.  Below is a sample of one of our daily messages for your school announcements.  We invite you to share it with your school population and email us if you would like more material to share.   CWC will work with each school and tailor a program to meet your needs.  Subscription can be yearly, monthly or weekly. 

Success Tip/ Doing the Right Thing

In the Harry Potter book series there is a character named Hagrid.  Hagrid is a friendly giant with a soft heart.  He is one of Harry’s teachers who also becomes his friend.

Hagrid tells Harry, “ At some time you must choose between what’s easy and what’s right.”

Hagrid might only be a fictional giant but he understands what’s most important. 

So What’s Easy for you Today?

Not doing your homework is easy.

Spreading gossip is easy.

Watching someone being bullied is easy. 

The hard things in life require commitment.  Working hard, walking away from gossip and standing up to bullies are all hard but they will determine your character.   None of you needs a giant in a storybook to tell you to do the right thing, although it helps.

You all cheer for the hero of a story and hope for the downfall of the villain.  In your own story you can become the hero, so today cheer for yourself when you do what’s right.

And know this – No one can this do hard work but you!

Doctors recognize there are five stages to recovery. Whether its an unhealthy habit, an addiction or creating better habits the five stages are the same with the same potential for failure or success.

The first is stage is to pre-contemplate.  It means you might have thought about change, but it’s only a thought.  Like thinking you’d like to lose a few pounds.  The second is to contemplate.  You have in mind a possibility or a plan but you’ve not given serious thought about making an important change.   The third stage is action.  You do some research about diets and consider the best one for you. Nothing really happens until the fourth stage where you make a plan, the plan is the beginning of your commitment to being better. The last stage is the relapse.   Doctors know even the most dedicated person will experience a relapse.  The reason is whenever you initiate change even positive changes you activate fear in the emotional brain.   If the fear is great enough your fight or flight response will go off and you will literally run away from what you’re trying to do.   In the human brain change is difficult and uncomfortable. 

Doctors recognize that relapse is not failure; it’s merely the response of our brain circuitry.   Unfortunately many of us will give up when our brain signals this struggle instead of acknowledging this important step in the process to change.

Understanding these limitations can be useful in the classroom.   These same synaptic pathways in the brain can make learning new information or a new skill difficult.  Some children like the addict in recovery will relapse and simply decide they aren’t smart enough or the task is too hard to continue.

Teachers have the perfect opportunity to help their students become more comfortable with these relapses by creating a comfort zone for learning.   Every student in your class should be confident enough to accept their mistakes and struggles.  This confidence needs to come from you – the classroom teacher. 

Every time you present a new concept or idea preface it with the information that learning is hard work and every person has different abilities.  By doing this you give students the space they need when they relapse.   Students can also work cooperatively in small groups so that those who grasp ideas quicker can teach and work with the slower learners.   Your classroom can become a place of opportunity instead of failure.

How much time everyday do children spend outside? How many minutes a day do children engage in real physical activity?  

Our children do not move enough or play enough.  Read the evidence

• A study published this month in the journal of Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among 11,000 children.  Children who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day had more positive behaviors.
• A Harvard study of middle school students reported in the Journal of School Health that the more physical fitness children have the better they do on academic tests.
• Dr. Stuart Brown author of “Play: How It Shapes the Brain” claims play is a major health issue.  During play children develop skills to solve social problems.  It is a fundamental biological process that creates resiliency and social life skills.
• Neuroscientists at Oxford University believe that repeated exposure to computer games, chat rooms, and social networks sites could leave a generation of children with poor attention spans.  In addition the lack of play and interaction interferes with developing critical communication skills.
• The Journal of Attention Disorders found that for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder improved on test scores by simply taking walks outside.
•  A study by the Broadcaster Audience Research board found teenagers now spend seven and a half hours a day in front of some kind of screen. 

This research shows the intimate connection between the body and the mind.  And that connection can be compromised when children lead out of balance lives.  Too much time devoted to the wrong things.   This information is critical yet in order for it to have any impact those in education must first start to believe it and then to make adjustments.

Scientists know the brain uses two forms of attention.  Directed attention that allows us to concentrate on work and involuntary attention that takes over when we are distracted.  Directed attention is a limited resource.  Long hours sitting whether it be in a classroom or in front of a computer screen create mental fatigue.   But spending time in a natural setting, outside appears to activate involuntary attention giving the brain time to rest.  

Unfortunately this information comes at a time when schools are making cuts to recess and physical education.  Thirty percent of public schools offer no recess at all to children and forty percent of schools surveyed are offering only one daily recess period.  And even more injurious are those teachers who punish students by taking away recess privileges.  You don’t punish children by taking away a math class.  It’s illogical to limit or take away the one activity that promotes greater brain activity and learning potential.

Physical activity is essential to education.  Teachers must work to guarantee that their students have access to being outside and being active even if they must  integrate it into their daily lesson plans themselves.

As we search for cost efficient ways to improve our schools lets not forget these simple rules. 

If the only vision you had of yourself came from the social mirror your view would be like the reflection in a crazy mirror at a carnival.  The view would be distorted and out of proportion.   The social mirror is often a projection of the concerns and weaknesses of those giving the input rather than a true picture of what you are. 

Author Stephen Covey writes about a classic story of a self-fulfilling prophecy.   The story is how a computer error in England incorrectly programmed student’s grades and IQ’s.   The error was not discovered until five months into the school year.  What was discovered demonstrates how critical it is that children believe they are capable.  The scores of a lower achieving group of students had all gone up.  Their teachers had treated them as thought they were bright.  The teacher’s energy, hope and optimism reflected high individual expectations for each of these students. 

The teachers reported that during the first few weeks of school when they saw the usual methods of teaching were not successful they changed them.  They believed that their students were bright and when things were not working well they figured it must be the teaching methods.  For this group of teachers apparent learner disability was nothing more than teacher inflexibility. 

Small interventions can make a big difference in learning.  Geoffrey Cohen a psychologist at the University of Colorado has found that telling students that their intelligence is under their own control improves their effort and performance.  If students believe they possess the ability to work hard and make themselves smarter they will be smarter. 

As schools and government examine how to increase academic achievement and where to spend their dollars they must not ignore the most critical component in learning -the attitude of the classroom teacher.   They must keep in mind that small influences in children’s lives can have very big effects.   Ambitious reforms are still important but children who have successful learning pictures in their heads will be better equipped mentally to try, and to succeed.

Failure to achieve is intimately connected to a child’ self-image and ideas on self worth.  To change this paradigm you must as a teacher believe that although a child may have failed in the past he can succeed in the present.  A failing child will continue to fail if his teachers continue to remind him of his failure.  To break the cycle of failure the student must first have a caring nurturing relationship with his teacher. 

When you as a teacher refuse to label your students you will see them in fresh new ways.  Your view can help them become independent, fulfilled and capable of doing satisfying work. 

Goethe taught, “ Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can be and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”

Anyone involved in education should become excited at the prospect of injecting this kind of positive energy into a system that many regard as broken.   Administrators, parents and teachers must dedicate themselves to providing a network of support and renewal for all teachers.  Their job is too important not to do this. 

When Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2005 he said, “ I was in awe every time I walked onto the field.  That’s respect. A lot of people say this honor validated my career, but I didn’t work hard for validation.   I didn’t play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel.  I played it right because that’s what you’re supposed to do, play it right and play it with respect.  If this validates anything, it’s that the guys who taught me did what they were supposed to do.”

Playing by the rules is an institutional practice.  And these practices are passed down and evolve.   “There is a deep reverence for those who came before and built up the rules,” writes political scientist Hugh Heclo in his book “On Thinking Institutionally.” 

Heclo believes we are defined by what life asks of us.  As we go through life we travel through institutions, family, school, and then institutions that become part of our profession.

Your students need a model to learn how and why to play by the rules because right now it seems everyone has broken all the rules.   As educators you have not just an opportunity every day but an obligation to pass on the importance of respect in every aspect of your students life. 

So how can you do this? 

There is nobility and integrity in honoring what is right and especially doing this when challenged.  Classroom teachers are challenged everyday by the disruptions and demands of their students.  It is impossible to plan without planning for the unexpected.  The unexpected is the student who is testing your good humor and your patience.  It is the love and the discipline of the one student that communicates the love for the others. 

Stephen Covey author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” said, “It’s how you treat the one that reveals how you regard the ninety-nine, because ultimately everyone is the one.” 

If students can learn this lesson of the importance of the one they can practice playing by the rules for life.  They can learn to become persons of the highest integrity, calling a penalty on themselves when need be. 

As teachers you don’t need a plan or a special time of day to weave this lesson into the curriculum you can do this simply by practicing and honoring your craft.  You have a relationship to teaching that could almost be described as a covenant.  Your job is to do it right, to play by the rules yourself so your students can follow in your footsteps.

Creative World Connection Series 1 is a collection of daily messages that help you reinforce this lesson with your students.  As a small company CWC is able to adapt our material to the needs of your student population.  Contact us today for more information on how we can help your students learn the importance of playing by the rules. 

Science stands alone as an extraordinary intellectual invention, it helps to neutralize our human tendency to see only what we expect to see.  The scientific process creates experiments to establish a clear connection between cause and effect.  Science cancels out our prejudices, groupthink, tradition, pride, and dogma.

The importance of science cannot be over stated.  Students of science not only learn to abandon ideas when new evidence is presented they also learn to practice intellectual honesty.  This intelligence simply means that when confronted with new evidence they can admit that far from knowing more they suddenly know a lot less.  Science allows us to live in the mystery, to be in the quest of knowledge. 

Schools have not embraced the study of science.  Many of us persist in believing what is most comfortable instead of what is evident. Evolution and climate change are two examples and still hotly debated despite evidence to the contrary. 

Schools need to start early to capture the minds and imaginations of their students. The timeline from Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton to Einstein demonstrates a group of individuals who rejected the easy familiar conclusions to explore the unfamiliar ones. 

I propose that science be taught in much the same way that literature is.   Instead of teaching just the facts present the big picture and the excitement that made the big leaps possible.  In this way students can learn to love science and not to fear it.   For many in schools both teachers and students the study of science has an elitist attitude.  Classes like chemistry and physics cannot be reserved for only those considered smarter.  This idea is damaging to students and to their understanding of science.

Our students are surrounded by technology but yet have little understanding of how we got here.   In our daily lives we arrive at our beliefs usually though a patchwork of opinions, prejudices and personal experiences.  Most of us would be hard pressed to trace the source of these beliefs in any rigorous way.   Creating a population of scientists gives our future generations a tool to allow examination and reason to form their beliefs. 

Encourage your students to constantly ask “why.”  Asking the difficult questions is what leads to discovery.

Recently the New York Times ran a health article about self-handicapping.  Self-handicapping is one way to lower expectations and protect your ego.  The way you do it is to make a disclaimer before attempting a task where failure is anticipated. 

I’ve done this unconsciously for years; I’m always quick to say that I’m not good in math, poor at navigating directions, and not skilled at team sports.  These disclaimers quickly excuse my mistakes in advance.  This is a strategy in protecting my ego. 

Now imagine your typical classroom filled with students who are self-handicapping.  This lowered self-image creates a real impediment to learning because students who are convinced of the truth of this will not even try.

So how does a classroom teacher encourage students certain of failure to try?

One important way is to create a classroom environment that is cooperative instead of competitive.   Cooperative learning groups promotes a positive kind of interdependence where individual success is not as important.   This type of structure also gives students of all learning abilities a chance to succeed.   And results show that students who are given a chance to work collaboratively learn faster and feel more positive about school.  It would also seem likely they would self-handicap less often. 

One of the consequences of self-handicapping is it constantly reinforces the negative belief of not being smart enough to be comprehend difficult subjects.   Many students believe that high intelligence is only associated with book smarts and higher graders.  When in fact there are seven measurable kinds of smart. 

Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliners” says high IQ even at the genius level is not a predictor of success.  He illustrates in his book that practical intelligence helps an individual read a situation. It’s procedural and is about knowing how to do something without necessarily being able to explain it.  Practical intelligence helps you handle the challenges of life.  And it is not innate but can be taught.

We’ve grown accustomed to associating smart with success and high academic achievement.  That could be why even as an adult I will avoid having to do complicated mathematic calculations.   Just to test myself and try to undo some of my old scripts I forced myself to take an online math test.  I did the equations over and over until finally I began to understand what had been missing. 

Researchers have discovered that being good at math is not an innate ability.  It’s not so much ability as an attitude.  You can master mathematics if you are willing to try.  Success is a function of persistence and the willingness to work hard to make sense of something.  

My little experiment is too late for rich academic development but it did prove to me that self-handicapping has been an impediment to learning.  I wonder if given different circumstances as a child would I have discovered a talent or even a passion that I don’t have now. 

Teachers have an opportunity to shape the beliefs of their students by giving them the freedom to have a “glorious misconception” (as Mr. Gladwell writes) about something and then the time to work enough to resolve it.   These “ah ha” moments are truly the windows of opportunity because students will tap into the possibilities.