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| ... in the groove... the Emperor's Groove, that is. |
How prepared do you feel to write a literature review on a topic of your choosing?
This question is what I consider to be a loaded question! To be honest, the amount of reading in this course has been more intense than what I have encountered in any other course (and I have taken a lot of courses!). It has been a bit daunting at times, but I am starting to find my groove and am fairly confident in taking on the challenge of the literature review. The hardest part of an assignment like this one is finding enough articles from reasonable sources on the topic at hand. Especially those that are timely. Organizing everything into a coherent format will be the next challenge.
Upon completing the course, how might you use the skills that you’ve gained to seek out and apply scientific knowledge about cognition in your own educational settings?
We have a particularly challenging 6th grade entering the Upper School this fall, cognitively speaking (a group that is bright, but packed with “issues”). I plan to use some time this summer to better utilize the BTT model in my activity planning for the 2012-13 school year. After today’s staff meeting, I see that this class will benefit from attention to the specific brain targets.
In our 5-8 grades, 62% of the students are in the top 16% of academic ability compared to the national average according to recent testing. However, many of them have their own challenges that include ADHD, executive processing issues, anxiety, etc. I would love to begin utilizing the BTT model and knowledge from my coursework to better help these kids reach their full potential.
Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteIn this age of NCLB data-driven education, it gives me hope that scientists as respected as Michal Posner and other researchers are studying the effects of mindfulness. As big “fan” of mindfulness, I know how tempting it might be to ascribe overblown positive results. So far the data is limited. I did a quick read of your Lit Review and I am glad that you know that there is a need for further research. The recommendation that Mindfulness be taught in PE might have merit – especially if it is carried over into the other classes. At our school the PE department teaches topics in units. I wonder if a “Unit on Mindfulness” would have any real effect if there was no plan for follow-up.
It sounds like you have an interesting school year coming up. A group described as “62% of students who are in the top 16% of academic ability” should “keep you hopping!” Perhaps you could do some teacher-research on Mindfulness. Since you teach a number of groups, you might even be able to design a study that has a control group! That would be cool. So often teachers (like me) have problems doing experimental research because we can’t arrange a control.
Recently I had a meeting with Dr. Hardiman and met the designer of a cool website called LearningFront. Since you’re a very forward-thinking, tech savvy teacher, I thought you might know about it. I’d be interested to know your opinion of the site.
http://www.learningfront.com/my_lf.cfm
You’re not alone. I, too, find some of the cognitive and neuroscience articles to be a “bit daunting.” Good news…it does get a bit easier as you gain more experience with the material. Don’t give up! BTW I am enjoying your posts on Facebook. You and your wonderful family really have some fun times!
Best regards,
Sharon