BUILD STRONGER BRAINS by increasing blood flow to the brain. Dr. Amen's 12 remedies for a healthy brain

Start by going here:


Dr. Amen's Website

Then look at each point and decide what you can do to support this procedure.

I have placed some screen shots to help you get started...



Send your comments to me at TLASteve@gmail.com.

if you are my student, write to 9546468246@mymetropcs.com and use just 160 characters.

The Virtual Mentor: a procedure to connect a young person to a mentor without the hassle of bringing an adult into a school.

Dennis Littky writes about the importance of mentors ....

well, for copyright reasons, only a few words will be shown here.   

From page 128
See his book, The Big Picture.
Free chapters from his book (published by ASCD.org)
Free chapter in Portuguese
Free Chapter in Spanish (coming soon)

=======================================  

Headaches with visitors

In many schools, the respected expert is treated like an unknown stranger:
-- finger prints before you can meet with students
-- background check
-- monitoring by the school staff while you are on campus
-- no contact between you and the students (for fear of pedophiles)

The mentor gives up at least an hour for every 30-minute visit to a classroom.  I once spent 20 minutes driving to a school, then 10 minutes getting through the security, then the 30 minutes in a visit, then extracting myself from the classroom, then another 20 minutes to drive.   It was over an hour and I felt that the students had benefited, but they really needed more contact.   It would be better to have multiple small-group meetings than to have a single "whole group" meeting.


How can we get around these obstacles?

Here's the procedure:  The Virtual Mentor.

As a reward to students who have completed a set of worksheets, 
GET THE FREE EBOOK called Virtual Mentors....


I'm a teacher in Miami.  I have a procedure called "The Virtual Mentor."  I look for adults who love learning, who appear to love life and who appear to embrace challenges.   I ask those adults to visit my class "virtually" and to tell students something about their approach to problems, how they look for infomration and to tell us what magazines they read.   I ask for your best method of contact (email or mobile phone text) and then I find two students who are given the task of writing a question no more than once a month ...  it is a five-minute contribution of your time.   You reply to the question and then you hear nothing more from the students for another 30 days.   If you want more contact, then you can initiate the contact.   All contact is done through me, where you reply to the question that I've sent.


I look forward to having you contact me at TLASteve@gmail.com ... send me your reply to the following questions....


Here are some general questions

1. What quotations inspire you?

2. What books do you like (and why)?

3. What do you recommend for students to study?

4. What do you remember from school that was useful?

5. What magazines do you read at least once a year?

6. Can you recommend an article that you found interesting?


7. How did you get your current job?

If you would like to become a Virtual Mentor, please write to TLASteve@gmail.com and answer the questions in GREEN above.

Let's start with parental concerns:

a)  are you letting my daughter write to a complete stranger?  Are you out of your mind?

ANSWER:  The stranger has been vetted by the teacher.

The stranger writes a reply to me, the teacher, and I strip the contact information from the email.  Then the daughter can write a reply.

b)  What is the purpose of this activity?   This is a math class.   

ANSWER:  the mind often needs a "vacation."   The class is 100 minutes and I want students to practice being adults.  They can work on the tasks in any order and they can write a letter at some point in the 100-minute class.

====   

If I ask adults to go through this process, I should submit myself to the same process of answering these questions.

Here is my reply:

========= 

Since I'm asking you to spend some time to complete this form, I am going to do the same thing.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Virtual-Mentor-personalize/dp/1484816285

1. What quotations inspire you?

I like lyrics from musicals (Sound of Music, 1776, The Little Mermaid, Man of La Mancha)

I like "The Impossible Dream" and I've memorized six lines from a poem called Equipment by Edgar Guest.   Courage comes form the soul within, the man must furnish the will to win so, figure it out for yourself, my lad, you were born with all that the great have had, with your equipment they all began, get hold of yourself and say, "I can."

2. What books do you like (and why)?

Arthur C. Clarke's Songs of Distant Earth

around page 156 is a  word about "ablation" -- a shield of ice is used on the front of a ship to absorb particles that the ship rams into.  The Ablative shield eventually wears away

cool word.

I also like a book called The Big Picture (2004 by Dennis Littky) because it redefines the relationship between schol and community.  We taxpayers shouldn't assume that teachers and parents have the entire burden of guiding young people to adulthood.   There is a place for mentors.

3. What do you recommend for students to study?

I like biographies, magazines and newspapers.  A kid can learn a lot from wandering through text and then perhaps the kid will begin asking questions.

4. What do you remember from school that was useful?

I particularly liked it when our classes were visited by strangers.   Those experts allowed us to ask them questions.

5. What magazines do you read at least once a year?

Smithsonian, National Geographic, Psychology Today, ASCD Educational Leadership (for teachers), Digital Photography Magazine, National Geographic Explorer, Discovery magazine, Men's Health, Reader's Digest, Sierra Club, National Rifle Association newsletters, ...

6. Can you recommend an article that you found interesting?

There is a fascinating article about the difference between grass-fed beef and corn-fed beef.  The article appeared in the July 2012 issue of Psychology Today.  I found it amazing that omega-3 fats are so differently distributed in the meat of cows.

7. How did you get your current job?

I kept interviewing until I found a boss who had a vision about what "work" is.  He has an idea about how to get through the day and arrive at the end with something accomplished.

========= 

If you are inspired to become a virtual mentor, please call me  +1 (954) 646 8246 or write to me on SKYPE  SteveEnglishTeacher or send me an email  TLASteve@gmail.com.   

What procedures can help a school make "time more flexible" for the students? What rules can help students become more independent?

What are the procedures that promote independence in students?

That is the theme of this blog:  Let's capture the "teacher talk" and the exercises that any teacher can use to make the classroom more open for students.

I have posted several items in my classroom to promote autonomy, mastery and purpose.

These are themes from Dan Pink's book, Drive.  

A core procedure is the "Fedex Day" where students are allowed to study whatever they want to study as long as they deliver something within 24 or 48 hours.   The project does not have to be completed.  However, there has to be something visible.


----------- 


Here's another procedure:  The Virtual Mentor.

As a reward to students who have completed a set of worksheets, 

I'm a teacher in Miami.  I have a procedure called "The Virtual Mentor."  I look for adults who love learning, who appear to love life and who appear to embrace challenges.   I ask those adults to visit my class "virtually" and to tell students something about their approach to problems, how they look for infomration and to tell us what magazines they read.   I ask for your best method of contact (email or mobile phone text) and then I find two students who are given the task of writing a question no more than once a month ...  it is a five-minute contribution of your time.   You reply to the question and then you hear nothing more from the students for another 30 days.   If you want more contact, then you can initiate the contact.   All contact is done through me, where you reply to the question that I've sent.

I look forward to having you contact me at TLASteve@gmail.com ... send me your reply to the following questions....


Here are some general questions

1. What quotations inspire you?

2. What books do you like (and why)?

3. What do you recommend for students to study?

4. What do you remember from school that was useful?

5. What magazines do you read at least once a year?

6. Can you recommend an article that you found interesting?


7. How did you get your current job?

If you would like to become a Virtual Mentor, please write to TLASteve@gmail.com and answer the questions in GREEN above.

Let's start with parental concerns:

a)  are you letting my daughter write to a complete stranger?  Are you out of your mind?

ANSWER:  The stranger has been vetted by the teacher.

The stranger writes a reply to me, the teacher, and I strip the contact information from the email.  Then the daughter can write a reply.

b)  What is the purpose of this activity?   This is a math class.   

ANSWER:  the mind often needs a "vacation."   The class is 100 minutes and I want students to practice being adults.  They can work on the tasks in any order and they can write a letter at some point in the 100-minute class.

Example of math and other test "exercises" that are challenging and easy to reproduce on a sheet of paper for later gluing into a daily journal

Here are some exercises

August 9: Abraham Fischler says that "The Student is the Class."

Please visit the FIRST blog post on abe.thestudentistheclass.com

The Problem

At the present time, teachers are working hard but we are still not fulfilling the demands of our students or our society. Why not? The schools are set up with an agrarian calendar and teachers are responsible for teaching to a class as a unit. Time is fixed and the only variable is performance – some pass and others fail. And, if the persons who fail do not make up and achieve the proficiency that the test is measuring, they drift further and further behind. The consequences are numerous and punishing. How does this instill a love of learning? This approach does not take into account a truism: ‘all students can learn but they learn at different rates and have different preferential learning styles’.

Instead of asking the student to fit the administrative structure (i.e., the class and arbitrary time periods for learning subjects and achieving competencies), we must provide each student with the time and means to succeed. Rather than punish the student who learns more slowly than the arbitrarily chosen period, we must treat each student as the class.

We must find a way of doing this. Other industries have made similar changes* and it is now time for education to do the same.

*Take FedEx, who can tell you where any package is at any time. Look at banking, which is now available 24 hours a day through ATMs and you can go to almost any ATM to withdraw or deposit funds. Both industries invested in information and delivery systems to meet the needs of their clients rather than asking their clients to accommodate to a fixed structure. Now the automobile industry is enabling customers to order on demand rather than requiring them to accept whatever is available in the dealer’s lot. In the business world, however, there is competition that requires companies to adapt – education has not had this catalyst.

What is my vision and strategy for educational change?

I believe that we in education must make the investment to do the same for our clients, i.e., each student. What investment is needed?
There are three modes of instruction: 1) self-paced or CAI, 2) project or problem-solving and 3) discussion. Self-paced or CAI requires that each student have access to a computer and modem and access to the curriculum on a server on a 24/7 basis. Projects and problems should be relevant to students so they can relate to the given subject area.

For English and Math, we should implement CAI in the 1st grade (and continue thereafter). The reason English and Math are chosen is that these are the two cultural imperative languages. If you know these two languages and are motivated as a self-learner, you can teach yourself almost anything you want to learn. And, one of the goals of education is to create self-learners.

For all other subjects, the teacher can pose a project or problem that is relevant to the student. Once the problem is defined, the class can be broken down into groups of 4-5 students in order to research the solution to the problem. If complex, each of the groups may study an aspect of the problem. With these subjects, the student uses the computer as a research tool (after having learned to read). Students are taught to use search engines such as Google or Yahoo as well as the intranet made available by teachers gathering information relevant for the students.

Students working in a group learn cooperation, shared responsibility and communication (face-to-face as well as e-mail). Having produced a written solution to the problem utilizing the computer (power point) as a tool, they can then present to the class for discussion. They can also use email or a written report to other students as well as the teacher.

Arbitrary learning within fixed time periods would be eliminated, i.e., no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. grades. Instead, students would be grouped chronologically with materials appropriate to their learning level and style using the CAI approach for English and Math, and the project/problem/discussion modes for other subjects. The projects given to the students match the level of English and Math competencies and are related to the students (their interests and their lives). For example, in 3rd grade, how would you study the amount of water that a plant needs to grow? I would utilize the students’ Math knowledge (learned through CAI) for science learning. Likewise, rather than studying history through memorization and chronology, it can be studied through problems based on the immediate environment for younger children and more abstract concepts in later grades.

Dr. Fischler uses the phrase, "The Student Is the Class" to capture our attention.  

how can we change the procedures in the classroom to serve students?
What procedures are in place to make things easier for us as teachers?
Can we make time flexible for the student?
Can we make the working environment in the class similar to working in an office?

Here are posters to assist in this "variable time" environment.

Part of the challenge is to build in the students the awareness of this opportunity for them to take the initiative.

You can read Dr. Fischler's commentaries at Transform-Education.com and you can download his free ebook HERE

Fischler's posters            List of Quotations
Propellor to the moon (poster)
Time is a variable (posters)

Summary of Fischler's 7 points

Mottos plus "Rosenshine 17 points" sheet 

BONUS:  A poster adapted form an editorial in the Economist, recommended by Gordon Dryden, the entrepreneur-turned-education advocate