Birthday

For as much I have been feeling lonely recently, I felt so loved on my birthday. Birthday cards, students who remembered, phone messages and text messages, impromptu dinner with friends after work, home cooked meal and cake delivered to my work, flowers, ladies night out to celebrate. Thank you for the tangible reminders of your love for me!

Resurrection - Nicol Sponberg

I'm at a loss for words, there's nothing to say
I sit in silence wondering what led me to this place
How did my heart become so lifeless and cold
Where did the passion go?

When all my efforts seem like chasing wind
I've used up all my strength and there's nothing left to give
I've lost the feeling and I'm down to the core
I can't fake it anymore.

Here I am at the end
I'm in need of resurrection
Only You can take this empty shell and raise it from the dead
What I've lost to the world what seems far beyond redemption
You can take the pieces in Your hand and make me whole again

You speak and all creation falls to its knees
You raise Your hand and calm the waves of the raging sea
You have a way of turning winter to spring
Make something beautiful out of all this suffering chorus

Here I am once again
I'm in need of resurrection
Only You can take this empty shell and raise it from the dead
What I've lost to the world what seems far beyond redemption
You can take the pieces in Your hand and make me whole again

You have a way of turning winter to spring
Make something beautiful out of all this suffering

Click

I want connection. Connections. Deep Connections.

Deep. I want you to get me. I want you to know me. I want to be known. I want to know you.

I want you to value me, need me, love me, include me.

Touch. Permanence. Belonging.

Therapy in the Moonlight

Instead of going through the river flailing your arms, frantically swimming, gasping for breath, racing against life, you can choose to float down the river at a gentle speed, bobbing up and down with the current, swimming next to the pretty fish, getting a little sun burn here and there, maybe swallowing a little too much water at times, but generally taking in the beauty and taking in life.

The forest philosophy: Digging myself out one leaf at a time

All of a sudden, I got very confused – I entered an unknown land – I was lost – no background to process my thoughts. All the tree fell down. I didn’t recognize anything.

I was in a forest. A dark forest. No light. The cave was closing in on me. All the trees fell down.

(So I should run, run away as fast as I can, run far far away from the trees and my thoughts. Run).

No, dig yourself out. And climb. Climb up. Climb. Out. Grab on to a branch. Pull up. Hold on. Look, a bird. Okay, I recognize the bird. Something familiar. And there, a little raccoon. We will sit and perch and chat – some common ground.

I look around, from my view above the fallen trees. People walking around. There are other people in the forest? Where all the trees fell down?

What about the people who are not in the forest? Who are these people who are not in the forest? How can you not be in the forest?

When all the leaves fall down. Run? Maybe. No. Maybe. Not today. Dig myself out. One leaf at a time.

La Vie Bohem

To days of inspiration

Playing hookey, making

Something out of nothing

The need to express-

To communicate,

To going against the grain,

Going insane, going mad

To loving tension,

no pension

To more than one dimension,

To starving for attention,

Hating convention, hating pretension

Not to mention of course,

Hating dear old Mom and Dad

To riding your bike,

Midday past the three-piece suits

To fruits - to no absolutes-

To Absolut - to choice-

To the Village Voice-

To any passing fad

To being an us for once ... instead of a them!!

Baggage

Life's too short, babe, time is flying
I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place
Even your emotions had an echo and so much space
And when you're out there without care
Yeah I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me Crazy
Does that make me Crazy
Does that make me Crazy
Possibly

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
Come on now who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,
ha ha ha bless your soul you really think you're in control

well I think you're Crazy
I think you're Crazy
I think you're Crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
All I remember is thinking I want to be like them.
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little
It looked like fun
And there's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

But Maybe I'm Crazy
Maybe you're Crazy
Maybe we're Crazy
Probably

One Song - RENT

One song. Glory. One song
Before I go, Glory
One song to leave behind,
Find one song, one last refrain, glory
From the pretty boy front man,
Who wasted opportunity.
One song, he had the world at his feet,
Glory
In the eyes of a young girl, a young girl
Find glory, beyond the cheap colored lights
One song, before the sun sets
Glory - on another empty life
Time flies - time dies,
Glory - One blaze of glory
One blaze of glory - Glory
Find, Glory, in a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame
Find, one song, a song about love
Glory, from the soul of a young man
A young man
Find, the one song
Before the virus takes hold, glory
Like it sunset
One song
To redeem this empty life
Time flies
And then no need to endure anymore
Time dies

Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care?
Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?

I just called to say hi

Part of me is happy for you - more of me is sad.
Part of me is happy for you - more of me is confused.
Part of me is happy for you - more of me is angry.

Why will it be different this time? Why will this work now? Do you look at her the same way? What do you say to her? How do you touch her? When did this happen? Would you have told me if I didn't ask?

So, you're all fixed now? Or are you just bringing one more into your broken mess?

I don't want to be angry. I don't want to be numb. I just want to understand.

My Website!

Check out my new school website...still a work in progress :)

http://www.nhvweb.net/nhhs/english/lsheldon/

Brain Based Teaching & Learning: Reflection Part 5

Only by truly attaching meaning and understanding to learning will my students retain what they have learned. When faced with “research on retention indicat[ing] that 70 to 90 percent of new learning is forgotten within 18 to 24 hours,” (Sousa, 2006, p. 70) I am even more motivated as a teacher to actively employ these strategies to help my students make connections. As previously discussed, to help my students to retain this knowledge, I must create an emotionally safe classroom and help students to attach meaning and emotion to learning. As students make these connections, I want to challenge them to take more ownership of their learning by having them teach the material to others. Supported by the statistic that students retain 90 percent of what they teach others after 24 hours (Sousa, 2006), activities such as presentations, “jigsaw,” “find someone who,” and “quiz, quiz, trade” are effective strategies to encourage long term retention. I also want to better monitor my students’ retention through more accurate assessment methods. I am very convinced by the argument that announced assessments and word banks test more for working memory than for long term memory (Sousa, 2006). While I do not plan on eliminating all forms of announced assessments, I now see the benefit of more regular unannounced assessments in order to determine what my students are actually learning and to strategize how to re-teach material that has been missed. Through these methods, I hope to have a better grasp of what my students are actually thinking about, learning, and retaining in my future classroom.

PhD in English Education and Literacy

"The program in English Education/Literacy Studies is designed for students who wish to explore issues related to the teaching of English and the preparation of prospective English teachers, and who are interested in exploring social and cultural issues related to oral and written language in education and the preparation of teachers to teach literacy skills to diverse student populations. The program aims to produce scholars who can provide intellectual leadership in the field and who are prepared to work at the intersection of theory and practice. Students will have opportunities to work with Arnetha Ball and Pamela Grossman on their research projects in these areas. Students may focus on a variety of areas within these fields, including curriculum development, the teaching of language and/or literature, the teaching of writing, teacher education, and professional development. Students are encouraged to take courses in the English and Linguistics departments, as well as in the School of Education. All programs are individually designed, with the assistance of a faculty advisor, to reflect a student's particular background and interests."

http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/programs-degrees/cte2.html

Stanford

So beautiful! 75 degrees year round. Great views from Hoover Tower. Amazing architecture. Imported Palms :) Jamba Juice! Two on-site museums. Unique photo opts. Outside seating in the library. PhD. in English Education and Literacy!!

Brain Based Teaching & Learning: Reflection Part 4

By attaching emotion to learning, students are able to make connections to past and future learning. In other words, they are able to experience “transfer:” when past learning affects the acquisition of current learning and current learning affects the acquisition of future learning and application of learning to new situations and scenarios. “Past learning [and experience] always influences the acquisition of new learning” (Sousa, 2006, p 138). So to make learning meaningful, I have to help students to transfer. Yet for students to experience transfer, they must be able to make sense and attach meaning to the learning. In a sense, the theory of transfer is very circular: Emotion and meaning help students learn by making connections, which gives them more knowledge and experience in their long term storage, which allows them more opportunities to make connections to in the future. In other words, “Making associations [with emotion and meaning] expands the brain’s ability to retain information…the more we learn and retain, the more we can learn and retain” (Sousa, 2006, p. 145). Therefore, I need to teach for understanding by connecting to past learning, emotion, and meaning, not only so that my students remember the information in my class, but also so that they can uses this information to transfer in other classes and venues of life.

This theory of transfer holds many implications for my classroom. Mere memorization and recitation of fact do not promote emotional investment, transfer, critical thinking, or long term retention. As Sousa (2006) explains, “Rote learning does not tend to facilitate transfer, but learning with understanding does” (p. 141). Therefore, in my classroom, I must move away from memorization and towards deeper understanding. Although rote learning can be a problem in many areas, I am especially struck by the vocabulary dilemma in my classroom. When asked to learn 20 words a week, my students are certainly tempted to merely cram the words into their working memory long enough to pass a quiz or a test. Their actual long term retention is usually abysmal, with rare exceptions. So I am left wondering how to make vocabulary instruction more meaningful. To help my students find meaning in vocabulary, they need to be able to explain what’s in it for them. I can offer them the answer that they will be more well-rounded and well-spoken in social settings, but I imagine that many will be unconvinced. A better strategy is to help them to visualize a transfer of their vocabulary from the present to the future, i.e. college. We can discuss their plans for college, the need to score well on the SATs to be admitted to good colleges, and the benefit of a strong vocabulary in order to succeed on the SATs. This strategy not only helps my students improve their vocabulary, but also gives them practice with transfer from present to future, a skill many of them struggle to achieve. A great litmus test for a student's ability to transfer learning from the present to the future can be seen through parallels in the writing process, specifically through transitions within writing. One of the most challenging aspects of essay writing for students is transitioning from one idea to another, from one sentence to another, and from one paragraph to another. Often they leave the transitions out all together, creating a fragmented collection of jumbled thoughts. Even when students do try to transition, early attempts are usually unsuccessful and do not create smooth and natural connections between ideas. As I teach the skill of transitions (connecting or applying one idea or topic to another related idea or topic within writing), I wonder if I can also implicitly or directly help my students to better understand and reflect on the skill of transfer (connecting or applying past experience or knowledge to current or future experience or knowledge). By reflecting on their learning in this way, students are more likely to achieve lasting transfer (Sousa, 2006).

Brain Based Teaching & Learning: Reflection Part 3

By encouraging brain state changes in my classroom, my students will experience not only physiological benefits, but also a more positively charged emotional environment. Though not usually a first priority concern in the classroom, a student’s emotional comfort level has a direct effect on his or her brain’s ability to process and focus on new material. “Students must feel physically safe and emotionally secure before they can focus on the curriculum” (Sousa, 2006, p. 44). While I think I am usually rather perceptive to the emotional states of my students and I strive from the beginning of the year to create a positive learning environment and community based on respect in my classroom, I did not realize how much emotional states can affect learning. This knowledge all the more supports the time I spend in my class on building community and encourages me to be even more aware of how students view and interact with each other. While some of the self esteem boosters such as the “clam clap” and the “fantastic spray bottle” have been described as “touchy feely” by some, I can see the benefit of encouraging each other and even in the camaraderie that comes from being willing to look and act a little bit silly with each other. I’m still processing how comfortable I feel introducing similar practices with my high school students, but I am now more aware of the importance of building a safe and secure environment. In addition to literally putting the students in the “right state of mind” to learn, positive emotions keep students interested and encourage them to think more analytically and critically, where as negative or even neutral emotions of boredom or disinterest decrease attention span and willingness to engage (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). I am left with the question: So how to I get my students to “like” what they are learning? One way is to follow some of the “brain break” strategies previously described, but another important method is to encourage the students to make their own emotional and meaningful connections to the learning.

Emotion affects not only a student’s ability and willingness to focus on the learning process, but also his or her ability to attach meaning to learning and to build a network of synapses in long term storage in the brain. Wolfe strongly asserts that “Emotion is a primary catalyst in the learning process” (Wolfe, 2003, p. 13). Students are more willing to engage in and more likely to remember information and experiences with an emotional connection (Wolfe, 2003). If I really want my students to learn, I must encourage them to make emotional investments, which triggers the amygdala to stimulate the hippocampus to convert information to long term storage (Sousa, 2006). To encourage students to make emotional investments, I often use journaling and reflections throughout the learning process. After studying about the importance of closure, I now want to use journaling more as a closure technique to encourage students to process what they have learned and how it applies to other learning and other aspects of life. I also use personal stories, pop culture references, and real world events to help students relate their own lives and interests to the material. I have even found ways to make grammar more “emotional” by using some humorous examples about the importance of punctuation from Lynne Truss’s text Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. However, though I do consciously try to get the students emotionally engaged, I would like to make emotional connections more of a daily priority, as I have seen how crucial meaning is to learning.

Brain Based Teaching & Learning: Reflection Part 2

The brain is more receptive to learning when stimulated by novelty (Sousa, 2006). Perhaps students retain so little at times because their brains are simply bored by the routine and the predictability of a typical classroom. To keep up with the novel stimuli of today’s ever growing technological society, teachers have a much higher calling to include multi-sensory instruction in their classrooms. Students are better able to attach meaning through multi-sensory instruction (Sousa, 2006). The simple act of standing up and moving for a minute or two allows the brain more blood and oxygen, which may give students the energy and attention to engage the material for another 20 minutes. In addition to movement, other “brain breaks” include humor, visuals, and music.

As I go back to the classroom this fall, I want to make a conscious decision to give my students “brain breaks” and to create several brain state changes throughout the period. While I try to use humor in the classroom frequently, I hope to be a bit more purposeful in how and when I use humor, keeping more in focus the need for brain state changes about every 10 minutes. I always knew some generic benefits of humor including lightening the mood, helping students to relate to the material, and connecting learning with having fun, but I did not previously understand how much humor actually helps the brain to learn by fueling the brain with more oxygen and stimulating the frontal lobe with more endorphins (Sousa, 2006). Visually, I try to give my students opportunities to see what we are discussing, often through overhead transparencies and through PowerPoint presentations. While I still believe these are great strategies, another way to encourage multi-sensory stimulation is to have the students create their own visuals including mind maps, flip books, and study fold books. Though I struggled at first to review my thoughts in pictures during these activities, as I practiced, I was more convinced of the benefits of thinking in pictures and symbols in addition to words, and I hope to try these strategies with my students. I have always wanted to use music in the classroom, but at this point have only used it occasionally when a specific song related to a current topic and we could analyze the lyrics in relation to other class discussion. After personally experiencing the effect of music (during both “brain break” activities and silent reading time) in the classroom and after reading about the benefits of multi-sensory instruction, I hope to utilize music in my classroom more frequently. A tangible goal I think I can reasonably manage at this point is to have music playing as students enter the classroom to help gain their attention and stimulate their brains. I would also like to use music during times when I have students moving around the classroom during review or brief cooperative learning activities. Along this line, I would like to be more purposeful about getting my students up and moving, not only to increase oxygen and blood flow to the brain, but also to increase synergy within my classroom. A new term to me in this class, synergy puts a specific name to the idea of “working together [to] increase each other’s effectiveness” (Sousa, 2006, p. 72). Structures that I found effective for increasing synergy and that I hope to utilize in my classroom include appointment clocks, shoulder and face partners, dancing, telephone, and exercise partners, “find someone who…,” “group, freeze, share,” and “quiz, quiz, trade,” among several others. When using structures such as these, I want to be very purposeful in giving my students time to reflect on their learning before reviewing and in holding my students accountable for their learning after reviewing with their pairs (Sousa, 2006).

Brain Based Teaching & Learning: Reflection Part 1

“What did they teach you last year?” No matter what course I am teaching, I have often pondered this question, wondering how my students seemingly missed such important concepts that certainly must have been covered in their previous years of education. Similarly, I often hear my colleagues complain that their students “don’t know much” when these students arrive in their classrooms. Since I teach freshman every year, I can’t help but wonder if I was the teacher responsible for their lack of knowledge. I am left puzzling over numerous questions: What do my students take with them when they leave my classroom? Why do students so often forget simple instructions in writing? Why can’t they remember to write in third person? Why can’t they remember to write a topic sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph? In her article, “Brain Compatible Teaching,” Pat Wolfe (2003) posses a similar question: “How can students sit through an excellent lesson on Monday, and on Tuesday act as if they never heard the instruction before” (p. 10)? Though it goes against my philosophy of teaching and learning, I sometimes wonder if I need to lower my expectations. Then I might not be so bothered by these recurring situations and questions: Why do my college prep students seem more motivated than my honors students? Why are my students so unengaged in the readings? Why are they unwilling to analyze character development in Great Expectations? Why do they choose to copy a friend’s study guide rather than develop their own answers? Why are they so eager to “play the game”? Like David Sousa (2006), I wonder, “If the brain is capable of higher order thinking, why do we see so little of it in the normal course of student discussion and performance” (p. 247)? Though frustrated by these common scenarios, I do not want to simply give up and lower my expectations. Rather, I want to remember that my number one goal in the classroom is to get students to think – to think critically, analytically, logically, and out of the box – to think about life, about literature, about their beliefs, passions, and world views – to think about what they think, how they think, and why they think what they think. After processing the philosophies and strategies of Brain-Based Teaching & Learning, I am inspired to continue pursuing this goal of student thinking with a more focused vision and more specific methods. To move my students into this line of thinking, I must help them to attach meaning and emotion to their thinking, and I must help to them to retain their knowledge and thinking patterns in their long term memory. Therefore, this reflection draws out the main philosophies and strategies that I hope to employ in my classroom to create brain state changes in order to make learning meaningful and to enhance my students’ retention and long term memory.