Karen+Johnson

Karen, Here is a link to a site with owl sounds. [] Amy

for Friday:

Tentative List of 12 "Good teaching Practices" 1. Classroom environment needs to be a. where kids feel safe b. kids are comfortable experimenting with their "voice"- actively engaged in reflection within a safe environment c. Space within the period/day for quiet, purposeful physical activity -condensation of ideas-creating new thoughts based on past information integrating with new ideas 2. The teacher needs to: d. establish prior knowledge of class e. create emotional engagement for each member of the class in subject matter f. group information into small "luscious" associative bundles that can be used with active reflection before more information is added g. orchestrate movement as a means of engaging with information for students h. focus on information that is meaning driven rather than name driven i. present initial information in a concrete manner j. be an active listener, able to reflect on the material and the kids ideas at the same time k. imbed reptition of information into content of lessons l. build new concepts onto prior knowledge

The article delves into the stress factors associated with low income and the "allopathic" indicators of stress related wear and tear of a child's body. This wear and tear is indicated to create "disruption in the hippocampu and amydagala that creates an inability to fully use short term memory for children. The longer the duration f poverty the greater the stress load on the body, resulting in decreaed memory capability in adolesnce. Years of this stress for children indicate decreased functioning of short term memory associated with less academic growth and accomplishment. The authors sorted out parental engagement, teacher disinterest. age and sex of test subject and still game up with the same results. Pretty conclusive information. The longer the poverty the greater the deficits. One question I had was is it possible to recoup/regenerate working memory in adolesence??

[|Amy and Melissa's VoiceThread]

[|Bark Bark]

Hi Karen, Here's our VoiceThread. We couldn't get it to record our voices so it is really a TextThread.

about Karen Johnson:

This is where I live with my family and how we like to do things: http://tastyinc.com/maplesyrup.html

Thanks for sharing this. I watched it in fascination. Charlie

I moved to my road straight out of college, bought land eventually from some friends, built a small cabin, fell in love, built a bigger house onto the cabin, had two kids, sheep, chickens, work horses and beloved dogs.

All the while I taught and progressed as a teacher and a human being. I had some years as a teacher under my belt before my kids were born. Then I stayed home with my small children. When they were preschool age I moved to teaching at the local Waldorf school, then homeschooled for a bit, then put them in the public school in town. While this constitutes a varied and inconsisten school approach I liked bits of each system we were in. And each system was a stretch my me as well. They are now happily in college (UVM and Montana) and my husband and I are happily at home. Empty nest does not well meet the description of nights sitting on the porch listening to the thrushes, or not needing to hurry home so there is some food in the house for eatting, or not finding a zillion socks no one seems to care about until they need them.

When my kids were fledging I spent some time with the Bald Eagle Relocation Program in Dead Creek and was in awe of watching these birds learn to fly, test thier wings and come back to the roost in between. It gave me confidence in my ouw childrens ability to try their wings out as well, and to always be sure they had a roost when they needed one.