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The right — and surprisingly wrong — ways to get kids to sit still in class

Robbi Giuliano teaches fifth-graders as they sit on yoga balls at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School Monday on Feb. 4, 2013, in West Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) A post I published in July titled “Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today” seems to have struck a nerve with readers, who continue to read it in big numbers. The piece was by Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist, who said that kids are being forced to sit for too long while they are in school and are being deprived of enough time for real physical activity. This, she said, is affecting their ability to learn and in some cases leading to improper ADHD diagnoses. Here is a follow-up post by Hanscom in which she talks about how to get kids moving in class and some of the mistakes teachers are making. By Angela Hanscom My last post, “Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today,” has and continues to generate tremendous feedback from around the world. However, when do we draw the line?

Teacher Resource: Re-thinking Fast Fashion Lesson Plan | Youth Radio photo: Adnan Islam/ BY-NC-SA Introduction Fall is here, which means colder weather and, for some teens, a reason to buy new clothes. According to the US General Accounting Office, a sweatshop is defined as a business that “regularly violates wage or child labor laws and safety or health laws.” The incident hit home for Youth Radio reporter and teen fashionista Bianca Brooks, who had recently traveled to Bangladesh and taken a tour of a clothing factory. “Before I’d seen the factory, I was so flattered when my new Bangladeshi friends had complimented my casually elegant name-brand button down,” Brooks said. Do Now How should teens balance affordability, style and ethics when it comes to buying clothing? To respond to the Do Now, you can tweet your response. Resource Youth Radio audio segment Rethinking Fast Fashion After Bangladesh More Resources Youth Radio podcast Consumer Appropriation It’s not uncommon to see t-shirts and mugs with iconic figures on them, like Che Guevera or Malcolm X.

The Ultimate List of 100 Non-Toy Gift Ideas Remember this picture I shared last year? If that's how you feel when you survey the growing collection of toys in your home, then you may find today's post helpful! This morning I'll be interviewed on several radio shows across Canada about the idea of a Toyless Christmas, so I thought I would share a list on the blog of Non-Toy Gift Ideas that can serve as a reference for birthdays and Christmas when you're feeling overwhelmed with toys! Season Passes - Zoo - Museum - Butterfly Conservatory - Aviary - Aquarium - Amusement Park One-Time Passes - Movies - Bowling - Swimming - Theatre Performance - Dinner & A Show (we went to Medieval Times) - Go see a sporting event - Disney On Ice - Circus - Ice Skating - Roller Skating - Mini Golf - Concert Experiences for Kids - Horse & Buggy Ride - Train Ride - Ice Cream Vouchers - Special dinner out - A Trip to the Fire Station - A Trip to Chuckie Cheese (buy the tokens ahead of time so you have something to wrap!) Older Kids or Grown-Ups Family Experiences

Find Scholarships & Free Money For College | Your Scholarship Source | ScholarshipExperts.com Whiteness Project Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents A Decade of Research | Jochen Peter self-disclosures (e.g., Tidwell & Walther, 2002; Valkenburg &Peter, in press). In fact, the finding that online communicationenhances self-disclosure is one of the most consistent outcomesin CMC research. A second assumption of our hypothesis is that Internet-en-hanced online self-disclosure enhances the quality of adoles-cents’ relationships (see Fig. 1). It is long-standing wisdomin interpersonal communication that offline, face-to-face self-disclosure is an important predictor of adolescents’ friendships(Berndt, 2002). Several studies have demonstrated that face-to-face self-disclosure is related to the closeness and quality of adolescent friendships (e.g., McNelles & Connolly, 1999). online self-disclosure is related tofriendship formation (McKenna & Bargh, 2000) and to thequality of existing friendships (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007a). Type of Technology, Type of Use Gender Adolescent boys seem to benefit more from online communica-tion with existing friends than girls do. Volume 18—Number 1

Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges Check-out the sequel to this book, titled Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation. All Figures, Including Student Hand-outs, From My Two Student Motivation Books Are Now Freely Available For Download Look for the sequel, “Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation,” in March, 2013! You can now order the book. Just go to the book’s page on their website. The cost is $29.95. You can also order it on Amazon. (You can read the book’s introduction here) You can read an excerpt from the first chapter here Transcript Of My Ed Week Chat On Motivation Online First Chapter of My Book, Hand-Outs & Links Are Now Online For Free “Finishing the School Year Strong” is the title of another excerpt in Education Week/Teacher. Recording Now Available Of “Helping Students Motivate Themselves” Interview Nice Review Of My Book, “Helping Students Motivate Themselves” Uh Oh, Harvard Goal Study Is An “Urban Legend” “7 Qualities to Maximize the Impact of Your Lesson Plans”

Nerd culture is destroying Silicon Valley - Quartz My first girlfriend was someone I met through a MUD, and I had to fly 7,000 miles to see her in person. I read a paper version of the Jargon File at 15 and it became my bible. Just reading its descriptions of the internet I knew it was world-changing, even before the web, and as soon as I could I snuck into the local university computer labs with a borrowed account to experience the wonder of Usenet, FTP, and Gopher. I chose my college because Turing had once taught there, and the designer of the ARM chip would be one of my lecturers. I’m a grown man who still plays Dungeons and Dragons. My point is that if anyone can claim to be a nerd, it’s me. Nobody really understood why I took a poorly-paid job in game programming after college instead of joining a bank, and most people’s eyes would glaze over when I mentioned I worked in computers. Over the last decade, that’s changed. Startups are sexy. And that’s where the problem lies. What would something better look like?

I’m NEVER Going Back To Chick-fil-A Again - EVER! I’m NEVER Going Back To Chick-fil-A Again - EVER! Perry Noble For years I have been an avid supporter of Chick fil A. I stood by Dan Cathy when the company was taking heat for not being “Politically correct”. I have eaten there AT LEAST 3-4 times a week for the past several years. I have toured their corporate offices in Atlanta. But after what they have recently done I am COMPLETELY through with them. No, it’s not because they just switched their grilled chicken sandwich. It has nothing to do with them changing their coffee. Their customer service, I believe, is still the greatest in the restaurant industry. The taste of their food is still amazing. It has nothing to do with that! Then, what’s the problem you ask? It’s simple… They changed their fruit cup and now, instead of grapes they have blueberries in there. I can’t STAND blueberries. They MAY be the worst fruit ever created! They get stuck in my teeth! They get stuck ON my teeth! They are AWFUL! Grapes, on the other hand, are AWESOME!

neil postman and the end of education.patrick watsons blog. montrose42 blog « Montrose42's Blog Neil Postman argued the importance of shared narratives about what schools are for The debate continues Comment Neil Postman stressed that his main purpose in his 1995 book the End of Education was to promote a serious conversation about the underlying reasons for education — not about policies, management, assessment, and other , as he described it, ‘engineering’ matters. While these are important, he states, “they ought rightfully to be addressed after decisions are made about what schools are for.” Postman identified what he took to be the “false gods” of modern education. For education to be meaningful, Postman contends, young people, their parents, and their teachers must have common, shared narratives. So what are these narratives? “Spaceship Earth” (the notion of humans as stewards of the planet); Through subjects such as ecology, anthropology, and astronomy, students could develop an ethic of care and a proper perspective on their place in the order of things. Postman, N. (1995).

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