3 Best Tips for Talking with Kids & Teens

Hello!  I'm over at Bite Sized Biggie today sharing my three best tips for talking with kids and teens.

Join me!  

SPOILER ALERT:  The same three tips apply to talking with adults.  

Go see if you do all three tips or need to ramp some up.  No shame if you need some ramping. We all do :)

xo,

Jen

TEDtalks You Must Watch {for Tech Tuesday}

You know how much Upcycled Education appreciates TEDtalks, right?  Remember this post here?

Today, our student (yes, student) guest blogger, the amazing KH, is here to share her must-see favorites.  Have you seen the three talks listed below?

Welcome, amazing KH!

Amy Cuddy's Power Pose

I think what Amy Cuddy presents in her TEDtalk is something very useful that doesn’t need a lot of resources to change your life.  Plus, what she talks about is very true: 1.) many judgments are based on nonverbals, 2.) we are influenced by our nonverbals, and 3.) our bodies change our minds, our minds change our behaviors, and our behaviors change our outcomes.  And I think these are very valuable things to remember in the classroom (and life) because students/people might base their judgments on how we present ourselves in the classroom.  The 2-minute a day power poses, Cuddy describes, can change not only how others think of us but how we think of ourselves.  If you go into a classroom feeling vulnerable, or into a meeting feeling insignificant, you can practice these 2-minute power poses and instead of faking it ‘til you make it, you can fake it ‘til you become it.

Jane McGonigal's Superbetter 

I absolutely love this idea of Superbetter (Ialready downloaded the app!).  In the game, you are given "power ups" that boost four types of resiliences: physical, mental, emotional, and social, and if you spend one hour a day boosting these resiliences, studies have shown that you can add ten extra years to your life.  So how can you incorporate this in your classroom? So many ways!!  You can actually teach your students the game.  Have a special "Superbetter Board" where you can post different types of power ups, quests, and bad guys.  This way students can try and complete the missions on their own time.  But for me, working with young kids, I thought these would make great focus activities.  Before starting the day why not give your kiddies some paper and tell them to write a short thank you note to someone they love to boost their social resilience, or tell them to jump up and down for 30 seconds to boost their physical resilience, or even give themselves a hug or pat on the back to boost their emotional resilience.  So not only are you adding time to their lives, but you're helping them to stay connected and in touch with people in their lives, themselves, and their environment.

Shawn Anchor's Happiness

Basically what Shawn Anchor is saying that the world has reversed the formula for happiness. We think that if you work harder you will be more successful, and if you are more successful you'll be happier.  But this is backwards because when your brain is at a positive, it functions better than at negative, neutral or stressed.  So if we as teachers, train our students to think more positively, not only will they use better work ethics but they will generally become happier.  And to train them to think positively we can use a series of exercises.  For 21 days, you can ask students to write down three gratitudes and by doing this they will begin to scan the world for positives first rather than negatives.  Journaling is a great tool used in most classrooms already, and by asking them to journal about a positive experience they had in the last 24 hours, they can relive this experience and receive the same positive effects it has on their brain.  Exercise, meditation, and random acts of kindness are also activities you can use with students to focus their brain on happiness and allow them to function better and more efficiently in the classroom.

Thank you, amazing KH!  She really is amazing, by the way.  These TEDtalks seem so appropriate to this time of year, too.  Each of them is like a mini-New Year's resolution.

I love TEDtalks and I adore my wonderful students, like KH!

Enjoy,

Jen

Implicit Association Tests {for Tech Tuesday}

Today's guest blogger is a longtime friend of Upcycled Education.  Please welcome back, Dr. I.  You'll remember her first post here.

Source for graphic:  http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/psych-11c/deck/6417095

Are you truly aware of your unconscious thoughts, attitudes, preferences, and stereotypes?   Do you have a preference for thin people (versus overweight), abled persons (versus disabled), men in the field science (versus women), or young people (versus old)?  More than likely, you answered no to all of these questions.  Few of us would admit a preference for one group over another; but our unconscious minds may tell us something different.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was originally developed in 1998 by three professors (from Harvard University, University of Washington, and University of Virginia) to explore the “unconscious roots of thinking and feeling”.  The test grew from research in the area of implicit social cognition, a term used to describe the cognitive processes that occur outside of our conscious control or awareness (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995).  

The IAT is designed to measure our instinctive associations between concepts like skin color or religion and attributes like good/bad or male/female.   After choosing a test to take, you will be presented with a set of images or words that you need to quickly categorize into groups (e.g. abled/disabled, good/bad).  The test is timed to elicit your first instinct, without thinking too much.  For example you will press a button with your left-hand to categorize something as “Black” or “good” and a button with your right-hand to categorize something as “White” or “bad”.  Then, the categories switch.  Your answers, as well as the length of time it takes for you to categorize, contribute to your result (e.g. “little to no automatic preference between Black persons and White persons”).

You may be surprised by your results!  The good news is that your results include an explanation, research support, and a table like this showing the results of everyone who has taken the test:

I encourage you to take the time to complete one or more of the Implicit Association Tests.  It might just change your mind!

Thank you, Dr. I, for sharing this blog post.  I just took my first implicit test and the results were a bit surprising.

Oh my,

Jen

Reference:

Greenwa ld, A. G., & Banaji , M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27.

A New Take on Class Meetings

You probably remember Dr. I from her guest post here.  Welcome back, Dr. I!  Explain a new take on class meetings to the Upcycled community, please......(and PS - I miss you since you moved to SD!)

(Graphic from The Graphic Fairy; Picniked by Jen)

Many classrooms hold weekly class meetings to help build a positive classroom environment and for each student to have a voice and feel like part of a learning community.

The class meeting structure at one school in San Diego is called CPR (Concerns, Praises, Responsibilities) and it is used in grades 2-5.  My daughter’s teacher, and I agree starting class meetings on a positive note sets the stage for a successful meeting.

• Praises (students compliment one another for something great they did that week….like being a good study partner)
• Responsibilities (students are given the opportunity to take responsibility for something they did, without being prompted … like apologizing for taking someone’s pencil)
• Concerns (students can raise a concern about another student….but it cannot be something that the student already took responsibility for … also, the teacher does not allow more than two concerns to be raised about the same student)

I LOVE the structure of this class meeting and think that it is developmentally appropriate for 7-10 year olds.  The second graders would need more teacher support to learn how the process works, but by the time the students get to 4^th or 5^th grade, they could probably run the meeting themselves.  Talk about empowerment!

Dr. I, I love this class meeting line-up, too, as it promotes student ownership and civility.

Thank you for sharing and big thanks to Ms. H and her colleagues at Francis Parker for making this a vital part of students' days.

All the best,

Jen

Textbook Gems - Guest Blogger/Guest Upcyclist Series

Look at these wonderfully inviting textbook gems Professor KP created and wanted to share with Upcycled Education.

Professor KP, a regular here at UE, basically followed this tutorial for magnet gems using Mod Podge, but left off the magnet portion.  Of course, she found vocabulary and terms from some of her old textbooks to make the gems lesson ready.  Then, she challenged her college students to dream up clever ways to use the gems.  Look at what they came up with.....

Aren't her college students clever?  What creative ideas to incorporate textbook gems and upcycle old textbooks and of course, my fav:  Mod Podge.

Love this!

Jen

PS - Professor KP said she bought her gems at the dollar store.  She said to look for the longest gem-shapes possible.  Notice her gems are elongated, not the typical round shape used for DIY gem magnets.

PSS - I am laughing that I called Professor KP a "regular" here at Upcycled Education.  It sounds like we are a restaurant or bar.  Ha!

School Rocks

Since I literally have the most creative, brightest, college students in the world, I've asked them to join Upcycled Education and blog with me.  Please welcome, our newest student blogger:  Kim!

About Kim:

I am a parent, educator-in-training, COG Kids Contributor, recycler of almost everything, self-proclaimed artist, craver of all things hot, really awful singer, & very loyal friend.  I'd like to add, Kim is an amazing student. A-MA-ZING.

Kim, take it away...

I wanted to offer an idea related to classroom rules.  Actually, they are more like life rules; they can effectively be applied to any situation.   One of my favorite aspects about these rules is that they call on the student to take total responsibility over his or her learning experience (offering a bit of autonomy….one of Daniel Pink’s crucial factors of motivation). These rules ask the student to be, as opposed to do or don’t do, something.

Further, because I am a total fan of deep, layered meanings, as well as acronyms, my rules spell out ROCK.  ROCK is the perfect word, obviously, because school rocks, students rock, teachers rock!  And (here is the deeper, layered meaning) these rules are the foundation, or ROCK, for students' education, which will in turn be the foundation, or ROCK, for their future….ahhhhh.....layers.

So, without further ado, I present my 4 classroom rules:

R

Be Respectful…to one another, yourself, and our learning environment (classroom, desks, books, etc.).

O

Be Orderly …class will be fun and edugaging, but lab sciences do require things are done in a particular order.

C

Be Curious …ask questions; become actively engaged in your learning. 

K

Be Kind…the golden rule:  treat others the way you want to be treated.

Although Alfie Kohn may not approve, I will give out ROCK awards at the end of the semester to the students who best exemplify and adhere to our classroom rules (and mantra).  The award will consist of a certificate and a letter of recognition for their academic portfolio.  I know these awards will not motivate the students to follow the rules, but I do believe that genuinely acknowledging a student who has consistently exemplified these "rules" is a nice thing to do; my way of saying "thank you" (and that’s just good manners).

Here is a sample ROCK award certificate, customized with the recipient’s name, that I made using Tagxedo.  This could also be personalized with the shape of the school's mascot.

Do you see what I mean?  Such amazing students like Kim.  Thank you, Kim.  You ROCK, too.

:)

Jen