First Thursday: Understanding ADHD

ADHD.  As teachers we are all familiar with the term: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  We recognize it in the student who stares out the window at the falling snow instead of listening to instructions, in the child who fiddles with his pencil, jumps out of her chair, answers your question about the novel by asking to go to the bathroom.

Researchers have continued to study ADHD over the years and their understanding of its complexities and the most effective strategies for helping students who experience it has deepened and broadened.

Please join us on  Thursday, April 7^th 3:30-4:45 in the BCI for our next 1^st Thursday meeting, facilitated by our school psychologists, Janet Maurer, Andrea Kurtz, and Angie Jones.  We will discuss the article ADHD in kids: What many parents and teachers don’t understand but need to know which includes a much broader and more positive description of ADHD, its symptoms and recommendations for addressing the condition.  It will, of course, be important for participants to have read the article prior to this meeting.

Below are a few excerpts from the article:

“Many think it is simply about kids who can’t focus on their work or sit still, but there is a great deal more to it, experts say, and student achievement in school suffers because the condition is misunderstood.”

“In fact, what we call ADD (a terrible term, as it is not a deficit of attention but rather a wandering of attention, and it is not a disorder in my opinion but rather a trait; if you manage it properly it can turn you into a phenomenal success…”

“On the positive side, which people rarely discuss, people with ADD are the people who founded this country.  They tend to be visionaries, dreamers, explorers, inventors (Edison was a classic), path-finders, discoverers, entrepreneurs (almost all entrepreneurs have ADD), creative types, original thinkers, paradigm breakers, trend-setters, free thinkers, as well as being big-hearted, trusting, generous, and fun.”

“Treatment includes, first of all, education.”

This is an important topic, and I hope that many of you can join us for this conversation.  Please mark your planbooks now and please RSVP to Maggie @maggie.mcveigh@germantownacademy.org

Diversity Program: Raising Boys for the New Millenium

Check out the following program at Penn Charter this Wednesday night!

Diversity Program- Raising Boys for the New Millenium with Dr. Michael Reichert

Date: Wednesday - February 17, 2016

Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Location: Middle School: Balderston Commons

Faculty Train in Formative Assessment

Recently, Dr. Catherine McGeehan, Professor of Education at Kutztown University, came to GA to help us explore the topic of flexible assessment and learning. Her classroom observations earlier in the fall, her discussions with teacher focus groups, and her analysis of the Needs Assessment completed by all faculty members informed her presentations.

All good teaching begins with assessment, and Dr. McGeehan’s presentations focused specifically on the benefits of using formative assessment in the learning process. The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.

Effective and successful teaching requires us to meet students where they are in all aspects of their development and provide a variety of strategies to meet the varied needs of each child. How can we best challenge and support individual students, regardless of their learning preferences, pace of learning, and intellectual readiness?  Teachers, skilled in the variety of kinds of assessment that provide accurate information about what students know and don’t yet know, are primed to be able to reach and teach their students most effectively.

For years the idea that each person possessed a distinct learning style served as basis for individualizing instruction.  In the past several years the validity of that concept has been questioned, and the following TED Talk and article on learning address the “myth” of learning styles.  The article on retrieval practice provides more food for thought.  Definitely something to think about and discuss with colleagues.  Enjoy!