WORLD OF LEARNING: EMPTY-HEADEDNESS

"Why Thinking of Nothing Can Be So Tiring: Brain Wolfs Energy to Stop Thinking" ScienceDaily 9/21/10

I'm not sure if it's related, but from what I understand, superior cognition involves using less of your brain more wisely. For example, children who are succeeding in learning to read activate narrow and specific areas of the brain; children who have difficulty activate wide and generalized areas. It's as if they are thinking too hard.

Erkki Somersalo, one of the authors of this particular study, notes, "It's a surprising expense to keep inhibition on." Perhaps we cannot just "relax and float downstream," as John Lennon put it, but have to be vigilant and conscientious about switching into a reflective and meditative mode.

WORLD OF LEARNING: EXERCISE AND THE BRAIN PART 3

"Phys Ed: Can Exercise Make Kids Smarter?" Well Blog/New York Times 9/15/10

If you don't want to read this short piece, I'll answer the question: YES. If you want to read more, see earlier posts citing the Well Blog and John Ratey's work.

LARS'S LIBRARY: EDGY BOOKS FOR EMERGING READERS

As much as I'd like to use phonics primers for every kid learning to read--I do think it really helps to focus in on a pattern and to keep it simple--there are some younger readers who won't go for the repetition and simple stories to which these books must be restricted. The act of reading in and of itself is not enough of a motivator. They've got to have story, and story that is a little brash, a little crazy, and very clever. That's hard to do with simple vocabulary, but there are some books that pretty much fit the bill. Here's the first edition of a field-tested list of 'em.

Jeff Smith, Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in Just Pretend (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! (Toon Book)
Geoffrey Hayes, Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker (Toon Book)
Eleanor Davis, Stinky (Toon Book)
Phonics Comics: Cave Dave
Cathy and Mark Dubowski, Cave Boy
Antoinette Portis, Not a Box
Antoinette Portis, Not a Stick
William Joyce, George Shrinks
Harry Allard, The Stupids
Adam Rex, Pssst!
David Milgrim, Otto series
David Milgrim, My Dog, Buddy
Jules Feiffer, Bark, George
David Catrow, Max Spaniel series
Joan Nodset, Go Away, Dog
Mo Willems, Elephant and Piggie series
Edward Marshall, Three By the Sea
Peter McCarty, Hondo & Fabian
Fabian Escapes
Moon Plane
Martha Moffett, A Flower Pot Is Not a Hat
Crosby Bonsall, Mine’s the Best
The Day I Had to Play with My Sister
And I Mean It, Stanley
Cynthia Lord, Hot Rod Hamster
John Szieszka, Trucktown series
Tedd Arnold, Fly Guy series
Peter Eastman, Fred and Ted Like to Fly
Thatcher Hurd, Bad Frogs
Jeremy Tankard, Me Hungry
Maurice Sendak, One Was Johnny: A Counting Book
Jan Thomas, What Will the Fat Cat Sit On?
A Birthday for Cow!
The Doghouse
Rhyming Dust Bunnies
Can You Make a Scary Face?
Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny!

WORLD OF LEARNING: STUDY HABITS

"Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits" New York Times 9/6/10

Another incisive piece by Benedict Carey. Much to think about, but I especially liked this: "...many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite." Why? "The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time.... It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding."

That's poetic and evocative. And insightful.

WORLD OF LEARNING: BIG DOSES FOR PSYCHOSIS

"Child's Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young" New York Times 9/1/10

Half a million kids on antipsychotic drugs? Prescriptions for two to five-year-olds doubled from 2000 to 2007? That sounds pretty scary to me.