How to Reach the Unreachable

Nathan Maynard manages the Behavior Flip blog (among other duties ... like being the Dean of Culture at an inner-city Indiana school and the co-author of a best-selling book titled Hacking School Discipline). Maynard's specialty is studying the behavior of and working with hard-to-reach school children. He has popularized an approach known as restorative justice. His educational training in Behavioral Neuroscience and his experience with at-risk children qualifies him to offer advice about how to reach the difficult-to-reach student.

In this blog article, Maynard offers advice on how to communicate to children who are in crisis mode. Being able to recognize what a student in crisis mode looks like is discussed and the reason that processing does not work with such students is explained. Ways to help the in-crisis student calm down, feel safe, and reach the state of being able to process with reasoning are given. Maynard distinguishes between three mental states, each of which correlates with a region of the brain - the Neocortex (reasoning), the Limbic System (emotions), and the Reptilian Complex (instincts). Maynard advices that adults should never attempt to process and event until the student in-crisis has reached the Neocortex mental state. Learn more about how to reach the unreachable at ...

https://blog.behaviorflip.com/how-to-reach-the-unreachable/

Light Bulb Anatomy Concept Builder

In the Light Bulb Anatomy Concept Builder, learners explore the manner in which a light bulb is wired and how to configure the bulbs within a circuit in order to produce an intended result. There are 48 total questions that are organized into 18 different Question Groups and spread across three Activities. The three activities include Which Bulb Will Light?, Pathways, and Wire It Up. Activity 1 - Which Bulb Will Light? challenges learners to identify which configurations of a cell, a bulb and a wire will result in a lit bulb. In Activity 2 - Pathways, learners inspect the arrangement of two bulbs and two wires and determine the path of charge through the bulbs and wires and identify which of the two bulbs (if any) will light. And in Activity 3 - Wire It Up, learners make decisions about where to attach a connecting wire in order to get a specified bulb or set of bulbs to light. Question-specific help is provided for each of the 18 situations. The built-in score-keeping makes this Concept Builder a perfect candidate for a classroom activity.

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Concept-Builders/Circuits/Light-Bulb-Anatomy

How to Build a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom Where All Learners Feel Safe

In the United States, 34 million children have had at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) -- ranging from abuse or neglect to parental incarceration or addiction. Children living in poverty are more likely to have multiple ACEs, compounding the effects of economic insecurity. In addition, the current opioid epidemic is devastating familiesand overwhelming the foster care system, and many school populations include refugee childrenwho have fled dangerous conditions. Many classrooms in America are touched by trauma. 

So what are we to do about it?This article from the MindShift blog addresses he dilemma and offers solutions as to how teachers can design classrooms where trauma-affected children can feel safe and devote themselves to learning. Learn more at …

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52566/how-to-build-a-trauma-sensitive-classroom-where-all-learners-feel-safe