The Brain on Inspiration

Ideas must work through the brains and arms of men [and women], or they are no better than dreams. Ralph Waldo Emerson


Inspiration for today...

The brain is a muscle/
of busy hills, the struggle/
of unthought things with things/
eternally thought.

Joyce Carol Oats

Blogging Memory on Overload?

How many different blogs do you read in a day... 5, 10, 20 or more? If you're like me, you're reading several. How much would you recall about each after reading about 10 or more in an hour? No doubt you would forget more than a few. Why is that? Your brain has a forgetting mechanism...

Brain Forgets on Purpose "The brain's ability to suppress irrelevant memories makes it easier to remember what's important," according to Stanford researchers, Anthony Wagner and Brice Kuhl. The reason why is there's a cost involved for your brain. "Any act of remembering re-weights memories, tweaking them to try to be more adaptive for the next time you try to remember something," Wagner says. "The brain is plastic—adaptive—and one feature of that is not just strengthening some memories but also suppressing or weakening others."

"The prefrontal cortex is the CEO of the brain; it governs cognition, bringing [memories] into line with your goals," Wagner said. "It's an important property of our memory system that the memories change in both directions—they get both stronger and weaker—and that this confers benefits," by freeing the brain from "computational resources" by allowing the brain to use less of its computational resources to recall what's important, thereby making them available for other processes.

Oursource Your Memory It makes sense, that if I read several blogs daily over periods of weeks, only the posts that pique my curiosity or engage me past mere reading, re-weight my memory. Similarly, this same forgetting mechanism is at work when you read several job-related articles! Thankfully, there're several different web tools to help "outsource your memory"...

"Memory Banks" for Recall Handy "memory banks" are available for bloggers to store articles. Mine include Favorites on Internet Explorer or Bookmarks on Firefox. What great recall tools to "outsource" your memory and stand at the tip of your fingers for easy access when you need them quickly for a link.

Stumble Upon, a social media tool can easily be used as your sticky "post-it note." You save the article where you can easily access it, and not only that, when you "Stumble" it, you also bring value to the author.

We're at the tip of a gigantic iceberg when we read so much, but want to recall later... So, what's your favorite tool for "outsourcing your memory" when you blog or want to remember what you read for your work position?

Image by Ecliptic Stock Illustrations

Wordless Wednesday: More Self-Assigned Math Problems!

Panel: Schools Should Focus on Fractions

Forming Character through Private Speech

I promised myself to finish up Chapter 3 of Awakening Children's Minds by March 15, so I better get on with it. This blog post covers the middle of that chapter, which points out the relationship between private speech and behavior. Parents of older children with autism often reassure parents of younger children that behaviors are at their worst between the ages of 3 and 5 (meltdowns, tantrums, overall unhappiness with something unexpected happens). This chapter got me wondering if one reason why behaviors are so challenging for young autistic kiddos might be language delays.

According to this chapter, the ability to inhibit impulses and redirect behavior "depends in part on brain development--specifically, growth of neural connections in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex" (page 89). The frontal lobe controls planning, inhibition, and memory encoding (all challenges for children in the autism spectrum). In a paper published in 2005, neuroscientists Eric Courschene and Karen Pierce found abnormalities in the frontal lobe: they suggest that "connectivity within frontal lobe is excessive, disorganized and inadequately selective, whereas connectivity between frontal cortex and other systems is poorly synchronized, weakly responsive and information impoverished." The frontal cortex studied excessively connected with itself, making it "deficient in reciprocally interacting with other cortical regions." In short, the frontal lobes of an autistic person may be autistic! This means that people in the spectrum often find it difficult to integrate information from a variety of sources and to provide feedback to, guide, and control lower level parts of the brain. All of these issues would make it difficult for spectrum children to control their behavior.

Dr. Laura E. Berk recommends teaching preschoolers good habits through "adult conversation, guidance, and example" from "warm and sensitive and clear, consistent, and reasonable" parents. One challenge in forming habits is the sheer number of them (page 88),

But the young child who wants so much to be good must assimilate a great many rules--rules for taking care of property; rules for respecting other people; rules for safety; rules for self-care, eating, and dressing; rules for doing chores; rules for good manners; and more.

Here is the nut of this section for parents of autistic children: "And the best predictor of individual difference in self-control was language development" (page 89). Why? Children benefit greatly when adults suggest how to wait patiently by changing their thoughts or how to resist doing something unacceptable by thinking about the other person's feelings. They reference the reactions of adults to learn when to feel proud, guilty, or ashamed of their behavior. The child would have difficulty changing behavior when she finds it difficult to process verbal guidance from adults, lacks the private speech to direct herself, and cannot interpret the reaction of adults to her behaviors.

Laura also points out that how we guide children should depend upon their temperament. Sensitive, inhibited children form good habits easily and respond best to "mild, patient discipline--polite requires, explanations, and suggestions for how to resist temptation" (page 91). Impulsive, fearless children show little remorse with mild parenting but become belligerent with tough love. Relationship is everything to these children: "an early, warm sensitive parent-child bond is a good predictor of conscience at age 5 in these children" (page 91). I have one of each, and my experience matches this theory. My inhibited child (Pamela) needs a soft touch, while my impulsive child (David) responds best to people with whom he has a close bond.

I found many parallel thoughts between Laura Berk and Charlotte Mason in this chapter. Charlotte devoted many pages to developing good habits in children of all ages: infant, mental, and moral habits and physical, intellectual, moral, and religious training. Just like Laura, she realized that children who want to be good need guidance, "He is born to love the good, and to hate the evil, but he has no real knowledge of what is good and what is evil; what intuitions he has, he puts no faith in, but yields himself in simplicity to the steering of others" (page 331). She also preferred a hopeful and expectant style over a barrage of do's and don't or bullying children into submission. To teach self-management (pages 324-326), she recommended thinking about the benefits of resisting temptation, finding a diversion, changing thoughts, etc. Finally, Charlotte recognized the role of temperament and, in her book on forming character, she employed different strategies, depending upon the nature of the child. I will close with a quote from Charlotte (page 102),

We entertain the idea which gives birth to the act and the act repeated again and again becomes the habit; 'Sow an act,' we are told, 'reap a habit.' 'Sow a habit, reap a character.' But we must go a step further back, we must sow the idea or notion which makes the act worth while. The lazy boy who hears of the Great Duke's narrow camp bed, preferred by him because when he wanted to turn over it was time to get up, receives the idea of prompt rising. But his nurse or his mother knows how often and how ingeniously the tale must be brought to his mind before the habit of prompt rising is formed; she knows too how the idea of self-conquest must be made at home in the boy's mind until it become a chivalric impulse which he cannot resist.

Blending Therapies with Graphic Organizers

To recap my last post on how Pamela and I read books, we begin a reading by recalling the last one: (1) thinking about the known and asking questions about the unknown, (2) reading the title and predicting the problem, or (3) narrating the previous reading. After that, Pamela is ready to read several pages from a chapter book. Keeping in mind the zone of proximal development, we rarely read an entire chapter in one sitting.

This time I printed out sheets on setting from an ebook of graphic organizers (you can also try making your own in Word or downloaded free ones). I needed three sheets to cover the chapter: downstairs, upstairs, and outside.

Downstairs:


Upstairs:


Outside:


When we read and narrate books, we cycle from one method to another. First, she reads half a page, closes the book, and narrates what she remembers orally (Charlotte Mason). Then, I open the book and ask her questions with the page in view to practice syntax (the association method). After that, we shift to the graphic organizer for Pamela to record her ideas. Then, we cycle back to reading the book until we make it through our goal for the day. In all activities, I encourage her with a warm, playful attitude and dialog as we figure out what needs to go on the sheet.

The following clip illustrates one day's worth of reading and narrations. I did edit as much as I could, but, since I know parents of struggling narrators (especially autistic kiddos) have asked about how you narrate with someone still learning English as a first language. The clip lasts fourteen minutes, but I did add titles throughout it to explain the method behind the madness.

Celebrating Stars that Shine in the Blogosphere

"Fill Your Day with Stars," Liz Strauss advises. Her words were special today since it's my birthday. And, I'd like to point out some shining stars who've crossed my path in the blogosphere, including Liz! There are stars who're shining brilliantly with their gifts and talents.

Verbal Linguistic Joanna Young encourages us to be "Fire-Breathing Writing Dragons." Here's a real gem showing how...

I guess this is what inspiration means for me. It's the invitation, the challenge, the spark that gives me fire-breathing powers. That makes me feel like I'm breathing in, deep, and breathing out, hard. Telling a truth, sharing something essential, using my power. And the writing that comes from that place, well it does have the power to change things, even if it's just changing me. (And sometimes changing ourselves is more than enough.)

Logical-Mathematical Drew McLellan shares some solid tips if you need to raise prices though it may seem the country's in recession. Bottom line is...

No matter how you handle a price increase, one element is critical. Be upfront and demonstrate value. Your clients don't begrudge you making a profit. They just want to get a value for their dollar. Price increases can be a win/win if you think them through and handle them correctly.

Musical Intelligence Bill at Write Life asks This is not about Celine Dion - or is it? Music we enjoy actually makes a statement about us... since it reveals the aesthetics.

Bill asks good questions as he reviews Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the end of Taste. Think about this example...

Music such as death metal could be described as hyper-masculine music. So couldn’t Celine’s music be described as hyper-feminine? And if so, why does one get currency but the other is supposed to be something to be ashamed of?

Check out "I'm Alive" ...


Interpersonal Intelligence Gavin Heaton is a blogger with top "social smarts." He continuously values other bloggers. To give newbies a chance against the A-listers, he published the now famous Z-list in Wikipedia. To be sure, Gavin values women, from 108 year old Ollie to all the women on his blog today honoring women blogger friends on International Women's Day. And be sure to check out Age of Conversation, which Gavin helped create with help from 100 of the world's leading marketers.

Intrapersonal Intelligence This intelligence brings out inner strengths as a way to lead. Rosa Say shares Ho‘ohanohano, the value of dignity and respect, as a way for No More Jerks for Managers! Here's just one of Rosa's brilliant Ho‘ohanohano tips:

Honor the intelligence of others--trust it is there, and they are learners.

Spatial Intelligence Last week Brad Shorr asked bloggers to write a post based on his cartoon creation. Many others contributed to the effort. You'd enjoy seeing how this cartoon is transformed to words through many bloggers! You used your smarts to think of this contest, Brad! And, I'm hoping to see my name for the nano on the 10! Here're some of the entries:

Ellen Weber's Words that Whack or Win

Joanna Young's 5 Reasons to Take Care of Your Words

Jeanne Dininni's Using Words Effectively to Convey Meaning

Robert Hruzek's 5 Things You Should Do BEFORE You Hit "Publish."

Darlene McDaniel's For Managers Only: Don't Assume They Understand Your Expectations

Robyn McMaster's Bloopers for Belly Laughs on a Stressful Day

Brad's own entry: Words Equal Action, BUT...

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence If you get tired sitting at your computer, why not exercise to banish tiredness? Here's a good reason why...

Resting is no solution for those suffering from frequent fatigue. On the contrary, doing regular, low-intensity exercise does help in pepping up energy levels, recent research has revealed.

If you have some low-intensity exercises you enjoy, I'd love to hear what they are.

Naturalistic Intelligence Anna in Aurora, Ontario, anticipates spring as she's being drenched by snow as I am. To put her mind in the right direction she decided to Forget Me Not what spring looks like. She posted an absolutly prize winning photo she took of Forget-Me-Nots. She says,

Forget-me-not is not the first flower in the spring, however, soon as it starts blooming at the beginning of summer, I cannot get enough of it. This photo was taken at home, as I collected a bunch of them from my garden, along with my Lilly of the Valley. Enjoy.

Multiple Intelligences It's not often that I can highlight a blogger who uses all eight intelligences for creating a blog. Ta da... Joanna Young used her multiple intelligences to formulate her blog today, and you'll see her at her best with tongue in cheek to boot!

So you see many stars shining in the blogosphere! Are you learning as much from them as I am? Today, my birthday, I celebrate all of you!

Asking Questions before a Reading

Pamela and I have worked years for her to be ready to write her own narrations. Thanks to the association method, she has stockpiled enough syntax to form simple sentences. Last summer, I began easing her into written narrations by making sentence strips based upon her oral narration. Now, as recommended by Jennifer Spencer in a presentation at last year's Charlotte Mason Conference, I am using graphic organizers to help her organize her ideas before she writes. In this post, I will cover one of several we review before a reading. I have three sources for graphic organizers: (1) I make my own in Word with the diagram feature, (2) I read through an e-book I purchased online, and (3) I print out free ones.

Charlotte Mason believed that my part, as an educator, is to look over the day's work in advance and "see what mental discipline, as well as what vital knowledge, this and that lesson afford" (page 180). Today, Pamela started Chapter 3 of Miracles on Maple Hill. At the beginning of every chapter, I try to find a graphic organizer to help her get back into the plot. In this case, I chose one in which the student writes what is known and asks questions about what is unknown. Charlotte believed that children ought to come up with their own questions when reading (page 181),

Let the pupil write for himself half a dozen questions which cover the passage studied; he need not write the answers if he be taught that the mind can know nothing but what it can produce in the form of an answer to a question put by the mind to itself.

In the story, the protagonist, Marly, is a little girl whose father is grieving his experience as a soldier and prisoner of war in World War II. The family decides to move to the country to farm and fix up her deceased great grandmother's old abandoned house in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the chapter, Marly enters the neglected house for the first time. We left one column empty because we hope the book will answer these questions. Having previewed the chapter, I know she will be able to answer the third question after she finishes Chapter 3.


In the video clip, you can see us in action. I edited portions of the clip in which Pamela was writing and added titles to spotlight what we are doing. The first obvious thing is how much Pamela references me both verbally and nonverbally! Second, I try to rely on declarative language as much as possible, even when redirecting her when she misses the mark. One thing to keep in mind is that open-ended questions with no right or wrong answers are declarative if she willingly offers an answer. Third, she pays attention to nonverbal cues when I use my gasp and face to point out a missing question mark. I plan to follow-up with more posts and clips about how we blend graphic organizers, Charlotte Mason, the association method, and RDI to teach Pamela written narration.