TED Talk Tuesday: 3 rules to spark learning

Today I have a short TED Talk for you. In this TED Talk, Ramsey Musallam, a chemistry teacher, shares his 3 rules to spark learning in students:

1. Curiosity comes first
2. Embrace the mess
3. Practice reflection

When you are planning your teaching lessons or treatment plans, do you embrace these three rules? Do you have your own rules for sparking learning in your students? If so, please share in the comments below!

Fourth of July activities

How is it July already??? I hope you all have a relaxing 4th of July holiday this week. Here's a roundup of some fun 4th of July activities if you're looking for something to keep the kiddos busy and happy during this holiday week.

4th of July Fireworks Activities for Kids | No Time for Flashcards. Looking for some last minute 4th of July activities? No Time for Flashcards always has you covered. I especially like the cupcake liner fireworks for developing scissors skills and the fun sensory experience of these shaving cream and paint fireworks.

Red, White, and Blue Flag Game | Your Therapy Source. Free download from Your Therapy Source that tests your reaction time and visual skills.

Make Your Own Flag Craft | No Time for Flashcards. Here's another goodie from No Time for Flashcards. What I especially like about this one is that it incorporates some writing. A nice way to sneak in some handwriting practice!

4th of July Apps | OT's With Apps. There's even a list of apps with a 4th of July theme! The i Get...Going to Fireworks app uses a visual social story to help children understand the process of going to watch fireworks. 

Making Fireworks Fun for the Sound-Sensitive Child | Embrace Your Chaos. For children who are sensitive to sounds, here is a list of tips from a pediatric occupational therapist on how to make watching fireworks a more fun and enjoyable experience.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Weekend Reads

Happy Weekend! With the demise of Google Reader now just hours away, I am officially a Feedly convert. In fact, I already like it better than Google Reader, so I'm thankful that this change was forced upon me. If you hurry and make the switch before Google Reader closes it's doors July 1, then you can transfer all of your favorite blogs and RSS feeds into Feedly with one simple click. Seriously. It's that easy.

This is what my Feedly looked like this morning on my iPad:

A 'popular' post showed up on the left (of course it was a post by Kate from Chasing Rainbows with her always touching writing), followed by a post from 'today' (top right - from Becoming Minimalist if anyone's interested in what I like to read that's not therapy related), and then all of my unread feeds in chronological order came after that.

It was so easy to swipe through and mark posts as read (because I'm compulsive like that). I personally like having the magazine layout with a photo showing up with each post, but for Google Reader die-hards, you can change it to a list view and it looks and feels very similar to Google Reader. (For more detail on how to do that, check out this article 'How to Make Feedly Look Like Google Reader')

If you are one of the few remaining who have procrastinated longer than myself on choosing a new reader, here's the article that convinced me to use Feedly (which happens to be from one of my favorite non-therapy blogs, Everyday Reading).


As I got caught up on blog reading today (I got waaaay behind with the end of the school-year madness), I saved a few of my favorites with a summer theme to share with all of you.

OT Corner: Summer FUN (Shhh....Don't Tell Them it's Actually Therapy) | PediaStaff. Tips from an OT for making the most out of summer. 

Summertime 'At Home' Occupational Therapy | Special-Ism. More tips from an OT for making the most of summertime for children with ADHD.

Enjoying Summer with Sensory Issues | AOTA's Checking the Pulse. A roundup of what OT's can do to help children with sensory processing issues this summer.

Teacher Tuesday...Water Letters | Fundanoodle. Looking for some fun and educational ways to play with water this summer? Water letters is a fun activity from a kindergarten teacher to work on letter formation while playing with water.

Okay...this last one isn't completely summer related, but I want to share it anyway.....

Tips for Overcoming Learning Disabilities | MamaOT. Christie of MamaOT had a baby this week!! I'm helping her out this week with a guest post on learning disabilities. While you're visiting her blog, be sure to check out Ken Myers' guest post on fun water-based sensory play activities for summer.

Weekend Reads

Happy Friday! Summer is almost here! Today would have been my last day of school if we hadn't had all of those snow days...Oh well, the snow days were a nice break at the time, and I must say I really enjoyed the snow after years in California.

Here are a few weekend reads to get you in the mood for summer:

Fun Kid-Friendly Summer Snacks | Embrace Your Chaos. These peanut butter banana bites look kid- and adult-friendly to me!

Tips for a Successful (Educational) Summer | Engaging Minds. These are some of my tips to help your child set goals, prioritize, and plan for a successful summer. Don't just read my guest post...be sure to check out the rest of the Engaging Minds blog as well as their great Tip of the Week posts!

45 Ways to Show Dad You Love Him {For Kids}| No Time for Flashcards. Here are some fun ways for kids to show dad they love him, just in time for Father's Day.

TED Talk Tuesday: Teachers need real feedback

TED recently held a TED Talks Education Summit with a number of outstanding speakers. I haven't had the chance to watch many of the videos from this summit yet, but plan to get to them all soon. With so many great talks at once, it's hard to know where to start!

Today I'm sharing a talk by Bill Gates on teacher evaluation and feedback and his innovative idea for providing teachers with the feedback and coaching that they deserve to become better teachers. Did you know that most teachers receive almost no feedback on their performance? How can we expect teachers (and therapists) to improve and provide the best for our students if they're not receiving feedback (positive or negative) on their performance?

As the school year winds down, I try to take time to reflect on the past school year so I can create goals for myself for the upcoming school year to continue to improve my skills as an OT and to provide the best services possible to my students. After watching this video, it makes me realize how valuable video feedback on my performance could be (although I'm sure it would also be a bit uncomfortable at times to watch myself on video).

What do you think? As you watch this video, I'd like to know what you think of Mr. Gates' plan for providing teacher feedback. Would you like to watch videos of yourself teaching or providing therapy? How do you currently reflect on your performance? Does anyone ever observe you or provide you with feedback?

Simple Mother's Day Card

Here's a simple Mother's Day card that requires only a few supplies and can be graded to meet the needs of children of all skill levels!

Supplies:

• construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• glue

Directions:

1. Depending on your child's skill level, grade the first step appropriately:

• Child draws and then cuts out shapes
• Child traces and then cuts out shapes
• Child cuts out shapes already drawn on paper

2. Your child can assemble and glue the shapes using a model as an example. This is great for working on executive function skills, like planning, organizing, and sequencing!

3. Add a message to the inside. This is a great way to sneak in some handwriting practice!

• Child can write a message independently
• Child can copy a message from another paper or from farther away
• If you want to work on typing, type a message, print it and glue it to the inside

Skills addressed:

• bilateral coordination
• fine motor dexterity
• eye hand coordination
• scissor skills
• handwriting
• planning
• organizing
• sequencing

 Happy Mother's Day!

Is cursive a thing of the past?

 Photo via Flickr

My aunt, an English professor, recently shared a story with me about one of her students. Her student, a college freshman, approached her to talk about a paper he recently turned in. When she asked if he had a question about a specific comment that she had written on his paper, his response was, "Well, I can't read what you wrote. I can't read cursive."

Whoa.

My aunt was shocked. As an OT, I was surprised, but not shocked. I've spent a lot of time in elementary classrooms, and I know that many students are no longer being taught cursive. In fact, many students are not even being properly taught how to print! [side note - I'd like to point out that this is at no fault of the teachers and this issue probably requires its own blog post]

Is cursive dead?

The New York Times recently ran a Room for Debate column on Is Cursive Dead? The lovely folks over at PediaStaff were kind enough to bring this article to my attention and asked if I cared to weigh in on the discussion.

Okay, okay. So I've seen first hand that cursive is not being taught in schools. But what is my opinion on the demise of cursive? The big question here is:

Should schools require children to learn cursive?

In my opinion, no.

I learned to write in cursive in third grade. And I loved it! I thought it was fun. And so grown-up! And then, with the exception of a fifth grade teacher who required everything be written in cursive, I immediately stopped writing in cursive. Which means I have not regularly written in cursive since I was 10 years old. That was 20 years ago!

The times are changing, whether we like it or not, and it's time for our curriculum to reflect that.

Should students be exposed to cursive?

Yes.

Should students know how to read cursive?

Absolutely. After all, it's really not that different from print. Learn what the following 10 letters look like in cursive and you should be able to read cursive without too much difficulty: b, e, f, m, n, r, s, u, v, z.

Should students be able to sign their name in cursive?

Yes, even if it quickly turns into an illegible scribble unique to them, because that's all they need to be functional in this digital world.

Should students learn to write using paper and pencil?

Yes, but that doesn't mean it needs to be in cursive.

Should students learn how to effectively use technology for writing essays? For taking notes? For communicating?

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Cursive in the age of technology

So where does cursive fit in in today's technological world? We still have to sign documents and receipts, even though many of those signatures are now done electronically. As an occupational therapist, I sign my name on reports, progress notes, daily notes, IEPs, etc. For most adults, there's really no way around the signature.

But, with the exception of my occasionally legible signature, I only write in cursive when I am helping a student learn to write their name in cursive.

Wait. Let's think about this for a minute. I only use cursive when I'm teaching students how to write in cursive. After all that I've written above, when do I expect that they will ever use cursive in their lives? The answer is, I don't expect students today to ever use cursive. But as an occupational therapist, I want my students to be functional and independent, which I believe does include a cursive signature. After reading this article from NPR about the fading away of the signature, I'm beginning to question the relevance of a signature in today's world. Maybe the merit of a signature will come up in a future Room for Debate :-)

Some final food for thought for OTs and educators.

Why are we so insistent that students learn cursive? Is cursive really the best option for certain students with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia? If so, where is the research to support it? Where are the studies that provide evidence of the benefits of cursive writing on brain development?

Are we holding onto cursive purely because of nostalgia?

Does a legible signature even matter these days?


To hear more thoughts on cursive in this era of technology, check out PediaStaff's roundup of posts written by occupational therapists in response to the Room for Debate article!

Please weigh in with your thoughts on this conversation in the comments below. I would love to see this conversation continue.