Oh, The Places You’ll Find Yourself — Spatially Speaking

Kim CarterBrain Facts, Graphomotor Function, Learning, Spatial Ordering, Whole Child

Below is a TED Talk by Neil Burgess, a neuroscientist at the University College in London, who researches, as described on the TED website, “how patterns of electrical activity in brain cells guide us through space.” [ted id=1349] Supplemental to the grid cells Dr. Burgess discusses are additional neurological systems that give us a sense of our surroundings. Dan Peterson, … Read More

7 C’s of Resilience

Kim CarterAffinities, Learning, School Culture, Whole Child

A recent piece at KQED’s MindShift blog titled, “How Free Play Can Define Kids’ Success,” explores some of the ideas from Kenneth Ginsburg book Building Resilience in Children and Teens. It is part of a growing trend of research and theories related to student efficacy, tenacity, and persistence. These are important ideas for anyone working with students and kids in today’s … Read More

Walking the (Learning) Walk

Kim CarterAttention, Classroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Strategies for teachers, Whole Child

We find ourselves in something of a paradoxical education landscape. On the one hand we are learning more and more about the science of learning. Neuroscience is pushing the boundaries of the known world on a near daily basis. As a result, our knowledge about working with a variety of minds continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. Yet, numerous policy … Read More

Social Emotional Learning Core Competencies

Kim CarterClassroom Culture, Differentiated Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Learning, Learning about Learning, Social Cognition, Social Emotional Learning, Whole Child

Seeing the forest despite the trees. Our nation’s educational focus continues to zero in on “achievement” as defined by test scores in specific academic areas and the resulting gaps therein. This hyper focus exacerbates our nearly systematic blind eye related to learning for living and cultivating life long learners. As a result, policies that increase the stakes of standardized assessments … Read More

Addressing Sensory Needs in the Classroom

Kim CarterAttention, Graphomotor Function, Learning, Learning Challenges, Learning Specialists, Nonverbal thinking, Whole Child

The following guest post is by Dr. Penny Cuninggim, Founder and Associate Director at New England Adolescent Research Institute (NEARI) and Director of the Brain-based Learning and Resource Center. You can sign up for NEARI’s “Smoothies for the Brain” Newsletter here.  Imagine your child in a world where something as basic and reliable as the sound of the school bell or … Read More

Anxiety and the Mind

Kim CarterBrain Facts, Classroom Culture, Learning Challenges, Whole Child

Below is an image from a Time Magazine article on the “Anatomy of Anxiety” from a few years ago. While the article is a bit dated, the relevance remains, especially for educators. Students need to feel relaxed, safe, and welcome in order to learn effectively. If we focus only on content and raise the stakes of assessments, we increase some … Read More

Topography of Diversity

Kim CarterDemystification, Learning about Learning, Metacognition, Whole Child

Below is a pretty cool topographical map of a brain from UNIT SEVEN. While it is not to be taken as scientifically accurate, it does serve as a fantastic metaphor for thinking about students’ minds. We know that while the major structures of the brain are largely the same from one cranium to the next, the specific architecture of individual … Read More