Tackling Super Bowl Controversies with Kids

Food for thought on Super Bowl Sunday… (original article- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/tackling-super-bowl-controversies-with-kids) 

From cheating scandals to domestic violence to concussions to the halftime show, kids need to know your thoughts on the not-so-fun issues that may come up during the Big Game. By Caroline Knorr

Who doesn’t love Super Bowl Sunday? You’ve got the best teams in the league at the top of their game. You’ve got commercials that are entertainment unto themselves (and they’ve gotten progressively more family-friendly over the years). And you have license to eat as many hot wings as you want. Whether you’re a fan of the New England Patriots or the Atlanta Falcons, cheering on your favorite team as a family is part of the fun of the day. But some of the issues that have come up around pro football — from players kneeling during the national anthem to discussion of domestic violence arrests — can be confusing, and even scary, for kids.

If you’re watching with kids, you may want to avoid some of the trickier issues and focus on the fun stuff. But kids are pretty savvy, and since the Super Bowl is a live event, anything could happen. The announcers might mention the Patriots’ 2015 “deflategate” scandal, an edgy commercial or the halftime show could spark a debate, or rival fans in your living room could get a little heated. Before you know it, you’re caught off guard with subjects that you (let alone your kids) are not quite prepared for.

Hopefully, your game day experience will be one full of fist-bumps and finish-line dances. If any one of these issues arises, here are some questions and ideas to discuss with kids. Remember: This is a fun day, so no need to lecture. Your goal should be initiating conversation to get your kids to think more deeply about the stuff they see and hear.

Protest
In 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick earned praise and criticism when he kneeled during the national anthem to draw attention to the oppression of African-American people. Other athletes have risked fines to wear cleats that represent issues that are important to them. As a way of sanctioning players’ protests, the NFL lets them wear cleats that express their views during a special Cleat Week.

Ask your kids:

  • Do you think what Kaepernick did was an exercise in freedom of speech?
  • Do you think that because he successfully drew attention to the issue of racism that the end justified the means?
  • Do these actions encourage you to stand up for things you believe in?
  • Do you think players should only express their views through official forums such as Cleat Week and keep mum at other times?

Cheerleaders
It’s hard not to notice that there’s one group of people on the sidelines who are only half dressed. And what they’re wearing is pretty provocative. Sure, it’s tradition for football teams to have female cheer teams. But the blatant sexism of their costumes is pretty hard to defend.

Ask your kids:

  • Do you think it’s fair for the cheerleaders to have to wear such skimpy costumes?
  • Do you think wearing revealing clothes makes the cheerleaders get less respect as athletes?
  • What is the message that the game sends about women’s role in football?
  • Do you think the NFL’s efforts to make the games more female-friendly are effective? Why would they want to appeal to women fans?

Commercials
The Big Game is a huge promotional opportunity for advertisers. They go all-out on commercials that are memorable and will get people talking long after Super Bowl Sunday. Don’t feel guilty about enjoying them. Use them as a chance to help your kids understand the relationship between the broadcast and the commercials.

Ask your kids:

  • Why do companies spend so much money on Super Bowl ads? (Hint: The Super Bowl garners the biggest TV audience of the year; more viewers means more potential customers.)
  • Which were your favorite commercials?
  • Can you always tell which product the commercials are selling?
  • Do the commercials make you want to buy the product (or tell your parents to buy it)?

The Halftime Show
Leaving aside for the moment that this year’s halftime show is literally called the “Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl Halftime Show” (see “Commercials”), the mid-game spectacle is a live event and anything can happen. Super Bowl 50’s halftime show starring Cold Play and Beyoncé incited controversy when many people perceived Beyoncé’s performance to be an anti-police political statement. This year, Lady Gaga is performing. Just let that sink in.

Cheating
Where there are games, there is often cheating. That should come as no surprise to kids. Both the Patriots (“deflategate”) and the Falcons (using prerecorded crowd noise) have been caught cheating. When the pros cheat, it’s confusing for kids who are taught to play by the rules.

Ask your kids:

  • Why would a professional athlete cheat? (Answers: money, fame, pride, a sense of being “above the law.”)
  • If someone else cheats, does that make it OK for you to cheat?
  • What should the consequences be for cheating?
  • Can someone who cheated ever be forgiven?

Concussions
In recent years, many former football players have been found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease tied to the concussions they suffered while playing. The NFL tightened its safety rules, but the game is still a risky contact sport. The movie Concussion starring Will Smith deals with the issue.

Ask your kids:

  • Football players earn millions of dollars, but is that enough to compensate them for the risks of the game?
  • How do you feel watching a game in which players might be taking hits that could hurt them in the future?
  • Would football be as much fun to watch if there weren’t tackles and other collisions?

Alcohol and Junk Food
Budweiser, Mountain Dew, Skittles, and Snickers — not exactly the breakfast of champions — are all advertising during the 2017 Super Bowl. Studies show that viewing junk food ads contributes to obesity and watching alcohol ads leads to underage drinking. You won’t be able to turn off every commercial you don’t want your kids to see, so help them resist being influenced.

Ask your kids:

  • Who made this ad? (When kids can identify the corporation behind the ad, it helps them separate their emotional reaction from the company’s money-making agenda.)
  • Who is this ad for? (Is it for grown-ups or kids?)
  • What is the ad for? (Sometimes it’s hard to tell because companies like to create associations — for example, Pepsi = cool — to make their product seem desirable.)
  • Are these foods good for you?
  • Was the ad funny, sad, happy? (Emotional reactions create sympathy and trust for a company, which is just a technique to get people to buy it.)

How To Make The Most Of Your 10 Minutes With Teacher

With fall conferences approaching, I found this to be a very interesting article. It offers tips for parents to make the most out of those 10-15 minute conferences.

Originally published on nprEd

 

So you finally get the chance to meet one on one with your child’s teacher — now what?

Like a good Boy Scout, be prepared: Educators agree that doing your homework before a parent-teacher conference can make a big difference.

The Harvard Family Research Project’s Tip Sheet for Parents suggests reviewing your child’s work, grades and past teacher feedback. Ask your child about his experience at school and make a list of questions ahead of time to ask during the conference. Care.com — a website that matches up parents and child caregivers — created a list of questions to print out and take with you.

A good parent-teacher conference, experts say, should cover three major topics: the child, the classroom and the future.

The Child

Most experts suggest telling the teacher about your child: Describe what they’re like at home, what interests and excites them, and explain any issues at home that may be affecting your child at school.

“Often times we don’t have any understanding of what happens when a child leaves school,” says Amanda Wirene, a reading specialist at the Montessori School of Englewood in Chicago. “Often parents are our only way to know what’s going on at home.”

Be thorough, but do be aware of the time.

“You always get that one parent who wants to stay forever and tells you in great detail all about their child,” says Colleen Holmes, assistant principal at Lincoln Elementary School in Erie, Pa. Share information, she says, and if you need to talk more, schedule another time.

The Classroom

Ask about what’s happening in the classroom — both academically and socially.

“Parents have more access to student information than ever before,” says Scot Graden, superintendent of Saline Area Schools in Saline, Mich. “Chances are, anything that’s going to come up at parent-teacher conferences, the student will already know about it.”

By talking to your child in advance, you can ask more specific questions about grades or behaviors, says Graden.

Don’t be afraid to ask the teacher to clarify what assessment or grades actually mean.

“Teachers can sometimes use educational jargon that may seem alien to you,” Karen Mira writes in The Asian Parent, a parenting magazine in Singapore. “Don’t be shy to ask your child’s teacher to explain what a certain educational word means.”

If teachers bring up areas for improvement, don’t get defensive, says Holmes, the elementary school assistant principal.

And don’t let the meetings be a dumping ground for pent-up concerns or frustrations.

“We don’t want parents to load up on things they’ve wanted to discuss and are looking to have a sort of ‘gotcha’ moment,” says Graden.

The same holds true for teachers: Lindsay Rollin, a second-grade teacher at Teachers College Community School in New York, says conferences should never be the first time parents are hearing about problems their child is having.

“I am not dropping bombs on anybody,” she says.

Before the meeting is over, you should be sure you’re clear on the teacher’s expectations for your child.

“It’s important for everyone to understand what the goal is at the end of the year,” says Graden, the school superintendent. “That way you all have a stake in that success.”

The Future

Spin the conversation forward and ask what you can do to help.

Parent-teacher conferences are no longer a once-a-year check-in; they can provide useful insight for immediate and clear next steps.

“Conferences are now a progress report timed so parents can actually do something about what they learn from teachers,” says Heather Bastow Weiss, founder and director of the Harvard Family Research Project.

To get the most out of the conversation, she says, both the teacher and the parent should know what comes next. Brainstorm with the teacher to come up with ways to solve challenges your child faces. Ask for concrete examples of things you can do at home to help.

“Go in looking for an opportunity to get involved with supporting your child,” advises Holmes, who taught for 16 years before becoming an administrator. Parents should leave knowing the resources that are available to them, says Holmes, such as teacher or school websites and assignment calendars.

Ask if the teachers can recommend resources outside of school.

“There are many out-of-school programs that can help kids improve their success in school,” says Weiss. “The nonschool learning experience should be part of the conversation at conferences.”

Concrete next steps are essential, says Graden. If parents feel as though they didn’t get answers to all of their questions, he recommends trying to connect with the teacher again within a week.

“We want both the teacher and the parent to have a positive experience,” he says. “When parents and teachers work together, the results are always better.”

 

Additional tips for parents: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/tips-parents-parent-teacher-conferences

Helping Students Start the School Year With a Positive Mindset

For students who have had trouble in school, or who have had a negative summer, it is especially important to get the school year off to a fresh start. And for all students, having a positive mindset makes learning much more likely. Here are four activities to help accomplish these goals.

Identity and Purpose: Who Am I?

Now that students are back in school, it’s a good time to help them refocus on learning, their strengths, and the personal and other resources that will help them succeed. Students can individually fill out the grid below, and then pair-share, discuss in small groups, and finally share with the class some of their responses. (Students tend to be most comfortable sharing numbers 2, 4, and 6 below when in larger groups.)

You may also wish to use other creative forms of sharing, such as having students create a collage or chart with all of their answers to each question or the top three answers to each question. Consider integrating this activity into any journal writing your students do.

  1. What motivates me?
  2. What are my best abilities?
  3. How do peers influence me?
  4. When and with whom am I at my best?
  5. Who are my best sources of help?
  6. How can I do more of what will best help me to succeed?

A Living Poll

Read each statement and, based on students’ opinions, have them move to a part of the room that you designate to represent each of the answers below. The three areas of the room are for those who believe any of these three answers:

  • It’s mostly true for me.
  • It’s partly true and not true.
  • It’s mostly not true for me.

You can choose to present the following questions positively or negatively:

  1. “I think school is pointless.” OR “I think school is important, and I need to learn so that I can succeed.”
  2. “I can be violent in some situations.” OR “I am more peaceful and would only use violence where there is a real danger.”
  3. “I think that trying doesn’t matter.” OR “I believe that the more I try, the more I can succeed.”
  4. “I do what makes me popular with others in school.” OR “I do what I want and what I think is the right thing to do.”
  5. “I come to class to pass the time.” OR “I am someone who wants to be involved in school and learn.”

After each statement (or others that you may wish to add), ask students in each area of the room to share why they believe as they do. There is great value in students hearing peers’ views about why they have turned to a more positive mindset. And it’s instructive for the teacher to get a sense of students’ views. Note that students may move to an area where they “think” that the teacher wants them to be.

Asking them to articulate why they believe as they do is your check — and their reality check — on whether they really do have the belief that they’ve endorsed. You may want to end with a discussion of the challenges of sharing honest opinions.

Journaling About Beliefs and Mindset

As a supplement to the above or as an activity in its own right, have students respond in their journals to at least one of each stem:

  • I used to be _______ but now I am _______
  • I used to think _______ but now I think _______
  • I used to do _______ but now I do _______

There is added benefit to revisiting these activities mid-year, or even after each marking period, to see how ideas are changing (positively or negatively).

Make a Good First Impression

First impressions matter. Teachers have told me the importance of decorating classrooms in ways that catch students’ attention and gives them something to think about at the same time. Give your students clipboards and a questionnaire asking them to notice different aspects of how the room is decorated. Come together to discuss what differences students noticed, why they think you made those choices, and what they would add if they were you. You can adapt this for younger children, as well.

10 Websites All Kids Should Bookmark

Check out this great list of essential websites for kids of all ages from Common Sense Media

Websites come and go — but the ones that are truly useful stick around for the long term. For students, having a few go-tos in your back pocket whenever you need to exercise some math muscles, build vocabulary, practice analytical skills, or do research is a time-saver (and sometimes a lifesaver!). What kinds of sites are bookmark-worthy? Ones that offer solid, supplementary information, adapt to your kid’s level, provide fun practice instead of drill-and-kill, and show videos to explain complex concepts. Class after class, semester after semester, these 10 sites are the ones you’ll come back to. So bookmark them — you’ll start learning a lot faster.

Preschool and Early Grades

Bedtime Math
Great for kids who need some daily math practice but dislike drills. Parents and kids can explore a real-world math problem together, and the different levels let kids of different ages participate.

IXL
Though simple and straightforward, IXL offers math and language arts exercises that adapt to a kid’s progress. It’s available as a website and an app.

Bookopolis
Like a Goodreads for kids, this site lets kids log their reading, rate books, and earn rewards for reading. It’s great for reluctant readers who might trust another kid’s endorsement about a book.

Older Elementary School

Factmonster
Kids can use this as a resource for a variety of subjects. With biographies, an atlas, and other reference materials, Factmonster is an informative place for kids to find fun facts and play educational games.

Free Rice
While very simple, this game has two purposes: to teach words and to feed people. For each multiple-choice vocabulary question answered correctly, 10 grains of rice go to the UN World Food Program.

BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper
Provides research and general knowledge in lots of subject areas. Unlike more targeted sites, this one offers links to a wide variety of topics, including history, science, and grammar.

Middle and High School

Khan Academy
Instructional videos help kids learn new concepts, review old ones, or hear something explained in a different way. As an app and a site, this service lets kids find experts explaining and showing how to tackle lots of school-related material.

Vocabulary.com
Great for teens who want their vocabulary lessons gamified. As kids play the game and answer the questions, the difficulty adjusts to their level and rewards them with points (which might keep them playing longer than strict drill practice).

Shmoop
Offers teens study help and test prep with a twist. It’s the tone of this site that sets it apart, as its wry humor and teen-speak make its novel summaries and SAT prep more palatable.

Google Scholar
Since the web is a wild west of information, it can be hard for a kid to sort through it all to find credible resources. This search engine helps weed out the noise and serve up search results a teen can actually use.

 

Pokémon GO: How Your Kids Can Play & Stay Safe

Hope you are enjoying the summer! If your family is like mine, then your kids are probably out chasing down Pokemon around town. This is a great article taken from the Global Digital Citizen Foundation on how kids can play and stay safe at the same time. Happy hunting!

Pokémon GO: How Your Kids Can Play & Stay Safe

Many of today’s younger parents may remember playing a popular card game called Pokémon back in the early 1990s, where players collected different imaginary characters to trade and engage with other children in make-believe adventures. As technology grew, eventually these playful creatures found their way onto the Nintendo platform and today, adults and children alike are becoming overwhelmingly excited with the next adventure available on this platform.

Thanks to GPS and smartphones, Pikachu and other popular Pokémon playmates are now being tracked and collected in the real world using omnipresent handheld devices with Pokémon GO. This presents some obvious dangers and realistic threats with an increasing number of smartphone users who are disenchanted with the outside world when engaged with their devices, regardless of their age.

pokemon-go-1

Curbing Concerns

The worry for parents is increasing as more news reports are continuing to surface about injuries occurring during gameplay. Overall we shouldn’t be too concerned when remembering some important safety tips and advice we should be teaching our youngsters. It’s just a game after all, but it’s still a way for parents to teach their kids some important life lessons and bond with them during this critical time in their life.

Offer To Play & Participate

Whether they’re six or sixteen, parents should offer to play alongside with their kids inside these imaginary adventures. Not only will it help with the bonding process with adolescents, parents will have the opportunity to offer important learning experiences with younger players. Basic math skills and tracking their movements are the first two that come to mind for elementary players.

Connecting with adolescents can occur along with the excitement of trapping new characters when becoming more involved with our teens while playing the game. Instead of parents looking at our kids with a blank stare, for Pokémon players young and old alike, parents can share something with their kids when they get to know the game and its characters.

Limits & Boundaries

As with any new experience for kids, parents need to set rules and put boundaries into effect when it comes to game time. They shouldn’t wander too far from home, and should stay away from areas they’re unfamiliar with while keeping “stranger danger” in mind.

Child safety advocate Callahan Walsh, from the Center For Missing and Exploited Children, is working with the makers of Pokémon GO to help make gameplay safer for children and offers these four pointers for parents to pass onto their kids:

  1. Check with a parent before beginning an outdoor excursion.
  2. Always take along a friend and never play alone.
  3. Tell people “no” and don’t take any type of assistance from people.
  4. Inform an adult immediately if anything unusual happens.

pokemon-go-2

It’s important that parents instil a sense of urgency with their children to always be aware of their surroundings when playing. Besides the obvious threat of being injured when not paying attention, they could also wander onto private property or into unsavory areas.

With a little common sense and by following some simple rules and guidelines, there’s no reason kids can’t have fun in the make-believe world of Pokémon GO as long as they remember they’re still here in the real world. Good luck finding Pikachu and all her friends without getting into any problematic situations during your adventures.

Amy Williams is a journalist and former social worker, passionate about parenting and education.

Teachers’ Top Picks for Out-of-School Learning

Learning doesn’t stop just because school’s out! Here’s a list of top recommendations from our expert teachers. With these great apps, games, and websites, kids can practice core skills, as well as pursue lifelong learning in whatever interests them most. Parents, take note of this great article by Common Sense Graphite!

6 Amazing Apps for World Autism Awareness Day

 

Taken from Common Sense Media…..

Technology has the power to unlock learning for kids of all ages and stages. Recent innovations in the app world have introduced a whole new wave of learning tools and products to kids around the globe. In honor of World Autism Awareness Day, check out these apps that help kids with communication, organization, and even social-awareness skills — and watch the video on the right to learn more about how to choose media and tech products for kids with learning differences.

Kid in Story Book Maker, age 4+ 
This terrific app makes it easy to create social stories. The special features are particularly helpful for kids who may need to see themselves encountering situations, such as a visit to the dentist, in storybook form before encountering them in real life.

Calm Counter – Social Story and Anger Management Tool, age 5+
This ingenious app helps kids with special needs, social challenges, anxiety, or anger issues learn self-awareness as they begin to identify when they “need a break” and practice calming down.

FTVS HD – First Then Visual Schedule HD, age 5+
This scheduling app’s simple, multisensory interface has great potential for use with kids with developmental or learning disabilities; anxiety or attention issues; and language, hearing, or processing difficulties.​

Proloquo2Go, age 5+
This extraordinary communication aid is great for kids who have basic to severe speech challenges. Kids can learn how to effectively convey wants, needs, feelings, opinions, social manners, and more.

The Social Express II, age 8+
This excellent animated app boosts kids’ social-awareness skills. Kids can learn to identify how their peers are feeling, coping strategies, the importance of eye contact, and a host of core social skills needed to function in daily life.

Popplet, age 13+
This mind-mapping tool is especially helpful for kids who have problems with organization and visual memory. Kids can insert words, images, and their own drawings and then connect to other related Popplets to create an interactive outline of related ideas.

For more great learning tools for kids with special needs and learning differences, check out our Learning Difficulties and Special Needs guide.

Angela Zimmerman Manager, Editorial Partnerships   

Ingrid Simone, Common Sense Media Apps Editor, contributed to this article.

How Parents and Teachers Can Work Together For Powerful Learning Outcomes

Taken from: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/12/28/how-parents-and-teachers-can-work-together-for-powerful-learning-outcomes/

How Parents and Teachers Can Work Together For Powerful Learning Outcomes

Katrina Schwartz

 As conversations at school and at home continue about the importance of having space to learn from failure, how can parents and educators become a stronger team as they work toward the mutual goal of successful, happy kids?

PARENTS ARE THE FIRST TEACHERS

When kids are young, it can feel like they need constant care (which they do!), but babies and toddlers are also building the architecture in their brains that will serve them throughout childhood. Parents have a unique opportunity to help their toddlers develop the emotional intelligence that will aid them in academic and social settings for the rest of their lives.

Young kids often aren’t able to control their own emotions, which is why their tantrums can be fierce, but parents don’t have to stand by, powerless to these whims. Each tantrum is an opportunity for parents to help children learn to identify what they are feeling and why. They can also work to normalize emotions by admitting all people feel angry or sad or frustrated sometimes, while working on strategies to calm down. The strategies for a 3-year-old have to be simple and memorable, like taking a deep breath and counting to four when mad.

Books can also be a helpful way to talk about emotions when a child isn’t in the thick of feeling his own. Little kids can point out the emotions they see characters experience and talk about how he or she might have dealt with the situation. And, little kids aren’t too young to develop a mindfulness practice, which has been shown to improve self-regulation. For example, parent and child could take a “listening walk” around the block, focusing on the sounds in the present moment.

The way parents interact with their young children does more than build the emotional foundation for later success. It can also help kids build the specific pre-academic skills that will ease transition into school. The 30 million-word gap has become cliche now, but understanding the science behind “good talk” for infants and toddlers is an important way parents can contribute to their success.

Studies have shown that parents are more open to this message when they realize that how they interact with their child at a very young age affects the architecture of their brain. The messages imparted are as important, if not more so, than the act of talking itself. Kids need to be encouraged and praised for the processes they are engaged in, not just how cute or smart they are. And, even if a baby can’t yet talk, parents can create a sense of back and forth by responding to gurgles or smiles. Educators play a big role in making sure the parents they interact with know the science of talk and some of the simple strategies to make sure kids are developing a healthy capacity for language before starting school.

TEENAGE YEARS

There’s a lot of emphasis on what parents can and should do with their very young children because that’s a moment in development when a child’s brain is growing and changing in fundamental ways. But as every parent knows, getting through the first four years is just the start, and there are often parenting bumps along the road. One common rough patch comes when kids become teenagers, with all the hormones and tricky social dynamics that accompany it. Many parents feel lost at this stage, unable to interact with their child in the ways they used to, and unsure of how to best offer support to a prickly teen.

The good news is that teenagers need parenting just as much as younger kids, even if they don’t show their appreciation for it. Adolescence experts say parents are best off honoring their teen’s autonomy, while providing structure and support. It’s easy to see an adolescent not taking responsibility for something like homework and immediately jumping in to help. But it’s far better to set clear expectations and perhaps even schedules and routines that support strong study habits, without micromanaging the process.

Similarly, teens need space to try new things with the knowledge that there’s a safety net if they fail. This includes talking through choices and potential outcomes and then allowing the teen to make his own informed decisions. That doesn’t mean parents can’t jump in and provide extra support at times, but if a teenager never learns to be independent, he’ll have trouble later in life. And throughout it all, parents should continue to show warmth and love toward their teens. They may not seem to like it, but they still need it.

Cultivating supported autonomy will pay off once that teenager becomes a college student. University professors and deans increasingly report that their students don’t show the type of self-efficacy required to succeed. Instead, many students turn to their parents to fix even small problems that arise. Many parents look at an increasingly competitive world and see it as their parental duty to make sure their child has every possible opportunity. But actions that stem from love might actually be handicapping young adults.

NEW TEACHING STRATEGIES

While the discussion of “overparenting” struck a nerve with MindShift readers, the instinct to ward off any potentially damaging failures in a child’s life doesn’t come out of nowhere. Parents are feeling the pressure to make sure their kids get on the “right track” out of fear that any mistake will ruin a chance at a productive life. But where did that fear of failure come from? It’s a pervasive part of society and may even be learned in school.

Many educators feel they must move through curriculum at a breakneck speed to cover everything, leaving very little space for students to experience struggle, failure, renewed attempts and ultimately success in a safe environment. Increasingly, however, educators are having productive conversations about encouraging a growth mindset, which focuses on how making mistakes grows the brain and provides fertile opportunities to learn.

This discussion of mistakes has led to some confusion. For example, not all mistakes lead to learning. The best kinds of mistakes for learning happen when a student is stretching outside her comfort zone. When trying something new most people will make mistakes, but with reflection and strategies to address the error, much can be learned. At other times a student might have an “aha mistake” when she completed the task correctly, but realized she should have done it differently because of new information. Both these types of mistakes grow the brain and require self-reflection and renewed effort. But learning from mistakes doesn’t happen automatically.

Another trend capturing the attention of MindShift readers is how the body and its movements connect to learning. In formal education the expectation has long been that students sit quietly and receive information from teachers. But increasinglyneuroscience research is showing how intrinsically learning is tied to body movement.

“We can start leveraging the power of our bodies to help us learn, think and perform at our best,” said Sian Beilock, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. This wisdom has long been embedded in progressive teaching philosophies like Montessori, but has been largely eliminated from traditional public schools. But studies are showing that even small gestures can help students grasp confusing math concepts, understand physics and generally feel more connected to what they are learning.

The idea of connecting learning to students’ lives has been a pervasive theme in education circles, but it can be hard to do so when working with mandated content that doesn’t necessarily excite students. A few teachers tried something very different last year when the hit public radio podcast “Serial” was becoming extremely popular. Teachers who were themselves engrossed in the story unfolding each week on the podcast decided to bring their students into the fun, improving their listening and analytical skills in the process.

“They enjoy it so much that they don’t realize they’re learning at the highest level,” said former 10th-grade English teacher Alexa Schlechter. She and her students debated different takes on the murder mystery tale, using Google Maps to recreate crucial scenes, analyzing the transcript for facts to support their arguments and bringing their own adolescent perspectives to a story about high school. The success of podcast projects like this one has sparked other teachers to think more about how audio can be used effectively in the classroom.

Podcasts aren’t the only real-world phenomena making their way into classrooms. Educators are fascinated by howcommercial video games can be used for learning. Often games specifically designed for learning can feel out of step and out of touch with what’s going on in the commercial game world. They often can’t compete in terms of graphics, motivation and intensity. But some educators are finding ways to use commercial games that students are already hooked on like “World of Warcraft,” “Minecraft” and “Never Alone” to teach important skills in all content areas.

DYSLEXIA

This year MindShift contributor Holly Korbey took a deep dive into how educators identify and teach students with dyslexia. Her articles struck a chord with many readers who not only understood why this topic is so important to kids in school today, but also strongly identified as adults with many of the stereotypes and issues raised.

While every child is required to learn to read in school, reading is anything but a simple activity. It requires the brain to fashion new circuits between parts of the brain designed for other things. Together these combined circuits create a new specialized reading circuit that must work at lightning speed. Given the complexity of reading, it’s no surprise that not all children’s brains work in the same way. The brains of people with dyslexia are organized in a different way, making it difficult for them to know how sounds correspond with letters and numbers, to gain reading fluency and to comprehend what they are reading.

Dyslexia can make school incredibly frustrating for students, parents and teachers, especially because many educators aren’t trained to identify its signs in students. And, even if they could identify it — or a parent does — many districts don’t make it easy or cheap for students to get the necessary testing that opens up doors to specialized interventions.

That’s infuriating to many parents, who know that with targeted resources their often very bright children could easily catch up and avoid the psychic pain. Perhaps the worst part of this cycle is how students come to believe they are dumb and will never be able to read or excel in school. Very rarely are children with dyslexia celebrated for the other strengths they bring because reading remains a primary concern in school.

AND A LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR

A Key and Peele parody of “SportsCenter” that replaced NFL draft prospects with new teachers added a dose of levity to the education conversation this year. The sketch is hilarious, highlighting a calculus teacher first-round draft pick whose father was “a humble football player,” but it also touches on some real, raw issues. An $80 million teaching contract might be a bit much, but issues of teacher pay and appreciation are still front and center in the very real discussions about how to recruit and retain the best possible teachers.