Your Child's Brain
Remember, your child is growing, and so is their brain. They don't have all of the connections there yet, so some things aren't working at an adult level. This is useful to remember when they don't seem to be able to do something in a certain way.
For example, they may truly understand something, but when you ask them to explain it, they can't do it verbally. They may be able to write it down, though. Or, they may be able to explain it to you verbally, but what they write down doesn't even come close to that. Sometimes when you ask them to read their writing out loud, they won't read what they wrote. These kinds of things show you where they are weak and where they are strong. One of the things to strengthen these connections in the brain is to go back and forth between listening, seeing, writing, and speaking orally, so they are constantly having to do the same thing in different ways. To truly learn something, you have to learn it in several modalities/styles at least, as in visual, oral, aural, kinesthetic, etc.
As a parent, you can really help them with this. If their writing is not seeming to be quite right, ask them to read it out loud. If they change what they wrote or can't do it, you can see the problem. Have them stop and think and verbally explain it to you and clarify until it is really clear. Then have them write down what they said. Do they do that? They don't always. Have them read what they wrote and see if they can see it's not the same as what they said. This going back and forth between different ways of communication is really helpful in strengthening their weak areas and helping them truly master something. (You can't truly master something if you only understand it in one way.)
Also be aware they are not capable of some higher level thinking yet, depending on where they are in the growth cycle. In middle school, I would say about 1/3 of kids are not capable of making those higher level connections, 1/3 are starting to, and 1/3 are really getting them. This is the age where it's really important to start helping them think at the higher levels and not just give literal responses. So, whatever they are doing, engage in higher level questions. Don't just ask who the main character is and what they do. Those are literal, right there questions anyone should be able to answer by looking. Ask them what they think of the main character, and why they did what they did. The answer is not in the book, and they will have to give their opinion based on the facts presented. This jump in thinking without having to be guided fact by fact is essential to learn for higher level thinking.
This is an essential age to find weak areas and strengthen them as possible. And this is not just in reference to reading, writing and doing work. This can be skills, like the ability to stay focused for periods of time. Especially recently with all of the electronic stimulation, kids' brains are being rewired and losing the ability to stay focused. It's a skill that needs to be practiced, and staying focused on work can be extremely difficult for some of them, depending on how much time they have practiced and do it regularly.
This explains a lot of the issue that a lot of our kids are facing: https://sites.google.com/site/amspurcell/your-child-s-brain
"In a baby, the brain over-produces brain cells (neurons) and connections between brain cells (synapses) and then starts pruning them back around the age of three. The process is much like the pruning of a tree. By cutting back weak branches, others flourish. The second wave of synapse formation described by Giedd showed a spurt of growth in the frontal cortex just before puberty (age 11 in girls, 12 in boys) and then a pruning back in adolescence.
Even though it may seem that having a lot of synapses is a particularly good thing, the brain actually consolidates learning by pruning away synapses and wrapping white matter (myelin) around other connections to stabilize and strengthen them. The period of pruning, in which the brain actually loses gray matter, is as important for brain development as is the period of growth. For instance, even though the brain of a teenager between 13 and 18 is maturing, they are losing 1 percent of their gray matter every year.
Giedd hypothesizes that the growth in gray matter followed by the pruning of connections is a particularly important stage of brain development in which what teens do or do not do can affect them for the rest of their lives. He calls this the "use it or lose it principle," and tells FRONTLINE, "If a teen is doing music or sports or academics, those are the cells and connections that will be hardwired. If they're lying on the couch or playing video games or MTV, those are the cells and connections that are going to survive."
"A key theme in the adolescent development literature is that knowledge is constructed. We build our brains through our learning experiences. The nature of the learning experiences we undertake will dictate how the brain develops and the connections that are pruned. Some of the key skills students must develop in order to learn through experience are how to:
- reflect on learning
- link new knowledge to existing knowledge
- establish what is true and accurate
- challenge what knowledge is untrue and inaccurate.
Giving students opportunities to be reflective improves the quality of learning, since learning with understanding is more likely to promote transfer of knowledge than rote learning or memorising information. New knowledge needs to be relevant to the learner and linked to their current knowledge base.
Knowledge that is delivered in a variety of contexts and through a range of learning strategies is more likely to be applied or transferred broadly. Organising information and making explicit links between concepts help students to store and apply their knowledge. As students specialise, they need to have an in-depth grasp of the relationships between concepts and the way knowledge is organised within a discipline, as well as factual information related to the subject."
Closed for construction - adolescent brain development in the middle years
More cool sites I found:
A great article on modern day issues: https://yourot.com/parenting-club/2017/5/24/what-are-we-doing-to-our-children?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork
Moreover, in the past 15 years, researchers have been releasing alarming statistics on a sharp and steady increase in kids’ mental illness, which is now reaching epidemic proportions:
1 in 5 children has mental health problems
43% increase in ADHD
37% increase in teen depression
200% increase in suicide rate in kids 10-14 years old
Today’s children are being deprived of the fundamentals of a healthy childhood, such as:
Emotionally available parents
Clearly defined limits and guidance
Responsibilities
Balanced nutrition and adequate sleep
Movement and outdoors
Creative play, social interaction, opportunities for unstructured times and boredom
Instead, children are being served with:
Digitally distracted parents
Indulgent parents who let kids “Rule the world”
Sense of entitlement rather than responsibility
Inadequate sleep and unbalanced nutrition
Sedentary indoor lifestyle
Endless stimulation, technological babysitters, instant gratification, and absence of dull moments
The results of tech addiction. This is very informative.
https://www.facebook.com/HealthForAllKids/videos/301316260295203/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/the-drug-like-effect-of-screen-time-on-the-teenage-brain/
http://deeprootsathome.com/kids-bored-entitled/
Improving Reading For Children and Teens (Child Development Institute)
Learning Styles
Everyone learns in different ways and needs to understand how to use their strengths to their benefit and improve the weaknesses as much as possible. Some people learn by listening and can remember most of what they hear, or looking and remember what they see best, or setting something to a music or beat, or getting up and moving around and breaking things up. When learning, I try to incorporate as many styles as possible when we learn, because that's when we really learn.
So, for example, when we're doing WAGS (daily grammar) we break it up all of the time and do it in different ways: look at examples, write examples, practice on your own, practice by looking at someone else's and recognizing correctness, speaking and explaining ideas, finding and drawing/circling/underlining, writing as fast as they can, everyone giving a quick response in quick succession, choral response, giving thumbs up/down, raising hands, getting up and writing examples, pointing, etc.
Sometimes when they're not able to focus and pay attention, we might try various kinesthetic (movement) techniques to wake up the brain like yoga moves, mindfulness focus, group push ups, dance, going for a run outside, etc. Sometimes we just need to get the brain woken up with some blood flow and move a little before getting back to focusing.
"Solid evidence suggests that even going for brisk walks can elicit this state of arousal—meaning an increase in heart rate, EEG activity, and more excitatory active brain chemicals (Saklofske & Kelly, 1992). In fact, if you haven't yet taken a break from reading this riveting chapter, you might stand and stretch for a moment. Why? Standing can raise heart rate (hence, blood flow) by as much as 5 to 8 percent in just seconds (Krock & Hartung, 1992). "
"Educators should purposefully integrate movement activities into everyday learning: not just hands-on classroom activities, but also daily stretching, walks, dance, drama, seat-changing, energizers, and physical education. The whole notion of using only logical thinking in, for example, a mathematics class flies in the face of current brain research. In fact, Larry Abraham in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Texas-Austin says, “Classroom teachers should have kids move for the same reason that P.E. teachers have had kids count” (personal communication, 1997)."
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104013/chapters/Movement-and-Learning.aspx