Friday Notes
February 2-6
A Tale of Two Brains
This past week I had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Ruby Payne about poverty in schools. In the state of Georgia and nationwide-one in two children are currently living in poverty. Although I have seen many presentation about this subject, one part of this presentation really captured my interest. In the past, the discussions have focused primarily on the lack of resources and their negative impacts on students from poverty.
However, Dr. Payne used her time with us to discuss the impact poverty has on brain development with a primary emphasis on what poverty is doing to our boys. She used a great video by Dr. Mark Gungor about the innate differences between the male and female brain as a starting point and then shared how poverty affects boys' ability to store short term memory into long term knowledge.
Because males typically compartmentalize their ideas, they have difficulty tying the new concepts to previously learned information normally. Boys who live in poverty tend to have even more difficulty because of how significantly the external environment impacts their physical, mental and emotional health. This is one of the primary reasons gaming is becoming so important in schools. Gaming connects previously learned knowledge with new knowledge and helps to move the information from short term to long term memory.
Take a few minutes to watch this short video -A Tale of Two Brains I promise it will be some of the funniest minutes you've spent this week.
I hope it will be a quick reminder for you the next time your boys are driving you a little crazy that their brains work a little differently than the girls.
ps...it's a great video to share with your hubbys and boyfriends!
This Week's Events
Pledge Duty: Luker
Specials Rotation: STEM K-5
French Toast for Families and Book Fair All Week
Monday February 2
**Go Far Training with Lynn Skinner and Paula Baker in the downstairs computer lab during your specials block this is for all grade levels
Tuesday February 3
**Strategic Planning for Principals at Werz 8:00-4:00 pm
Wednesday February 4
Thursday February 5
Friday February 6
**Arts Now Training 8:00-3:30 at Centre (Cofer, Huey, Hulsey, Chesser, jarrard, Luker, Owens, Seymour, Camp, Garn, Miller, Nicolls, Brooks, Hill, Copeland, Spence, Ward, Todd, Bonner, Stewart, Millican, Davenport, Frederick)
Georgia Milestones
Coweta Curriculum Resources
Math Talks to blow your mind
Coweta Ed Twitter Chat
Connect with Coweta Educators every Sunday from 8:00-9:00 pm for our system Twitter chat. Topics have included technology integration, STEM, student engagement, teacher leadership, and much more. If you would like to learn more about how you can expand your personal professional learning network through Twitter, please just let me know. we have some Twitter Gurus who would be happy to share.
Upcoming Events
February 10 Northgate Math Team to visit first and fourth grades
February 11 Principal's meeting 9:00 am (Raschen)
February 12 Academic Bowl Meet
February 13 First Grade In School Field Trip with GYSTC
February 16-20 Winter Break
February 26 AP Professional Learning 10:00-11:30 am (Harrison)
February 27-28 Leadership Training (Raschen)
March 5 Academic Bowl Finals Ithica Elementary
March 13 Kindergarten In school field trip with GYSTC
March 18 Milestones Training (Harrison)
March 20 PTSO Spring Fling
March 23 Spring Arts Show
March 31 School Council Meeting, Chick Fil A Spirit Night
April 3 Fifth Grade Immunity Lesson
April 6-10 Spring Break
April 20-30 Milestones Window
April 28 Starlight Skate Night
May 4 Fifth Grade Presents Peter Pan
May 8 GKIDs window closes
May 15 4th Grade Wax Museum
May 18 Slip N Sliding into Summer