One thing I missed so much while in Okinawa was the luxury of attending professional developments. From what I have gathered, there were lots of PD opportunities prior to 2008. Then there were changes and PD went by the wayside. The LI teachers used to fly up to Tokyo and meet together and enjoy the Mainland lifestyle. Oh, how I wanted to go. I even thought I was going, but at the next-to-last-minute they scrapped the conference.
My first special ed related PD back in the States was about the subject of Executive Functioning. This is how the brain knows to do common, every day things that we typically know to be routine. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, executive function problems include but are not limited to:
- Making plans
- Keeping track of time and finish work on time
- The ability to successfully multi-task
- Meaningfully including past knowledge in discussions
- Evaluating ideas and reflecting on work
- Changing minds and making mid-course corrections while thinking, reading and writing
- Asking for help or seeking more information when needed
- Actively engaging in group activities
- Waiting to speak until called on and not blurting out
I'm not sure about you, but I walked away from the conference feeling like I myself have some executive functioning problems. I also felt like this completely described some of my students. I had two big take-aways from the day. The first is that our kids with processing disorders need more Omega-3's in their diets as that can build up the myelin in their brains which is often thin and lacking when processing disorders are apparent. The other takeaway (for me) is that the frontal lobe does not begin to really form until ages 7-12. The frontal lobe is responsible for organization so we must be mindful of this when working with the elementary school age group.
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