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On ADHD and Boys Carolyn Abraham has been doing a series of articles about Failing Boys in the Toronto Globe and Mail. Her Are we medicating a disorder or treating boyhood as a disease caught my eye over the weekend, along with a sidebar case study, A normal active boy ... or a problem? She tells of a 55% increase in four years for prescriptions for Ritalin and other amphetamine-like drugs for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Canada, with almost three-fourths of those prescriptions being written for boys. She writes:
Abraham makes some very good points in her article and series, such as noting that "diagnosing ADHD has been a medical minefield ever since the rise of the so-called Ritalin Generation in the 1980 and 90s." While "counselling stands a better chance of getting to the root of problem[s] with children, rather than using drugs for years to dull symptoms," wait times for available counselors often cause parents and "general practitioners with little training in the disorder" to go for the "quick fix" of medications...and no therapy. A recent and entertaining RSA Animate video, Changing Education Paradigms, also touches on medication of students with ADHD, along with a look at how our school systems are organized. Daniel Willingham has an interesting critique and rebuttal to the video's content in Is a paradigm shift really needed? Those of us with years of experience in the classroom can recount tales of students who simply cannot focus without chemical medication and therapy. We can also tell of students who have been needlessly drugged into a near stupor by doctors fooled by parents who simply want quiet, submissive kids. And yes, as I wrote those words I still see the face of a little girl whose personality and being seemed to disappear behind a veil of ADHD medication. Her brother, a good candidate for medication and therapy, was participating in a clinical trial for ADHD medications and an unscrupulous researcher included the sister in the study as well. Another case involved a bright young boy who functioned well with therapy and medication, only to develop tolerance to every medication tried within a few weeks. (His father was a major druggie. Guess those Y chromosomes can be damaged and passed on.) And in yet another case, a student with multiple, serious disabilities well beyond ADHD often arrived at school a near madman without his medications. His pediatrician, our school nurse, and I were able to get an effective plan going where all of his meds were to be administered (and held) at school. (Not much relief there for the poor bus driver.) His parents, apparently selling off his medications to supplement their income, switched him to another doctor who allowed the meds to go home (and probably into the community). During implementation of the at-school med plan, my principal remarked to me, "Steve, when you cut into people's income, you might get hurt." (Is it any wonder I took early retirement?) As Abraham wrote, identification and treatment of ADHD is a minefield, but one we educators need to remain constantly vigilant of. Odds 'n' Ends Bill Turque had an interesting piece in the Washington Post on Saturday, D.C. Teachers' Union election will affect survival of Rhee's initiatives. The election should wind up on Wednesday. Principal Chris Lehmann shares What I Ask of SLA Teachers on his Practical Theory blog. His "Top Ten Things I Ask of SLA Teachers" includes exhortations to "take care of yourself," "understand that your class is but one of five or six or seven classes that kids have," and "remember that we teach students before we teach subjects." Sounds like a good place to work! Richard Slettvet's Saving public education: the "Dolly Solution" on The Answer Sheet is an interesting and somewhat whimsical read. And while I usually just link to a individual blog postings, today I'd like to recommend all the recent postings on Teachermandc's Blog. I happened upon its URL in the comment section of another blog over the weekend. The weekly postings are really more essays on life, teaching, and education in general. They're gripping and inspiring. Send Feedback to |
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Storm Edition The drought that has gripped our area for months broke with a vengeance this morning. Our property is littered with things from our back porch and yard deemed too heavy to blow away (a charcoal grill!). We have pots and towels down catching leaks from a roof we've had repaired repeatedly. As I walked through our dining room, I noticed the curtains billowing out from our bay window. One complete plexiglas pane was laying on the ground outside. Ah, the joys of living in an old house in the country. So...this will be a brief posting while I wait for the front to pass before getting out to assess and begin repairing storm damage. I ran across the YouTube video, Collaborative Planning, from a posting today by Valerie Strauss, A funny, scary "education" conversation. The comments on the YouTube page and to a lesser extent, on The Answer Sheet blog, indicate that its depiction of interaction with what one commenter called "administrivia-automatons" may be fairly accurate. Deborah Meier got in her shots about the Waiting for "Superman" film last week on she and Diane Ravitch's Bridging Differences blog. Diane takes her turn today in Demonizing Public Education. She asks:
I forgot to check eSchool News's site of the week last week and missed NSF, NBC team up with the National Football League to help teach science. From the article:
I watched a couple of the short videos and found them somewhat instructive and entertaining. But...they add one more tool to the teacher's goodie bag of free tools. Odds 'n' Ends Leonie Haimson, executive director of the nonprofit Class Size Matters, and founder of the NYC Public School Parent blog, does some good debunking in 7 Class size myths -- and the truth. Walt Gardner's Stripping Teachers of Freedom of Speech talks about a recent court case that establishes "that teachers cannot make their own curricular decisions."
Something else that caught my eye was the advisory statement on the vendor's page:
We've found this one to be a real bummer when working on folks' computers. Looking Ahead The Teachers' Corner November Calendar reminds us that next Tuesday (2) is National Deviled Egg Day! I seem to remember from somewhere else that there might also be a general election going on in the United States that day. Other events to remember for the month (and possible teachable moments) include Daylight Savings Time Ends (7), Veteran's Day (11), Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. (25), and the "Hallmark holidays," Sweetest Day (20) and Mother-in-Law's Day (21). I'll shamelessly suggest that folks looking for teaching resources might want to try our Resource Sites for Teachers feature story. Calendar Project
I'm not sure how the folks at DLTK get around copyright issues with the images, but the site has been there for years without much change. Note that you may have to take screenshots of the calendars, as saving them as PDFs sometimes cut the calendar into two page documents (but not always)! Even though operating systems include a screenshot grabber, I use Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro X on Macs and Techsmith's SnagIt on PCs to get a little more control of my screenshots. Neither one is free (or even close to it), but both have proved to be worth their price. Odds 'n' Ends Runoff needed in Washington Teachers' Union presidential vote by Bill Turque relates that WTU General Vice President Nathan Saunders edged out current President George Parker, 334 to 313 in the voting, but didn't achieve the 51% majority required to win outright. Turque notes that "only 881 mail-in ballots were cast by the 4,200-member union" in the election. Liz Goodwin's Education reformers say GOP-controlled House would block funding tells that "the GOP may have strong tactical political interests in rolling back Obama-backed school reform, should it gain control of the House next week." She relates that House Republicans might block reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and a proposed third round of Race to the Top funding to hurt the President's chances of re-election in 2012. A related story on Education Week in September, Top House Republican on Education Talks ESEA, Race to Top, gives a good look at what John Kline of Minnesota, potentially the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee if Republicans regain control of the House, might do with ESEA reauthorization. And in the "Oh, my" category, How not to use Facebook, if you’re a school official on eSchool News tells of an Arkansas school board member, "commenting on a campaign to get people to wear purple to show support for bullied gay and lesbian youth, purportedly posted a Facebook message saying the only way he would wear purple is 'if they all commit suicide.'" Shout
The first theme in the Shout series, Live with the Land, begins November 16 with a Smithsonian virtual conference. While exploring the Shout site and a related Taking It Global site, DeforestACTION, it appeared that Shout is targeted for middle and high school students, while the DeforestACTION challenge activities were more for primary and intermediate students. I didn't run into any Microsoft "gotchas" that often are embedded on their sites that rule out Linux and Macintosh users, but also had trouble getting a feel for how teachers might effectively integrate this resource into their instruction. But it's worth a look. On the Blogs Jenny Orr's Reason #391 Why I Love My School on her Elementary, My Dear, or Far From It blog is a brief story about a selfless educator seeing a need and giving of their time to fill it. "Mrs. Lipstick's" Inside on her Organized Chaos blog is an inspiring tale about a home visit and conference that will touch your heart. Her I heart our administration posting isn't bad, either. Paul L. Martin tells of a school visit by past President Jimmy Carter in The Man From Plains Comes To Panorama City on The Teacher's View. Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn have been making lists of 100 Things About Me As A Reader on their A Year of Reading blog. They found that their posts have "inspired teachers to have their students start a list. The results are always surprising and revealing." Walt Gardner writes in Selective Use of Evidence to Improve Schools about New York City's announced intent and the Los Angeles Times recent publication of teacher ratings based on student test scores:
He winds up his Reality Check blog posting:
Valerie Strauss has put up a bunch of good postings over the last day or so. Some are her work and others are the work of featured guest bloggers on The Answer Sheet:
Shuttle Launch on Monday
At right, "technicians close the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay in preparation for the STS-133 launch to the International Space Station." Only one more mission, STS-134 scheduled to launch in February, remains in the space shuttle program. (There apparently is a provision for another possible mission should it be required.) • Shuttle Home Page Have a great weekend! Ads shown on this site do not represent an endorsement or warranty of any kind of products or companies shown. Ads shown on archive pages may not represent the ads displayed in the original posting on Educators' News. |
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