Brain stuff

This post is primarily for fellow CFS staff, but parents may find it interesting too! During today's staff development workday, I attended a session led by Jon and Ida following up on our research on the brain in education. Matthew encouraged me to live blog the session, something I've never done but that connected nicely to his workshop on RSS (and gives another example of how we can take advantage of cutting edge technologies at CFS). My live blog is just a series of notes, and includes a bunch of books we discussed as well as some ideas as to how we can implement this knowledge in our teaching. Click on the play button below to view it. Below the live blog, I've pasted a copy of Jon's resource list for studying the brain. It's really fantastic!

Back to music in my next post. Enjoy!

Jon's Brain Resource List:
Resources for learning about the brain and neuroplasticity (in no particular order…)

Books

The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. This is by far the best book I read on the topic. This is accessible, remarkably interesting and reads quickly. Doidge makes some very convincing arguments about the relationship between neuroscience/neuroplasticity and his own background as a psychoanalyst, across the brain/mind divide. While he pushes to find some extreme examples of plasticity and wants to see plasticity everywhere, overall, this is a wonderful work that seems really in line with the emerging general consensus about the brain’s plasticity. It has also gotten very positive reviews from many neuroscientists.

The Brain Explained by Daniel Drubach. A solid primer on contemporary understandings of the brain. Pretty accessible.

Best of the Brain from Scientific American edited by Floyd E. Bloom. This is fantastic and broad collection of short, accessible and very interesting articles about a wide range of topics in contemporary brain science. Very short reads for the lay person. The 2008 anthology is out, but isn’t in the library yet, so I’ve only read the 2007 edition.

Cerebrum 2007: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science edited by Cynthia A. Read. A wonderful anthology from the Dana Foundation’s online journal that offers focused articles on some of the most contemporary and pressing issues being raised by brain science. This anthology seems directed to those interested in psychopharmacology and related medical fields, but this is still interesting an informative. I really liked the article on animals’ aesthetic sense. The 2008 anthology is out, but isn’t in the library yet, so I’ve only read the 2007 edition.

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind by Gary Marcus. A book that is focused on the evolutionary construction of the brain’s architecture. This is a bit redundant and seems to be an intervention into the debates about Darwinism (against “Intelligent Design”), but it is accessible and gives a great overview of major topics related to the “mind” functions of the brain (such as memory and language), discussing their biological basis.

Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang. This is a concise and accessible overview of how the brain works, but much more conservative in terms of plasticity than what Doidge offers. This is entertaining and a pretty quick read, but not as informative as some of the other resources I came across. I would recommend this as a supplementary resource.

Defining Right and Wrong in Brain Science: Essential Readings in Neuroethics edited by Walter Glannon. Neuroethics rocks! This is a fantastic anthology of the emergent field of neuroethics and covers a great range of legal and moral issues raised by the recent knowledge of how brains work. I think these will be the key questions about ethics and knowledge that our students will face in the future and this anthology also points to the ways in which neuroethics also raises questions about ethics and human identity. I call dibs on a neuroethics class, but I’d love to co-teach it. Hmmm, what would a Quaker neuroethics be like?

Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness by James H. Austin. This groundbreaking book is written by a neuroscientist who is also a practicing Buddhist. By drawing on both, Austin writes a fascinating book on how and why meditation expands the brain. I’ve had this on my shelf for 9 years. I still haven’t finished it, but I was happy to have a reason to start reading it. Maybe I’ll finish it before another 9 years goes by.

Videos

“Inside the Teenage Brain” A really wonderful frontline program. If you want to watch it online, head to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/

“The Secret Life of the Brain” Available at CFS! An awesome PBS documentary on recent developments in brain science, though a few years old. For the companion website, go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/

Web-based

“Developmental structure in brain evolution.” An academic article on the brain and brain evolution.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.finlay.html

“Your amazing brain…” A great, comprehensive (by topic, if not in terms of topical depth) website (with teacher resources) from the University of Bristol.
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/insidebrain/default.htm

“Neuroscience for Kids” This is a phenomenal resource from the University of Washington. I wish I had had this when I took a brain science class in college!
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a solid list of brain-oriented resources for various topics, focused especially on brain development.
http://www.nccic.org/poptopics/brain.html

“Early Brain Development: What parents and caregivers need to know!” A good primer on early brain development with a top ten list of early development needs.
http://www.educarer.com/brain.htm

“Inside the Teenage Brain” This is the companion website to the PBS Frontline series of the same title. Fantastic and very accessible. So that’s why my students don’t turn in essays on time…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

“Understanding Brain Development in Children” An NPR show, available in podcast for the auditory learner. A very nice interview to focus on brain development in the childhood years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91919442

The first site—“Abnormal Surge in Brain Development Occurs in Teens, Young Adults With Schizophrenia”—overviews some recent research, as does the second one—“Study Enhances Understanding Of Brain Plasticity And Motor Skills, Signaling Advancements For Future Rehab Practices.” Interesting articles on these topics—gives a sense of how the research on brain plasticity is being applied to medical work.
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF68525748100688BA5

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/79141.php

“Scientists find why we need to re-read a page” A neat article about brain science and attention issues related to learning.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/07/16/sciread116.xml

From MarketWatch, an online resource about economic trends, this article gives a sense of the booming industry that markets tools to help aging brains maintain their performance.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/memory-training-centers-america-chooses/story.aspx?guid=%7B50C962D3-7C0C-4D56-9B91-E8C85B8B0943%7D&dist=hppr

A great article from Science Daily, an online science resource, about the latest resource on the neurobiology of learning. Also, this has a great set of links to take you to other resources on related topics.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080710120503.htm

“SharpBrains” An online resource for brain training and fitness. Some great information about brain plasticity that is commercial, but not too commercialized.
http://www.sharpbrains.com/

From the Society for Neuroscience, “a nonprofit membership organization of scientists and physicians who study the brain and nervous system,” a briefing entitled “Brain Plasticity, Language Processing and Reading.” A great resource on that and the website is very rich for all things related to neuroscience (though not all for the lay audience).
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_brainplasticitylanguageprocessingandreading

For an interesting article about how research on plasticity is changing educational practices, see this news article. More information about FastForWord is available in Diodge’s book.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/05/prweb945324.htm

“How Brain Research Relates to Rigor, Relevance and Relationships” This is a very accessible academic paper on the relationship between neuroplasticity and K-12 education, with attention to what makes the best learning environments.
http://www.leadered.com/pdf/Brain%20Research%20White%20Paper.pdf

“Learning in the 21st Century” A wonderful PowerPoint online that is made by educators, for educators, about the relationship between brain science and education in the context of the current media-saturated environment in which our students are coming into themselves. This is concise without being too dumbed-down. Unlike my own PowerPoint.
http://www.slideshare.net/cliotech/learning-in-the-21st-century

From The Science Network, a great video on the relationship between science and educational practice, entitled “Brains R Us.” This is work that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation in an effort to make the work of neuroscientists more immediately applicable in education.
http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/brainsrus2008/watch.php

“Emerging Brain Plasticity Research,” a video hosted by Dan Rather. Shows the connection between neuroscience and meditation.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/braintrain08/

“Neuroscience Perspectives on Disparities in School Readiness and Cognitive Achievement” A section from a really great article discussing how research into neuroplasticity is related to debates about achievements gaps in education. This is from a collaboration between Princeton University and the Brookings Institute.
http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2827/information_show.htm?doc_id=256460

Online Ukulele Lessons and Tools

As a specials/electives teacher, I hand all my evaluations and comments to classroom teachers and advisors the day before conferences start. I get to spend the two parent/teacher conference days working on all those projects that keep getting pushed to the back burner.

I've been delighted by the number of kids who have let me know that they're playing ukulele at home--whether they dusted off that old uke in the closet, or bought a new one. However, some kids and parents have also told me that they're having trouble practicing at home because they aren't quite sure what to do, and don't know how to tune the ukulele. I decided a good use for all this high tech stuff I'm always promoting would be to put some videos on my blog to help families get started with ukulele at home. So during my work days, I sat down and recorded five video tutorials, from tuning your ukulele to first songs. I hope you find them useful! Here's the first one, and the rest can be found through my channel at YouTube.


The rest of the videos will teach you a couple of songs on the open strings, the C chord and F chord, and several two-chord songs including "Hey Lolly" and "Simple Gifts."

I also found this great little interactive ukulele chord chart:



If you're really ready for a challenge, check out the huge selection of songs at Dr. Uke. Happy playing!

Middle School visits River City, and a shout-out!

It was a big weekend at the Middle School--months of hard work culminated in an amazing run of "The Music Man." All three shows were sold out, and we even had quite a few folks at our open dress rehearsal. The actors were amazing! I feel so honored and blessed to work in such an energized, positive, and talented community. As I told many friends and parents, musically directing this show was such a blast that it didn't even feel like work--except learning to play that darn scene change music at the last minute! During the shows, I acted as musical director/pianist/producer of sound effects... and performed my debut on snare drum, hitherto heard only on my drum pads for Rock Band 2 for the Wii.

One of my favorite parts of the MS show experience was the opportunity to work with Toni (director) and Henry (producer). I look forward to many more musicals with this team. I'd also like to give a shout-out to Henry's blog, where he publishes his wonderful poetry. His most recent entry, "giving enough time," includes a sweet picture of my little one.

Trimester 2 is drawing to a close, and our third trimester will begin right after Feb. parent/teacher conferences. I'll miss musically directing, but I'll have the opportunity to teach two new classes. In "Renaissance Consort," students will learn about the Renaissance while putting together a consort of soprano and alto recorders. In "That's Whack," we'll pretty much whack on things. Those things will include Boomwhackers (musical plastic tubes), small percussion, and "found" instruments. Both groups will perform late in the trimester. I'll also be teaching the remaining third of the first-year class in music rotation.

GarageBand, Music Man, and LS Ukuleles

Welcome back to school, a few weeks late! There is so much going on it's hard to know where to start. Here are a few highlights:

In First-Year Music Rotation in the MS, we finished up our unit on melody and Orff instruments, and moved on to the much awaited GarageBand unit. I love using GarageBand with students because it's so intuitive--almost like a musical version of desktop publishing software. With just a little knowledge you can create an appealing first project, but the sky's the limit for a creative musician. Next week we'll have the mobile lab (thanks Jim!) to work on individual short projects, so last week, we learned the basics by creating a collaborative class song. Click here to listen. I think it sums up our trimester pretty well. :-) I'll post some of our individual projects next week, and stay tuned to hear about next year's GarageBand elective!

"Music Man" opens in less than a week. Yikes! At this point in a production, the directors always feel like they need another month to be ready for opening night... and this show is no different! But we have an awesome cast and crew, and I know we will pull it together. It's mostly sold out, but if you miss out on tickets, please come to our open dress rehearsal this Wed. from 6:30-9:30. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first musical theater project at CFS, and can't wait for the next!

The first week back from the holidays, I gave my Lower Schoolers a clue about a big surprise coming to music class. The clue was this: "There are hundreds, maybe thousands of songs that only have one or two chords in them." To their great frustration, I refused to answer any questions about the clue or the surprise. Last week, they were presented with 18 shiny new ukuleles!
Ukuleles have become a fixture in the Middle School, thanks to the efforts of Ida and Matthew. Now, we'll be starting them in the Lower School and kids will soon be able to take advanced ukulele electives in the Middle School. River and Sky will learn the playing position, the parts of the uke, the basics of the four strings, a basic strum or two, one or two chords, and some individual notes for playing tunes. Forest and Mountain will learn all this, then add on more chords and fingerpicking. We'll continue to play recorders in Forest and Mountain, too, so all our older kids will have wind and string experience.

I'll be sending an email to all our LS parents to give you more details about the ukuleles, including information if you'd like to have one at home (completely optional). I highly recommend High Strung in Durham for all your uke needs--it's a great local store and they are one of the only places that professionally sets up even their cheapest ukuleles. Once "Music Man" is over, I hope to create a couple of short video tutorials you can use at home if you decide to purchase a ukulele.

I finished--Please vote for me!

With the help of my laptop, my new software, and a random assortment of my nieces' toy instruments, I managed to complete an entry to the Yo-Yo Ma remix contest at Indaba Music while on vacation! Please listen to my entry, and if you like it, I'd really appreciate your vote. You can click the link on this widget, or go here: http://www.indabamusic.com/submissions/show/4674

Happy Holidays!

I can hardly believe it's almost 2009, and I haven't updated my blog since November! Each time I start to update, the list of things to write about has grown even more overwhelming. So for now, I'll just talk about the holidays.

The LS just loves holiday music! We brought out the newly updated holiday songbooks right after Thanksgiving, and hardly a music class went by without some sing-along requests. We learned some Orff xylophone accompaniments to Christmas songs, made take-home jingle bell instruments, and had a Hanukkah celebration with a menorah, stories, songs, and dreidel. Forest and Mountain students learned "Jingle Bells" on their recorders, and some even moved on to "Silent Night," learning 4 new notes! A large number of students and their families showed up each morning for our before-school sing-alongs the week before break. I can't wait to unveil my big surprise for all LS music classes in mid-January... stay tuned!

"Music Man" is underway in the MS and I am having a blast musically directing my first CFS production. What a talented cast! Though I have to say I was a bit alarmed to find that we only have 5 weeks of rehearsal left before opening night...

Now, time to say a big THANK YOU for the generous gift certificates from LS and MS parents! Not only was I able to finish my holiday shopping in style, I purchased a tiny little camera that fits in my pocket, takes great pictures, and shoots HD video. I can't wait to use it in class! Here is my family playing their new ornament ocarinas:



I got an exciting musical gift from my family--Logic Studio, which is a full-featured music production studio for the Mac. Think GarageBand times about 10,000. Just a few years ago, it would have cost thousands of dollars to get anything close to this package. I wanted to use it right away, so on Christmas day I sequestered myself in the studio for a while to create this project. My sister-in-law commented that she had no idea her brother was married to Mannheim Steamroller. Me neither!

My dad played me an NPR podcast about one of Yo-Yo Ma's current projects, which can be found here. It's a contest to create a musical mix using Ma's cello performance of "Dona Nobis Pacem." I wish I had found out about this sooner, because I will be visiting family until after the deadline. To enter, I have 48 hours to pull a musical MacGyver--I have a laptop, a tiny MIDI entry keyboard, my orchestral flute, an iPod microphone, Christmas ornament ocarinas, and an assortment of preschool instruments to create a composition worthy of Yo-Yo Ma. If I make it, I'll be sure to post it here! At any rate, Indaba Music is a GREAT find--I can't wait to explore it some more.

I hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday and look forward to seeing you in 2009!

Down Down Baby.... all over CFS!

Indulge me... I just have to share a proud moment as a teacher. Last week I taught some of the LS a singing game called "Down Down Baby." As I was teaching, I noticed that some of the students already knew the song and the exact same motions I was teaching. I asked where they had learned it, thinking a previous music teacher had taught it. But they had learned it from older siblings and friends in the Middle School who weren't in my classes but had learned it from other MS students in my Worlds of Music class and First-Year rotation the previous week. Oral traditions in action!

So here are the words! Have your child teach you the motions, and prepare to laugh yourself silly as it gets faster and faster:

Down down baby, down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby, I don't wanna let you go
Shimmy shimmy coco pop, shimmy shimmy round
Shimmy shimmy coco pop, shimmy shimmy break down!

Two big kids, sittin' on a fence
Tryin' to make a dollar out of eighty-five cents.
She missed, she missed, she missed like this.