I have read Ruby Payne’s books and found them helpful. The backlash against her interests me. In short, the criticism stems from her taking a “deficit” approach. That strikes me as odd. People in poverty will have certain deficits.

PsychCentral recently had a blog which addressed the impact of poverty on brain development. Currently I’m reading Eric Jensen’s Teaching with Poverty in Mind and Regenia Rawlinson’s A Mind Shaped by Poverty. A question: How do we keep expectations high and not succumb to patronizing students?

In the past week, I have accrued resources to share via my Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz accounts. Some of my favorites:

Learning beyond Walls, 21 Skype Resources

Once upon a Swingset

and

Everyday Health: What Not to Say to a Depressed Person

I tried to go for a 30 minute walk along the beach most of the days. I saw some great sights: two small red-headed children setting up an umbrella; an older brother “protecting” his younger brother from the ocean as it filled the hole he was digging; sandpipers scurrying along the water line; all kinds of fishing; and many more. The white marlin competition was happening, but we didn’t venture down that way. There were enough intense fishermen right by my condo.

One day we walked up to the Bay Side Skillet and had an amazing breakfast, but most of the time we cooked in the condo. We did go out to celebrate my birthday (I had my yearly mudslide . . or two), and we went to the Boardwalk and to the movies twice. All in all, it was a fantastic vacation.

Be aware of red flags.

Learn about power and control issues.

Click here to learn about warning signs for teens.

I had the honor of presenting a content session about Web 2.0 tools and spoke about using them to enhance professional practice. I spent most of my time examining Twitter, although I also touched on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Ning and gave an overview of podcasts, wikis, and blogs. I had registered a hashtag (#myc) for the conference and explained the trend of the backchannel. In addition, I attended several sessions, including the keynotes by Dr. Harold Koenig and Dr. June Tangney.

Dr. Koenig examined the effects of religious coping and health. Empirical research exists that points to a connection between religious involvement and better health, and he made that information understandable. Dr. Tangney spoke about guilt and shame. Educators at all levels need to know about these emotions because they will play out in the classroom. I was so impressed by her presentation that I bought the Kindle version of her book. Both of the invited speakers were incredibly gracious and spent considerable time addressing questions and interacting with the participants.

My final thoughts center around the importance of nurturing graduate students. So many professors brought their students, both graduate and undergraduate, to the conference. They had encouraged them to submit proposals, and the poster sessions spotlighted some very interesting work.

My own professors at Loyola have been incredible, and I want to acknowledge my gratitude for their warmth and for their sincere interest in my professional advancement. I am currently working as a graduate assistant for Dr. Piedmont, who has given me numerous opportunities to hone my research skills. Dr. Cheston, my mentor, has also been wonderful and has gently but firmly helped me develop my clinical skills. Both have helped me with my teaching skills, and both have demonstrated the tremendous power of modeling.

Last summer, ScienceDaily published some articles which I will link here:

Better Sleep Is Associated with Improved Academic Success

Extended or Shortened Sleep Duration Linked to Weight Gain

PBS has an excellent series on The Secret Life of the Brain, and Episode 3 has information about teens and sleep.

How much sleep is enough? According to WebMD, it varies according to age, but I would hazard a guess and say that many of us are not getting close to what we need.