Keep (all of) that, in Mind: Being Mind-full

It's that time of year: For a review of terms, of stuff that was drilled into students' minds the year before, but perhaps did not hold onto, over the so-called "dog daze" of the summer months...which have become for me, a year-long "zoomer" now, an almost every day, even hourly occurrence (having a dog come into the picture, that is...such attention seekers, they are...) In any case, it's the time we celebrate, at least acknowledge, all the perennial losers around here, the ones who didn't bother to, as our teacher suggested, review the material from time-to-time, while we otherwise complained to our parents, "I'm so bord and it's only the third day of vaca..." Lots of lost material. Speaking of timely...

SARS: While not a candidate for most popular, as it, in association (underlined rather than highlighted, but enough to get your attention as a bit of foreshadowing...) with that dread-full set of viruses that sent us all home for a bit...talking about a call for review...it's like we're still trying to make up for what we all lost...at least didn't retain for long enough to "readily recall" (quotes to once again bring your attention for what's relevant, what might be coming next...) Timely that I overheard, as I was actively thinking, while being active, a news article about government officials in France, being concerned about one particular iteration of the iPhone not only picking up, but holding onto sound waves, that may in turn be harm-full if your body were to absorb what's considered "acceptable limits" of radio-activity. Effective 9-12-23 the iPhone 12 is effectively considered to be out of circulation, at least over there...in case any of you here are looking for a used version, but one which has apparently absorbed a bit too much. Kind of opposite of our concern here and now. Speaking of ...

Guidance, Counselors: As I just did a few days ago here, if you hadn't even noticed (as in "Just Noticeable Difference" in the Psychology of Perception, or JND for short, so as to not tax your STM) - or just simply forgot, as you may have easily dismissed its importance, at first glance...a pause here so you can quickly scan or otherwise do what teachers call a "cursory review" of 9-13-23...before I proceed with some new material...Good teaching practice, I learned, after many years as a student, but more so while teaching teachers "Educational Psychology", more specifically "Learning Theory" and even more to the point here..."Information Processing" As in how we 1) engage information 2) absorb 3) store/retain 4) recall (hopefully in a timely manner) and 5) apply whatever is left...Which is relevant to the profession of just about anyone who is trying to develop better mind-sets...from counselors and grade school teachers guiding "young minds" and exposing them to the simplest of strategies like "chunking" info. -- a type of "mnemonic" aid (the m being silent, i b4 e, and all that), and the value of HOMES around here (Huron, Ontario....) -- an acronym that came under brief attack by an invasive species, attempting to join in (Lake Champlain, which is great in its own right but didn't quite rise to the level of...) . Lots of ways to put info in, aka "input" in order to then store, retain, retrieve...Student retention, of course, being a preoccupation for educators at all levels, being a tangible measure of "student outcomes" (those the schools have managed to hold onto long enough, to graduate..."on time") While retaining students, as in having them "repeat" a grade, is not a desirable condition for anyone involved, it is inevitable, on the way to full "retention" of material, that teachers, parents, and students, find themselves, in a slightly different word -- re-iterating, maybe even variations on the same theme, in order to grasp, hold onto, and "regurgitate" at the appropriate time...

"Enough!" Or, in a different way of stating the same thing, "I've had more than I can take, an ear-full...had it up to hear...!" Okay, I am in complete agreement, after hearing myself "drone on" as the one in charge of making sure, when you have to take the first version of the "proficiency" (also referred to as "basic skills...mastery...") tests (or "assessments" if you have an easier time remembering, readily recalling when you had to take your first one, which is earlier and earlier each year and by grade)...I as your teacher will come out of this looking "satisfactory" -- which is the word that the earlier versions of "competency" (one more word attached to such tests) used to reflect that each student had acquired, retained, and responded in the desired fashion to reflect the accumulation of prior knowledge, which was in part a reflection of plenty-full reviewing...

Motivation-all: If students don't start the year super-motivated to review material, they soon learn that at least to retain a sufficient amount, remember to bring back their homework, in order to avoid the alternative: staying after school, as in "detention"...not a bad start...

"Anything new hear?" As in "Don't you have any new material, or have your writers also gone out...on strike"? Well, give me a few minutes, let me look into the trunk of my so-called "vast knowledge" -- the sum total of my acquired info, among which is lots of prior experiences, in and around the school setting...such as...ever heard the one about the school psychologist, who thought they had heard, seen, knew it all...? Come back soon, if you want the real "poop" on this 'humbled servant'...which will be followed, in due course, by the whole scoop on "what's up with recess?!"