Thursday, October 23, 2014

HOW THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD GOT THAT WAY
A summary of GPS event with Amanda Ripley on Tuesday, October 14, 2014. 

         How did the smartest kids in the world get that way? Amanda Ripley knows. This highly acclaimed investigative journalist spent a year following foreign exchange high school students in the United States and U.S. foreign exchange students in other counties.

         Ripley shared some of her revealing findings on October 14th at the Glenbard Parents Series held at Glenbard East High School to an audience comprised primarily of parents whose children aren’t even in high school yet. Glenbard Staff heard Ripley as their Institute Day keynote.

          Ripley explains that educators can no longer look at the last twenty years to predict education trends for the next twenty years because technology is changing too quickly. What can be predicted is that there will be a need for students to fill “non-routine” jobs like analysts. Students will need to be more motivated and have deeper critical thinking skills. Employees will need to continually prove their expertise in their professions.

          Using PISA results, a test given in seventy countries every three years that measures the knowledge and skills students currently have in reading, science and math, Ripley was able to compare Americans scores to those in several other developed countries. American scores were average in reading and science and below average in math. Canada, Finland, and New Zealand, to name just a few countries, all did better that the U.S.

        U.S. students in foreign high schools found the courses to be harder and foreign students in U.S. high schools found the courses to be easier.

        Ripley explains that in the U.S. we protect students from failing, but this is not true in other countries. “You cannot learn at a deeper or more aggressive pace unless you fail on a regular basis.” She further explains that students learn from “productive failure.”

         The biggest difference is that foreign schools employ much more “rigor” than U.S. schools. Ripley explains that there is no tracking in foreign schools. All students are held to the same standard. Also, teachers and administrators in other countries are trained much more extensively that in the U.S. Ripley explains,  “Getting into a teacher college in Finland is as hard as getting into MIT in the U.S.”
          
          What is very important are the signals we send as parents that education is a top priority. ~Read to them when they are young, talk to them about books, movies and the news of the day when they get older and let them see you read for pleasure. Kids notice what parents value and those lessons matter more than what parents say they value.


        
Suzanne Burdett is a freelance writer and Glenbard parent
Dr Christine Carter a former GPS speaker shares this tip- "DON'T take a picture"


http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001bUpqz7vMR52QO2hB6wzjldn0XWIP1eWCSk4_udrmNCo5DBV_QkjO80-NqJimbTieIkr6rS96uWssXXWoshuiBUbKt7QskwZFznsRsDugMhs7sWZRy3HCjKH2IhdBwwGDZbVBfHwkEi4-ric6jpUN5vsvlbkHW1gTPrk4fgy5pCb_GZGhcsXk9Q==&c=X9bKYTUSVOhZtNA3-6B-q0Fdn6FShbKcRLEeuBpnMRAmx3TyumJwSA==&ch=CUV-mIYxFzBRrkFqYJ4gwCUdNo7CEQMvdX8ALOEvPNPRc2juqH9Vpw==

Happiness Tip: Don't Take a Picture
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs150/1103564827890/img/221.png 


This last weekend was my nephew's first birthday party, and because he is absolutely the most adorable  baby EVER and I love him so much, I'd planned on widely documenting the occasion, in HD video and still photography. You know, just so we'll never ever forget the adorableness of it all.

 I forgot my big camera, but that didn't really matter because every adult and teenager there was snapping away with their phone cameras like crazy paparazzi (myself included).

In the middle of all this, I remembered a study which showed that photographing objects in a museum impaired   person's ability to recall much about the object they photographed -- and also impaired their ability to remember that they'd seen the object at all. So I stopped madly photographing the big event and started trying to just be present.

 Then I remembered a follow-up study. The "photo-taking impairment effect," as researchers call it, didn't occur when people were asked to zoom in on a detail of the object they were photographing. And so I went back to photographing, this time zooming in on my nephew's messy face (did I mention that he is adorable?).

Here is what researchers think is happening: When we take a picture, we delegate memory-making to our camera, and our brain stops trying to make the memory itself. But when people photograph a specific part of an object, their memory is not impaired, presumably because their brains still need to make sense of the whole picture in order to photograph the detail.

Take Action: We tend to feel happiest when we give the people we love our full attention. It is hard to be fully present at the same time that we are photographing something. So whether we are after a happy moment or a happy memory, often the best thing we can do is just put our camera down.

Link to original post:

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Elmhurst COMMISSION ON YOUTH TO PRESENT HEROIN FORUM NOVEMBER 10

Heroin addiction and related deaths are increasing to epidemic levels, with usage trajectories spanning all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds. In response to this growing scourge, the City of Elmhurst’s Commission on Youth will present a community education forum, “The New Face of Heroin, It’s Not What You Think,” on Monday, November 10, from 7-9 p.m. at Superior Air-Ground Ambulance Service, 395 Lake Street, Elmhurst.


DuPage County Coroner Dr. Richard Jorgensen, a former trauma surgeon for 20 years, took office in late 2012 and quickly became alarmed at the number of heroin-related deaths. There were 38 such deaths in 2012 and 46 in 2013, with victims ranging in age from their 20s through their 60s.


“Heroin is a totally different drug than all of the other illegal drugs. It is highly addictive and highly destructive - and that occurs in every person who’s addicted to heroin. There are no casual users or abusers. It takes over your life and destroys your life,” Dr. Jorgensen recently told the Daily Herald. He is on a mission to spread the word that this epidemic spans all ages, all races and all socio-economic backgrounds.

Featured speakers will be DuPage County Coroner Dr. Richard Jorgensen, along with Matt Quinn, MA, LCPC, CADC, of the new Elmhurst Hospital Adolescent Mental Health Outpatient Program and Corey Worden, MA, LCPC, CADC, of Linden Oaks at Edward.


Learn what’s driving the heroin epidemic and what you can do about it. Discussion will focus on:


·         The production, distribution and demographics of heroin use and abuse in DuPage County


·         The physiology, short- and long-term effects of heroin addiction


·         Narcan treatment protocols and how they have saved lives


·         What lies beneath this growing problem - a substance abuse epidemic


·         Practical things that YOU can do - tips, ideas, resources for help



This program is free and open to the public. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are appreciated, so that adequate seating is available for all. To make a reservation, please call (630) 530-3010 or visit http://tinyurl.com/HeroinForum111014 by Friday, November 7.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Newly added GPS Special Event:
 "Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence" with Laurence Steinberg Ph.D. 


The Glenbard Parent Series:  Navigating Healthy Families is excited to present "Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence" with Laurence Steinberg Ph.D. 12:00 p.m. -- 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 at Glenbard South, 23W200 Butterfield Rd. in Glen Ellyn.


Adolescence now start early, lasts longer and new discoveries about brain development make this time of life crucial in determining a person's ultimate success.  Dr Laurence Steinberg draws on a trove of fresh evidence-including his own groundbreaking research-and offers new strategies for instilling resilience, self-control and motivation.  Offering clear, specific insights this talk is essential for all those that work with and care for teens.  Learn about their need for risk taking, their decision making and how to reverse the troubling trends that befall this age group.  Discover the concrete steps we must adapt to and embrace as we nourish their tremendous possibilities and support them on their way.


Laurence Steinberg Ph.D. is one of the world's leading experts on adolescence and is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is credited with hundreds of articles on development during the teenage years and is the author or editor of 17 books. He has been featured on CBS, Today, Good Morning America, 20/20, Dateline, PBS, and the Oprah Winfrey Show, and is a frequent contributor to the NY Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal and Psychology Today. Dr Steinberg has been cited by the Supreme Court in several cases, including the one that abolished the juvenile death penalty and was named by Reuters as "one of the most influential scientific minds" in April 2014. His latest book "Age of Opportunity", has been universally endorsed by respected leaders in the field as a must read! Don't miss this just added important GPS presentation which is free and open to the public.


CIRCLE THE CALENDAR- MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW
Linden Oaks at Edward Psychiatrists
Steven Prinz, MD and Fatima Ali, MD: “Really Understanding Eating Disorders”
Wed, Nov. 12 from 12 p.m. to 12 p.m. at CCSD District #93 Admin. Center


Katie Davis Ph.D : : "The App Generation: How Today's Youth Navigate Identity, Imagination, and Intimacy in a Digital World"
Wed. Nov. 19 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at District #15 Marquardt Administration Center
and also at 7:00 p.m. at Glenbard West