Attention, Ladies and Gentlemen Jeff Coleman

We’ve all been through high school and middle school. Sitting for hours on end, often staring at a blank wall, through the window, or at a blank ceiling to pass the time while a teacher drones off about a topic that you think you’ll probably never need in real life. Except you do, it’s just not being introduced properly.

In this episode of the Attention, Ladies and Gentlemen podcast, our host Jeff Coleman talks to Alexander Deeb. Alex is the co-Founder and CEO of ClassHook, a tool which uses popular culture and media such as movies to introduce and explain real-world topics such as Physics, Math, and even poetry. Alex also talks about the problems that teachers and students alike go through in the public school system, and how the benefits of ClassHook often go outside the classroom as well.

HIGHLIGHTS
Using popular media to introduce educational topics
Engagement in the classroom is key to learning
Teaching Physics through The Simpsons and Speed (1994)
The public school system need a lot of tweaking
Movies can even be used to teach literary devices and poetry
Focus does not come naturally
Tips for using ClassHook more effectively

QUOTES
Alex on the added benefits of using movies and other popular media to teach topics: "It goes into topics like media literacy and being critical about what media they're consuming. There's a whole host of other tangential benefits and more explicit benefits that they can get from understanding the truth or being more critical about the media they consume."

Alex on the difficulties of also catering to high school students: "They have other things distracting them. They have more of a social life and that's when engagement tends to drop off. Because students sometimes become disillusioned with the public education system, unfortunately. Because they've went to the motions enough times to know, okay this is the formula: 'I just got to study or cram for the test and just get an A.'"

Alex's take on how to grab and sustain attention from the teacher: "The goal of ClassHook is to get the students' attention, and then help the teachers create connections between their personal lives and interests, which are movies, tv shows and such to the curriculum. And through that process of having a discussion based on the videos, that's kind of where the focus and engagement is more continual versus temporary."

Connect with Alex and his work at Classhook with the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderdeeb/
Website: https://www.classhook.com/

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Attention issues can be particularly difficult to notice among children, since they are just balls of pure energy. Most kids are energetic and love to explore the world, as children do. However, attention issues often become more apparent when children enter school for the first time, where they are expected to sit still for long periods for the first time.

In this episode of the Attention Ladies and Gentlemen podcast, our host Jeff Coleman talks to Debbie McNulty, a pediatric occupational therapist about addressing attention issues among school children. Debbie shares some strategies to help educators and parents make it easier for kids to pay attention, rooted from her experience in working with kids both in home and school-based settings.

HIGHLIGHTS
How Debbie got into occupational therapy
A kid's attention issues may not be noticeable before preschool
How Occupational Therapists can help kids deal with their attention issues
Why special treatment might not be the answer
Strategies to help attention-challenged kids gain focus
Kids need a way to say when they're having trouble focusing

QUOTES
Debbie on why a lot of attention problems are not apparent before school age: "If we're looking at a preschool situation, those kids at that age they're required just to be able to sit in a circle time situation where there's usually about 10 or 12 kids. For some of these kids it's the very first time having to sit for up to 10, 15 minutes and maybe having other kids right next to them. This is usually the first time that teachers or parents might even notice [that] 'hey my kid has an attention problem' because it may have never manifested itself before they're actually in that situation."

How Occupational Therapists can help kids deal with their attention issues: "It could be something as simple as fidget toys to a little cushion where the child can move around a little bit. Anything, [even] just educating the teacher and staff to provide movement breaks and that sort of thing."

Connect with Debbie on the links below:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-mcnulty-618082116/
Website: https://www.steppingstonesot.net/

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Attention is a major concern for educators, especially those who really care and understand the uniqueness of individual students. In this episode of the Attention ladies & Gentlemen podcast, our host Jeff Coleman talks to academic tutor Dr. Joan Blanusa Ed.D. about her unique approach to addressing attention issues inside and outside the classroom. Dr. Joan digs deeper than most people, accounting for the individual’s emotional states, as well as the sociocultural contexts that contribute to attention issues. This way, she is better able to tailor her approach to the individual instead of imposing cookie-cutter methods that have been proven ineffective.

HIGHLIGHTS
Dr. Joan's journey in the education sector
How Dr. Joan addresses attention problems in her students
Good teachers pay attention to students that aren't paying attention
How caring about her students improved their engagement
Adolescents are often unmotivated, not lazy
The culture of the school and community matters

QUOTES
Dr. Joan defines attention: "Attention for me is almost synonymous with engagement. It's just part and parcel of how I teach and what I do. It's something I'm on the lookout for all the time. It's how I kept the student engaged in what we we're doing. That's true when I taught in a classroom of 25 students, or in a graduate school seminar of 12, to 1 on 1 right now."

Dr. Joan's approach to working with kids struggling to pay attention: "I have a strong background in educational psychology and human development, so I do a lot to try and ascertain if there are any psychological or socio-emotional issues going on behind attention. 99.99% of the time that's a huge factor."

Dr. Joan on tailoring her approach to the individual, not her personal beliefs: "You have to be very careful not to impose your own values and what you want that kid to be. That's why you really have to get to know the person like you knew the student who loved ants and the other person whose daughter loved horses."

Connect with Dr. Joan on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joan-blanusa/
Website: https://www.joanblanusa.com/

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SHOW SUMMARY

In this solo episode of the Attention Ladies & Gentlemen podcast, our host Jeff talks about meditation and how it has helped him reframe his mindset to become more present in the moment and focus on what’s really important. Jeff zeroes in on our innate confirmation bias and how we can redirect our attention into more positive things, thus making it easier for us to see beyond ourselves and our limitations.

HIGHLIGHTS

Be present in the moment to focus on what's important
Reframing your mindset can save you from undue stress
The benefits of redirecting your confirmation bias
Sometimes it's best to let go of things that don't matter
Being right is not always the best choice

QUOTES

Jeff on being mindful of where you put your focus on: "What you think and what you focus on -- where your place your attention really impacts how you feel even when the situation doesn't change."

Jeff on redirecting your confirmation bias: "If you are constantly thinking, 'my child can't do this right. My child makes a mess. My child doesn't listen,' we notice all the times they make a mess. All of the times they don't listen, all of the times they make bad choices. If you start to focus on what your child does right, you'll be amazed at how many things they actually do the way you would like them to."

Jeff on the clarity achieved by being present in the moment: "If we can practice being present right now then we have an opportunity to really see not just what people are saying, but what they mean. How our children and our students are, what's really going on with them. We can be present, we can ask them 'how are you?' and actually want to hear the answer. Not what we expect, now what we want from them, but the real answer. And that can make a world of a difference for a child."

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In this episode of the Attention Ladies & Gentlemen podcast, our host Jeff talks to Business Owner and Operator of Education & Services Unlimited, Dr. Carolyn Lankford.

As an educator of 28 years, Dr. Carolyn Lankford has developed a special skill: dealing with kids that other teachers have given up on. As a child who sometimes found it difficult to catch up with the rest of her classmates, Dr. Carolyn was herself one of the kids who needed just a little bit of attention to succeed. So when she became a teacher herself, she sought to be the teacher that she would have wanted to have when she was a kid.

HIGHLIGHTS

Why Dr. Carolyn wanted to become an educator
Dr. Carolyn's tools and strategies for keeping kids in line
Positive reinforcement is the best way
Focusing on raising kids' self-esteem
The critical role that teachers have in children's lives

QUOTES

Dr. Carolyn on why she pursued a master's degree in special education: "I got a special education masters because I just found that I really had a knack for getting these kids to be successful. Because they're the kids that the teacher throws up her hands and says, “Somebody help, please!’ And I became that teacher."

Dr. Carolyn on the most basic premise of her strategies: "Kids aim to please. You'd be surprised, juniors and seniors in high school, they still want you to be happy with them. And so, they'll work to get there."

Dr. Carolyn on the importance of raising kids' self-esteem: "All the girls in our Girl Power group have some little kind of challenge that meets them every day when they wake up in the morning. And you might not think that this lowers a child's self-esteem, but it does. They know that they are not the first to be picked on anything. By the time you get in the 6th grade, you know where you are in the pecking order. And so what I do is raise the self-esteem of those girls."

How Dr. Carolyn feels about her profession: "You have the tools in your hand to change a life. How does that stuff make you feel? I can't see why you would be upset about going to work when you have the ability to affect that kind of change."

Connect with Dr. Carolyn on the link below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-lankford-ed-s-maed-3bb9076b/

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Having been diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager, Bryan Dinner knows the struggle of daily math homework and long essays well. However, despite these difficulties, Bryan was still able to finish high school, earned his degree in Public Policies from Duke University, recently graduated from the JD/MBA program of the University of Pennsylvania, and has even founded his own company.

In this episode of the Attention Ladies & Gentlemen Podcast, Jeff talks to Clarifi founder Bryan Dinner, who is currently working in Clarifi, an evidence-based homework tool built in the form of a desktop application with the goal of helping students get more homework completed independently. We hear about the story of how he got diagnosed with ADHD, the strategies and coping mechanisms he employed to achieve his goals, and his vision for the company that he founded.

HIGHLIGHTS

A story about a bathtub and high school math lesson
Bryan's strategies for coping with attention issues
Bryan's goals and vision for Clarifi

QUOTES

Bryan on the need to have a strong internal drive to overcome attention issues: "You're never gonna be able to overcome this if you don't want to overcome this. You're never gonna deal with these challenges unless you have the baked-in motivation that's there. You have to want this."

Bryan's goals for Clarifi: "In the short term, our goal is just helping reach more families that are struggling with homework, focus, and independence. Giving students more focus and independence in terms of what we want to do. We do want to continue providing support to students once they go to college, once they go to their jobs."

Bryan on the potential of students with ADHD: "The greatest thing about students with ADHD is that they see the world differently. You see so many founders with it. They just need optimal time, a little help focusing; finding a way to focus and achieve those different missions."
Connect with Bryan and his work on the link below:

Website: https://www.tryclarifi.com/

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