Oh Reptilian Brain, What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Do you have a Reptilian Brain? Is that a weird question? Is that a weird thought?

I can assure you it was a weird question and a bizarre concept to me the first time I heard it. However, I have come to understand through research and different presentations that I have a reptilian brain from time to time. I also discovered that you too - yep YOU TOO - have a reptilian brain.

I know... did she just insult me? NOPE. It's true. We all have a Reptilian Brain. It's our fight or flight response. Our gut instinct. Our first reaction. It's the part of our brain that sometimes gets us into trouble. It's the part of our brain that saves our lives in certain situations. The Brain

Our Reptilian Brain is a good thing. It's first job is to help us survive. It protects us from threats that come from outside and it allows us to adjust to changes in our circumstances. According to www.copingskills4kids.net there are a total of 8 functions of the reptilian brain. You can read about it by clicking the link: Reptilian Coping Brain



The great part about our brain is that our Reptilian Brain does not have to work by itself. We also have our Neocortex (thinking brain) and our Limbic Brain (feeling brain) that help our Reptilian Brain  (instinctual brain) regulate and process information. So when we are dealing with a situation where our Reptilian Brain tells us to scream, stomp our feet, bite someone's finger... because they made us mad (for example - not that we'd ever really want to do that, right?) our emotional brain and thinking brain can stop us from acting inappropriately or in a child-like manner. The emotional brain can tell us we have the right to be mad while our thinking brain can provide us with better way of dealing with it than our gut reaction from our Reptilian Brain.

Sometimes however, we don't allow our feeling brain and our thinking brain time to respond and we respond with our instinctual or dinosaur brain. In those cases we sometimes end up responding poorly and later feel bad, embarrassed or sheepish. In order to avoid these inappropriate, humiliating and child-like reactions we can learn to cope through a variety of ways. Learning to Cope by Copingskills4kids has a variety of suggestions and some links for educational pieces. However, in short, we can learn to cope by watching others and seeing what works for them, we can try different strategies and keep the ones that work and throw out the ones that don't and finally we can make a conscious effort to learn coping skills from our teachers, guidance counsellors or online sources.

It's important to realize that even adults who have learnt great coping skills still sometimes allow their Reptilian Brain to respond and end up looking foolish or embarrassed. AND at times the commands from our Reptilian Brain are the commands we need to follow. For example, if you are crossing the street and you see a car coming that doesn't look like it will stop your Reptilian Brain will tell you to RUN!! And you should. Your Reptilian Brain will also tell you to duck when a golf ball is coming straight at your head. And you should! Your Reptilian Brain may tell you to fight when some one is trying to mug you... you should just give them your money and run!

You get the idea. Sometimes it is worth listening to your Reptilian Brain. In fact, listening to your dinosaur brain may save your life. There are other times when you need to step back from a situation and allow your thinking and feeling brains to decide how you should cope with a situation.

There is lots of information on how to cope out there in the cyber world. Feel free to check it out. But remember to look for reliable sources and also... remember that parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, doctors and medical professionals may be even better sources from whom to learn about coping.

Picture sources:
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/05/07/8-reptilian-traits-in-human-beings/
https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-reptilian-brain-image26662837
http://www.shawnphelps.com/2015/10/15/got-hatred-dont-feed-your-reptilian-brain/

Here are a couple of videos from WellCast that may help. Check them out if you have time

Stress Relief Tips: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fL-pn80s-c

Anger Management Tips:                                        

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsVq5R_F6RA

Adult Colouring Books. Crazy Craze or Fantastic For You?

I have an adult colouring book. In fact, I have two. I also have an assortment of adult colouring pages I have found on free sites online. Now, this could just be a craze, a passing fad or adults longing for their childhood and the positive memories it held. But maybe it is more than that.

Maybe colouring is doing something good for us. Maybe, just maybe, colouring is doing something good for our mental health. Maybe colouring is helping us slow down, breathe, relax, recoup a quiet place and a slower pace that we too often lose in the busyness of life.

There are a number of articles being written about the medical value in colouring for adults and children alike. "Medical Daily" has a great 36 second video on four benefits of colouring two which can directly relate to students in school situations: training your brain to focus more effectively and helping to deal with anxiety or stress. To check out the video and the article on what is actually going on when we colour follow this link: Medical Daily The Benefits of Colouring

The Huffington Post has an article entitled "Coloring Isn't Just for Kids. It Can Actually Help Adults Combat Stress." In that article this quote sticks out for me "in simplest terms, colouring has a de-stressing effect because when we focus on a particular activity, we focus on it and not on our worries." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/coloring-for-stress_n_5975832.html 

That is encouraging to me. If we are focusing on colouring, we are less likely to focus on our worries. That is a great place to start our de-stressing, de-compressing, refocusing. There are time when we all need to do that. Some of us may even need to carry a colouring page or a colouring book around with us at work or at school and take a few minutes to refocus between classes or before a big test.


Of course, colouring may not be for everyone but you might be happy to hear (or read, as the case may be) that there are free online colouring pages for almost any interest and books to be purchased for all most any person as well. And let's say you aren't into colouring, some people find putting together puzzles has the same refocusing and de-stressing potential. The difficult part about doing a puzzle is that it is much harder, if not impossible to take with you! Personally, I find baking has a relaxing, de-stressing, refocusing effect for me. But, alas, one can't take the oven to school with oneself either.


Here is another link specifically for high school guidance counsellors... but if you read right to the bottom (or just scroll to the bottom) there are a number of links for free colouring pages from a variety of sources. Colouring For Teens a High School Counsellors Blog

Yes! You can Finish Strong by Doing Well on Final Assessments.

First, let me tell you that I enjoy learning. I enjoy taking classes, writing papers, studying, learning some more and sharing my learning. If you would ask my family they would likely say that I like going to school and taking classes a little bit too much. However, one thing I do not enjoy is writing a test or sitting down for an exam. Those two events can be high stakes situations for me and for many of our students.

Some of our students might thrive in exams or tests. They love being able to answer every question with confidence and knowing that their studying has paid off. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone.

So how do we help students prepare for the end of semester assessments, whether they are exams, large projects, portfolios or tests of some sort? I don't believe there is one right way to do well on an exam or test. But, I do believe that there are things that we can all do to reduce our anxiety going into a final assessment that will set us up well for a positive result.

Some simple hints:

* plan ahead
     -  don't leave all the work or all of the studying for the night before - that's just too stressful even if you are doing well in a course

*break the work down into small chunks  
       - if you have a big exam with 6 units to cover, look at one unit a week or day for a few weeks or days prior to the exam
      - if you have a portfolio to put together - divide up the work, get one section done then start on the next

*take care of yourself

      - make sure you get enough sleep, eat properly and have some fun prior to the year end assessments and throughout as well
      - if you are hungry, tired or grumpy you won't retain as much when you study and you won't do as well on the final assessment

*plan study breaks
     - get up, stretch, shovel the driveway, play a game (one game- not 14 hours online) and then get back to studying

*complete your final assessment strategically
     - do the parts you know first, then go back for the ones you are not quite sure of, make educated guesses when all else fails
       - you can NOT get marks for things you don't answer - even if it is a complete guess you have more of a chance of getting something right with a guess than you ever will with no answer at all
      - remember - sometimes the test or exam itself may have information on it that will jog your memory or help you answer a question - so read the entire assessment

*do not give up
      - believe in yourself, try your best, make sure you think positively going in and realistically after you are done.

If you need more information on helping yourself, or your student, prepare for final assessments here are some links:

(Please note I have gone on to these websites. I have tried to pick links with good tips and as few advertisements as possible... but there will be some advertising... My apologies)

Teacher Vision - Test Taking Tips
Bright Education Study Tips
FastWeb 20 Study Tips

Last but not least: one video from Wellcast that may be helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTh8OEBwEo

Christmas, Routines, & Anxiety AKA: How Do We Successfully Navigate The Holidays and Return to School Ready to "Do School" Again?

Christmas, Routines,  & Anxiety 
AKA:  How Do We Successfully Navigate The Holidays and Return to School Ready to "Do School" Again?

While some of us hate to admit it - routines are good for us. Routines give us a self-confidence that some may not fully grasp. A routine, from my research, reading and own experience, allows us to have self-confidence in knowing what is going to come next. Knowing what is coming next allows us to move with a higher amount of self-confidence and self-assurance.

Having said that, we LOVE holidays. We LOVE sleeping in. We LOVE staying up all night watching movies. And basically we LOVE giving up our routine. Well... at least I do! The giving up of our routine feels great... but it makes it hard to get back into the routine when the holidays are over. For those who deal with anxiety the switch over can be even more difficult. While routine is good for us, breaking routine and then having to work back into it is difficult even for those who do not struggle with anxiety. We dread it. We complain about it. We drag our feet getting out of bed. I think that's called being human.

There is good news however. There are things that each of us can do to help us get back into routine with out sending our anxiety sky-rocketing through the roof (like Santa's reindeer). These are also great ideas even if we don't struggle with anxiety.

Here is a short list of things that can help make the transition back into the routine of doing school easier:
*Eating properly.
*Getting exercise (even though we may hate exercising).
*Starting to go to bed at a regular time a day or two (or more) before the break ends.
*Getting up at the time we need to for school for at least a couple of days before going back. (Personally, I balance out the getting up early with a nap later in the day - one of the added benefits of holidays.)
*Starting to think about school and the upcoming semester end assessments.

Here are a few links that may be helpful if you are looking for more information:
Going Back to School by ReachOut (This is an American source but deals with returning to school after breaks)

The following two are Canadian sources. They deal with returning to school after summer holidays but are good articles and can relate to the Christmas break as well.

CBC's Back to School Advice
Coping with Back to School Anxiety - Anxiety BC

Anxiety BC has a number of great resources for parents and youth online. Please check it out if you are looking for more relevant information. Here is a link to their Anxiety 101 page. Anxiety 101: What You and Your Child Need to Know About Anxiety

If your child's anxiety is a concern (seems more serious than normal every day anxiety) please seek medical attention through your family doctor or a therapist. These articles are meant to help but can not replace medical help if it is required.


** Please note... All pictures are my pictures. Please do not copy and use for anything without permission. Thank you.

Stepping out into the World of Blogging... Step One...

Today is my first attempt at blogging. As we jump with both feet into the technological age (or did we already do that a long time ago), I am encouraged, challenged and inspired to try blogging. While this is actually a daunting challenge at this moment, I am hoping that this endeavor will allow me to connect with parents and students on a more regular basis on things that are important to all of us.

This adventure into publishing my thoughts is almost as scary as my first attempt at making my own Christmas floral arrangements for my yard. I had the individual parts, I understood the concept, and I had a generally idea of what I wanted the end product to look like but I wasn't sure if I had the skills, the artistic ability or the confidence to make my own floral arrangements. Once they were done, I wasn't sure if they matched the idea in my head and whether or not they were worthy of being displayed. That is kind of how I feel about this blog.

However, as a life-longer learner, and as a person who encourages others to challenge themselves to learn continually, I have decided that I am up to the challenge. I am going to see how this works. See what the response is and decide whether or not I want to continue in this new concept. As I step into this I have concerns like:who is going to read this? are my thoughts important? am I going to make a spelling mistake? will I know how to fix my mistakes? how can I ensure that my posts are valuable? accurate? helpful? encouraging? am I taking on more than I can manage?

These are just a few of my random thoughts at this point. But as I worry about some of these things, I am reminded that this is good for me. It is good for me to feel uncomfortable. It is good for me to be challenged. It is good for me to take risks. Students feel uncomfortable on a daily basis. Our students are challenged on a daily basis - and sometimes students are challenged minute by minute in classes.

Additionally, we ask students to take risks to deepen their learning. So, I remind myself that this adventure is good for me. I will learn. I will grow. I will make mistakes. I will survive. This will be a great adventure and hopefully have a positive impact on students and parents. Hopefully, the finished product will be worthy of your time.