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What’s the best way to manage a classroom?

November 6, 2012 By

submitted by Ron Seidman, VP/GM, A Child’s World Developmental Centers

At the top of every school director’s list of desired professional development for staff is training on classroom management and how to discipline. The reason for this, as it is in most school environments, classroom management is paramount to a healthy learning environment.

Children act inappropriately for a variety of reasons causing stress and tension for other students and staff. So what are the best proven methods for teachers to implement in the classroom as well as for parents to implement at home?

Before we talk about what works, let’s examine some of the past best practices of their time. It was not that long ago that giving a child a spanking was an acceptable practice for parents. Corporal punishment in schools was practiced. This could have been accompanied with a loud scolding.

Today we know that disciplining children with violence does not teach responsibility, it teaches violence. This also increases stress in our brains that releases chemicals that make it difficult for adults or children to respond appropriately preventing the ability to take control of their actions.

It is too frequent that we hear teachers asking how they can control their students. However, rather than controlling students, the most effective methods are teaching children to control themselves.

The Cognitive Responsibility System (CRSã) enables teachers and parents to teach children to calm themselves with fun, simple brain exercises.

Once both adults and children are calm they are better able to focus on what everyone wants to accomplish, to focus on appropriate behaviors and to respond in more productive ways. Wouldn’t the ideal world be a world where everyone is able to actively remain in control?

These are the skills every school and educational system must develop in their students.

Were we to develop in our students these necessary skills of intrinsic motivation, initiative, organizational and concentration ability as well as consistent finishing power, all students would be better prepared to meet the challenges of a changing world for life-long success.

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How can our public schools do a better job reaching our children?

October 9, 2012 By

submitted by Ron Seidman, A Child’s World

Children, like adults, fall into one or more categories of learner preferences, kinesthetic, auditory or visual.

The delivery system or pedagogy for presenting information has for the most part been the same for more than 75 years.

Much has been done to improve curriculum from a content perspective. Still it is the method in which people receive the information and then are offered opportunities to interpret and apply the information that are the highest forms of learning.

Performance is also the proven best practice for testing. Rote memorization and regurgitating answers to written questions is the lowest level of learning.

No Child Left Behind has made “Teaching to the test” a common phrase. Now our children will have the added stress of having to pass a test to graduate from high school.

So, what is the solution? Change the methods in which we deliver content.

We now know the best methods for teaching everyone, not just our children, are through modern scientific research on how the brain learns. The Living Education curriculum is one such method.

These modern approaches engage children in the learning process by integrating the basic skills of reading, math, social studies and the sciences into themes relevant and meaningful to their lives. By integrating the subject matter connections are made to and from various areas of the brain.

Brain connections are keys in building essential skills and developing important cognitive assets for life-long success. This is good for all age learners.

Every educator, teachers and administrators of all age levels, may use these methods to create a brain-friendly environment catering to the individual student’s learning style, strengths and ability.

Brain-friendly classrooms are important in creating the most optimal surroundings for learning.

Adopting modern 21st century methods of teaching 21st century people will result in better outcomes for children and society.

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Praise publicly, reprimand privately

October 9, 2012 By

submitted by Michael McCreery, Head Instructor, Action Karate, mrmccreery@actionkarate.net

Gray morning light spits through the shade


Another day older, closer to the grave


Closer to the grave and come the dawn


I woke up this morning shackled and drawn – Bruce Springsteen

One day while teaching a class, I had the students run to their parents after doing a kick on the target and do five pushups. I explained to the parents ahead of time, “When your child comes over, watch their pushups. If they are strong, give them thumbs up and if they are not, give them a thumbs down which means they have to do them again.”

I thought I was clear with my directions until about two minutes into the drill when I heard one child’s mom yell out for all within two miles of the school to hear, “Those were the worst pushups I have ever seen in my life! Go do them again! That was an embarrassment.”

Apparently I was not specific enough; a visual cue was all I was looking for.

This mother was right about one thing – it was an embarrassment – for her child. How did we get to a point where people are so critical?

In the book “Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard,” authors Chip and Dan Heath write about a study performed by psychologists in which they analyzed every emotion-related word that they could find in the dictionary.

The results?

Only 38% of emotion words are positive. Conversely, that means 62% are negative.

Watch the news at night – it always starts with the most horrific stories and then after 29 minutes and 30 seconds of grim news we get a 30-second positive fluff piece.

Unfortunately, our world is geared to look or react in a negative manner.

Here is the good news: if you understand that praised behavior is repeated behavior, we can train ourselves to look for what our spouse, children or employees are doing right and tell them about it for all to hear.

When things are a little off we quietly challenge them to rise above it.

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Secrets to improving digestion

September 7, 2012 By

submitted by Dr. Jeffrey L. Griffin, owner of Center for Natural Healing, Doylestown

The digestion of food is largely taken for granted by just about everyone.  Most books on the science of nutrition describe the normal process of digestion but do not attempt to unravel the secrets of poor digestion.

More than $1 billion dollars are spent annually on drugs to relieve symptoms such as heartburn, excess acid and bloating, and other symptoms of indigestion. These products are designed to give temporary relief or to cover up symptoms. They do NOTHING to improve people’s ability to digest food on their own.

Fortunately, there is a little-known secret about improving digestion that has been around for at least 50 years; only now it is receiving attention, but not nearly as much as it deserves. 

Simply stated, the secret is that raw, uncooked fruit, vegetable, or meat contains enzymes that will digest the food in which they are contained. The problem is that these enzymes are destroyed during cooking, canning and other methods of food processing.

In fact, cooking is stressed as a major digestive aid in nutrition textbooks. While cooking does function to make it easier to digest some foods, like raw vegetables, it also destroys enzymes contained in the food that would improve digestion even more than cooking.

Temperatures above 118 degrees Fahrenheit destroy the enzymes found in our food.

Also, many foods we eat today are man-made and do not contain enzymes. Enzymes run virtually all of the biochemical processes in living things.  In the case of plants, these enzymes bring the plant to maturity or ripeness. And they will digest that plant when they are properly activated.

All that is required is for the enzymes to be released by chewing or cutting of the plant.

All enzymes require the presence of water, the proper temperature, and the correct pH range in order to work, and those conditions are present in the mouth and saliva.

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Consider the ‘Zorro Circle’

September 7, 2012 By

submitted by Michael McCreery, Head Instructor, Action Karate, mrmccreery@actionkarate.net

This bold renegade

carves a Z with his blade,

a Z that stands for Zorro.

Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free,

Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z.

Norman Foster

When I was a child I loved watching the old black and white television show The Adventures of Zorro. All problems could be solved in 30 minutes with lots of great sword play; what is not to like?

As with most action heroes of the 1950′s Zorro could fight eight people at the same time and win and never have a scratch on him. Not very realistic but it served its audience, a 10-year-old boy perfectly.

So how did Zorro get so good at fighting bad guys?

That secret was revealed in the movie “The Amazing Zorro.” The beginning of the movie introduces you to a broken Zorro who has aspired to greatness but without the proper training failed miserably.

He meets his mentor to be, Don Diego, who is an aging sword master. Diego’s first step in training Zorro is to place him in a small circle and require him to fight only in the circle.

Diego was trying to make Zorro accomplish one small little goal in a space only a little larger than his body before he could do anything else. As each little goal is accomplished Diego gives Zorro a little more until he is swinging from chandeliers and beating eight people at once.

Diego built in Zorro the confidence he lacked by making him focus on one little goal, the Zorro Circle, at a time. It was the repetition of the accomplishment of small little goals over and over again that gave us Zorro the legend.

So it should go with your journey in life, focusing on one little goal at a time.

Conquering those little goals over and over again will help you gain the self confidence to become your best.

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Green Funerals

September 7, 2012 By

submitted by – Jason “Oz” Oszczakiewicz, Owner/Supervisor, Varcoe-Thomas Funeral Home of Doylestown, Inc.

Today, many families are seeking funeral and cremation products and services that are not only safer for the environment, but also selecting preparation services using non-toxic and formaldehyde free chemicals prior to any visitation, cremation or burial occurring.

Funerals homes may apply for a certification from the Green Burial Council and other organizations where they must follow strict standards by providing “green” products and services to families looking for this alternative.

Firms must provide preparation services that offer a natural preparation solution instead of the traditional formaldehyde-based fluid or other hazardous chemical-based fluid. These fluids are derived from plant-based oils and provide a temporary preservation for families that wish to have a traditional visitation.

Firms must also offer casket selections that are made of natural materials such as: bamboo, sea grass, wicker and willow. These are natural materials that are not constructed from metals or other wood materials that may use harsh glue products or paints and varnishes that are chemical based products that may be harmful for the environment.

Urns are also constructed of materials by hand from corn starch and recycled materials where they naturally dissipate into the soil when buried in ground or placed in water for sea scattering or burial.

There are also certification programs for cemeteries and these must be met by providing a conservation easement or deed restriction for the area of land where green burials will be held. These areas restrict the use of concrete burial vaults and embalming by hazardous chemicals.

There are also some catholic cemeteries that provide an area for green burials to occur and hybrid areas that still allow families the use of some type of concrete container. 

Cremains disposition programs also allow families the opportunity to place the cremated remains of a loved one in an undersea memorial reef.  These programs give families the opportunity to place a loved one’s cremains in materials that help to produce natural reefs off the coast of Florida.

Visit www.greenburialcouncil.org for more information.

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Children: Funerals and Grief

July 31, 2012 By

submitted by  Jason “Oz” Oszczakiewicz, Owner/Supervisor, Varcoe-Thomas Funeral Home of Doylestown, Inc.

Maybe it is due in part to my upbringing and maybe in part to my profession, but I have noticed something has changed since I was a child. I have noticed that these days many adults cannot deal with funerals, visitations or death.

I can’t help but wonder if it maybe because of the way loss was introduced into their lives.

Were they sheltered as children? Did their parents leave them at home instead of allowing them to attend a funeral or memorial service?

Some parents believe they shelter their children from loss by leaving them at home. I feel that is ultimately a disservice to the child because when the child becomes an adult he/she is less able to process loss when someone close to them dies.

Sadly too, I have also noticed the result of parents having said things to children that shape and form their opinions in a negative way before the child even attends or visits a funeral, funeral home or memorial service. This past year I heard a child tell his mother that his Pop-Pop looked nice and he didn’t look anything like what his mother told him.

“Out of the mouths of babes.”

During an arrangement conference, I recommend to parents of young children that they explain they will be going to the funeral home and that a death has occurred. Keep any explanations brief and let the child form his/her own opinions, they will let you know exactly what they are feeling.

Never force a child to do anything that he/she does not want to do during this period. Remain calm and understanding for the child.

Further, I recommend that children be introduced to loss while attending a memorial service or visitation with an open casket of someone the child does not know such as a distant family member or parent friend.  This eases the child into understanding death in a setting less devastating than in the case of the loss of a family member or friend, where the child’s parents and loved ones are very upset.

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Food enzyme deficiencies: The hidden causes of chronic complaints

July 31, 2012 By

submitted by Dr. Jeffrey L. Griffin, DC, owner, Center for Natural Healing, Doylestown

Food enzyme deficiency in the diet may be the major cause of chronic disease in this country. Many doctors are unaware of the dietary importance of enzymes and the role they play in human health.

Medical school curriculum does not view enzyme deficiency as something of significance and the pharmaceutical industry pays them little to no attention.

Enzyme nutrition has long been ignored in favor of the development of new and more profitable medications. Interestingly enough, all medications alter enzyme systems within the body – thus creating their desired effect.

Enzymes are large protein substances produced by living cells. They are essential to life because they perform all of the biochemical reactions in your body. In particular, enzymes digest your food and they are (quite literally) your immune system.

They are found in abundance in all living substances including raw foods.

Food enzymes began being removed from our food supply many years ago in attempts to reduce spoilage and prolong shelf life of foods. This discovery gained popularity and spawned the development of the processed food industry that we know today. 

In the early 30’s, Edward Howell, MD, discovered the important role that food enzymes played in health maintenance. He spent his entire professional life treating chronic degenerative diseases with raw food diets with great success. He considered enzymes to be essential nutrients present in raw food yet absent in cooked food.

He theorized that when enzyme deficient foods are consumed, the body is forced to produce enzymes needed for digestion. This creates a competition for enzymes within various organ systems and tissues of the body.

Loss of enzyme activity results in chronic degenerative disease – perhaps the only apparent symptom of food enzyme deficiency.

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What are we really capable of?

July 31, 2012 By

submitted by Michael McCreery, Head Instructor, Action Karate, mrmccreery@actionkarate.net

You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion 
You’ll be scratchin’ like a hound
 The minute you start to mess around

Poison ivy, poison ivy
 Late at night while you’re sleepin’ 
poison ivy comes a’creepin’ around

The Coasters

Archimedes the Greek scientist and mathematician once said: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world.”

That philosophy has been proved correct by children on playgrounds every day using seesaws, as well as adult’s using a hammer or scissors, and I believe by people with their own minds every day.

Simply put, by changing the fulcrum of your mindset and lengthening our lever of possibility, we change what is possible.

In a popular study done by Japanese researchers in the 1990’s, 13 high school age boys who reported to being allergic to poison ivy in a random questionnaire were blindfolded.

The boys were told one arm was being brushed with poison ivy and the other with a Chestnut tree branch. Actually it was the exact opposite of what they were told.

The astonishing results – all 13 boys showed classic signs of a poison ivy outbreak on the arm that was rubbed by an ordinary Chestnut tree branch, while the arm rubbed with actual poison ivy caused only two outbreaks.

Scientists call this the “Expectancy Theory.”

The brain is so powerful that the mere expectation that it has been exposed to poison ivy causes a complex set of neurons to fire as if it really did happen. We all create boundaries to what is possible based on our experiences.

To me the real question is do those beliefs shackle us to a limited world that is only created in our own minds? 

If so, what are we really capable of if we can get a lever long enough and a fulcrum big enough?

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Constipation concerns

June 26, 2012 By

submitted by Dr. Jeffrey L. Griffin, DC, owner of Center for Natural Healing, Doylestown

Constipation (less than one bowel movement per day) strikes an alarmingly high number of individuals. While one movement per day might be considered ideal, any deviation requires further questioning.

Most people believe constipation implies hard or painful bowel movements and not just frequency. Many believe one bowel movement every two or three days is normal and that perhaps every four or five days is no cause for concern.

The simple fact that it happens that way does not mean that it is normal.

Infrequent bowel movements indicate slow movement of waste material through the intestine. The longer fecal material remains in the intestine, the more water will be reabsorbed making the stool drier and more difficult to eliminate. This is the result of bacterial decomposition in the large intestine.

Slow movement of waste throughout the intestine often results in a process known as autointoxication.

In this situation, waste products of bacterial and fungi/yeast are absorbed into the blood and result in an inflammatory reaction to the mucosal lining. This triggers an immune response that is associated with the so-called “leaky gut syndrome” and fibromyalgia, thus resulting in additional symptomatolgy.

Causes of constipation can also include overeating and use of pain medications – not necessarily a lack of water or fiber.

Poor digestive and dietary choices are rarely considered, nor is stomach acid deficiency which is related to inadequate protein digestion that allows protein to pass into the large intestine where it can putrefy.

Extensive clinical outcome studies dating back over the last 100 years indicate bowel toxicity as a major causative factor in the most commonly seen health problems as cited in Textbook of Medical Physiology (A. C. Guyton, 9th ed., W. B. Saunders Co., 1986).

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