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Word + Quiz: obstreperous

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Word + Quiz: obstreperous

1. noisily and stubbornly defiant

2. boisterously and noisily aggressive

_________

The word obstreperous has appeared in six articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 5 in the Opinion essay “Luke Perry Had a Stroke and Died. I Had One and Lived” by Kara Swisher:

By the time I’d showered and headed to the restaurant for breakfast, the symptoms were largely gone. So when Jeff called to say I was having a stroke, I think I laughed and said, “You’re a bad doctor.”

Besides, I had Yahoo’s Jerry Yang coming to the conference, I had Alibaba’s Jack Ma coming, I had Al Gore coming. I had no time.

That much was very true. Because he was actually a very good doctor, he insisted in an increasingly urgent tone that I go to the hospital right then. That’s because when it comes to strokes, time is critical. You have to get the blood flowing back to the part of the brain that is not getting it.

So I listened, for once, sidelining the obstreperous little sister, and took a car to get an emergency M.R.I.

_________

Falling Bottles

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Falling Bottles

What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or our world today? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn what this illustration is all about.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.

Free May Wallpaper

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Free May Wallpaper

Our May wallpaper features the Faustine Modern Script font.

Included in the free download are two desktop options – one with the calendar and one without the calendar. The others include one wallpaper per device.

Enjoy!

For Personal Use Only.


Learning With: ‘Chronicles of the Rings: What Trees Tell Us’

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Learning With: ‘Chronicles of the Rings: What Trees Tell Us’

Before reading the article:

Trees can live without us, but we really cannot live without trees. They produce oxygen. They provide wood for our furniture and for the buildings in which we live. They bear fruit that we eat. And they are great to sit under and read. (Just to name a few things.)

Did you know that trees can also tell us about our past?

Let’s give it a try: Look closely at the photo of a cut tree below.

• What do you notice about the rings?

• What do you wonder about them?

• What story do you think they tell about the tree?

• How old do you think this tree was when it was cut?

Now, look at these two diagrams explaining how to read and analyze tree rings.

Return to the photo of the cut tree above: What new things can you discover about the tree and its history? Do you want to revise your guess on the age of the tree?

Now, read the article, “Chronicles of the Rings: What Trees Tell Us,” and answer the following questions:

1. What causes the appearance of rings on trees? What secrets about the past can be found in them?

2. How do the rings of a tree provide a far more complete historical picture of climate variations than instrument data alone, according to the article? What climate change findings that have been discovered from tree rings do you think are most significant?

3. What does the author mean by “Trees, it seems, are giant organic recording devices that contain information about past climate, civilizations, ecosystems and even galactic events, much of it many thousands of years old”? Give three examples the author provides to support this statement.

4. Why has the growing field of dendrochronology become so important? What new technologies and techniques have recently emerged? What are some of the practical uses of the study of tree rings?

5. What other types of valuable information do trees hold? Give one example from the article.

6. How can the study of tree rings help us understand the history of human civilizations? What have tree rings revealed to help explain historical events such as the declines in the Ming dynasty, the Ottoman Empire and the Jamestown colony in Virginia?

Finally, tell us more about what you think:

— What did you learn about trees and tree rings? What was most interesting, surprising or fascinating in the article? Does the article change how you think about trees and their importance to the world?

— Look at photos featured in the article. What story do they tell us about how dendrochronologists work? What do you find most interesting about this field of study? Would you want to study trees and tree rings?

— In “More Trees, Happier People,” Margaret Renkl writes:

When trees die, people invariably mourn. And when trees are planted, people become demonstrably happier. Rhitu Chatterjee of National Public Radio recently reported on a randomized study designed to discover the effect of urban green space on mental health. The study found that cleaning up vacant lots and planting grass and trees was associated with a significant improvement in the mental health of nearby residents: According to the report, “feelings of depression and worthlessness were significantly decreased.”

Do you agree that trees make people happier? What are your experiences with trees? How have they affected your life? Do you think we take trees for granted?

— Did you know that teeth, seashells and coral reef have layers or rings like a tree? Imagine if the human body had layers or rings; how might they record the events in your life and reveal the history of the natural world around you? Draw and label a picture to illustrate your life in rings. Be creative!

Further Resources:

The Secret Life and Value of Trees

Celebrating Trees, Wood and Making Stuff

Can Humans Help Trees Outrun Climate Change?

Word + Quiz: segue

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Word + Quiz: segue

noun: the introductory section of a story

verb: the act of changing smoothly from one state or situation to another

_________

The word segue has appeared in 92 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 19 in “Juice WRLD, the Young Rapper, Confronts Death at a Brooklyn Cemetery” by Ben Detrick:

A detour at a Victorian cemetery seemed an appropriate setting for a fast-rising star with goth-leaning inclinations in both his music and style. “It’s an interesting subject,” Juice WRLD said of death. “It’s an enigma.”

…The atmospherics at Green-Wood were an easy segue into discussing the morbid bent of his music.

“I talk about stuff like that because those are subjects that people are a) too scared to touch on, or b) don’t do it the right way where people can learn from your mistakes,” he said. “I cherish every mini-second of this life.”

_________

Around the Campfire

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Around the Campfire

What story could this image tell?

Tell us about a memory from your own life that this illustration makes you think of — or use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by it.

Then, read the related essay to learn what the image is all about.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.

Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality

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Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality

For Further Exploration

Research your own school district. Then write an essay, create an oral presentation or make an annotated map on segregation and educational inequity in your community, using data from the Miseducation database.

_________

Activity #2: Explore a case study: schools in Charlottesville, Va.

Railroad tracks divide Charlottesville into three predominantly white elementary school zones to the north, and three mostly black schools to the south.CreditSource: School zone boundaries from the City of Charlottesville, Black population from the Census Bureau | The New York Times

The New York Times and ProPublica investigated how segregation still plays a role in shaping students’ educational experiences in the small Virginia city of Charlottesville. The article begins:

Zyahna Bryant and Trinity Hughes, high school seniors, have been friends since they were 6, raised by blue-collar families in this affluent college town. They played on the same T-ball and softball teams, and were in the same church group.

But like many African-American children in Charlottesville, Trinity lived on the south side of town and went to a predominantly black neighborhood elementary school. Zyahna lived across the train tracks, on the north side, and was zoned to a mostly white school, near the University of Virginia campus, that boasts the city’s highest reading scores.

Before you read the rest of the article, and learn about the experiences of Zyahna and Trinity, answer the following questions based on your own knowledge, experience and opinions:

• What is the purpose of public education?
• Do all children in America receive the same quality of education?
• Is receiving a quality public education a right (for everyone) or a privilege (for some)?
• Is there a correlation between students’ race and the quality of education they receive?

Now read the entire article about lingering segregation in Charlottesville and answer the following questions:

1. How is Charlottesville’s school district geographically and racially segregated?
2. How is Charlottesville a microcosm of education in America?
3. How do white and black students in Charlottesville compare in terms of participation in gifted and talented programs; being held back a grade; being suspended from school?
4. How do black and white students in Charlottesville compare in terms of reading at grade level?
5. How do Charlottesville school officials explain the disparities between white and black students?
6. Why are achievement disparities so common in college towns?
7. In what ways do socioeconomics not fully explain the gap between white and black students?

After reading the article and answering the above questions, share your reactions using the following prompts:

• Did anything in the article surprise you? Shock you? Make you angry or sad? Why?
• On the other hand, did anything in the article strike you as unsurprising? Explain.
• How might education in Charlottesville be made more equitable?

For Further Exploration

Choose one or more of the following ideas to investigate school segregation in the United States and around the world.

1. Read and discuss “In a Divided Bosnia, Segregated Schools Persist.” Compare and contrast the situations in Bosnia and Charlottesville. How does this perspective confirm, challenge, or complicate your understanding of the topic?

Would You Change Your Eating Habits to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint?

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Would You Change Your Eating Habits to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint?

What did you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday?

Take this short quiz to find out how much your choices contribute to climate change. Then, tell us: How did you score? How do your eating habits compare with those of other Americans?

In “Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered,” Julia Moskin, Brad Plumer, Rebecca Lieberman and Eden Weingart answer questions about the impact that food shopping, cooking and eating habits have on climate change:

Does what I eat have an effect on climate change?

Yes. The world’s food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat — beef, chicken, fish, milk, lentils, kale, corn and more — as well as processing, packaging and shipping food to markets all over the world. If you eat food, you’re part of this system.

How exactly does food contribute to global warming?

Lots of ways. Here are four of the biggest: When forests are cleared to make room for farms and livestock — this happens on a daily basis in some parts of the world — large stores of carbon are released into the atmosphere, which heats up the planet. When cows, sheep and goats digest their food, they burp up methane, another potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Animal manure and rice paddies are also big methane sources. Finally, fossil fuels are used to operate farm machinery, make fertilizer and ship food around the globe, all of which generate emissions.

Which foods have the largest impact?

Meat and dairy, particularly from cows, have an outsize impact, with livestock accounting for around 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year. That’s roughly the same amount as the emissions from all the cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined in the world today.

In general, beef and lamb have the biggest climate footprint per gram of protein, while plant-based foods tend to have the smallest impact. Pork and chicken are somewhere in the middle.

Is there a simple food choice I can make that would reduce my climate footprint?

Consuming less red meat and dairy will typically have the biggest impact for most people in wealthy countries. That doesn’t necessarily mean going vegan. You might just eat less of the foods with the biggest climate footprints, like beef, lamb and cheese. If you’re looking for substitutes, pork, chicken, eggs and mollusks have a smaller footprint. But plant-based foods like beans, pulses, grains and soy tend to be the most climate-friendly options of all.

How much would changing my diet actually help?

It varies from person to person. But a number of studies have concluded that people who currently eat a meat-heavy diet — including much of the population of the United States and Europe — could shrink their food-related footprint by one-third or more by moving to a vegetarian diet. Giving up dairy would reduce those emissions even further.

If you don’t want to go that far, there are still ways to shrink your individual footprint. Just eating less meat and dairy, and more plants, can reduce emissions. Cutting back on red meat in particular can make a surprisingly large difference: According to a World Resources Institute analysis, if the average American replaced a third of the beef he or she eats with pork, poultry or legumes, his or her food-related emissions would still fall by around 13 percent.

Students, read the rest of the green “Big Picture” section of the article, then tell us:

— What were the most interesting or surprising facts about climate change and food you learned? What questions do you still have?

— How climate-friendly is your diet? Do you tend to eat a lot of meat and dairy? Or do your meals mostly consist of plant-based foods? How do you feel about the impact your eating habits have on the environment?

— Why do you choose to eat the way you do? Do your parents do most of the meal planning, food shopping and cooking? Do you make any personal choices based on moral, religious, environmental or health reasons? Or, do you just simply eat what tastes good?

— After the “Big Picture” introduction, the article goes on to detail five specific areas that contribute to climate change: Meat, Seafood, Dairy, Plants, and Shopping and Food Waste. Choose one and read the related section. What did you learn about this topic? If you were to alter your diet in this area to make it more environmentally-friendly, what changes would you have to make? How difficult would these changes be for you and why?

— Now that you know more about the impact your eating habits have on the environment, would you actually be willing to change any of them to reduce your carbon footprint? If so, what specific changes would you make and why? If not, why not?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Five common myths and misconceptions about ADHD

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Five common myths and misconceptions about ADHD

“Everyone has ADHD nowadays, don’t they?”

When you talk with the general public about ADHD, one of the first things peoplemention is how common it is “nowadays” and cite figures like 20% of all boys in the USA being diagnosed with ADHD. In the UK, things are quite different. ADHD diagnosis rates are around 1% (Sayal et al., 2018). From population-based studies, we know that around 5% of children have ADHD (Polancyk et al., 2014). So, this means ADHD is actually under diagnosed in the UK.

Why is that a problem, you may ask? There’s a lot of research which looks at outcomes in adulthood for those with ADHD, and crucially whether they’ve ever been diagnosed or not. These studies provide clear evidence that, for some, the outcomes aren’t good. ADHD has been found to predict poorer educational and employment outcomes and, sadly, early mortality (accidents being a leading cause) (e.g., Barbaresi et al., 2013). The evidence also suggests that careful management can help to avert these poorer outcomes, particularly in the school years (e.g., Uchida et al., 2018).

Going back to the “nowadays” bit. There seems to be an assumption that ADHD rates have increased in recent years due to factors like too many fizzy drinks and too much time using iPads. Tracking ADHD rates is a complicated task, as diagnostic criteria have evolved over time. But the evidence we have suggests that the rate of 5% has actually been really stable over time, at least since the 1980s (Polanczyk et al., 2014).

Medication is recommended as the first course of action

It’s true that medication, usually stimulants, are the most common treatment for ADHD. But importantly, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) suggests that environmental modifications should be attempted before considering medication. This is because in some cases, medication might not be necessary. There may be things parents and teachers can do to help children function without the need for medication – and the course Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice discusses some of these.

Hyperactivity is the most common presentation of ADHD

When you ask people what ADHD is, they describe a child with too much energy. In reality, there’s a lot more to ADHD than hyperactivity. In fact, there are three presentations of ADHD: hyperactive-impulsive, inattentive and combined type. The most common form in the general population is inattentive, not hyperactive-impulsive (e.g., Froehlich et al., 2007), which comes as a surprise to some people.

ADHD only affects boys

One of the main stereotypes of ADHD is a boy running around a classroom. In clinics, boys are more often referred for help (at a rate of around 4:1), but when we look at the general population, we see that the ratio of boys to girls with ADHD is actually much more narrow (around 2 boys for every 1 girl) (e.g., Ramtekkar et al., 2010). The reasons for this are complicated, but at a minimum, it means that ADHD seems to be missed in girls.

One of the parents we speak to in our course provides a really good illustration of this when she discusses her daughter (who now has a diagnosis of ADHD) in school. Her daughter’s report cards would say things like “struggles to keep on task” and “easily distracted”, but the teachers hadn’t considered that she might have ADHD.

ADHD only affects children

This is an interesting one. It’s true that early studies focused on children with ADHD and there was often an assumption that children would “grow out of it”. But more recently, researchers have begun to follow up children with ADHD as they become adults. Exact figures vary, but somewhere around 30-40% of children with ADHD in childhood will continue to meet full criteria by adulthood (e.g., Caye et al., 2016).

So does that mean that the rest ‘grow out of it’? Not exactly. The evidence suggests that persistence is strongest amongst those who have more severe ADHD, and that a number will not meet the full criteria of ADHD. Nevertheless, these people will still be somewhat impaired by the symptoms they do have.

Learn more about ADHD, including symptoms, treatment and the latest research on the course Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice.

References

Barbaresi, W. J., Colligan, R. C., Weaver, A. L., Voigt, R. G., Killian, J. M., & Katusic, S. K. (2013). Mortality, ADHD, and psychosocial adversity in adults with childhood ADHD: a prospective study. Pediatrics, 131(4), 637.

Caye, A., Spadini, A. V., Karam, R. G., Grevet, E. H., Rovaris, D. L., Bau, C. H., … & Kieling, C. (2016). Predictors of persistence of ADHD into adulthood: a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 25(11), 1151-1159.

Froehlich, T. E., Lanphear, B. P., Epstein, J. N., Barbaresi, W. J., Katusic, S. K., & Kahn, R. S. (2007). Prevalence, recognition, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a national sample of US children. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 161(9), 857-864.

Polanczyk, G. V., Willcutt, E. G., Salum, G. A., Kieling, C., & Rohde, L. A. (2014). ADHD prevalence estimates across three decades: an updated systematic review and meta-regression analysis. International journal of epidemiology, 43(2), 434-442.

Ramtekkar, U. P., Reiersen, A. M., Todorov, A. A., & Todd, R. D. (2010). Sex and age differences in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and diagnoses: implications for DSM-V and ICD-11. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(3), 217-228.

Sayal, K., Prasad, V., Daley, D., Ford, T., & Coghill, D. (2018). ADHD in children and young people: prevalence, care pathways, and service provision. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(2), 175-186.

Uchida, M., Spencer, T. J., Faraone, S. V., & Biederman, J. (2018). Adult outcome of ADHD: an overview of results from the MGH longitudinal family studies of pediatrically and psychiatrically referred youth with and without ADHD of both sexes. Journal of attention disorders, 22(6), 523-534.

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Learning,
Healthcare

What Students Are Saying About: Online Learning, Family Vacations and Moving to a New Home

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What Students Are Saying About: Online Learning, Family Vacations and Moving to a New Home

My favorite vacation was going to Asia because it was the first time I’ve been out of the continent and it was a different experience. For the 13 years I had been breathing, I had never been out of the continent. This trip to Korea and Thailand was going to be amazing. Once we landed in Korea, we wanted to experience everything. We went to Buddhist temples, beaches, markets, cities, and many historical sites. Then we took off to Thailand. Around 1 am Thailand time, we finally arrived in Bangkok. We wanted to go everywhere, so we hired a driver that took us anywhere we desired to go. We went to many restaurants, markets, temples, palaces, and did many adventurous activities. A couple of adventurous things we did were interacting with tigers, going to beaches, and going elephant riding. Also experiencing the poor side of Thailand was really touching.

— Devin, Illinois

Despite ups and downs, family vacations are always worth it.

Usually on family vacations, my parents get easily stressed out due to the fact they’re trying so hard to plan it out well enough for my sister and me to enjoy it, which is similar to what Slaughter-Graham wrote in her article. However, in the end the trip always pays off, even if it was filled with stupid arguments and frustrations because it’s the fun memories of the vacation that I’ll always hold on to.

— Allison, Fountain Valley High School

Smoky air surrounds me,
sticky marshmallows cover me.
Moments later blood pours,
my leg feels lifeless laying there.
Then sirens sound, golf carts no more.

Years ago we took a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC to go camping. Little did we know we wouldn’t forget this trip for years to come. We were at the bottom of a hill roasting marshmallows. My brother came rolling down in our golf cart. The brake was locked but he knocked it climbing on. I followed my mom after she took me out of her arms. The biggest mistake I have ever made. Ran straight into the path of my brother on the golf cart. My leg was crushed and I knocked my head but you wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell. But I won’t forget that family trip.

— Amber Small, Hoggard High School, Wilmington NC

One of my most memorable family vacations that I took was to Carolina Beach North Carolina. I now live a 20 minute drive from there, but at the time I lived in New York. This trip was memorable in so many ways from the disaster at the airports to the hurricane that came through in the middle of our vacation. The first three days were amazing I remember just playing at the pool, at the beach, going to the small boardwalk, and just hanging out with my family. By the middle of the week we had Hurricane Irene hurtling towards us. I remember people boarding the house we were staying at with wood, and they told us it was time to leave. We went to my grandparents friends house who lived 15 minutes inland from Carolina Beach. We had the best time there during the hurricane we played board games, played with our dolls, and hung out with one another. The family friends we stayed with our now like my second grandparents, so I will never forget that trip.

— Avery McElhinney, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Magical moments

The most memorable vacation occurred last August in Nantucket, Massachusetts with my family and some friends …My favorite moment to look back on with that trip was our last day. It was about four o’clock, and the sun was setting, giving off a goldish filter in the sky and shimmers in the ocean’s low tide state. We were all playing a game of catch when we noticed the view surrounding us, we were already fulfilled with the outcome of this trip, but that day was just the cherry on top. We were in awe. I was in tears by the fact that I had to leave because I was going to miss the feeling I had there: real happiness.

— Sloane F., Hoggard High School, Wilmington NC

Even though vacations are stressful, the joy that comes out of it overwhelms the negative and makes for a very positive experience, meaning that family vacations should be continued. My ideal family vacation would be somewhere quiet and peaceful yet fun, with my immediate family as well as my family friends. This summer, my family has a trip planned to go to South Padre Island off the coast of Texas, and I will take advice from the article is to create positive memories, so when looking back, you only feel happiness and nostalgia.

— Angela Froming, School of the Woods, Houston, TX

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