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Mel Levine Meets "The Fadbusters"
Who You Gonna Call? Call FadBusters!
Author unknown
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"Fadbusters. How may we help?"
"Oh, thank you. Thank you. North Carolina K-12 is about to swallow Dr. Mel Levine's 8 neurodevelopmental constructs."
"This sounds serious, ma'am. Is there any data?"
"He claims 25 year's worth!"
"Are you sure he isn't talking about "multiple intelligences?"
"Yes. He says that in order to better understand how students' profiles affect their learning and performance at any time, those profiles are divided into "neurodevelopmental constructs." Constructs are groupings of related neurodevelopmental functions. They help to organize thinking and communicate about learning differences by focusing on the roles and interactions of neurodevelopmental functions with regard to specific behaviors. They also allow for flexibility in the ways that differences in learning are evaluated, while at the same time, pinpointing areas of learning breakdown and creating very specific plans for helping students succeed."
"Now please remain calm, ma'am."
"But he has been on Oprah
and the state is buying his whole program! The State Board of Ed chairman is eating it up. According to one published report:
Levine developed the Schools Attuned program to train and support teachers dealing with all kinds of learners. North Carolina is the first state to adopt Levine's program as a statewide initiative. Schools Attuned receives part of its funding from the General Assembly, and Levine's pitch before the State Board is part of an effort to gain their endorsement.
State Board Chairman Howard Lee said he would like to establish "a closer relationship between the Board and Levine to take greater advantage of his expertise, especially in the area of professional [teacher] development." Levine encouraged the board to "consider systemic changes and not just professional development. This will require a change in school priorities and stronger support of the All Kinds of Minds philosophy by the state," he said.
"See what I mean! Oh, Help us FadBusters."
"Sorry, ma'am. It sounds like you have a stage 4 metastasized fadoma. Board level adoption, training programs being planned, funds allocated -- all criteria of a stage 4. We should have caught this earlier when it was only a stage one."
"There's no hope?"
"Well, checking your chart history, I see that the Board adopted Robert Marzano's "Thinking Maps" for restructuring the entire English curriculum in K-6 back in 1992. Have you recovered from that yet?
"No. we were 49th in SAT's then, and we're 48th now 12 years later. Solid Whole Language."
"Hmmmmm. Stage 4 Levine's Fadoma will interact with the residual effects of acute Marzano -- could be fatal. There's nothing we can do for you at this late stage. Sorry."
"Thanks anyway." (sob, click)
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