Summer Reading and DVDs for Next Year (Schallhorn 2012 Edition)

It's that time of year when we are thinking about assigning summer reading for ourselves and our kids and getting ready for next year.  Below are some resources that I have either seen and/or read.  I make these recommendations since I have positive personal experience with each one.  I am certainly not saying that these are the only good resources out there, they are only a list of items on my bookshelf--that I can see/recall.  I have many more.  Each link below takes you to the Amazon.com site where you can order the books immediately should you wish.

(note: As I finish this list, I am kind of stunned that I've read all these books.  Too bad all the info has not stayed with me.  Perhaps it's time to go back to learning to play guitar.)

Books for summer reading:

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche

Imagine: How Creativity Works

How We Decide

Proust Was a Neuroscientist

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Sleep Thieves

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

My Lobotomy

A Natural History of the Senses

A Natural History Of Love

Thinking, Fast and Slow

An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

The Social Animal

Readings About The Social Animal

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World

A Geography Of Time: On Tempo, Culture, And The Pace Of Life

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Outliers: The Story of Success

The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls

The Story of Psychology

Emotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us

The Sociopath Next Door

Columbine (on my reading list, but not yet read--highly recommended though)

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity (I have not read this, but it looks fascinating)

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

WHY Do They Act That Way?: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen
Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain

DVDs to get your hands on:

 (sorry--VHS only)

Some Valuable Resources for Every Teacher:

Activities Handbook for the Teaching of Psychology

As and A-Level Psychology Through Diagrams (Oxford Revision Guides)

Challenging Your Preconceptions: Thinking Critically About Psychology
The Human Brain Book

Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research (6th Edition)

Teaching Introductory Psychology: Survival Tips from the Experts The Critical Thinking Companion for Introductory Psychology






posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Last minute AP mnemonics

This was created by a student in Maria Vita's class. (Twitter: @MariaVita1)

 Here are some student and teacher-created mnemonics that may work great for a last-minute review for your AP Psych students. From my perspective, some of them are awesome and some not so, but that's always true of mnemonics. Check out the mnemonics here: http://tsappsych.blogspot.com/2012/04/add-on-to-list-of-mnemonic-devices.html

Also, one final reminder about using #appsychreview on Twitter - please encourage your students to post questions they have, but please DO NO encourage them to post questions that could be answered easily by looking in the glossary or index of their textbooks. We've had some terrific questions in which students are asking about the difference between two terms, or ways to remember a term, but we've also had a number of questions along the lines of "What is unconditional positive regard?" If they need to use a computer, it's more efficient to look up that term on Wikipedia than to wait for an answer via Twitter.

Good luck to everyone on the AP tomorrow!
-- posted by Steve

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Putting the AP Test in Perspective

Chuck Schallhorn sent a great email to the AP Psychology email listserve, and I thought it might be appropriate to post it here too (with some additions of my own).

Chuck was responding to a teacher who was very concerned about her students' scores, because they didn't perform well on an FRQ practice item, and she is judged by her school based on student AP scores.

I liked Chuck's emphasis on what is truly important about all our classes: Student learning. We do this gig because we think that learning psychological knowledge and the skill of "thinking like a psychologist" are useful for people. The AP test is a good one point in time measure, and it's one important measure, but not the SOLE measure of what is important about the learning in our classes. I like this conversation about keeping the scores in perspective.

Here's an excerpt from Chuck's email:

"I see my task as preparing my students to the best of my ability (this includes intellectual and affective modalities).  I struggle to improve every year.  I reflect and beat myself up on the various mistakes and missteps I took during every year.  While I realize that it is pointless to beat myself up, I do so anyway.  I suspect that I've been reinforced (grin).  But I definitely reflect, both during the summer and after each period I teach.

Beyond the class preparation and activities, the work is up to the students.  Beyond what we do in class, the primary preparation is up to the students.  We play a part, but we cannot "control" the outcome.

I use the exams and activities during the year to diagnose strengths and weakness in the kids' knowledge and in my delivery and teaching methods for particular units.  The entire year is a diagnostic.  However, students may do well or not well on the exam itself regardless of my efforts.  I cannot take the test for them.  I use the practice tests in April as diagnostics and help the students figure out which units and ideas they are strong with and which they are not.  This is individual to each student and I hope I've been able to get students to use metacognition and reflection on their efforts.

My advice.  Teach the course the best you can while taking care of yourself to keep your health and sanity.  Challenge your kids during the year to cover all the content and learn how to write FRQs.  Prep the kids the best you can prior to the test.  Wish them well when they take the exam and then let it go.  It is out of your control.  Wait until July for the scores.

After the exam, make sure you debrief the students to find out what the best parts of the course were and what needs improvement.  Make adjustments over the summer and begin again.  Grow as a person, grow as a teacher.  Reflect and reflect some more and change behaviors and attitudes about teaching.  Make plans to improve the following year. "

image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AP_Psych_Test.JPG Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

posted by Rob McEntarffer, mostly written by Chuck Schallhorn

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Another great TED talk!

I always teach sensation and perception at the end of the school year.  With so many cool activities and demonstrations, it keeps the students engaged and busy.  A friend sent me a link to this TED talk, "“Michael Shermer on Strange Beliefs.”  This is a great clip to use when discussing top-down processing and/or perceptual set. 

"Why do people see the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich or hear demonic lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven"? Using video and music, skeptic Michael Shermer shows how we convince ourselves to believe -- and overlook the facts.  Michael Shermer debunks myths, superstitions and urban legends, and explains why we believe them. Along with publishing Skeptic Magazine, he's author of Why People Believe Weird Things."

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things.html

Kristin H. Whitlock

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