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Big Chill
Pay Attention!
5/16/2012
My good friends at edSocialMedia--an extraordinary website dedicated to the role of social media in education--share behind-the-scene email communication that usually dwells on the site's great success. But this week, our esteemed leader, Bill Stites wrote, "I'm curious as to how distraction is effecting you personally and/or in your institutions" with specific focus on Facebook. Are our kids over-connected, to the point of distraction?

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I
 once heard a child psychologist offer the opinion that kids who rapidly jiggle a knee up and down do so because they need to. It's helping them. They're not nervous; they're coping. It's a compensatory behavior. 
 
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I am an iconoclast...motivated to attack stuff that is generally worshipped, so I respectfully offer a counter to those who lament our students' distraction. I want to suggest that it is what they need to do to compensate for all the focus we demand of them.  We demand a lot of focus.
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H
ow many of you noticed the crayon under Sam's nose?  Hmmmm. Pay closer attention.
What follows are some images from the past few hours. Consider attention versus distraction.

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Y
ou can't play spoons while distracted....

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N
o shortage of focus here. 

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Too connected?
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Kiki's on the wall.
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The ultimate connection: improv.
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Problem focussing?
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The pattern on this pillow's fabric is Emily's creation.
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Connor is a study in concentration.
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Walker's tarot cards suggest that sugar is in his future.
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Highly connected. Pay no attention to the lacerations on Mack's neck. They are the result of a bicycle incident involving a chain....
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FOCUS!!!!
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This will get your attention. Our red boa took a liking to the bio room door jam......
Snake
and took its sweet time negotiating the passage....