Ever wonder why boys and girls react differently to stress? It’s because their brains are very different.
That’s what presenter Jim Littlejohn explained to a group of parents at Indian Lake High School during a recent free workshop.
Littlejohn told moms and dads that boys are generally able to store conflict-related emotions and aggression in a separate “room” inside their brain. He cited brain studies that indicate with about five hours worth of quiet time to process and understand, boys can often solve a problem without violence. On the other side, girls experience conflict-related emotions all through out their brain. He explains that’s why it is more difficult for girls to “forgive and forget.”
Littlejohn’s presentation of “What Were They Thinking? Understanding How Boys and Girls Learn,” was his third presentation of the day.
He spent most of the day teaching professional development techniques to the entire Indian Lake staff based on the Ruby Payne book “A Framework for Understanding Poverty.” The presentation focused on 10 actions to educate students including: building relationships of mutual respect, teaching students hidden rules or expectations of school, analyzing the resources of a student, teaching formal register (language), teaching abstract processes, teaching students how to plan, using an adult voice to reframe and change behaviors, understanding family resources and dynamics and teaching students how to ask questions.
Littlejohn later spoke to the Indian Lake Board of Education about the professional development opportunity.
He is a representative for the aha! Process, Incorporated, a Ruby Payne Company. The professional development session and the parent workshop were funded by a Title 2A grant.