Martha,
Thank you.
You hit my dual focus for this chapter.
These two tested, proven, and journaled pieces of information will probably help me and my students immeasurably.
Having come back into education after a 23 year 'hiatus' in the private sector, I really harbored no illusion that multitasking was possible. I worked at one nuclear power station or another for all of that time and with the amount of self-assessment peer-review and cyclic training coupled with the number of 'errors' found, I knew we worked best serially.
I have segmented my classes for the six years I've been back because that's the way I ran my training sessions for adults. I have raised a lot of supervisors' eyebrows over the years, but they couldn't dispute the results.

The central focus reminds me of one of the themes of 'What The Bleep Do We Know"-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Blee... - have you seen it?

Thich Nhat Hanh says that every time someone dies the world ends.

Beth-
If we continue to PLN together (Ha! used it as a verb), you will probably think I'm like the guy whose only tool is hammer so every task looks like a nail; BUT, I think carefully designed and life-based projects with as many learning styles and intelligences incorporated in the planning as possible will support the uniqueness of each person, give them the experience of embarking on lifelong learning, and support them in their growth and development.