THE SCIENCE OF GROWTHPart 1

What isbrain-basedteaching?

30 - second write

What is Brain-based teaching?

•It’s the purposeful

•ENGAGEMENT

•of effective

•STRATEGIES

•derived from

•PRINCIPLES

•from neuroscienceIt’s ESP!

• “When students are provided with a learning

environment that is optimal for learning,

graduation rates, increase, learning difficulties and

discipline problems decrease, a love of learning

flourishes, administrators focus on the real issues,

and learning organisation thrive. In short, creating

an organisation around the way the brain naturally

learns best may be the simplest and most critical

educational reform ever initiated. In fact, of all the

reforms, nothing provides a better return on your

investment of time, energy, and money than

developing a brain-based approach to learning.”

• Eric Jensen

•“Every single time (without exception) that something is NOT working at your school, one of the brain’s basicpremises or “rules” are being violated.”

•For example…we should encode with •moderate stress, and we recall better •with low stress. Violate that rule and kids •will learn less and underperform on tests.

•“Astute educators are

•applying the findings

•with astonishing success”...

•Jensen

The PARCEL

The POSTAL SYSTEM

BRAIN BYTES

•2 BIG IDEAS

•2 BIG IDEAS

•1. Emotional Integration

•EMOTIONS ARE NOT SEPARATE

•from body and mind.

•THEY ARE INTEGRAL TO

•BRAIN STRUCTURE.

“If we don’t deal with the emotional stuff first, then we’re not going to get anything else done.” Derek Hedgecook

“Our thinking is not ‘contaminated’ by emotions: rather, our emotions are an integral aspect of our neural operating system. Emotions speed our thinking... they help us to focus our reason and logic.” Jensen

Complex learning requires:

• Student investment

• Motivation

• Working memory

• Retrieval

• Critical thinking

• Risk-taking All are EMOTIONAL

STATE-related

EMOTIONAL STATES

NOTES TO SELF: [Implications for my teaching]

• Students are at the center of all our efforts. Celebrate them in CONTENT and PROCESS. [Arrange successes for them.]

• See your role as an emotional coach...

• Focus on a joyful, productive, safe classroom culture.

• Use celebratory rituals

• Role-model enthusiasm

• MOTIVATE, then teach

• Purposefully plan activities that will connect students with the content.

• Use narrative / controversy / debate

• Offer personal reflection

• Promote social interactions / cooperative learning