Brain Compatible Fundamentals

Rethinking Our Classrooms

Brainwashings…

• All children can learn.• You are a gifted teacher of gifted

children.• Students are no better than the

assignments they are given.• Different is fair.

Mindset – Behavior - Results

• Your beliefs and attitudes create your mindset.• Your mindset determines your behavior.• Your behavior determines the results you

produce.• To understand your mindset, look at the results

that you produce.• To produce different (more desirable) results

on a consistent basis, change your mindset!!• ©Performance Fact

Principles of Learning

• Effort produces achievement• Learning is about making connections• We learn with and through others• Learning takes time• Motivation matters

• ©National Institute for School Leadership

Principles of Teaching

• The teacher matters• Focused teaching promotes accelerated

learning• Clear expectations and continuous feedback

activate learning• Good teaching builds on students’ strengths

and respects individuals’ differences• Good teaching involves modeling what students

should learn• ©National Institute for School Leadership

Group Work

• Ineffective Classroom

• Effective Classroom

• Exemplary Classroom

Success - Achievement

• Same students

• 4 Different Teachers

• Can the results be different?

Brain Needs…

“Three principles from brain research:Emotional safety, appropriate challenges, and self constructed meanings suggest that a one-size-fits all approach to classroom instruction is ineffective for most students and harmful to some.”

©Teach Me Teach My Brain – A Call for Differentiated Classrooms – Carol Ann Tomlinson

Brain Compatible Learning

• Brain research confirms what experienced teachers have always known:– No two children are alike– No two children learn in an identical way– An enriched environment for one student is not

necessarily enriched for another– We should teach children to think for themselves

Brain Compatible Learning

• Brain doesn’t need motivated to learn any more than the heart needs to be motivated to pump blood. Most classrooms actually de-motivate children to learn.

• Leslie Hart

Brain Compatible Classrooms

• 7 Brain Compatible Fundamentals– Emotional Wellness and Safe Environment

• How are students’ emotions linked to memory and learning? How do stress and emotions affect student learning?

– Body, Movement, and the Brain• Why do oxygen, water, sleep, certain foods, and movement

affect students’ brains and their learning?

– Relevant Content and Student Choices• Why does the brain remember some information and skills

more readily than others? How, when, and why should we offer student choices?

– Time, Time, and More Time• What three time elements dramatically affect when and

how well students learn?

– Enrichment for the Brain• Is enrichment just for gifted kids?

– Assessment and Feedback• What forms of assessment are and are not brain

compatible?

– Collaboration• How and why do students learn effectively through

collaborating with others, both adults and peers?

Emotional Wellness and Safe Environment

• Recall your most memorable school experience– Crystallizing– Paralyzing

• Stress and Memory– Long-term stress=memory impairment

• Safe Environment– Sense of Community– Expectations for Students– Teacher Behaviors

Body, Movement, and the Brain• Oxygen

– Brain uses 1/5 of body’s oxygen – weighs about 1/70th of the body’s total weight

• Water– Brain’s second favorite food– Dehydration

• Sleep– Students age 12-17 need 8.5 – 9.25 hours of sleep

• Foods– Fruits and vegetables– Breakfast

• Movement– Increases oxygen level in the body by 20%– Change location

Relevant Content and Student Choices

• Patterns and connections

• Student choices

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• i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Time, Time, and More Time• Time on Task

– One minute per year – 20 minute max.– Physical breaks to increase productivity,

quality, and morale

• Need for More Time– Practice over time– Conceptual understanding linked to prior

knowledge

• Opportune Time Periods for Learning

Enrichment for the Brain• Problem Solving

– Puzzles, brainteasers– Problem of the day– Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Music– Uplifting songs– Background music– Songs for learning

• Physical Environment– Ownership– Bulletin boards– Colors/Patterns

Assessment and Feedback• Assessments

– Authentic– Variety– Expectations/Rubrics

• Feedback– Prompt– Specific– Multimodal

Collaboration

• Pair and Share• Cooperative Learning• Group Work• Collaboration between School and

Community

Cognitive Learning Styles• Concrete Sequential

• Abstract Sequential

• Abstract Random

• Concrete Random

Drawing Your Brain• Multiple Intelligences

– Verbal/Linguistic– Visual/Spatial– Logical/Mathematical– Musical/Rhythmic– Interpersonal– Intrapersonal– Bodily/Kinesthetic– Naturalistic– Existential

Learning Modalities

• Visual

• Auditory

• Kinesthetic