Week 12

What is brain-based learning and how can it inform problem based learning and differentation?

            Brain based learning is the “purposeful engagement of effective strategies derived from principles of neuroscience” (Moore and Sellers). It’s what keeps students engaged in the classroom. Every morning we start the day with a morning song. It gives the students a chance to get in the rhythm to learn and wake up their brain. It’s kind of funny, to think of waking up your brain, but it’s true. Students need breaks throughout their day. A classroom should not have students sitting for long periods of time. Students should only have “5-8 minutes of direction instruction” (Jensen) and many brain breaks throughout the day. One tool I like to use in my classroom is Gonoodle.com this site has many different videos you can play for your students. My students favorite is Zumba. I particularly like the Flow videos to have my students do before taking an assessment. It calms them down and gets them ready to do their best on the test.

         Students need to be active learners in the classroom. Teachers who “avoid active learning run the risk of having bored, fatigued learners.” (Jensen). We have all been there, asking ourselves “when is this class ever going to end!” The trick is to give the students a lot of movement throughout each lesson. It’s also important for students to build on their “prior knowledge” (Jensen). KWL charts are my favorite for this activity. You can do them as a whole class and in higher grade levels you can complete them independently and then pair and share with a partner. It really helps the teacher understand what the students know before the lesson, what they want to learn and a great reflection tool to use at the end of the lesson. 

         Constantly throughout out my lessons I have students working with partners and groups. They are problem solving with each other and collaborating to find a solution for a problem and also to check the other peers understanding and get different ideas on a vocabulary world, for example. “When students have to talk to others about information, they retain the information longer and more efficiently” (Moore and Sellers) they are able to build off of each other’s prior knowledge and provide a more in-depth understanding.

         Anytime I can, I have students move around the classroom. When they are reading with a partner, I have them sit anywhere of their choosing in the room. The only place they can’t sit is their desk. The quick few minutes of walking to a new area is a nice break for them. The other day we were doing a science activity on balancing. The students worked with partners to create their structures and practice balancing it. They were sitting for a while, so the next activity I wanted them to practice balancing after listening to a story of a gymnast. This next activity was not in the “teachers manual” but, I know my students and they learn a lot better by moving “kinesthetic activities in your classroom” (Willis) than auditory. So I took the beams we were given in the kit and created “balance beams” for the students. The students paired up and walked over to their “balance beam”. The students practiced walking on the beam and noticed the difference in their balance with their hands moving up and down. Not to go into the whole lesson, but this was an activity that I used to help them retain the information in their brain. After the activity we reflected, wrote and illustrated in our science journal. The students informed me a few days later, they remembered the activity and their favorite one was walking on the “balance beam.” If it’s engaging to the students they will enjoy it and retain it.

         Another activity you could do in the classroom is “put a number line down on the floor and have students walk on it when learning negative and positive numbers” (Willis) you could also do this when practicing skip counting. Think outside the box. Do whatever is going to keep students engaged and moving during the activity!

         The reading this week mentioned about how teachers need to “reduce homework stress by incorporating time for homework in class or right after class” (Jensen). I couldn’t agree more. I don’t believe in homework and I’m not sure if it’s because I had 3 hours ever night when I was in 5^th and 6^th grade or I think students are in school for a long time and need to be kids after. Whatever the reason is, the only homework I give is reading 20 minutes a night and any math concept they didn’t understand in class. The students are given an intervention technology program to complete at home. It is in the format of a game, which makes it not like “homework” to the students. I don’t believe in busy work. It’s such a waste a time and an overload on the students brain for no reason.

         I used to teach at a Title I school. When I read about it this week, there were a lot of ah ha moments. I had many behavioral issues teaching at that school, more than I have ever encountered in my life. While teaching at the school and after reading Jensen’s view on Title I students, you have to feel very sad for them. It’s out of their control. A lot of my students would go to an empty house after school or have an older sibling raise them. The parents either had two jobs morning to night or other stuff that kept them away. I won’t go into the details.

         While I taught there, I made sure my students or any students I came across throughout the day had food and water with them. We would have constant breaks and if students were extra hungry after lunch I would open up a food drawer in my desk and they would be able to choose what they wanted to snack on. I like the idea of not disciplining on the behavior, but finding another opportunity for the students to do instead. For instance, if a student throws down a marker on the floor and interrupts the class, of course they need a warning, but make them have a job “marker passer” or something of that sort. I think it’s a great idea to have these resources available for the students: “a physician on-site once a week. Working with a local pharmacy to arrange for access to medications. Arranging for a dentist to make designated school visits. Educating students’ caregivers about school resources. Providing tutors to help students who miss classes to catch up. Improving awareness among staff about health-related issues”(Jensen).

         If we understand the students background and how their brain is designed created to learn this will help prevent behavior issues in the classroom and keep students engaged. We need to constantly assess students while we have them. Not give them tests, but check their understanding, find the areas “students need support in and the right intervention to give them” (Jensen). The Title I school I taught at had a tutoring program in the morning for students. We were able to implement interventions and help students who missed work or needed extra support Pre-school – 5^th grade. It was an amazing program we had at our school. Educators should remember that “students brains change and so do their levels of attention, learning and cognition” (Jensen). If we know how to keep our students brains a live and keep them engaged in the activity, we will have very small behavioral issues in our classroom. Students learn from modeling. If a student has an environment that causes them stress and is dysfunctional, they will have a difficult time learning and staying focused. Our goal as educators is to give them a safe learning environment where they feel relaxed and their brain is engaged. We also need to know what helps our students learn (specific manipulatives, strategies..etc) and how we can connect and help them understand the content we are teaching to them.  

Resources

Jensen, Eric. Teaching with the Brain in Mind (2nd Edition). Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2005. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 April 2015. Retreived from: http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2081/lib/uasoutheast/reader.action?ppg=6&docID=10089220&tm=1428258945648

Jensen, Eric. Teaching with Poverty in Mind : What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 April 2015. Retrieved from: http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2081/lib/uasoutheast/reader.action?ppg=28&docID=10375878&tm=1428259489468

Willis, J. (2012, January 1). Brain-Based Learning Strategies: Hold Students' Attention With a Radish. Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://www.teachhub.com/brain-based-learning-strategies-hold-students-attention-radish

https://www.gonoodle.com/

Moore, J., & Sellers, T. (n.d.). Practical Applications of Brain-based Strategies to Eh L i n hance Learn ing. Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://www.polk-fl.net/staff/teachers/reading/documents/Read180Day2/Tuesday2/PracticalA _Moore/PracticalA _Moore [Compatibility Mode].pdf