We begin Teaching With The Brain In Mind this week. Some of you have taken a course with Marci Tate so this might not be "new" information. I'd like us to make it through Chapter 3 this week and before our meeting on Tuesday. On Tuesday I'd like to start with our thoughts and conclusions thus far, then move into brain research.
Comment away, see you Tuesday!
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Books I Wish I Read Before Sending My Daughter To Middle School
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16 comments:
I was intrigued by the topics of mental models(p46) and error correction(p52). One of the key differences between my extremely low students and extremely high students is their ability to do error correction and maintain/modify mental models with new information. My very high kids do this at lightning speed, and at the other extreme, my very low kids can't seem to do it at all. I have had on occasion, very low kids work in groups with greater ability kids, and as a group they work through a problem through trial-error, reasoning and rejecting the first one or two approaches in solving the problem. What I find is that when the very low kid is questioned after this experience on how they arrived at the answer, they will repeat the first failed approach. In contrast, the higher ability kid will either explain the entire process (including the failed approaches and why they failed) or they will explain the final successful approach. I wonder if this is the reason that faulty mental models in the low performing kids never seem to get repaired (e.g. adding fractions by adding the numerator and denominator separately). On p53-54 the author suggests 3 reasons: 1) misguided, impaired or damaged neural structures due to fetal alcohol exposure, brain injury and autism.
2) Prior learning and mental models are resistant to change
3) No reflection or debriefing to create a clear understanding or mental model of what just happened.
In my example, I suspect it is reason #2 since there was a lot of discussion in the group and #1 is unlikely in multiple kids in our demographics.
So, from p48, it seems we need to spend a lot of effort in challenging the false beliefs. It is difficult to do this in a time-constrained standards-based classroom environment when the false belief is rooted in learning from many years earlier. Is this something that would benefit from computer-based, customized curriculum which allows for easier identification of faulty thinking and assigning activities with multiple references to address the faulty model?
While reading the first two chapters I thought of the many variables to the child’s learning process that we have absolutely no control over. Before beginning chapter three I wondered how we could overcome these variables and actually reach “teach” the students in the short period of time they are in our classrooms.
The four practical implications on p. 31 present a concise overview of where to begin. We have to understand them before we can expect them to “trust” us, and give us the attention needed for the learning process to begin.
Of the seven critical factors in the learning process in chapter three I was interested in how the use of prior knowledge can be used to excite them to learn. We are getting their learning process started by having them initially teach themselves. They are excited that they actually know something about the subject matter.
Also interesting was the rule of error correction, or trial and error learning explained on pgs. 52,53. I thought of how comfortable the student’s would be if we removed their “embarrassment” of giving a wrong answer in front of their peers. Knowing that an initial wrong answer is okay could spark much class discussion and learning related to a specific topic.
It all sounds so easy. The real challenge is for us to understand how we can adapt these critical factors to each student.
I agreee with Hugh. In theory it sounds so easy to teach students how to read well. In actuality, this is such a hard concept. All this knowledge we have gleened will certainly make this task easier.
Knowing that genetics accounts for almost half of all students learning and intelligence, there is still another 50% we can tap into. Generally our kiddos have an advantage of having the extra external support. With that being said now it is up to us to dramatically influence their learning each day.
I took a bunch of notes while reading, but the biggest thing for me was a little comment on p. 46 "As you’ll see, these connections are so stubborn, you have to work with what students have, not try to erase or fix them.” I immediately thought of Montaño’s comments about eradication.
I also kept thinking about Brendan’s comment from last week about integrating the classes in elementary. “In theory, any bit of prior knowledge can become connected to any other bit…” p. 46. When I took a brain class in ND, is was explained as “pathways” to the file cabinet. I like the tumbleweed analogy of this book. The thing is, if we could get them to have more connections, it sounds like the pathways would be less likely to be lost. P. 11 said, “Your brain is losing connections at the same time it is creating new connections.” It also said somewhere that the connections that are used most, will be saved while the unused connections will be lost. IF they could connect information from the various classes, there would be so many more connections and they could recall more readily. But, p. 47 reminds us that “coherent to one learner does not mean coherent to another. Nor does coherent mean accurate.” We need to make sure they understand and that they are understanding correct information for each subject.
I had a student or two in the past who requested to stand at the back of the room. I am thinking I might allow that more this year with the comment from p. 51 “if students feel drowsy, they should be allowed to stand at the back of the room for up to two minutes and stretch on their own, PROVIDED THEY DO SO WITHOUT ATTRACTING ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES. “Standing can raise heart rate (hence, blood flow) by as much as 5 to 8% in just seconds” (p. 63).
One thing I will need to keep in mind is that they need “2 to 5 minutes of processing for every 10 to 15 minutes of instruction” (p. 44). I had not known that “Sleep is when this catch-up takes place, and when the teenage brain organizes and stores new learning.” (p. 30).
I wanted to expand on what Hugh said about learning by making mistakes. I love the quotation on page 53, "And mistakes, not correct answers, make us smarter." It makes sense, but the hard part is to retrain the students' brains and make them understand that it is OK to make mistakes. It goes back to creating a classroom where students feel safe and know that they won't be embarrassed.
I also really appreciate chapter 3 and the "practical suggestions" sections. It is great to learn about the theory behind how and why the brain works the way it does, but what is helpful to me is how these theories can be played out in the classroom.
One section in Chapter 3 that I struggled with is "The Power of Mental Models." I understand the premise, but I'm finding it difficult to visualize how to teach this in the classroom. Any other suggestions?
I thought that the section on how the brain learns new content was very interesting. It really supports the theories I am teaching in Study Skills, where the more physiological senses that we can get involved in the learning process the better information will be retained by students. This is why note taking is such an important skill as students are using multiple senses when they are capturing information during lectures and class activities. I also thought that the scaffold effect and the mañana effect were interesting concepts in chapter 2. The scaffold effect maintains that there is a “cascade effect” on the brain’s development that depends on each child’s neural scaffold that is the foundation for important skills such as reading, writing, and reasoning. The mañana effect maintains that anything that we can postpone, we will postpone, sometimes to the detriment of the learning of the child. While the child is capable of learning a second language, these skills have preferred periods where the biological window of opportunity makes it easier for these skills and other more essential skills, such as sensory motor development, to be developed. One of the concepts in chapter 3 that I thought was interesting was the guidelines for direct instruction of new content. For the grade levels at our school, the book recommends 12-15 minutes of direct instruction for the introduction of new content. I know that there are a lot of different theories out there, and so I’m really not certain what to think of this new information, so I am looking forward to the upcoming PST meeting so that I can get feedback from everyone on what their thoughts are about that concept.
It seems like most of us are responding to the information on pp. 52-53. I agree with Chitra. Higher level kids use errors as a way of learning, After reading this, I feel I must focus on this specifically with my lower and even moderate kids, who just see and error as wrong.
Another part that stuck me was the effect of cortisol on learning (p.56 column 1). the fact that it aids learning but not retrieval is somewhat daunting as tests by their nature are cortisol inducing. Have to work on that one. The practical suggestions at the end of this chapter seem to play to exactly those volatile emotions we associate with adolescents.
Of the three books we’ve read this summer, this one has presented me with the most new information by far. I took entire classes in both ESL and literacy in college, but not on the brain.
The first two chapters gave a lot of information, most of which is not directly relevant to classroom practice. However, I understand the need to build background knowledge for the reader as well as establish credibility for the author.
An important point I gleaned from chapter one was the author’s iteration of the fact that all students can learn. As teachers, we know that, but it is sometimes important to remind our students, especially when the new information being taught is challenging.
Chapter two had a lot of interesting information, though again, the first 9 pages were not necessarily directly relevant to my classroom. (However, if I ever become a parent, I will definitely be referring back to that section.) Staring on pg 29 though, the information became more relevant. The suggestions listed on pages 31 and 32 certainly made me reflect on classroom practice, but they seemed to be more suggestions to parents than to teachers.
Chapter three was when it really started to get good. I took a lot away from this chapter, and the margins of my book are full of notes and ideas. Two “ah-has” struck me as connecting points:
1)This book provides yet another rationale for the same types of strategies advocated by both Tovani and the ELL book. It comes at it from a different angle, but still asks us as teachers to apply many of the same things. I’m thinking specifically of the section starting on pg 45 and Jensen’s emphasis on prior knowledge and modeling.
2) As the author talks about “mental models,” I keep thinking about the “tangibles” we learned about in the Montano training. Asking students to represent their mental organization in a visible way will both ensure that they do, in fact, have a mental model (and allow for correction as needed) and simultaneously, help cement those neural pathways.
I agreed with Jensen in his closing of the chapter, “You’ve already been influencing your students by using the rules…now you can be more purposeful about how you use them (59).” I will not only be more purposeful, but more conscious in my application of these rules in my classroom practice.
This week’s reading offered a lot to digest – especially the info presented in chapter three. I was drawn to the discussion on right brain vs. left brain since I present a huge unit on how to lessen the impact of the more dominant left brain to allow the right brain to gain prominence in many of my classes, especially the eighth grade drawing/painting class. Much of what I teach comes from Betty Edward’s book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and although Jensen seemed ambiguous about the LB/RB findings, what I see the students doing when we try the tricks to gain right brain influence is incredible, surprising even the most skeptical and reluctant in class.
What I also found revealing AND scary is not so much the amount of development in the brain from birth to ages one and two (as I thought back to when my sons were that age!!) but the effect such development apparently has for the rest of a person’s life. We all know that our students come with a huge amount of baggage of all kinds, and so much of what we see in them is simply beyond our control. In some ways, it seems amazing – given all the variables – that the students do as well as they do and that, despite multiple areas of possible needed improvement, that the educational process works as well as it does.
What I got out of this first section (chapters 1-3) of Teaching with the Brain in Mind is that parents who naturally care about their child's development are probably already doing most of the recommendations from this book, whereas parents who either don't care or are too busy working two jobs or more just to keep the family afloat probably have more difficulty fostering healthy brain development through necessary channels, such as good basic nutrition, exposing children to frequent, meaningful conversation, environmental exploration and nurturing attention. I think the important thing for teachers, then, is to be aware enough to recognize which students are not getting what they need at home to succeed in school and for schools to provide stimulating explorations for all students.
I also noticed that this book's ideas support the principles of the constructivist approach to teaching mathematics--the principles related to healthy brain development and learning mentioned here on page 44 are in complete agreement with this type of teaching and learning.
"Many schools have a curriculum that is too wide and too shallow. We need to make some hard choices about what to offer, and policymakers and others need to stop their endless demands to add more content. . . A more brain-based approach would focus on critical-thinking skills, strategic decision making, learn-to-learn skills, cooperative alliance making …"
They go on to say on page 45 that, "content is more likely to become meaningful to us if we can relate it to familiar, prior information, be both active and reflective with it, and learn it in context." These ideas are also supported by constructivist mathematics.
A final important idea that stuck with me after reading this section was that with adolescents, there are so many external and internal distracters, it is vital for teachers to connect as much learning as possible to some social, more engaging context in order for it to "stick." (page 35)
I have to admit that reading this book is much more difficult for me. Although I appreciate the physiological explanations behind the descriptions of student behavior, it is not the type of reading I usually enjoy, and I find my mind wandering. I guess I need to employ some of Tovani’s fix-up strategies.
That being said, there are two things that stood out to me so far. The suggestions on pages 31-32 are good reminders and fit what we have learned from the other two books. I particularly liked the statement, “Sometimes their brains just can’t help them avoid doing seemingly stupid things.” How many times have we thought to ourselves, “What was he thinking?” I imagine those of you who are parents of teens can add quite a bit from your own experiences! I also found this statement on page 37 interesting: “Students rarely get training in how to be calm, thoughtful, or reflective, and they are given little time to practice these skills in class.” Again, this only reinforces some of the strategies suggested in the other readings. As I plod, I mean progress, through the rest of the book, I look forward to finding more connections of the brain research presented here to the lessons presented in the other books.
The beginning two chapters gave good background information. It was interesting to read about the different age levels and their development. The seven factors discussed in chapter three that influence learning are ideas that we are aware of, but may not always be able to account for in our classes. The guidelines for direct instruction of new content suggests 12-15 min. for middle school. With our shortened class time I think this fits into the schedule allowing processing time and rest after the direct instruction. It will be a challenge to fit all of our content into the shortened class time, but what do we want our students to remember without over loading them? The section that discusses the hippocampus continues to explain that sometimes teachers try to cram too much content into too little time. Learning how to pace the time and content in class will be important for us this year.
I liked the movement/amine activation discussion. I know that this is important and especially for boys to move around a bit. Having built in time/activities for this is a goal of mine for this year.
Many of my observations that I took notes on have already been stated, so I will just ditto the following:
1. This book seems to be giving physiological support to the two other books we have read; the first three chapters give brain-based rationale for utilizing ELL and fix-up strategies with all students.
2. Allowing students to stand up at the back for up to two minutes. I wish I would have employed that more in my classroom-- and I wish my teachers would have let me stand as well!
3. The concept that "a single association of prior knowledge may have as many as 10,000 connections" and that "...you have to work with what students have, not try to erase or fix them." I knew prior knowledge, right or wrong, was deeply ingrained, but I guess I had no idea how deeply. That is quite a tool for us to use or a large hurdle to overcome, depending.
4. That so much of the reorganization happens during sleep. We know that sleep is very important, but I don't think I realized how much of our learning "sinks in" while we are unconscious. :) I can't wait to pass that along to the kiddos.
Unlike Victor, this book really has my attention, because it gives the underlying physiology and reason why things happen the way the do. A couple of take home messages for me are to do pre-exposure and priming of students for what will be coming and to do more revising and reviewing afterward. I do think it is interesting that Jensen argues for block scheduling, but if only the teachers schedule break activities. I know we are going away from the block for practical reasons, but when we did use blocks I always thought that breaks were a waste of time, I am now rethinking that, though the breaks need to be well thought out and have structure. This probably still true even with shorter periods.
Teaching With the Brain In Mind, has been the most interesting book to me so far. Although there have been a few times that I have needed to use the “Fix Up” strategies from I Read It But I Don’t Get It, to help me pay a bit more attention in parts of chapters that I read. The brain is a fascinating and amazing computer in our body. The first few chapters has been a good review and reminder of how important those first few years of a child’s life are and so critical in their future learning.
I especially related to Chapter 3, Rules We Learn By. I believe that using pre-exposure, priming, and previewing is extremely effective when teaching math. One technique I hope to successfully use this year is the word wall using key math terms. Hopefully looking at the word wall and key math terms will consciously or subconsciously help students to remember prior skills and concepts and question what other terms could possibly mean. Using prior knowledge is also a key in teaching math. Students must build on prior skills before they can accurately understand the depth of any topic. Page 55 also gives great ideas of helping students gain positive feedback plus break up the monotony of an intense learning session. Pair sharing, competitive games, peer editing and student presentation and audience feedback are good ways for the teacher to also check for learning and digestion.
While I agree with Barry that it seems interesting to learn about the inner-workings of the brain, I definitely struggled to get through the first chapter and a half of scientific and technical terms.
I was much more interested in the Teenage Years section of Chapter 2. I've found that many of these strategies -- being succinct, avoiding sarcasm, using modeling -- are too often reserved for elementary schoolers. We now see that they are perhaps more necessary when working with teenagers, whose brains are "under construction." It's especially important to remember that 7th and 8th graders may need more explanation, even though they are far less eager to ask questions than they were a few short years ago, for fear of looking "stupid."
My three biggest points from Chapters 3 and 4 were all reminders from the Marcia Tate workshop I took last month. First, students of ALL ages NEED movement, and there are plenty of ways to incorporate it into the learning without having to "waste time." Second, students cannot be expected to focus on the material properly if they are afraid of failure or intimated (either by the teacher or by classmates). For the first two weeks of school, my stated objective will continue to be "Students will feel comfortable and confident in their learning environment." And third, students will have a better chance of retaining the info if they are offered a variety of different assessment types (with rubrics that they can help create).
One other thing: I love the idea of providing "settling time" to process new info at the end of a class period, and I would love to discuss ways to make that feasible in a 55-minute class.
Page 66: "Goal-setting on the move" is an easy way to add movement, as we already have solid goal-setting materials set up for SSR.
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