2. Go to the top left corner of this blog under the heading "Pages" and click on the title of the article below to find out what makes the human mind special.
Frith, Chris D., and Uta Frith. "Interacting Minds--A Biological Basis." Science 286.5445 (1999): 1692. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
3. Click on the picture below to read about how stress affects learning.
" Stress: Interference to Learning." Brain Connection. August 2000 By E. Simon Hanson
4. Click on the picture below to see where brain evolution might lead.
Get Smarter By Jamais Cascio--The Atlantic--March 9, 2010
FYI: I was able to download "Brain Rules" to my ipod from audible.com. I happen to have a subscription and had extra credits to spend so it did not cost me anything. It's a great listen on the treadmill. It's also fun to listen to the author himself doing the presenting.
ReplyDeleteBobbie...good call because your brain will be on while listening. I wish we had treadmill desks at school!
ReplyDeleteInteracting minds work better; each of us has our own mind and view of the world, and opening up ideas to discussion and creativity can certainly help not only the individual learner, but the group as a whole. This happened in AP today with students working together on a creative assignment for presentations next week.
ReplyDeleteWill our minds ever advance so that we use more than 10% of our brain's potential; the article "Get Smarter" says that safe modification of human genetics is still years away and that modern human cognition evolved in response to "the demands of a long age of turbulence." Will continual change become the constant that makes us grow and expand our potential.
Our group focused on technology in the classroom and how kids are so much more techno-savvy than old farts like me!
ReplyDeleteWe also talked about how kids are too much into instant gratification. How does this change the brain and its wiring? How does it affect kids when we take their phones from them? I know that sounds weird, but I think it truly stresses kids out when we take their phones away. They are addicted! Some will take a supsension before giving up their phones. How does this technology become sooooo important to them?
The science group talked about the various devices that we used which dealt with stress management. I was lucky enough at one time to have a co-teacher that could take care of the material because I needed to get out of the class for a couple minutes and relax. This worked very well. I have also realized that the students react to how you react to them. If the teacher unloads and yells at a student, it could take awhile for the class to come back. One stress idea is that knowing the previous fact, if the teacher yells than it is more productive if they gradually lower the voice as they are talking. This will keep students attention as well as release the stress and tension that is built up.
ReplyDeleteOur group discussed ways we can eliminate stress in classroom. Some ideas we had for stress management were to think about what we would say to a student before we say it, walk away from the situation, and not stay angry if something happens.
ReplyDeleteWe also talked about how to deal with students attention spans. The one article on evolution mentioned how we are evolving as a species to have “self-induced ADHD” with all the information we are constantly encountering. How do we use this knowledge to help our students be more successful in the classroom? Our students are very different in today’s technological society and maybe we need to teach them how to use the different technologies available to them.
We also discussed the issue of how students are not prepared for social interactions at school. So much of their socializing is through texting, facebook, video games, etc. that they lack the ability to adapt to difficult situations at school and read social cues.
Our group talked about how students are very dependent on technology right now. Students expect information to be instantly available and when it isn't, they get quickly frustrated and give up. Students also don't know what to do when technology, like cell phones, are not easily accessible. They have become too dependent on their cell phones, internet, etc.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is great because it does give us information quickly but there are definite downsides to it at times.
Cooperative vs competitive brains. Remember Boys Adrift? Mens brains thrive on some competition and it doesn't appear to harm their relationships. Not all kids/teachers get stressed by the same things and I am concerned that we may forget the KEY point that we all are "the boss" of our brain and we must learn to regulate our attention and our stress responses to be independent learners.
ReplyDeleteOur group spoke about the evolution of technology. Current students have been exposed to technology more than any in the past and this will continue to be true. They are more comfortable and technology savvy than their teachers. They are extremely dependent on the use of technology in their everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I wish I were more adept at using this blog site! I know I am not alone, so that's good for my sanity. I enjoyed the video of the first two Rules, and I am looking forward to getting the book into my hands. The idea that the evolution of the brain has led to our dominance of the known universe (Earth) is interesting and disturbing. From an ecological point of view, this dominance is leading to the destruction of our habitat. From an educational point of view, based on our group discussion, brain evolution is creating processing that makes it hard to focus, or concentrate, or communicate for our young people. I have many concerns and questions. Time for a nap. :)
ReplyDeleteToday we discussed Brain rule number two. Today we learned that the brain operates the best when exercise is involved. I am now going to incorporate some type of movement into all of my 90 minute classes, to keep my students brains turned on and active. Another main topic of discussion was how to handle stress in the classroom. It was very interesting to find out that after a teacher "yells" at a student it takes the entire class 20 minutes to recover from the stress. We were trying to figure out different strategies for avoiding this stressed feeling. We discussed taking a deep breath before we yell, taking the student out in the hallway so it will not affect the other students, keeping our body language relaxed after the incidence, and being as calm as possible when reacting to the students behavior. Another topic we talked about was student interaction with each other, and how they are evolving to technical communications over face to face communications. We wondered if we should allow students to use their phone calculators, and possibly add it to a 21st century skill in school. One other interesting point was that people today are causing self induced ADD because of all of the distractions within our everyday. Overall, it was a very interesting and informative discussion.
ReplyDeleteI remember previously doing a paper when I took a previous brain class from AEA (Bruce Buffe - if you are old enough to know him.)
ReplyDeleteThe concept was that if you looked at the characteristics of ADHD and compared them to the desired traits of an athlete, there was a high correlation. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. I do know that the number of students having ADHD or ADD has increased.
How our mind is now evolving is the real question. Natural selection with the survival of the fittest would tend to say that the most desirable are ADD or ADHD. I’m hoping that before reproduction becomes an issue, other abilities besides athletics will become more important.
In our discussion regarding the Brain Rule # 2 we talked about survival and symbolism, which are the key points of the second chapter in the book. John Medina chooses Judy DeLoache from the University of Virginia who is working on investigative brain research, and brain cognition. She has made remarkable progress with small children and like B.F. Skinner, is learning how conditioning affects us as well as our chronological age.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting part of Symbolic Reasoning is the theory of dual representation, our ability as humans to make things up. Like a kid with a stick, who says: "This isn't a stick, its a light saber!" We have learned to become smarter and John Medina concludes it is due to the change in our climate with the increasing ice age vs, blistering heat, that has created who we are.
Lastly, we discussed the implications of teachers stress in the classroom and how an outburst of yelling might affect the kids for an extended period of time.
During this session, our group discussed how evolution of the human brain is leaning toward increased ADD or lack of focus. We discussed how differentiation could actually combat student focus (i.e. student groups are each doing something different within their groups). We also talked about how it appears that if we raise our voice to manage student behavior that it seems our students don't use 20 minutes to recover from the stress of the situation. Students seem to recover within 5 minutes! Maybe we are not aware of the effects of student stress afterward?? Some ideas for stress management were to speak to a student and then walk away, have a co-teacher take over, and take a deep breath and relax so that so that our body language doesn't show stress to the student. Humans learn social behavior by watching others. So to show a calm, demeanor would mirror how we want students to feel.
ReplyDeleteGood comments about technology issues and losing face to face communication skills...especially considering that we are currently seated facing away from each other and typing :)
ReplyDeleteOur group discussed human evolution in terms of physical strength vs. higher order of thinking skills. Another interesting topic concerned communication at home and at school. Does it really take all members of the learning community twenty minutes to recover from stress created by an instructor yelling? Maybe yelling is the norm for communication in some homes. In addition, a group member read a passage from the Brain Rules book on brain evolution in relationship to climate changes.
ReplyDeleteI think it is real important as a teacher not “yell’ at students because it does shut the class down for a good twenty minutes. I believe a good teacher is empathetic in order to foster better communication and build relationships with students.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was wondering was if anybody had ideas to work with students who seem like they can’t work outside of a group setting. You can see they are contributing in the group so they aren’t just free loading, but they just seem to shut down when they have to do something all on their own. I don’t know if it is because of bad past experiences or what it really is. Any ideas?
Our group discussed the dependence on technology that students have acquired. How quickly does the brain adjust to the continual influx of technology and its applications? Technology is changing the way we communicate. What are the implications for us as teachers? In addition, what is stressful for one person/student may not be stressful to another? What are some ways in which we can determine stressors for people?
ReplyDeleteToday we talked about how yelling at students causes stress. We talked about how different each students brain handles stress and how long it takes to recover from a stressful situation. Just the way some of our classrooms are set up causes stressful situations for kids. We discussed how getting kids up and moving is a great stress reliever and also by getting them moving this will cut down on negative behavior. I know as a teacher that sometimes I am guilty of setting up or causing stressful situations. This is one area I am really trying to change.
ReplyDeleteWe also talked about how we as humans have to work together in order for our survival.
I have some good ideas on how to get kids up and moving in your classrooms while still staying on task, so if anybody wants to look my Brain Lesson Book let me know. It has lessons for about every subject.
In closing I would like to say that we are just touching the tip of the iceberg here. I hope we here at West will be the leaders for the district in brain based learning.
R. Gill
I thought it was fascinating that the brain is constantly rewiring itself, and it makes sense since we are constantly learning new things. We all learn differently; therefore, we should not expect all students to learn the same things. In addition, the text also said that smaller schools create better learning environments; therefore, it seems to me that smaller classes should also create better learning environments when you have so many different levels and rates of learning to consider.
ReplyDeleteFeeling it: Relationships with students are very important. A principal once told me it doesn't matter what you teach, if a student likes you, you can teach them anything. It's all about the rapport.
ReplyDeleteIn our discussion we mentioned symbolism and survival. Since Mary had a copy of Brain Rules, she kindly read to us about the climactic changes. That was very interesting. We also found it interesting how autistic and schophrenic children have problems with reality, which then affects their learning.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to read all of your comments on Ch2. Jay and I also had a interesting discussion. We decised to meet, blog, then go on to the next chapter. Works for us.
ReplyDeleteMy high point was the introduction of the Variability Selection Theory and how we were becoming allergic to inflexibility and stupidity. So are we going backwards because I see alot of inflecibility and stupidity in my classroom and in the world. I guess I need to wait a bit (100,000 years) for that trait to die out again.
Nonetheless, the biggie trait of bipedalism and our big heads is what I'm thankful for. Now I wonder what we will look like 100,000 years in the future? I'm a Star Trek fan, so getting rid of our ability to talk because we can just "think" to each other seems so much easier.
Getting back to earth, having three brains with the Jello cortex as the last part seems very basic and makes great developmental sense. In many ways this book so putting alot together that was before just unknown fact in my head. I love this book.
As far as the groups comments on stress, I'm totally in sync. In our differentiation classes students only learn when they feel "safe." Being stressed, or worried, isn't being safe. I like the flight instructor story and I find myself learning better if told in a story. And that, by the way, is history...a story (take the first two letters of history away). But the bigger lesson to be learned is: "...if a teacher can't hold a student's interest, knowledge will not be richly encoded in the brain's database."