Transcript How Brain Compatible is My Teaching?

HOW BRAIN COMPATIBLE IS MY
TEACHING?
Mr. Bozin Mrs. Bradley
Mr. Garcia
and
Mrs. Quan
On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) indicate the degree to
which your teaching does the following:
RATE ON A SCALE OF 1-5

I provide an enriched and varied learning
environment.

I search constantly for opportunities to
integrate curriculum concepts between
subject areas.

Students have frequent opportunities during
class to talk about what they are learning.
RATE 1-5

One of the main criteria I use to decide on
classroom activities is relevancy to students.

I do not use lecture as the main mode of
instruction.
TRUE OR FALSE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Often students have high self-confidence.
Students often conform to roles assigned by
their peer group.
The influence of peers intensifies in middle
school.
School authority begins to be questioned and
challenged
Middle school students have full command of
abstract thinking.
TRUE OR FALSE
6. More than 50% of students are visual learners
and prefer pictures, charts, and written text
over lecture.
7. 30% of students are kinesthetic learners and
need more tactile (hands-on) and movementbased activities.
8. Children ages 5-13 learn best in 20 minute
increments.
TRUE OR FALSE
9. Students must feel physically and emotionally
safe before their brains are ready to learn
10. Most adolescents have lower level energy in
the morning and higher levels of energy after
lunch. A higher energy level correlates to an
increased level of attention.
11. Allowing off-task time between lesson
segments will decrease a student’s focus.
RESEARCH SAYS:
Research on brain based teaching explains that
the brain learns, and recalls learning, through
non-linear patterns that emphasize coherance
rather than fragmentation. The more teachers
make connecting patterns explicit and
accessible for students, the easier the brain
will integrate new information (Hart, 1983)
RESEARCH SAYS:
Cognitive research shows that educational
programs should challenge students to link,
connect and integrate ideas and to learn in
authentic contexts. (Caine & Caine, 1997)
What are some examples
of
activities that
stimulate
Higher-Order Thinking?
ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE HIGHER-ORDER THINKING
Encourage students to use analogies and
metaphors when describing new concepts
 Have students attempt to solve real-life problems
(pollution, energy crisis)
 Involve students in debates and discussions that
tackle more than one side of an issue. Have
students support ideas with evidence.
 Get students to role play historic events
 Include audio/visual content often (Sousa, 2006)
