Jeaninne F. Morrow EDU 417 Instructor Colleen Lindecker July 6, 2014

* Your child deserves the best education possible. Educators should be aware that all students do not learn in the same way. Having a more brain- compatible education is stimulating and will help them retain the information that they are learning.

My name is Jeaninne Morrow. I am an ARI Special Education teacher (assistant teacher) at Oakdale Elementary School. Not only am I an assistant in a special education classroom, but I am in an autism classroom. This is my third year in this classroom and my babies (students) have given me different view of autism. I LOVE, LOVE my job and I also work during the summers doing ESY (Extended School Year Services). I earned my associate’s degree from Ashford University in December 2011 in Business. At the time that I started Ashford, I wanted to go into criminal justice but while in school, I got a job at the elementary school that I am currently working at. I will be completing my bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Studies in July I am currently enrolling at The University of Cincinnati’s Foundations in Behavior Analysis - Distance Learning.

* In 1989, President George Bush declared that the 90’s would be the Decade of the Brain (Roberts, 2002). In the article Beyond Learning by Doing: The Brain Compatible Approach, the article states that we have learned more in the past five years than in previous hundred. That is a big statement. With the technology advances that we have at our fingertips, it is no wonder why this is a valid statement. Each person’s brain is far different in the makeup, bio- chemical balance, and neural wiring. There are three findings about the brain which are every brain is unique, neuroplasticity, and the brain is complex and interconnected (Roberts, 2002). * Yes brain-compatible learning principles should be applied to all classrooms but to a certain degree. I did well in school, but I only looked forward to playing music or whenever the teacher would test us on musical instruments as well as offer music as a positive reinforcement. I would learn my class work through song. The teacher standing at the board talking was not stimulating and quite frankly was boring! This method worked better for me, but hands on learning might be better for others. We all think so differently.

* Traditional learning is what we think about as being less engaging. Most students will tell you that their teachers either stand at the board with a lot of notes or teach from their desk. Teachers give out worksheets, tell students what chapters to read, and usually test them on that information. * The great things about brain- compatible education is it encourages imaginary play, incorporates more music and art into the classroom setting, ensures that students feel safe in their environment, and adds more stimulating activities into the classroom (McDaniel, 2008).

Environmental factors play a nice portion of a child’s behavior, but so does genetics. For example, you can take a child that has been around violence and conflict. If the child is watching the people around him or her solving their issues through anger, they will usually pick up on that behavior and also solve their issues through negative behavior. Genetics can only be used to a point. If one’s mother is very shy and quiet, that does not mean that her children will also be shy and quiet. I believe that the environment conditions plays a bigger role on behavior than genetic factors.

* “In his talks to educators, Robert Sylwester often states, “Emotion drives attention, and attention drives learning” (1995) (Wolfe, 2010, p. 119).” * Our brains are constantly searching through the information that we receive. It is looking at what information should be kept and what should be ignored. Our brains are also biologically trained to attend to information that has strong emotional content first (Wolfe, 2010, p. 120).

* To the left is a lesson plan that I modified to make it more brain-compatible for students. The lesson plan is also ideal for children with special needs. This lesson plan best supports brain- compatible learning due to the various movements that are required, memorization of songs and what objects are used for the songs.

* The lesson plan is geared towards kindergarten students and students with autism (low functioning). I added into the lesson plan times where students will be required to clap their hands to what ever rhythm I make up (kindergarten) or for the students with autism, they will be required clap a few times. The point of the hand clapping is to keep them on task. There are times when students become distracted as well as less engaged and from my observation this is one way of grabbing their attention again.

Keeping the circle time activities limited to a twenty minute time frame is also successful. Students become less engaging the longer they are required to stay in the same area for long amounts of time. Music being played during the circle time activity also is very brain-compatible. It makes them happy, causes them to use their memory to remember the lyrics, it truly is a feel good sensation for many students. “When students enter the room to promote curiosity, hence focus, when you tell students there will be a link between some words in the song and something in the lesson (Willis, n.d.).”

* Parents often times are not pleased with the thought of their child being on an iPad or computer playing meaningless games. Brain-Rush is a great tool to use to create brain-compatible games for students and is also very fun, but can be challenging. It causes students to use their visual as well as their memory to connect to the correct answers.

* Here is the grouping game that I created on Brain- Rush. It is easy in the beginning but becomes a bit of a challenge towards the middle as well as in the end.

* Students should have the opportunity to learn in a way that works best for their way of thinking. Using brain-compatible techniques, students have a wider range to learn in rather than the traditional way that most adults ages 30 and up were taught in school. * Teachers will also benefit from allowing children to use brain-compatible strategies. Quite likely grades will go up as well as test scores. Not only will it help teachers educate, but also some of the techniques will help support positive behavior.

References * McDaniel, R. (2008, July 28). Brain based learning vs. traditional learning. Yahoo Voices. Retrieved from traditional-learning html. traditional-learning html * Peyko, V., Cohen, V., Jellinek-Cohen, S. P., & Pearl-Davis, M. (2013). Evaluation and treatment of accidental autoinjection of epinephrine. American Journal Of Health-System Pharmacy, 70(9), doi: /ajhp * Roberts, J. W. (2002). Beyond learning by doing: The brain compatible approach. Journal of Experiential Education, 25(2), Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford Library. * Willis, J. (n.d.). Brain-based learning strategies: Get students' attention with a radish. TeachHUB. Retrieved from based-learning-strategies-hold- students%E2%80%99-attention-radishhttp://

References (Continued) Wolfe, P. (2010). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice. (2nd ed.). Alexandria,VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.