Your child’s brain and how you might help it... “ Helping you engage with your children ’ s learning ”

In 2010/2011, teaching and learning at Christ the Sower was characterised by:  Below average attainment and ‘average’ progress.  Overloaded/hastily repaired thematic curriculum.  Satisfactory teaching overall  Teachers using a range of tools; not always sure or confident why they were using them.  Teaching without a clear understanding of a theory of learning.

Expert teachers are not wedded to specific teaching strategies – rather, they...focus on evaluating the effects they have on students, and adjust teaching methods accordingly. When teaching and learning are “visible”...when it is clear what teachers are teaching and what students are learning, student achievement increases.

Much of what happens in adult-child interactions conflicts with what is known about the brain and its design…....some things we know are:  The brain is designed for survival – under stress it prioritises its survival function.  The brain develops best when processing many inputs at once and at different levels of consciousness - effective learning environments are multi-sensory and holistic.

 To encourage brain development, interpretation of data becomes more important than accumulation of data: thus  Opinions and debated viewpoints become more important to further learning than knowledge of facts.

Message Station Carries out/ regulates life- sustaining functions Responsible for balance and coordination of muscles/body THE REPTILIAN BRAIN THE REPTILIAN BRAIN…

 S urvival not learning!  Its job is to protect the life-sustaining functions: FIGHT or FLIGHT  Under negative stress it dominates.  A learner under stress or anxiety will not learn anything – it is a biological impossibility!

 Relaxed, ready for learning.  Opening and closing rituals which anticipate the learning experience to come.  Build and maintain self-esteem. Plenty of positive feedback and encouragement.  Help learners set appropriate learning goals for themselves. Review often!  Take time with those under stress.

 And at home?  How do you tame the crocodile?

Responsible for the response and memory of emotions, especially fear. It FACILITATES and ENHANCES memory. Responsible for processing of long term memory and emotional responses: it receives a constant flow of information from virtually the entire brain Allows communication between the two hemispheres of the brain; responsible for transmitting neural messages between R/L hemispheres. Slightly thicker in females.

 Site of long-term memory  Controls emotions  Filters in useful/valued information  Filters out useless information  Emotions valued more than higher order thinking skills.  For learning to work there must be an emotional connection linked with a purpose which the learner has set. THE LIMBIC SYSTEM

 Relevance of learning; involved in setting personal targets.  Learning activities with powerful attachment to emotions in the design of the learning experience  Ask children how they feel about learning

 And at home?  What might help the experience of learning?  What language might we use to help?

Frontal Lobe: Carries out higher mental processes such as thinking and decision making, as well as fluent speaking and personality formation Parietal Lobe: Processes sensory information to do with taste, touch, temperature. Temporal Lobe: Responsible for processing auditory information from the ears (hearing), comprehension, pitch, etc Occipital Lobe: Responsible for processing visual information from the eyes THE NEO-CORTEX

 Used in problem-solving  Discerning relationships, patterns of meaning  Pattern-making is crucial - gives meaning to the facts children learn  It works at all times – continues processing for alternative and additional solutions sub- consciously (why crosswords get completed in the morning!) THE NEO-CORTEX

 Prediction exercises  Memory-maps of current knowledge  Links to their learning goals  Visualisation links to their imagination  Individual, pair and group reviews  Groups summarise sections of content  Plan teaching of topic to others  Summarise using drama, dance, mime

 And at home?  How might we help and reinforce this part of the brain to assist with learning?

 Positive supportive environment  “Big picture”, expected outcomes, links to previous work – all essential  Clear purpose/audience for the work  Opportunity to attain higher level material than that they usually work at.  Open-ended activities to allow able children to develop their thinking skills

 Stimulate different learning styles  Children to describe what they expect the finished activity to look/feel like  Review progress towards big picture at the end  Have fun! An emotional reaction to ensure knowledge/understanding goes into the long-term memory

Connect the Learning The Big Picture Describe the Outcomes Input or Introduction Activity Review and recall for retention Create the supportive learning environment

...on the way to school?...on the way home from school?...talking during evening meals?...first thing in the morning?...at breakfast?...at bedtime?...on weekends?

Any questions?