STRENGTHENING YOUR BRAIN LIKE YOU STRENGTHEN YOUR MUSCLES Lesson 2

YOUR BRAIN IS LIKE A MUSCLE The Muscular Brain In the first lesson of Unit 2: Strengthening Your Brain Like You Strengthen Your Muscles, you learned more about growth mindset, grit, and their relationship to your brain. You also learned how your brain changes and grows stronger with effort, practice, and challenge. In this lesson, the focus will be on challenging your brain, having a growth mindset about the importance of facing challenges, and the importance of displaying grit to persevere in the face of challenges All of this will help you be a more motivated student in the classroom and a more motivated person in life.

NEW CONNECTIONS ARE FORMED AND GROW BY WORKING ON NEW CHALLENGES The next time you are faced with a challenge and you are struggling to learn something, remember: Challenge is a good thing! [Show first set of dendrites] Everyone stand up and reach out your arms, stretching them as far as you can: (pause a moment) This is what your dendrites are doing when faced with a challenge. Imagine your dendrites as they stretch and grow in number, making stronger, thicker connections so you can improve in the area where you are being challenged. [Show second set of dendrites] Even when you may not feel like you’re getting it, your brain is growing more and stronger connections so that when you keep trying you eventually get it. So, do not give up when you are challenged.

TAKING YOUR BRAIN TO THE GYM A student at the University of New Hampshire had a great deal of anxiety about a very difficult Math course she was taking, so she developed a great strategy to help her through the challenges. When she did her math homework, she would imagine she was going to the brain gym. The challenges she faced in this class were like the the weights that she put on the machines to lift. [Show the four corner pictures] If there were no weights on the machines, how could her muscles get stronger? Therefore, if there were no challenges for her brain to face, how could she get smarter and learn the Math? [Show and read the middle picture] Her growth mindset told her that learning Math had to be challenging for her brain to grow stronger so she could learn. She showed grit by continually facing the challenges of this Math class and putting in the necessary hours of practice, study, and homework so that her brain would eventually learn the subject.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FACING CHALLENGES https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=g7FdMi03CzI Here is a video that emphasizes the importance of facing our challenges, like the ones we have in school when we struggle to learn new things. [Show Video] {Edit for the following: 0:03 – 1:46} As you continue to learn about strengthening your brain in this unit, remember what the narrator said about taking on challenges. Taking on challenges makes your brain stronger just like the challenge of lifting weights makes your muscles stronger. Challenges are not easy so we often make mistakes, but that’s OK because neurons learn from our mistakes. The harder the challenge, the more your neurons can grow. Challenges become easier over time if you stick with them, because with enough practice, something that used to be a challenge will become another one of your abilities or strengths.

MINDSETS FIXED MINDSET The belief that your basic qualities and abilities like intelligence, personal characteristics, and talent, are things that you CANNOT fundamentally change or improve. GROWTH MINDSET The belief that your basic qualities and abilities like intelligence, personal characteristics, and talent, are things that you CAN fundamentally change and improve. Let’s review the two different mindsets that students can have. [Read Slide] Unfortunately there are children outside of this room who still have a fixed mindset. They do not believe that they can improve their intelligence, personality, or their skills and abilities. What kind of fixed mindset things have you heard other students here at Gilbert H. Hood say? PAUSE They believe that they are born “artistic” or they are “not artistic.” They are a “math person” or they “can’t do math.” They are a “natural athlete” or they “stink at sports.” These students think that they are born a certain way and can never change, This is because they have a fixed mindset. You know better! We have proof that your brain can grow and change, and even people’s mindsets can change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A GROWTH MINDSET https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ElVUqv0v1EE Here is a video that emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset about learning and your schoolwork. It will remind you that you can grow your brain and become smarter through your effort, use of learning strategies, and help from others. [Show Video] {Cut @ 2:19} The narrator said that learning can be frustrating, but it’s only because you haven’t yet made all of the necessary connections in your brain. Most importantly – Don’t Give Up. When something is hard is you need to put in even more effort to build those connections in the brain.

GRIT AND LEARNING? When you are not challenged by schoolwork that is too easy, you are not really learning anything. Learning comes from being challenged, trying and failing, and learning from our mistakes. School is all about learning, learning is all about facing our challenges, and challenges are usually very hard work. When you show grit you turn a challenge into new learning, which turns that challenge into your newest ability or skill. Let’s review the characteristic of grit that students can have. [Read Slide] Unfortunately there are children outside of this room who still do not understand the characteristic of grit. They do not believe that schoolwork is supposed to be hard, they do not know that they need to face the challenges of learning, and so they give up very easily once schoolwork becomes difficult. What kind of things have you heard other students here at Gilbert H. Hood say that proves to you that they do not understand grit?

THE IMPORTANCE OF SHOWING GRIT WITH THE “POWER OF YET” https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=XLeUvZvuvAs [Show Video] {CUT @ 2:27} In this this Sesame Street® Video, Janelle Monáe sings about the “Power of Yet”. Who can tell me what they think she means by the power of yet? PAUSE The power of yet is the understanding that to really learn something takes time. You may not know it… yet, but if you keep trying (remember that word “persistence”?) you will be able to learn it eventually.

TEACHING OTHERS ABOUT GROWTH MINDSET, GRIT, & HOW YOUR BRAIN LEARNS “In the past I’ve always had trouble with Math and English. That is why I always say that I am just not good at Math and English and I quit trying.” “None of the people in my family had success in school, and since we all have the same genes, I don’t bother trying because I know I won’t be successful in school either.” Please get into pairs. (If there is an odd number of students, please have one of the students pair up with you.) Partner #1 will read the first statement. As Partner #2 you will try to convince the other person not to quit and to keep trying by using your knowledge of growth mindset and grit, how the brain learns, and how the brain grows like a muscle. [Read question 1] PAUSE Now let’s switch and have the other partner do the convincing. [Read question 2] PAUSE Who would like to share one comment you made to try and convince your partner not to quit? PAUSE

YOUR BRAIN IS LIKE A MUSCLE The Muscular Brain So let’s review. You have learned how the brain thinks, grows, and improves. Your Growth Mindset tells you that through effort, the right strategies and getting help from others, you can achieve more than you thought you ever could. Showing grit helps you to keep trying in the face of challenges and keep going after setbacks to turn a challenge into new learning. Your brain is like a muscle and therefore you can strengthen your brain like you strengthen your muscles. Challenging your muscles by lifting heavier and heavier weights helps your muscles to grow and you get stronger. Challenging your brain through the process of learning helps your brain grow stronger and faster connections and you get smarter. In our final unit we will continue to learn more about growth mindset, grit, and improving your brain, while we focus on overcoming obstacles.

REFERENCES King, R., & King, D. (2011). Step-It-Up-2-Thrive. Thrive Foundation for Youth, Menlo Park, CA. Infobundl (2014, June 2). Growth mindset video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVUqv0v1EE Kizoom (2013, September 23). Brain jump with Ned the Neuron: Challenges grow your brain [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7FdMi03CzI Sesame Street (2014, September 10). Sesame Street: Janelle Monae - Power of Yet [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLeUvZvuvAs References