The Brain and Its’Uses… Becoming Ignatian Educators …

20 th century tools …

The BRAIN  20 billion neurons  Each is connected to at least 10,000 other neurons  Research suggests that the way memory works is by the changes in connections among neurons  Neurons that fire together, wire together

Biology of Emotion 101  Brain is an organ of emotion-evolution  Emotion are for survival- fight/flight, reproduction  Positive-give me more!Dopamine  Negative-give me less!Adrenaline and its’ relatives

Meaning-relevancy, emotion and context Activity

Relevancy and Emotion Hooking students=engagement; How do you know what students are really engaged?What does that look like? What does it feel like? Emotions and learning are intertwined; what might this look like? Examples

Amygdala-influences cortex(emotion connected to memory Integrate emotion into learning process=engage meaning and memory

How does it work?  Example: use of music, games, choice in projects, use of self assessment projects, storytelling, role –playing, songs, poems=connect current events to curriculum and students lives and experience  Remember: Connections made w/o relevancy=no long term learning

What do you think? Starburst #1  In what areas of you discipline have you seen students struggle for understanding?  What have you done to break through the place of confusion or stuckness?

Context-processing info  The brain understands through patterns, not lists (the cortex makes and detects patterns)  Brain makes connections between new info and related fields  Where does this come from? Innate-infants prefer patterns (neural pathways built)

CONTEXT PROCESSING CONTINUTED…  Relevance-first step for pattern making  Cross-disciplinary work-good for the brain, can be a stretch; necessitates development of new neural connections

Activity/Movement  Good for brain circulation and neuron health, improves mood; physical activity uses 100% of the brain  Incorporate energizers every 20 minutes or so…  Students need to change postures/positions  PAUSE – Partner Activity –  How can you incorporate movement into your classroom? Concerns? Benefits?

Activity…  DT should be limited to minutes max (brain needs time to process info, attention span shifts, what is normal for teen age brain?)  Can alleviate stress (some stress is ok…too much is like acid on memory)  Leads to increase dendrite activity

How to insert activity Incorporate into content of lesson..review/reinforce/draw connections, etc. What might that look like?

Cognitive Flexibility  Read  Brain Games  Regular Aerobic Exercise  Listen to students, and their music

Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm  pedagogy: the art, science, or profession of teaching  Context  Experience  Reflection  Action  Evaluation

PERSPECTIVE

Lifelong Learning  Students provide us the FGO’s and FGE’s  When we feel challenged, often something left over from our own childhood experience  High school education gives us the opportunity to continue to learn as we reflect on our experiences from new and ever evolving points of view  Iggy Loy=Major Role Model

Lifelong Learning II The mind continues to develop throughout the lifespan Recent research suggests -the brain continues develop both new connections and perhaps new neurons throughout a person’s life Experience shapes neural connections in the brain; therefore, experience shapes the mind

Mindsight  The ability to perceive our own minds and the minds of others  Depends on our ability to create mental symbols of the mind itself  Allows us to focus on thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, beliefs, attitudes and intentions of others, as well as of ourselves

Mindsight, cont’d.  We often look at the behavior of students focusing only on the surface level of the experience  Focus on the deeper level=focus on the mind  Focus on the level of the mind nurtures development of emotional understanding and compassion  Mindsight=cousin of Magis

Mindfulness..is at the heart of nurturing relationships  Live in the present moment  Aware of thoughts and feelings  Open to the thoughts and feelings of our students  When we are fully present as teachers, students are enabled to fully experience themselves in the moment

Response Flexibility.. is the ability to the mind to sort through a variety of mental processes, i.e. impulses, ideas and feelings, and come up with a thoughtful, nonautomatic response. -the ability to respond rather than react (proactive vs. reactive) -ability to delay gratification/inhibit impulsive behaviors -hard to do when HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, tired) -difficult to do when balance with student’s need for stucture and predictability

ENVIRONMENT  Keep it fresh  Meet students where they are at  Multi-sensory  Refresh, refresh, refresh  Engage..engage…engage  Our ability to have sensitive, reciprocal communication nurtures a child’s sense of security

Take aways…  Relevancy  Emotion  Context  Activity  Life long learning

Starburst Revisited What does that Starburst candy in your hand have to do with anything that we have been talking about for the last 45 minutes?

Resource Websites      Archive/2013/04/Inside-the-Learning-Brain Archive/2013/04/Inside-the-Learning-Brain

And, if all else fails… borrow a page from the Gospel according to Bill and Ted, and… BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER