Brain Based Teaching and Learning Jenna Hallman Based on the work of Ann Anzalone, Daniel Pink, Renate and Geoffrey Caine My background Share information about brain based learning and model and discuss some best practices for application in education Discuss based on work …who did what

What do you know? Today you will learn five new ideas about http://www.thinkingmaps.com/ Today you will learn five new ideas about brain based learning. Brain- Based Circle Map - Activates big pictures and places in context whatever you see in a circle you remember better than any other shape Teacher’s job Today you will learn five new things about how your students’ brains work and how to engage them in the learning process! First ten and last ten minutes in a 40 minute class are what you will remember most.

Why Brain Based? Left brain/Right brain Learning styles What works for Jordan

12 Core Principles - Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine 1) Every brain is uniquely organized. Let’s take a test! There are 12 core principles of brain based learning. First described by Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine in Making Connections (1994) Organized based on genetics, environments, experiences, prior knowledge, emotions, and memories – Caroline and Catherine – differences express themselves in terms of learning styles, talents, intelligences etc. Learners are different and need choice and exposure to a multiplicity of inputs 75% are visual learners

Clock Partners 2) The brain is a social brain. Turn and talk, elbow partners, clocks partners, quadrant partners, table teams 2) The brain is a social brain.

And one more … 3) The search for meaning is innate. ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTVWXYZ JOBINJOB Picture your house … see it in color learn in color, video or still frame Innate – from birth We want to make sense of our experiences – natural curiosity MISSING U, IN BETWEEN JOBS, SPACE INVADERS VA DERS NINE CUMULUS

Time for a Change! Turn to an elbow partner. Work together to recall the first three core principles. Brainstorm three reasons why this is important for teachers AND students. What are your thoughts about how you can use this information with your Cadets?

A Safe Brain is a Learning Brain The search for meaning comes through “patterning”. Emotions are critical to patterning. Students must feel emotionally safe and have a sense of belonging in order to learn. Using the same routines creates safety. A-mig-duh-luhs – brain’s Dept. of Homeland Security One on the left and one on the right – job is to process emotion esp. fear – left deals with situation (scene) right looks at faces and expressions Brain needs the familiar but craves the original, resists the meaningless (learning in isolation) Describe routines to get attention Important in testing situations Emotions and thoughts shape one another Routines – attention, lining up, schedule for the day, morning meeting, rules,

Helping the Brain to Learn 6) Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception. “That’s interesting!” Colors, smells, shapes, rhythms Dr. Jean Brain Breaks Brain absorbs information that lies beyond the immediate focus of attention Now we can talk about things and your brain is prepared to hear the information. Yellow and red sharpest contrast, anything in a circle you are more likely to remember, peppermint –alert, lavender – calming, cinnamon-creativity, upbeat at beg. And end of class Prime people’s attention Rock back and forth, stop Motor Cortex – automatic patterns of thinking and movement – needs oxygen -cannot sit still, hyper, easily distracted, don’t finish work, everything is boring, cry, arms in clothes, knee sitters, chair rockers

Right Brain or Left Brain We have at least two ways of organizing memories: spatial (sensory) and taxon (memorization). The brain simultaneously perceives and creates wholes (big picture = right) and parts (details = left). 75% visual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BxckAMaTDc 6 – rote memorization left brain, spatial – right brain 7- because they are tied to an emotion humor

Movement wires the brain! Left Brain Right Brain starts at beginning starts at end facts rule imagination rules detail oriented big picture oriented uses l uses feeling symbols and images Movement wires the brain! 9) The brain is a complex adaptive system. 10) Learning is developmental. What we can talk about, we know! Find a partner, share what you learned. Discuss why this information might be important in the classroom. Colateral each half of brain controls the other half of the body (turn head to left – right side in control) Names activities where we shift from left to right brain (reading driving) Western civilization has created left hemisphere dominance (the alphabetic mind Eric Havelock) Use cross clap with a partner do three times – required for learning cross clap good for anything you want to become automatic (spelling words, math facts, vocab.) Charts, web work for visual learners – redo study guides as webs

11) Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes. Balancing the Brain 11) Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes. Singing, Music and Laughing Brain Dance - created by Creative Dance Center (CDC) founder Anne Green Gilbert 1) True learning often occurs long after the lesson Water cycle, rounding song 3) use before tests – music activates the brain to receive new information, mood music – learning rates 5X faster than before Walk shape, walk and focus, walk, focus and swing arms, walk, focus, swing arms, answer questions

Finally … 12) Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat. Under stress we go to our primary brain. Partner work: - Brain based learning is ______. Brain based learning is not __________. OR - Cross Clap What did you learn? deduced that the long wave colors (red, orange, yellow) stimulated more active brain response, whereas shorter wavelengths (green, blue, violet) were more conducive to relaxation

Random Thoughts We comprehend 4x higher than we can read Females use 25,000 words per day/ Males use 12,500 Age + 2 minutes = how often students must share (include visual options) Schedule for Long Term Memory - 10 minutes after teaching -1 day after teaching -1 week after teaching -1 month after teaching -3 months after teaching The best way to get children thinking is to have them write every day. Writing – any subject, any process, some talk first, some draw, some write

What do you know? http://www.thinkingmaps.com/ Brain- Based Circle Map - Activates big pictures and places in context Left hemisphere reasons sequentially – larger circle (recognizes words) categories Right hemisphere reasoned holistically (concerned with whole) – rectangle (patterns) relationships

Resources Ann Anzalone: Learning with Thinking in Mind http://annanzalone.com/ Renate and Geoffrey Caine http://www.mainesupportnetwork.org/handouts/pdf/Caine's.pdf Dr. Jean Music: http://drjean.org/songStore.html Pink, D. H. (2006). A whole new mind. New York: Riverhead Books. Thinking Maps: http://www.thinkingmaps.com/

In the end, all that matters is what you think, because if you don’t think it, it can’t exist for you. Jenna Hallman hallmanj@cerra.org Had fun clap once, didn’t stomp one time want to know more clap once, don’t stomp one time