1. Your child’s brain and how you might help it...

3. THE REPTILIAN BRAIN THE REPTILIAN BRAIN…  S urvival not learning!  Under negative stress it dominates.  A learner under stress or anxiety will not learn anything – it is a biological impossibility!

4.  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!

5.  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

6.  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

7.  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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

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

12. The 6Rs:  Readiness  Responsibility  Resilience  Reflection  Resourcefulness  Reasoning We think that these are reasonable expectations for home and school to work towards....

13. Any questions?