1. Youth Connections Charter School Creating a Container for Learning Brain Compatible Curriculum: Concepts & Topics December 2012

2. Overview October: Introduction to Classroom Management and Curriculum Building December 5: Class. Management: Creating a Container for Learning Curriculum: Brain Compatible Learning: Concepts and Topics Jan 23: Class. Management: Prevention Curriculum: Identifying Desired Results

3. Overview Feb 20: Class. Management: Intervention Curriculum: Learning Styles and Experiential Lessons March 6: Class. Management: Invention Curriculum: Instructional Tools, Strategies, & Assessments April ??: Reflections, Sharing, and Feedback

4. Ground Rules Be Here and Present Participate Make it work for you Please let me know…

5. Best Class Ever: Facilitator Have breaks Relevant information Engaging delivery of instruction – Mix it up Balance of activity and information Encourage free and respectful discussions Respecting time constraints

6. Best Class Ever: Everybody Be respectful with one another when having discussions Make a conscientious effort to be on time – Punctual attendance Refrain from cellphone use and texting (except in an emergency) Participate in activities – Participate to your level – Right to pass You can only volunteer yourself Watch our humor

7. “…humans may properly be regarded as brain freaks. We can regard a giraffe as a neck freak and the elephant as even more a nose freak since its snout measures yards rather than inches. But the human brain is millions, even billions, of times more complex than the organ possessed by most other creatures with brains.” ~ Leslie A. Hart (1995). Human Brain & Human Learning. Kent, WA: Books for Educators, Inc.

9. Brain Research Most learning occurs in the Cerebrum (frontal lobe) Our brain seeks patterns, meaning If we feel under threat, we cannot learn – our brains won’t let us Emotions and learning are intricately tied together Absence of threat is essential for real learning to occur

10. Creating a Container for Learning

18. Air Traffic Controllers Other than teaching, there is only one other profession that deals with more decisions – more stimuli on any given day…

19. Reacting Acting without thinking Reacting Acting without thinking Responding Thinking before we act Responding Thinking before we act

21. Reflection Build a Quote Why is it important to reflect on your philosophy and beliefs about teaching and learning on a regular basis? How does having a bigger picture impact your teaching?

22. PII Prevention is anything we do to prevent conflict in our programs or to prepare for it before it happens. Intervention is responding when conflicts do happen. Invention is creating something new and constructive out of the situation.

23. The Container Concept

24. Not all Containers are Alike

26. We Have Choices… We have Influence…

27. What are the Qualities of your school and classroom containers? What are areas within my control, so as to take the qualities of the containers to another level?

28. National Center on Response to Intervention: http://www.rti4success.org

29. PREVENTION INTERVENTION INVENTION PBIS Continuum and PII Approach* * Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports and Prevention, Intervention, Invention

30. From Group to Community “In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.” M. Scott Peck M.D. The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

31. Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

32. Sergiovanni goes on to say: “… Communities are collections of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and who are together binded to a set of shared ideas and ideals. This bonding and binding is tight enough to transform them from a collection of “I’s” into a collective “we.” As a “we,” members are part of a tightly knit web of meaningful relationships. This “we” usually shares a common place and over time comes to share common sentiments and traditions that are sustaining. When describing community it is helpful to speak of community kinship, of mind, of place, and of memory.”

33. “The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.” Anonymous

34. Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising: Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate. CTC Group, 2004

35. Brain Compatible Curriculum: Concepts and Topics

39. What was the difference between the two attempts? What made the difference? How did your brain take in and manage the information from the first and second attempt? Why was one easier to manage while the other was more difficult? Reflection

44. Concepts are the

45. Left Brain: Details Reading Writing Sequence Topic Right Brain: Gestalt Patterns Real World Being Concept

47. Concepts... are Generalizeable and have UNIVERSAL Application 1.They travel across disciplines 2.They connect to Other Significant Concepts 3.Lead to larger purposes than the material itself into “ways of thinking”

48.  The Scientific Method is a study in Problem-Solving  A Collage is a study in Self-Expression  Where the Red Fern Grows is a study in Separation  The Great Depression is a study in Cause and Effect  Study Skills is a study in Cooperation/Collaboration

49.  Mexican Art is a study in Symbolic Representation  Descriptive Language is a study in Attributes  The Poem “The Mending Wall” is a study in Symbolism  Graphing Sinusoids is a study in Patterns  Planning for High School is a study in Cause and Effect  Melody and Lyrics are a study in Composition

50. Assignment: Name possible concepts for each of the topics: 1.Landforms/Plate Tectonics9. Self-Portraits 2.Life during the Great Depression10. Nutrition 3.Acids and Bases11. U.S. Constitution 4.Mesoamerica 12. Compare/Contrast Essay 5.Theater (acting)13. The Industrial Revolution 6. Characteristics of Geographic 14. Fractions Regions 7. How to Write an Autobiography 8. Field Trip Safety

51. Concepts... are Generalizeable and have UNIVERSAL Application They travel across disciplines 1.They connect to Other Significant Concepts 2.Lead to larger purposes than the material itself into “ways of thinking” Think: ____________ is a Study in _______________ (Topic) (Concept)

52. For each of your Content Standards, Think: ____________ is a Study in _______________ (Topic) (Concept)

54. An Essential Question can be thought of as a bridge from the concept to the content.

55. Left Brain: Details Reading Writing Sequence Topic Right Brain: Gestalt Patterns Real World Being Concept

56. Concept: Symbolic Representation Topic: Mexican Art Essential Question: What does symbolic representation in Mexican art reveal about the Mexican culture’s view of religion? Example

57. Concept: Prediction Topic: Civil wars Essential Question: Can we predict where civil unrest will occur in the world and/or in our community?