Learning with the Brain

Active Learning

Learning With the Brain

In Mind

Ann Anzalone

Three Most Important Exercises

Integrating Both Sides of the Brain

The Cross Crawl 2x a day

Sit down. Do 28 puppet movements. (Puppet movements touch the elbow of the right arm to the right knee and the elbow of the left arm to the left knee.)

Do 28 crossover movements. (Crossover movements touch the elbow of the right arm to the left knee and the elbow of the left arm to the right knee.)

Do 14 puppets

Do 14 crossovers

Do 10 puppets

Do 10 crossovers

The Wayne Cook Posture

Sit down. Fold hands. The thumb of the hand that is on top is the ankle to cross on top. Extend arms and cross the arm of the thumb on top over the other arm. Point thumbs down. Wave at the fingers. Fold hands. Draw hands to chest, like a pretzel. Take ten deep breathes with the tongue on the roof of the mouth to breathe in, down to breathe out. Uncross ankles, put fingertips together. Rest hands with finger tips touching on lap. Take ten more breathes.

Donna Eden, Energy Medicine, New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.

Thymus Thump

Rapidly, tap chest on both sides of the collar bone at the same time. Resets the body’s balance.

Water

Weight divided by 3 = number of ounces needed daily

# of ounces divided by 8 = number of glasses of water needed daily

Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

Preliminary research indicated 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers; 5 glasses per day decreases risk of colon cancer by 45%, slashes risk of breast cancer by 79% and decreases bladder cancer by 50%
A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
Fruit juice, soft drinks, coffee and tea are all diuretics—they fail to provide neutral pH water because the sugars bind to the water and are treated as food by the brain.

Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head. Utah: GreatRiver Books. 2005.

GAMES

Teach problem solving skills by teaching students to:

Plan moves by examining many possibilities

Think about consequences of actions

Plan ahead more than one step at a time

Visualize future moves and to Pay attention

ZOOM: Students stand in a circle. One person starts the game by looking to his/her left or right and says, “Zoom.” The next person says “Zoom” to the person next to him/her in the same direction. “Zoom” continues until someone puts the brakes on. Any one in the circle can put the “brakes” on at any time by saying, “Eek!” When “Eek” is said, “Zoom” has to go around the other way.

PEANUT BUTTER POINT: Students stand in a circle. One person places his/her hand flat under his/her chin pointing in either direction and says, “Peanut”. The person being pointed to, places an arm over his/her head pointing in either direction and says, “Butter”. The person being pointed to, points to anyone in the circle and says, “Point”. The person being pointed to, places his/her hand flat under his/her chin pointing in either direction and says, “Peanut”. The game continues. If someone is out, he/she becomes a heckler for the players still in the circle. The heckler’s job is to distract the other players so that they also become hecklers. Continue playing until 1or 2 players remain in the circle.

LITERACY

teach literacy: song, dance, play, joking, improvisation, recitation, hear stories, made-up

or read aloud; retell; learn to speak well, increase vocabulary

through rhetorical practice

Good readers grow out of good reciters and good speakers.

young people talk themselves into a wholeness; they hear out loud how they feel; without practice in storytelling inner life never fills out and takes shape; by swapping stories a person learns he does not have to accept things as they are; can conjure up his/her own world and manipulate it to his/her own liking

fewer children enter the world of orality; it is harder to learn to read because children haven’t practiced or been taught the art of oral recitation; they learn orality by imitation and participation; reading and writing must be learned; practice begins in orality

Literacy is the transformation of speech into a visual act.

Barry Sanders. A is for Ox Violence, Electronic Media, and the Silencing of the Written Word. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994.

SO EACH MAY LEARN

DR. HARVEY SILVER

There isn’t a strong correlation between ability and achievement.

Dr. Harvey Silver

4 A’s

Attention

Dr. David Walsh

Reactive attention: connected to the emotional system; involuntary, hardwired, automatic, instinctive; responds to movement, sudden change and emotion

Focused attention: connected to the prefrontal cortex; needs to be developed, helps to develop critical thinking skills, reflection, synthesis, critical analysis
prefrontal cortex is responsible for thinking ahead, considering consequences, assessing risks, managing emotional impulses and urges
focuses on one thing at a time sequentially.

Memory is the key to learning.

Memory is not retention but attention.

Jim Quik

Encode storeretrieveremember

Memory scaffolding is built by conversation;

the more elaborate the scaffolding, the more knowledge the child has.

The key to language success is conversation.

Language develops with repetition and practice.

Words are the tools of thinking

Human Bingo

Directions: Play cover all. Find someone who can do each of the following and write his/her name in the square. You may write one “free” wherever you choose.

Likes to read
several books at a time / Sings / Likes to do one
thing at a time / Journals
Remembers names / Watches the news
Before going to sleep / Watches movies more than once / Likes to read only one book at a time
Remembers faces / Fidgets / Keeps piles on
the desk / Likes video
games
Does yoga / Gardens / Draws / Exercises regularly

ARITHMETIC TIME TEST

Directions: Complete the problems as quickly as you can. In the following problems + means divide, X means subtract,  means add, and – means multiply.

42 = ______21 = ______

7-3 = ______8+2 = ______

7x2 = ______5-4 = ______

6+3 = ______42 = ______

73 = ______6-3 = ______

84 = ______9+3 = ______

9x2 = ______62 = ______

7x2 = ______4-2 = ______

8+4 = ______10+5= ______

6x3 = ______12x1 = ______

8 -2 = ______63 = ______

12+2 = ______12x2= ______

102 = ______3-2 = ______

5x3 = ______6+3 = ______

4+2 = ______4x2 = ______

3x 2 = ______82 = ______

7- 2 = ______10+2= ______

7+1 = ______10-2 = ______

4x3 = ______10x2 = ______

10-5= ______6+3 = ______

Brain Speed

a key to learning success

Brain speed

is how fast the brain processes what is going on, around and within you
determines attention, alertness, learning, memory, decision making, problem solving, mental clarity
determines how efficiently the mind works.
reflects how quickly memories can be recalled, questions answered, problems solved and decisions made.
the faster your brain processing speed, the more focused you are, the more you take in and learn, the more you remember, the quicker you make sound, split-second decisions and react
the faster you can mentally recite or rehearse long list of items, the better you remember

Play games like: Jeopardy, Concentration, Memory, Boggle( Scrabble, Set (set daily puzzle

Work puzzles, word searches, Sudoku

Answer Questions

Do mental math.

Memorize poems.

Make ABC lists.

Readaloud.

Practice Brain Age games

Speed stack cup stacking

Exercise Brain Gym Infinity Walk Bal-A-Vis-X

Handwriting affects the ability to read, spell and comprehend.

Dr. Rosa Hagin 2002

Ability to write fluently connects to the ability to speak fluently. Writing solidifies thinking and takes reasoning to a higher level.

Kathleen Ricards Hopkins Teaching How to Learn in a What-to-Learn Culture

Language is the key to making connections.

Oral language directs and develops thinking processes.

VygotskyThoughts and Language

Writing is the doing part of thinking.

When writing, one is processing what heard or read.

Bonnie Terry

Impact on Student Achievement

Eric Jensen. Game-Changers. Workshop San Antonio, TX 2013

Put each of these in order from having theHighest to Lowest impact on student achievement.

Mastery learning

Homework

Teacher clarity

Feedback, F/S assessment

Aims & policies of the school

Peer tutoring

Teacher-student relationships

Expectations by student

Hattie Visible Learning for Teachers. Routlege Press. 2011.

Which factor is a far greater predictor of student success than IQ?

Reading scores

Motivation level

Math scores

Attitude

Working memoryAllowayT.P.Alloway, R. G. 2010

The new science of skill building is n______.

The rules are

1. Students must buy in to it. Skills must be coherent to the student.

2. Students' brains need error correction

3. Students need skill practice 5-10 minutes /day for 8-15 weeks

4. Skills must be of increasing difficulty. Greater complexity means better transference.

5. Once they get it right, they still need repetition.

6. Skill building needs to be in all subject areas.

Skill practice: organizing, study, memory, attention, note taking

Study skills:reading, skimming for key ideas, asking Qs, pre-reading, summarizing

Memory skills:acronyms, loci method, color, association,

Priority skills: urgent, important, use of lists, daily checklists, task management

High Return Achievement Factors

S______E______

Hope and growth mindset

F______

Relationships

T______S______

Vocabulary instruction and test scores are correlated with increased gray matter density. Lee H. Devlin et al. Anatomical traces of vocabulary acquistion in the adolescent brain. J Neurosci, Jan 31:27 (5) 1184-9

Changing pre-test state with free 10 minute writing activity boosted test scores 5-17% Write how feeling about upcoming test Ramirez G and Beilock SL. 2011 Writing about test worries boost exam performance in classroom Science Jan 14: 331 6014 211-3

Reading with the left index finger underlining the words increases reading speed 25-50%. The eyes are attracted to the motion and attention follows. The senses work together. Sight and touch are connected. Jim Kwik

Faster readers comprehend better because of better focus. Reading one word at a time starves the brain for focus.

What is the greatest motivator to humans in the workplace?

Recognition for good work

Incentives for work will done

Management support

Interpersonal support

Clear achievable goals

Making progress

Eric Jensen. Game-Changers. Workshop San Antonio, TX 2013

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amen, Daniel, M.D. Making a Good Brain Great. NY: Harmony Books. 2005.

Bradley, Michael. Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy! WA: Harbor Press. 2002.

Birkenbihl, Vera. Memory Optimizer. MN: Learning Strategies Corp. 2001.

Dennison, Paul E. and Gail E. Dennison. Brain Gym. Teacher's Edition. California:

Edu-Kinesthetics Inc. 2010.

Gurian, Michael. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! CA: Jossey-Bass. 2001.

Hannaford, Carla. Smart Moves. Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head.

Virginia: GreatRiver Books. 2005.

Jensen, Eric. Enriching the Brain How to Maximize Every Learner's Potential.

Ca: Jossey-Bass. 2008.

Jensen, Eric. Teaching With the Brain In Mind. Virginia: ASCD. 2005.

Lemov, Doug. Teach Like A Chamnpion. 49 Techniques That Put Your Students On the

Path to College. CA: Jossey-Bass. 2010.

Melillo, Robert. Dr. Disconnected Kids. New York: Penguin Group. 2009.

Masgutova, Svetlana, Ph.D. and Nelly Aknmatova, Ph.D. Integration of Dynamic Postural Reflexes Into the Whole Body Movement System. Poland: International

Neurokinesiology Institute. 2004.

O’Dell, Nancy PhD. and Patricia Cook PhD. Stopping ADHD. New York: Avery

Publishing Group, Inc. 2004.

Restak, Richard. M.D. Think Smart. A Neuroscientist's Prescription for Improving Your

Brain's Performance. NY: Riverhead Trade. 2010.

Scheele, Paul R. and Cheryl Hiltibran. Memory Optimizer Accelerator. MN: Learning

Strategies Corp. 2004.

Simontacchi, Carol. The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our

Brains and Harming Our Children. New York: Tarcher. 2007.

Sousa, Dr. David. How the Brain Learns to Read. CA: Corwin Press. 2005.

Sunbeck, Deborah, Ph.D. Infinity Walk. California: Jalmar Press. 1996.

Walsh, David. PhD. Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids. NY: Free Press. 2011.