Three Brain Based Strategies Every Teacher Should Use

I just came across a wonderful blog post titled "3 Brain Based Strategies Every Teacher Should Use." It is by an Arizona blogger/teacher named Karri over at "One Sassy Teacher". You can read her post here!

I liked it because it was SHORT, but informative! She includes a nice review of brain researcher and educator Susan Kovalik's ideas. She explains in simple language how human brains work and what separates humans from other mammals - our ability to access our cerebrum, or center of logic.

Karri then provides three implications for the classroom, with practical details. They are simple, but powerful!

      1. Create a welcoming and calm environment.
      2. Keep students out of their brain stem.
      3. Use the body-brain connection.

Perhaps you'd like to do more planning and reflecting with one of these topics? If so, please let me know. I would love to have a coaching conversation with you!

Terri

Re-engaging Students

Spring can sure be a tricky time of year. As the weather warms up, students are playing outside more after school and their weekends are full of activities. Many arrive to school tired. It's also testing season - ITBS, NWEA, FAST - yikes! Students are expected to sit for extended periods of time and work really hard in isolation. It's no wonder many teachers are looking for ways to re-engage their students.

I just came across a fantastic SHORT blog post by Pernille Ripp. You can read it HERE. Pernille is currently a middle school English teacher, but has taught 4th and 5th grades. She has written a few books on student engagement. You may also recognize her name as the creator of the Global Read Aloud.

Her blog post lists several easy things teachers can do to re-engage students. None of them are amazingly new ideas, for the list includes some oldies, but goodies such as changing locations or adding movement. But I had forgotten about the power of music to re-engage (or if needed, the opposite, calm an excited class!) It's simply a great refresher list. After you check it out, please let me know if you'd like to chat about incorporating any of the ideas in your classroom.
I'm happy to help out anyway I can!  
~Terri

Eight Minutes

I recently came across a neat, SHORT, blog post by Brian Sztabnik called "The 8 Minutes That Matter Most". Click HERE to read it! In it, Sztabnik reminds us of the importance of engaging students in a lesson right off the bat - these first 4 minutes matter most. He also reminds us of the importance of checking for understanding at the conclusion of a lesson - the next 4 minutes that matter most. Sztabnik then provided 8 easy, practical examples of how to do this, giving 4 ideas on how to begin a lesson and 4 ideas on how to end a lesson. 

START A LESSON:
1. You Tube: Hook students with short, appropriate You Tube videos! I know many teachers have collections of videos they already share with students. Does anyone have a great way to save or curate these? To share with teammates?

2. Good News: Sztabnik's description sounded like many morning classroom meetings I have seen. What a nice way to set a positive, "we are in this together" community feeling!

3. Cross Discipline: Sztabnik reminds us to incorporate movement, songs, and art whenever we can. The brain loves this!

4. Writing: Sztabnik suggests start by writing for 5 minutes, asking students to respond to an essential  question or a related prompt. Great review of previous learning or springboard for discussion!

WRAP UP A LESSON:
5. Level Up: Building on students' love of gaming and achieving levels, have students reflect where they are on proficiency standards. Are you at the Beginner Level or Heroic? Are you a Legend yet? Reflecting this way could be very motivating for some students!

6. Exit Tickets: Marzano and Wiggins & Tighe have been telling us about exit tickets for years! Sztabnik links us to more resources and examples if needed!

7. Social Media: I had not thought of this one before - ask students to compose a tweet or find an image that captures that day's learning!

8. Post - it Note: :Lots of teachers end a lesson by asking students to jot down something on a post-it note, place it on the board as they exit. Slight twist here, "One new thing I learned from someone else in class today is___". Start the next day's lesson with a summary or review of ideas shared!

Perhaps some of these ideas are new to you, and others are refreshers. All can be done in just a few minutes! If you would like to have a planning conversation about incorporating any of these things in your classroom, please let me know!

11 Rules For Engaging Students' Brains

We have been talking a lot about student engagement at Bowman Woods Elementary. One recent staff meeting was dedicated to exploring what that meant, and this Wordle captured all the staff members ideas.

So now, we are left with our building goal of increasing student engagement in our classrooms. How do we start doing that? One way is to keep thinking about it, talking about, learning about it... from each other. I will post things on this blog that I hope will help facilitate that dialogue. Please feel free to leave comments and/or reach out in person to continue these conversations.

For today, I will leave you with this neat little poster, "My 11 Rules for Engaging Students' Brains". It's the kind of thing I would stick in my lesson plan book, to keep these ideas in the forefront of my mind as I created lesson plans. I think it is a nice summary of things already being done in our classrooms or things we can easily implement to increase engagement. It comes from the blog "Light Bulbs and Laughter". The poster is FREE on the gal's Teachers Pay Teachers site! Click HERE to go directly there!

I look forward to exploring these ideas, and others, in more depth with you!

~Terri