Steps to Becoming a Brain Chaining Teacher
In Reference to the Book: Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain - By: Eric Jensen & Carole Snider
When you began to change a students brain you ultimately change the neural systems that regulate their feelings, behaviours, and decisions. This statement is why there is no student you can truly give up on.
Listed below are 8 different specific components that are important to address in rapid brain changing, along with strategies for further implementation. Each of theses strategies are in reference to the book Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain, by: Eric Jensen and Carole Snider.
Listed below are 8 different specific components that are important to address in rapid brain changing, along with strategies for further implementation. Each of theses strategies are in reference to the book Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain, by: Eric Jensen and Carole Snider.
Brain Pusher #1: Relationships
It's important to recognize students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you truly care about them and their success. With this it is also crucial to remember that students struggle for a reason, and due to that often require a strong adult role model to guide them. |
Strategies for building relationships:
- Set aside time to learn about your students (ex. names, extra-curricular activities).
- Find out (gently and non-invasively) whats going on at home, be empathetic, and share some of your own experiences making it a two way conversation. For this specifically, be cautions as it may not be trained to deal with , if there is potential for a first time confession have the administration or counsellor become involved to ensure it is progressed through the correct channels (i.e. the police) .
- Be unusually reliable; Students seek out hope and stability in their lives. Therefore as a teacher we must bring consistency to our classrooms, apologize if necessary, and expect backlash from students when inconsistencies arise.
- Relationships are for the long haul, and students have high expectations for you. (exp. attend something that they are in, a sport/ a play, etc.).
Brain Pusher #2: Attention & Buy - In ("selling the brain on change")
Students are inherently curious in learning, and in order to foster their curiosity we must sell them on the value of each project, skill, process, or goal we introduce to them. In order for them to actually learn the material through buy-in, we must first capture their attention. It's important to remember in gaining students attention and focus on the activity that the brain is supplied with all of its needs to produce a change and error correct. |
Strategies for getting the students attention and to buy-in:
- Establish relevance for the students to the goal, and make continuous connections between the two of them. This can be done through metaphors, stories, and examples. Ultimately you are the bridge between the students knowledge and their personal lives, being in this position it is important to never give up on any student and to never let your teaching become irrelevant for the students.
- Provide times of immediate success to the students, so that they are able to see that you are able to deliver what you promise. This can be done through a memory system such as "Peg", it attaches new content to already known "pegs", such as an acronym or word association. Allowing the student to learn in an instant and the information to become more relevant in the school setting.
- To enhance student buy-in connect learning to social experiences, through partner or group work.
- Have the students connect the material back to their own lives. Do this by having them list 5 ways in which the content being taught relates back to them and their day-to-day lives.
- Make connections through the use of social media, innovative apps, and making connections to popular electronic activities (appropriate video games).
- Make learning the strategy sound like taking a risk to the students. Given their developmental brain age the students are more inclined to participate in the learning when it is presented as though it is a risky thing to be learning.
- Break down the task into smaller components, this helps the students in feeling more confidant in the completion of the task and more likely to take the chance as they are able to complete it in a shorter amount of time.
- Provide students with examples of a finished product, through photos, videos, the actual project, and past student or university student demonstrations. This provides the students with a base in which to work from, as well as lets them see that the project is able to be completed.
Brain Pusher #3: Master & Autonomy (develop ownership of change)
- Mastery means the student can appreciate the goal of developing expertise.
- Autonomy means kids feel like they are in charge of their learning and have the primary control of outcome.
Strategies for developing students autonomy:
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Brian Pusher #4: Brain Health
Having students manage stress, avoiding head trauma, eating properly, getting exercise, avoidance of drugs, and managing emotional health are all components in managing ones brain health. Students from middle school to high school are often more vulnerable based on brain development to make more risky decisions, this holds true when it comes to the use of drugs. In this situation students are often in need of a adult role model to play a significant role in their lives. This person is beneficial due to their life experiences, perspectives, and their ability to provide invested to strengthen the students healthier brain habits. It is also important to remind students to take care of their brains - they are the only one you get after all.
Having students manage stress, avoiding head trauma, eating properly, getting exercise, avoidance of drugs, and managing emotional health are all components in managing ones brain health. Students from middle school to high school are often more vulnerable based on brain development to make more risky decisions, this holds true when it comes to the use of drugs. In this situation students are often in need of a adult role model to play a significant role in their lives. This person is beneficial due to their life experiences, perspectives, and their ability to provide invested to strengthen the students healthier brain habits. It is also important to remind students to take care of their brains - they are the only one you get after all.
Strategies for developing students brain health:
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Strategies for creating coherence & making sense in the classroom:
- In teenage classrooms, stop asking them what they know, as this is to risky for them to admit their lack of knowledge on the skill, content, or process. Provide students with constant ongoing daily feedback, through having them first write down what they know then teaching it to a neighbour, all the while you listen in and provide feedback.
- Teach students through the use of analogies and metaphors, making connections to things they know or are aware of to an extent aids students in making distinctions in learning they already know (ex. Your brain neurones are like tree branches, in that they both continue to grow and develop new paths).
- Use other modalities of learning such as art, through illustrations and graphic organizers. Instead of having students write out what they have learned them put it into an illustration, checking their work for further understanding.
Brain Pusher #6: Mistakes & Error Correction
In order for students to learn they need to have ample opportunities in which they are able to learn from and correct their mistakes. This is important to the growth of the brain in that each brain system that processes our experiences is activated by the experience of reward, feedback and relevance (Kilgard & Merzenich, 1998). When we make mistakes in these new opportunities they are followed by awareness and effort, which ultimately change the brain. |
Strategies for building on students mistakes and errors:
- Make feedback task not person specific, as it has the potential to damage relationships.
- Be overtly specific in your expectations for improvement, and what can be done to make that change occur.
- Keep feedback straight to the point, making it kind and honest. In junior high students are more likely to hear the quality constructive feedback as opposed to elementary students. The conciseness of the feedback is important in that students are not left guessing what they should change going forward.
- Provide the students with the opportunity to experience task generated feedback (ex. in music class when they play the wrong note in the song. This ensures that the feedback is rapid, to the point and task specific.
- Within the feedback students often search for the things they have control over such as effort (practicing), strategy (more effective study methods) and attitude (growth mindset self talk).
- Praise the students effort rather than their abilities.
- Provide students with a variety of feedback techniques (ex. notes, email, visual representation, check lists, peer groups, teams, rubrics, etc.).
Brain Pusher #7: Challenge ("Games Worth Playing")
It is important to contrast a students learning experiences, as repeating the same activities on a loop doesn't foster brain change. To observe more noticeable changes you need to help students reflect and plan the activities to be very different. It is also key to develop activities that have an element of challenge to entice students in participation. In doing this you need to start building skills at an entry level, creating a tasking just below the students skill level so they are able to experience success early on and become excited about taking taking the task on. Then continue the task by incrementally increasing the level of difficulty, with each small success students experience a boost in confidence and experience an increase of dopamine levels in this state we are in a better to receive and implement feedback. It is important to continue to increase skill demands as students succeed through regulating the time student have to learn the material, the support you provide in their learning and the goals they create. As soon as a low level task is mastered increase the difficulty, complexity and add additional variations.
It is important to contrast a students learning experiences, as repeating the same activities on a loop doesn't foster brain change. To observe more noticeable changes you need to help students reflect and plan the activities to be very different. It is also key to develop activities that have an element of challenge to entice students in participation. In doing this you need to start building skills at an entry level, creating a tasking just below the students skill level so they are able to experience success early on and become excited about taking taking the task on. Then continue the task by incrementally increasing the level of difficulty, with each small success students experience a boost in confidence and experience an increase of dopamine levels in this state we are in a better to receive and implement feedback. It is important to continue to increase skill demands as students succeed through regulating the time student have to learn the material, the support you provide in their learning and the goals they create. As soon as a low level task is mastered increase the difficulty, complexity and add additional variations.
Strategies for increasing challenges:
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Brain Pusher #8: Time on Task ("Time is on Your Side")
In order to learn new skills, new behaviours, and new life style habits, students require 4-12 weeks for them to be learnt, taught, managed, feedback provided, and adequate encouragement through coaching to take place. Remember that in order to change a students brain, real physical changes are required for new connections to be created. There are numerous variables in making changes to an individuals brain such as, "its current state, how diligent and relentless the change process is, whether or not their is error correction to ensure mistakes are fixed fast, and t he strength of the student's motivation or buy-in" (pg. 35). Setting guidelines to purposeful and intentional change is beneficial, as well as having a pattern of implementation 10-60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 4 - 12 weeks, with any falter to this schedule you may see pullback from the students in the routine.
In order to learn new skills, new behaviours, and new life style habits, students require 4-12 weeks for them to be learnt, taught, managed, feedback provided, and adequate encouragement through coaching to take place. Remember that in order to change a students brain, real physical changes are required for new connections to be created. There are numerous variables in making changes to an individuals brain such as, "its current state, how diligent and relentless the change process is, whether or not their is error correction to ensure mistakes are fixed fast, and t he strength of the student's motivation or buy-in" (pg. 35). Setting guidelines to purposeful and intentional change is beneficial, as well as having a pattern of implementation 10-60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 4 - 12 weeks, with any falter to this schedule you may see pullback from the students in the routine.
Strategies for time management:
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References
Literature
Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain - By: Eric Jensen & Carole Snider
Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain - By: Eric Jensen & Carole Snider