Brain Based Strategies

Brain-Based StrategiesPanorama High School Staff Development April 21th, 2010

Local District 1

Los Angeles Unified School District

By the end of today’s professional development, Teachers will: Have thirteen Brain-Based Strategies to add to their instructional tool box.

Understand three strategies in more depth

Be able to apply at least one strategy in their classroom before the of the year.

Folding and Unfolding your hands.

Clap every time you hear me say Good First Teaching.

Good First Teaching involves: Making instructional decisions data using the

problem solving method.

Providing daily instruction that is directly connected to the standards.

Employing research-based strategies daily that reflect metacognitive processes.

Good First Teaching involves:

Actively engaging students in rigorous learning at all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Asking purposeful questions at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Utilizing culturally relevant texts and materials.

Good First Teaching involves:

Grading assignments based the standard(s) for which the students’ were assigned to demonstrate mastery.

Posting excellent examples of student work that meets the standard with the rubric

Arranging the classroom in such a way as to facilitate many modes of instruction.

Please fill out notecard with the following:

1. Your name

2. A brief description of the standards you are teaching your students right now.

What are Brain-Based Strategies?What are Brain-Based Strategies?

Brain-Based Instructional Strategies are ways of making connections with students that promote long-term memory and recall.

Based on the research of Dr. Barbara Given in the book, “Teaching to the Brain’s Natural Learning Systems.”

Five Natural Learning Systems:

1. Passive Attention 2. Creation of Meaning3. Flow and Fluency4. Whole to Parts to Whole5. Illustrations6. Prior Knowledge7. Student Generated

Learning

8. Questions9. Movement10. Groups11. Emotion and Elaboration12. Analogies and Metaphors13. Keeping the Mind Engaged.

There are 13 long-term memory and recall strategies:

Utilizing Passive Attention: Engaging the mind, keeping it active without

having to directly engage the individual, the more work the learner will actually have done.

Teach students to fish for themselves rather than feeding them with fish.

VS.

Notecards Exit Slips

Name

Personal Connection Topic

What is passive

attention?

Developing the Creation of Meaning:

I loveParisIn the

The Spring

Patterns Mind EditingCreation of Meaning:

MACMAHON MACHENRY MACDONALD MACHINERY

What color is in this box?

The man was worried. His car came to halt, and he was all alone. I was extremely dark and cold. The man took off his overcoat, rolled down the window, and got out of the car as quickly as possible. Then he used all his strength to move as fast as he could. He was relieved when he finally saw the lights of the city, even though they were far way.

Integration UnderstandingCreation of Meaning:

What do cows drink? 1. Where did the man’s car stop?

2. Why did the man take off his coat even though it was extremely cold?

3. Why did he move as fast as he could?

Sensory Level:

Describe the feel, smell, taste, sound, and look of this object.

Creation of Meaning:

Creation of Meaning:Working Memory Level:

What similarities and differences do these three objects have?

Creation of Meaning :Metaphorical/Analogous:

What does the conch shell represent?

Who does the conch shell represent?

Designing Flow and Fluency: The alignment of content, delivery of content,

and desired outcome within instruction leads to higher student achievement.

Academic Learning Time Procedures

What did you see? What did you see? Plenty of Time Engaged Experiencing Success

Exit Slip:

Name one of the three strategies that was taught and why you remember that strategy.

Sit sideways in your chair while we learn about strategy #4.

Connecting Parts to Wholes: Change the way a learner processes

information from parts to whole or from whole to parts and you will increase their achievement.

Researchers: Leslie Hart and Gabriele Rico

1. Use adjectives in 3’s.2. No names may be

used. 3. All sentences must

be compound.4. Don’t use any word

more than one time.

1. Opposites2. Give a lead character

a new occupation. 3. Clustering

Writing Applications Reading Applications

Connecting Parts to Wholes:

Generating Illustrations: Using illustrations to capture the essence of

an idea, a lesson or a discussion enhances long-term memory causing it to be up to four times more effective.

Researchers: David Hank and William Henk

Brain-Based Strategy Lord of the Flies

Connecting Parts to Wholes:

Building Upon Prior Knowledge:

Researcher: Gary Philipps, National School Improvement Project

14%

22%

30%

42%

72%

83%

92%

1) Say what I say, Do what I do.

2) Listen3) Imagine what this

bird looks like. 4) Picture

Introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird

Building Upon Prior Knowledge:

Students retain more information when they are able to generate examples of learning rather than when the instructor generates examples.

Researchers: Jeffery Gorrell and Downing Hunter

Encourage Student Generated Learning

KWL Charts

Conceptual Connections

Experience Elaboration

Portfolios of Learning

Encourage Student Generated Learning

Concept, Category Formation

Nurse Capulet Dogberry Benedict and Beatrice

Tybalt

Paris Mercutio Don Pedro Lady Montague

Hero and Cladio

Romeo and Juliet

Benvolio Leonardo Apothecary Barrachio

Don Juan Friar Lawrence

Encourage Student Generated Learning

When we combine movement and space, students are able to tap into more learning per ten minutes of class.

Using Movement:

Clap your hands every time you hear a transition.

Touch your nose when you think you have the answer.

Face the back of the classroom during the review for a quiz

Sit sideways in their chairs during an activity.

Write down the most important item of the day with the opposite hand.

Stand up or sit down when a question is answered

Using Movement:

Raise your hands in a silent cheer if you want a break.

Developing Questions:

Conceptual Questions

Inferred and Implied

Fact Finding Questions

1) Student Generated Questions

2) Teacher Generated Questions

3) Variety in Questions from both students and teacher.

4) Location of Question Activities in Lesson.

Developing Questions: Four Approaches

Wonder out loud

Generate an assessment question for another group of students

Create a quiz for teacher

Factual

Conceptual

Balance

Teaching

Student Generated Teacher Generated

Developing Questions:

Object of the lesson is to design questions, not search for answers.

Every paragraph, you will draft a question. One question will be factual, one will be

inferred or implied, and the last one will be conceptual

All questions that you develop will be directed to other students.

Developing Questions:

Before Lesson: Conceptual (High)

During Lesson: High, Middle, Low in any order

After Lesson: Low, Middle and High in that order.

Placement Rules

Developing Questions:

More learning occurs when students are actively engaged in strategically arranged groups.

Types: Pairs vs. Fours Composition: Homogenous vs. Heterogeneous,

Choice vs. Non-Choice Content: Multiple Tasks vs. Mono Task

Orientated Structure: Chunking and Role Playing

Using Small and Large Groups:

Photo I.D.

Using Small and Large Groups:

If students are to develop long-term memory recall and understanding, they need to attach the new learning to something of value to them.

Applying Emotion and Elaboration:

Using the weekly vocabulary lists, have students rank their “pleasantness”.

Have them express the word with an emotion.

List of tasks and achievements both academic and person they want to accomplish this year.

Regularly check the list.

Vocabulary To Do ListsGenerating Emotion and Elaboration:

When students can transfer something from a field of study and relate it to something in another field, learning is far deeper and more thorough than when they simply regurgitate it.

Research shows that 75% of the students who are given a problem with an analogy and hint are able to achieve success (Gick, Mary, and Holyoak).

Developing Analogies and Metaphors:

Cross-Curricular Within UnitsDeveloping Analogies and Metaphors:

Students generate a list of ways that the theme of “coming of age” relates in other subject.

Possible HW Contest.

When you insert well-timed transitions and breaks in the lesson, students will retain information with more success than if you did not.

Keeping Mind Engaged:

Lesson DesignActivity

Transition/Shift

Activity

Transition Shift

Activity

Transition Shift

Activity

Keeping Mind Engaged:

Transitions/ ShiftsActivity• Timed Seat Change• Role Play• Stand and …• Illustrate• Code notes• Stop and Think• Move• Demonstration• Think-Pair-Share

• Warmup• Homework Review• Direct Instruction• Activity• Lab• Discussion• Readings• Projects• Small or Large

Group Work• Portfolio Walk

Through

Employing research-based strategies daily that reflect metacognitive processes.

1. Passive Attention 2. Creation of Meaning3. Flow and Fluency4. Whole to Parts to Whole5. Illustrations6. Prior Knowledge7. Student Generated

Learning

8. Questions9. Movement10. Groups11. Emotion and Elaboration12. Analogies and Metaphors13. Keeping the Mind Engaged.

There are 13 long-term memory and recall strategies: