Why are they like that? Westbrook Youth and Family Services, Inc. Macdara MacColl, LMFT, Clinical Director Meet the Middle School Brain.

Why are they like that?

Westbrook Youth and Family Services, Inc.Macdara MacColl, LMFT, Clinical Director

Meet the Middle School Brain

What Just Happened?

Welcome to Middle School!

Triune Brain

Limbic system● Amygdala

○ First alert system (Good/bad...Danger/safe)● Hippocampus

○ Memory● Hypothalamus

○ Neuroendocrine system -neurotrasmitters

Triune Brain

Cerebral Cortex (Neocortex)● Vision, Coordination, Language, Movement,

Sensation Perception, Meaning-making

Prefrontal Cortex● Concentration, organization, reasoning,

judgement, decision-making, creativity, personality, abstract thinking......

PFC in the Middle School Classroom● Activate awareness

● Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the

various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-

moment functioning

● Establish goals and make long-term plans

● Maintain a self-image of being in charge of their

learning and actions

● EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

Adolescent Brain Errors

●Why are You Yelling?○Sees anger instead of fear

●Roller Coaster Kid○Extremely sensitive to dopamine--greater pleasure

from risk●I Hate This Class

○Also sensitive to boredom, which registers in the brain like stress/danger

A Neurobiologist Makes the Case...

Judy Willis, MD

Seeing neuroimaging scans of students during stress states, such as those that build up with sustained or frequent boredom (information already mastered; no evident relevance) or frustration (repeated past failures in subject), offer powerful insights into the importance of classroom climate and differentiation of instruction. These scans reveal the increased metabolic state that blocks processing in the highest brain (prefrontal cortex; PFC) when this boredom or frustration alienates students from instruction. The amygdala is the switching station that, when hyperactive in response to high stress, switches input and output away from the PFC and down to the control of the lower, reactive brain. Behavior reactive responses from the lower brain are the involuntary survival responses of fight/flight/freeze (act out/zone out)http://www.edutopia.org/blog/neuroscience-higher-ed-judy-willis

Teacher: Where’s your homework?

Middle Schooler (pulls 7 pieces of crumpled paper from backpack): I don’t know. I don’t care.

INSIDE THE BRAIN★Stress hormone/

Limbic system ★Overwhelmed

working memory★Can’t describe

emotional state

Adult: Why is she like that?

Advanced math student walks down the hall and says something mean to a girl with social disabilities.

INSIDE THE BRAIN★Emotional/

relational brain active

★Dopamine rush from risk/reward of excluding others

★Not using PFC

Teacher: Why do they do that?

● They don’t know why○ Try “what” questions

● Not “on purpose”○ Remember: fight, flight, freeze

● Not about you○ Example: Will power and the 4:00 rule

How to Help

1. Don’t Panica. What’s going on inside your head?b. Regulate your emotions (if we can’t, they can’t)

2. Connect and Expecta. Children do better in school when teacher feels s/he has SOMETHING

IN COMMON with studentb. Children do better when held to APPROPRIATELY HIGH expectations

3. Teach and Model Good PFC Skillsa. POSITIVE self talk (not panicked self-talk)b. PLAN of action (one step at a time)c. Tools that help: LISTS, PLANNERS, REMINDER APPS

Connect...Study by: Hunter Gehlbach* and his colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of EducationFor the experiment he had in mind, Hunter and his team created a survey for students and teachers of a ninth-grade class. The researchers then selectively shared examples from the survey results with teachers and students to show them that they had things in common. When Hunter examined the test scores of students who had been induced to see that they had things in common with their teachers, he found something astonishing: students — especially minorities — suddenly started to perform better in class."...Their grades go up by about .4 of a letter grade," Hunter explains. While that may not sound like a lot, it "translates into over 60 percent plus reduction in the achievement gap at this school."Source: Hidden Brain: In the Classroom, Common Ground Can Transform GPAshttp://www.npr.org/2015/10/13/444446708/in-the-classroom-common-ground-can-transform-gpasCreating birds of similar feathers by Hunter Gehlbach, Maureen E. Brinkworth, Aaron M. King, Laura M. Hsu, Joe McIntyre, Todd Rogershttps://panorama-www.s3.amazonaws.com/research/similarity.pdf

Expect...

Teach and Model: Strategies for Strengthening the Brain’s Executive Functions By Donna Wilson, PhD

1. Introduce the concept of executive functions and refer to these

learning tools explicitly and often.

2. Provide student-centered opportunities to put executive functioning

to work.

3. Be the "prefrontal cortex" for your class.

4. Catch students using executive functions effectively.

5. Clearly state classroom rules that support positive and productive

learning interactions.

Source: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-strengthening-brains-executive-functions-donna-wilson-marcus-conyers

Brain Under Construction

★Beautiful Engine...Not Hooked Up○Repetition makes fast connections○Use it or lose it (Pruning)

★Emotion Driven○Immediate gratification (dopamine driven)○Less good at planning, delayed gratification

★SH*T Happens○Stressed, Hungry, Tired

The good news: PRIMED FOR LEARNING

Sources● Being a Brain-Wise Therapist by Bonnie Badenoch● Creating birds of similar feathers by Hunter Gehlbach, Maureen E.

Brinkworth, Aaron M. King, Laura M. Hsu, Joe McIntyre, Todd Rogers● The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt● The Teenage Brain by Frances E. Jensen, MD● The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran● The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, MD● A Neurologist Makes the Case for Teaching Teachers About the Brain

by Judy Willis

● Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall by Anthony E. Wolf

Resources

WYFS – Macdara MacColl 860-399-9239 [email protected]

Hidden Brain: In the Classroom by NPR http://www.npr.org/2015/10/13/444446708/in-the-classroom-common-ground-can-transform-gpasInvisibilia: How to Become Batmanhttp://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/378577902/how-to-become-batman?showDate=2015-01-23CommonSense Media - CommonSenseMedia.orgOrganizational apps for teens:https://www.commonsensemedia.org/special-needs/are-there-apps-that-can-help-my-teen-with-organization-and-routinesEdutopia: Brain Based Learninghttp://www.edutopia.org/blogs/beat/brain-based-learning6 Scientifically Proven Ways to Boost Self-Control by Belle Beth Cooper in Fast Companyhttp://www.fastcompany.com/3032513/work-smart/6-scientifically-proven-ways-to-boost-your-self-control