Susie+Mercer

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About Me
I have been a teacher since 1993. I currently work at Grady High School as the English department chair, the yearbook adviser and the ultimate frisbee coach.

Takeaways / Big Ideas
This cohort ranks among the best professional development I've encountered. It has infused my practice with new life. Thanks to brain-based learning techniques, my students and I are much more vested in the classroom process. We all smile more when we make appointments with new group members and evaluate then reteach challenging concepts. Being able to move around the room and learn in a social setting has been a challenging transition, but well worth the effort and the still-occasional days when the system breaks down. I highly recommend Sousa's book, //How the Brain Learns//, as well as attending any lectures by David Ghoogosian, head of the Lyceum in California: http://www.1lyceum.com/Home.html.

AR Overview
As soon as I learned about primacy-recency, I was intrigued. The concept just really resonated with me. But then I was really captured by the idea of the connection between the brain and physical activity after we read about a study on dyslexia where students who used squeezie balls showed improved reading ability over time. And then I attended a Learning and the Brain conference in San Francisco where I was shown several brain-based teaching techniques. I was just so interested in all of them that I wanted to design a study that would allow me to examine them all.

AR Question
Can student engagement and retention be increased by improved methodologies, specifically primacy-recency, movement, and brain-based strategies?

AR Process
1. Determine Control Group 1, PR Group 2, PR+BBL Group 3 2. Adjust the agenda to reflect PR. Create Quick Learn for primacy and Memory Zap for recency. 3. Use PR agenda for Group 2. 4. Use PR agenda + BBL for Group 3. 5. Create observation tool that checks engagement at increments over 90 minutes. 6. Invite observers to use the tool and compare across groups. 7. Use Likert Scale survey to gather information on student perception of the changes to their classes. 8. Use short answer survey to allow for broader student response. 9. Compare test data before and after implementation of new methods.

AR Data Samples
Please see uploaded items.

AR Data Analysis
Some things I noticed that were ancillary to my research: High school should start later. Most kids just aren't all the way on at 8:15 and research shows that the adolescent brain needs more sleep at different times than the adult brain. I also noticed that my placement in the room affects, if not engagement, off task behavior. I always new that, but it became really clear on my observation sheet. Also, my room is way too small to house 36 students; it makes group work really challenging because I can't get around quickly to management and they can't change the desks around easily. As for hard data, my test scores improved in both classes where the new methods were integrated.

AR Conclusions
My students definitely responded to the changes I put in place, even if their grades don't always show it. I think that as I get better at managing my 90 minutes with these new practices, coupled with less resistance to change (kids didn't like that the new agenda had more work), I'll see a real uptick in both engagement and performance. 1. At 45 minutes in in the control group, 9% were engaged and 5% off task, leaving 86% neutral; with the new agenda, 34% were engaged and 22% were off task, leaving 44% neutral. Not quite what I was hoping for, but I think part of the problem is that my room is so small that it’s challenging for the students to move around and for me to quickly get to all groups for monitoring. 2. Memory Zap in the last 10 minutes, instead of Final Five in the last 5 minutes, increased engagement by almost 50%. 3. School should start later than 8:15; the kids are not really awake that early. Engagement increases in second period, then levels out or decreases during third period (this is during lunch) and then goes down drastically after 2pm. 4. Speaking of third period: Not all brain based techniques achieve the desired result. I introduced yoga balls as seating options in an effort to combat the behavior of my two ADD boys. It didn't work; they just bounced around and acted silly. As it happens, however, I did discover that yoga balls are good for those kids who just can’t stay awake. It’s reallly hard to fall asleep on a yoga ball.

Test scores: After several months of old agenda versus new agenda versus new agenda plus other techniques, it was time for the midterm: Group 2 scored 20% better than the control group. Group 3 scored 30% better than the control group.

And, in terms of overall grades, here are the averages as of mid second semester: Group 1 (control group) 84 Group 2 87 Group 3 80

I attribute the lower grade in Group 3 to the fact that one third of the class is gifted; gifted kids are notoriously disorganized and often don’t bother to turn in work. So, some of them have low averages because they are missing assignments, even though their test scores are 30% higher than the control group.

Lit Review & Resources
http://www.amazon.com/How-Brain-Learns-David-Sousa/dp/1412997976/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367517859&sr=1-1&keywords=how+the+brain+learns
 * How the Brain Learns **, by David Sousa

Lectures by David Ghoogosian, The Lyceum http://www.1lyceum.com/Home.html Additional info http://classroomcommunity.wordpress.com/brain-research/

What is brain-based learning? http://www.ehow.com/about_6607742_definition-brain-based-learning.html

Some brain-based strategies: https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/user/jbconrad/Portfolio%20Public/PDFs/ConradStratNotebook.pdf

Excellent brain-based scholarly presentations: http://www.learningandthebrain.com/store/category/40/speakers?page=5

Reflections
As I said, this program was excellent and had a major impact on my practice. More teachers should have the chance to learn and grow in this way. I would attend another cohort through CFT in a heartbeat. I'm fired up to start with a clean slate in August and really get to work improving my classes, which hopefully will translate to better test scores and grades for my students. But most of all, I just want to keep up my students' interest and their motivation to learn.