Pamela+Haskins

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About Me
Wife, Mom, Daughter, Sister, Niece. TEACHER. A 14-year veteran ELA (6-12) teacher who strives to teach the whole child how to read closely, think critically, and write clearly!



Takeaways / Big Ideas
"Life-long learning" is a mantra chanted by teachers and students alike, but the process to become a life-long learner is one that is rarely shared explicitly. Many times, students feel that the teacher should pour the information over into their heads and it should stay. Teachers should empower students to become facilitators of learning by teaching them how the brain works and by giving students brain compatible lessons and strategies so that they can empower themselves. Each person recieves information differently and by actively involving the student in the learning process can help to empower each child. Many times students think it is the teacher's responsibility to help fill their brains. It IS the teacher's responsibility to present new knowledge and help students gain mastery of it but the learning/retention is up to the individual. With brain-based techniques, students under my tutelage will become empowered to enhance their own academic growth due to a variety of strategies and choices presented to them.

AR Overview
====Metacognition means "thinking about thinking". That means that each student must identify what kind of thinker/learner they are and then devise strategies that are most fitting to the way they learn and then use their learning style to achieve academic excellence. Metacognition is an individual journey into the self and each student must develop his/her own strengths and weaknesses. I chose to expose them to a variety of brain-based metacognitive strategies and empower them to choose which strategies work for them.====

AR Question
= = = Can direct instruction of brain-based = = = = strategies affect my students’ success rate? = = =

AR Process
===I wanted to demonstrate to students how using simple brain-based strategies will help them facilitate their own learning and that students have the power to choose these same strategies to facilitate their own success. After identifying the learning goal for the day/unit, I taught an objective without using a brain strategy. I assessed their work. Then I introduced the brain-based strategy and had the students try the another task (same objective) again. I measured results from each instance.=== > Explained the growth mindset/fixed mindset
 * Identified parts and functions of the human brain
 * Identified each student's learning style and offered suggestions for activating their style.
 * Explained the memory framework
 * Experimented with primacy/recency
 * Used chunking strategy
 * Used mnemonic device
 * Used graphic organizer
 * Used peer-to-peer instruction

AR Data Samples and Data Analysis
1. Growth/Fixed Mindset

2. Primacy/Recency



3. Mnemonic Device used with the Memory Framework

4. Graphic Organizer 5. Chunking 6. Peer to Peer Instruction 7. Independence!

I noticed that whenever I explicitly used the brain based strategies, the student involvement, engagement and success rate increased. Students who are invested in the process of learning don't need to be invested or interested in the topic being presented. It seemed that the students were engaged with the process of learning just to know if my "strategy" would work.

AR Conclusions
My inner-city students had little connection to British literature/culture. They had no buy-in to the objectives of the class. I was worried about mastery of all of the standards. Because their motivation was low, I struggled to engage them. Therefore I knew I had to change the pace of the 90 minute blocks. By framing the content within Brain-Based context, students began to see the relevance of the literary content and of college and career readiness standards that they needed to develop. The class then became a game to them. Students complain about the amount of group work and its difficulties, but they recognize the relevance of group dynamics and interpersonal development. Students struggled with time management. Many times, their journals reflected apathy with the "brain strategies".

When students understood that the brain-based learning strategies are theirs to own and to use when necessary. The students are more empowered. Next time, the brain journal will be more developed. I will pursue more aggressive learning tasks that focus on working with groups so that students can learn how to use their brain strategies in conjunction with interpersonal skills. I will have students journal about the process while in the midst of the job duties?

Lit Review & Resources
WORKS CITED

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H. and Dweck, C. S. (2007), Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention. Child Development, 78: 246–263. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x

Clark, Ron. The End of Molassess Classes.

Eisenhart, M., & DeHaan, R.L. (2005). Doctoral preparation of scientifically based educational researchers. Educational Researcher,34(4): 3-13.

Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. //Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science//. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2007.

Posner, Michael and Mary Rothbart. //Educating the Human Brain//. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2006.

Sousa, David A., ed. //Mind, Brain, & Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom//. Bloomington: Solution Tree, 2010.

Sylwester, Robert. //A Child's Brain: The Need for Nurture//. Thousand Oaks: Corwin, 2010.

Sylwester, Robert. //The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy//. Thousand Oaks: Corwin, 2007.

The Dana Foundation. //Cerebrum 2010: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science//. New York: Dana Press, 2010.

Tokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey. //The New Science of Teaching and Learning: Using the Best of Mind, Brain, and Education Science in the Classroom//. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009.

Reflections
Teaching the whole child means that we, as teachers, must continue to self-develop and assess our practice so that we may remain relevant to the profession and to the development of human kind. Teachers wield power. We have to use it wisely. Educators should be well versed in brain anatomy, the inner workings of the organ and brain-based strategies in order to maximize instructional time. __Teacher education programs__ should ensure that all pre-service teachers are learning the myriad of ways that they will affect change in their classrooms. __Parents should be aware__ of their power over the developing brains of their infants because of its direct correlation to the performance of the child in school. Teachers have a hard time undoing what a parent has erroneously done by ignoring their responsibilities of helping their child to develop strong cognitive skills. Brain based information should be shared freely so that it can __empower the next generation__ of teachers and learners.