Brain Rules

I love the last statement. In reality all of the things he mentioned are fascinating. I'd love to show these segments to my Junior classes and change the way these classes operate. I'm ready to jump in and do it. I think it can be done. The wild card is getting the kids to buy in and be excited by it. My concern is are they mature enough not to take advantage of the situation?

What should we expect from our students

I love watching these videos on how classrooms should change and what we can do to make our classrooms better as teachers. I must admit however, the more I watch of them the more cynical and defensive I've become. If I can look past this cynicism and let my guard down a little bit something positive can be taken from all of these statements and testimonies. I found the following video to be especially valuable. It is called Students on: What should be expected of them. I think the speaker in this video is dead on. We need to push our kids to higher order questioning and thought. Before kids can do this they need to have a connection. As teachers our challenge is to hook these kids and attempt to establish a connection with the material. We need to find a way to make them seekers of information and creators of ideas. Too often we are standing at the front of the room pushing material they are uninterested in accepting. They have no connection. Their classmates that do excel in a traditional classroom accept the information because they are committed to do well. Not all kids see doing well as a priority so they don't apply themselves to the material. Seeing this is the easy part, restructuring lessons and material is the incredibly difficult part.

Ian Jukes

The brain research is very interesting and in hindsight it seems very reasonable that our experiences throughout life would rewire our brain. Other body organs are able to adapt to changes in our environment; it should not surprise us that our brains have similar qualities. Its one of the beauties of life.

I agree that armed with the technology of today and the knowledge of how today's kids are different, teachers should really focus on our delivery methods in the classroom. This will be hard work for teachers, finding creative and innovative ways to engage kids in the learning process takes a tremendous amount of time. Even with ample time other factors exist that make change difficult. Making a change like this is much like asking someone to teach a subject they know well in a different language. I know science but if you were to ask me to teach science in German it would be an incredible challenge. For many teachers my analogy is very similar to their reality. If we are to improve our educational system two things need to take place. First, and this is by far the most important one, teachers need to accept they must change and need help to do so. Secondly, communities, including administration and boards of education, must establish clear and reasonable goals for their teachers for implementing these new techniques.

On the other hand I would like to take issue with the speakers issue on a kids ability to multitask. The reality is our brains don’t multitask well. It is why so many accidents occur when drivers are on cell phones or eating while driving. Today’s youth may be better at switching between tasks but they are not multi-tasking.

Kids should have this information as well. They should know how they are wired and use this knowledge to better themselves. Knowing this shouldn’t be a crutch or an excuse for a child not to be able to learn or to be engaged. It should be used as a guide for what I need to work on or what ways will help me learn things the best.

6 word memoir

found happiness, in search of money