Hooks Activating Your Students’ Minds Mary Jeanguenat, Maria Markey, Joyce Meixner, Sarah Pieratt

OBJECTIVES o Create a Positive Learning Environment o Provide Indicators for a Positive Classroom Climate o Introduce brain based research about the connection between emotion and academic learning o Share Strategies to active and emotionally engage your learner

HOW THE BRAIN PROCESSES INFORMATION Frontal Cortex Amygdala Emotional monitoring center which codes information Sensory Cortex Thalamus Monitors strength and nature of sensory input Sensory Receptor Process incoming information from our senses (40,000 bits/sec) Region of parietal lobe concerned with sensory input Region of Frontal lobe concerned with thought processing

POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT  Teachers provide a safe environment for students. This will allow students to engage in learning. This, in turn, will create positive emotions that will trigger the brain to enhance the memory process.  If students are to learn efficiently, stress needs to be kept within tolerable levels so that their self esteem and personal efficacy remain intact.

Indicators of a Positive Classroom  Positive attractive surroundings  Include plants and decorative walls  Student work displayed  Low stress lighting  Encouraging teacher  Offer choice and variety  Provide wait and think times  Offer appropriate challenge  Offer constructive feedback  Ensure safety and relaxed alertness  Consider ALL learning styles

Hooks to Activate Learning  Think-Pair-Share  KWL  Mind Maps/Graphic Organizers  Ticket In  Carousel Brainstorm  Give One Take One  Four Corners  Find Someone Who

Think-Pair-Share  A questioning response strategy in which a question is posed, student think about their responses, then pair with a partner to share responses, and finally share with the class as a whole  Students have an opportunity to retrieve personal background knowledge.  Working with a partner allows them to express their knowledge in a nonthreatening situation  Group share creates a peer-teaching atmosphere  By the end of this activity, students will be in a relaxed- alert state, emotionally ready to learn new knowledge.

KWL  An advanced organizer used to list what students know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they have learned (L)  This can be an individual or group activity done at the beginning and end of a unit  Students reflect on prior knowledge, set goals for learning and again summarize what they have learned  This can be used as an assessment tool

Mind Map  Graphic Organizer that enhances learning through the use of symbolic representation with or without words  It combines logical organization of concepts with a highly creative process  Devised by Tony Buzan (1974) to engage the brain’s functions and capturing the “big picture”  Mind Maps can be useful throughout an entire lesson or unit to recall major chucks of information

Ticket In  Students are asked to respond to a prompt on the board and turns it in to the teacher.  Engages the learner in a nonthreatening manner  Activates prior knowledge and focus  Novelty

Carousel Brainstorm  A form of walkabout in which problems are written on large sheets of paper posted around the room. Groups of 4 move around from sheet to sheet and brainstorm and record solutions to each problem.  Incorporates movement, cooperative learning, and is non threatening.

Give One, Take One  Interpersonal strategy for interactive brainstorming  Each individual will jot down ideas on given topic, then students walk about and give one idea and take one idea from each person they talk to  Structure time in short segments to keep ideas flowing Give OneTake One

Four Corners  Four corners of the room are designated to represent varying degrees of a viewpoint, such as agree, strongly agree, disagree, and strongly disagree  A simple structure used to explore issues, develop rationales, and support opinions  Incorporates movement, cooperative learning, and emotions (personal opinion) A SA D SD

Find Someone Who…  Students walk around the room and approach others, offering help with one of the items on the chart. As one person give information, the other person actively listens and records ideas  Students practice paraphrasing and asking questions to make sure they understand and can remember the information  The discussion and articulation of ideas help clarify meaning, deepen understanding and improve retention  Topic:______________  Activation/Preassessment:___  Review: ___________

Reflection  We must remember that a student’s emotions are connected to their learning.  Emotionally-driven attention help students create meaning and develop memory pathways  Educators can help students engage their emotions to be better learners

References  Gregory, Gayle H., Parry, Terence, Designing Brain Compatible Learning. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA,  Sousa, David A., How The Brain Learns. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA  The Power of Brain-Compatible Learning- Translating Research into Practice, Connecting Link Inc., 2009.