Could the Brain be the Key to Better Education? by Makayla Guild

             

           Often times as we grow up we tend to forget or think that we are too cool for a lot of very important lessons about how to treat our mind and body. John Medina author of the book, Brain Rules, explains that because our brains are so complex, our capacity for functioning and learning is beyond that of many other species. As educators it is very important to not only to explain these rules to your students but it is also important that you create a classroom that focuses and takes into account these specific brain rules, in order to ensure that your students have awake and active brains so that they have an opportunity for success. This week our class seminar was about John Medina’s rules 7-12. As aspiring educators we spent a lot of our time talking about varying ways to implement each of the specific rules in our future classrooms. The three rules that our class had strong opinions about in the discussions on were, Rule #7: Sleep well, think well, Rule #8 Stressed Brains don’t learn the same way, and Rule #11 Male and Female Brains are different.   

           

Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.

 This clip of George from Seinfeld who trying to make a napping spot in his office is one that many of us may think about inventing everyday. We all know what it feels like to start our day off with not enough sleep. The entire day feels like it is in slow motion, some people may feel like their brain can’t even do the simple things that it could do yesterday, and no matter how much coffee and sugar consumed nothing seems to get done. For many students feeling tired can be a regular occurrence, with such jammed packed schedules, from school, to homework, to sports, to family, and friends the time to devote to sleep is often the first to go. According to Medina, “Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity.” (Medina, 168) It is clear that when we have students who are tired that last thing on their mind is mathematics but rather where is the closest pillow.

Much of our discussion was centered on the concept of our responsibility as educators in ensuring our students are getting the accurate amount of sleep to perform well in school. While most of us agreed that the scientific evidence proves that naps will actually improve our student’s academic performance it seems like a daunting task for many to fight the school system on allowing nap time again. In an article written in the American School Board Journal called, “ Good-bye to nap time: Spurred by NCLB, elementary schools get serious” by Glenn Cook, Cook explains that many schools now feel pressure to eliminate nap time in pre-k and kindergarten classrooms because of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although times are hopefully changing with the new common core standards, most teachers still feel a lot of pressure to beat the clock. In our seminar it was discussed that the best way to help our students succeed when there is no time for naps in the classroom is to become nap advocates, “Maybe creating lesson plans on the importance of sleep will at least help our students understand the importance of attempting to go to bed on time, it will give them the resources to have some control over their performance”. Education on the scientific evidence of sleep is one that is not only important to teach our students but it is one that we as educators can use to persuade bringing back naps to the classroom.

Rule #8: Stressed Brains don’t learn the same way

           

            Being stressed is one that most American’s encounter at sometime in their life. Stress as we all know can be a constant stream of worry for many adults but it is also important to realize that many children also experience stress. John Medina author of the book, Brain Rules, explains that studies show that children who experience a lot of stress in their home such as divorce tend to have poorer grades, “Teachers find many children emotionally distracted, so upset and preoccupied by the explosive drama of their own family lives that they are unable to concentrate on such mundane matters as multiplication tables.” (Medina, 185) Our biggest concern and focus during our seminar on stress was how can we help our students relax and focus when it seems out of place, rude, or even counter productive for a teacher tell already stressed parents that they are stressing their child out. 

One person during our seminar suggested that they may feel uncomfortable telling a parent that they need to figure out how to make the home less stressful without having suggestions ready. One suggestion provided was, “I would explain that the child seems stressed and ask what kind of activities that their child does in their free time, and perhaps suggest yoga as a form of stress management.” This idea took on a kind of tangent in our discussions because we then started to discuss ways that we could implement yoga or meditation into the classroom as a morning ritual for all students to start the day off less stressed. In an article called, “Yoga in Schools: A Non-Traditional From of Program Support”, author Gillis who is a middle school teacher at Riverside Education Centre in Milford Nova Scotia, spends her time doing just this. Part of Gillis job in the school is to provide yoga classes to children who need help in, “anxiety-related needs, social interaction, anger-management, or to a student who simply needs a physical activity break.” (Gillis, 2012) According to Gillis the school has found much success as a result has taught the students great stress management skills. This article is really uplifting because some schools have started to become proactive in implementing stress management in the form of yoga. While many schools in the state of California cannot afford to have a yoga teacher, it is still important to create a classroom that can be a safe zone for children. The web site: http://www.stressfreekids.com/ is a great resource for educators to explore many resources available to educate your students on stress and provide opportunities for relaxation in the classroom. This web site also sells a book by Lori Lite that teaches children about stress and how to relax. This video will give you a short preview of the book. In conclusion it is our hopes that all educators will reflect on the effects of stress on their life and how they may be able to provide a safe and stress free classroom to their students.

Rule #11: Male and Female Brains are different

           

            Equality in schools in recent years has been a women’s rights movement to ensure that both genders have the same opportunity for success. This has been a large reason for the integration of both genders into public school classrooms. This has been the way of life in the American education system for several decades. But recent research on the difference between the brains and learning styles of males and females has led to a revolution to the same-sex public schools. According to Medina, “Men and women respond differently to acute stress: women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdala and remember the emotional details. Men use the right amygdala and get the gist.” (Medina, 260) This concept of different ways of processing became a debate in our seminar, about the implementation of same-sex classrooms in order to ensure that both sexes are understood and taught in a way that works with the processing of their brain. This video from the Today show gives you a good sneak peak into the debate.

            Much of our conversation about the topic of boys and girls was on how to ensure that we create an environment in the classroom that will allow for the success of both genders. Many expressed concerns about how to make sure that one gender is not favored over the other. One of the males in our  

seminar expressed concern for the lack of male role models for boys in the education system. He felt that perhaps this lack of role model could cause some boys to struggle to be understood and thus perform poorly in the classroom. According to Nancy Gropper author of the article, “Helping Young Boys Be Successful Learners in Today’s Early Childhood Classrooms.” Many classrooms are no longer equipped to help our young boys learn, “Many room arrangements and schedules are so focused on promoting academic learning that they do not attend to the developmental capacities and needs of young children, particularly young boys.” Perhaps by having more male teachers in the classroom their would be built in advocates for our boys. (Gropper, 2011) While it is not possible to fill every classroom with male and female role models at the moment or to have all same-sex classrooms, Gropper recommends that our schools system incorporate more play to help engage our boys, “Play not only provides a physical outlet for boys and helps to decrease instances of acting out, but it also allows boys to express themselves through dramatic play and learn how to negotiate social-emotional challenges”. (Gropper, 2011) The theme of play based education has been a theme through out our semester and while we have many battles to take on as future educators perhaps by attempting to include more play in our classrooms we are taking the first step towards offering a better education to our students.

Conclusion

            In being an educator during this period of time in American history, it can seem daunting, especially after reading John Medina’s “12 Brain Rules”. It is clear that our education system has a lot of growth ahead to have classrooms that scientifically allow for the success of our children. My hopes are that collaboration and seminars will allow for a flow of ideas, conversations, and debates on how to make a difference in our education system. Whether it be having single-sex classrooms, more play based lessons, yoga classes, or nap times no educator can go wrong in backing up their reasoning with John Medina’s Brain rules.

   

Works Cited

"Are Same-Sex Classrooms Good for Kids Education.com.flv." YouTube. YouTube, 24 May 2010.              Web. 14 Apr. 2014.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MSJZu45iQ>.

"Children Reduce Stress, Decrease Anxiety, Eliminate Anger." Children Reduce Stress, Decrease                    Anxiety, Eliminate Anger. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.                                                                         <http://www.stressfreekids.com/>.

Cook, Glenn. “Good-bye to Nap Time: Spurred by NCLB, Elementary Schools Get Serious.”                          American School Board Journal, 191.5 (2004): 6-8.

Gillis, Kaelin. “Yoga in Schools: A Non-Traditional Form of Program Support.” Physical & Health                 Education Journal, 78.1 (2012): 12-37.

Gropper, Nancy, Blythe Hinitz, Barbara Sprung, and merle Froschl. “Helping Young Boys Be                        Successful Learners in Today’s Early Childhood Classrooms.” Young Children, 66.1 (2011):                 34-41.

Lite, Lori. "Children Lower Anxiety, Stress and Fear/Stress Free Kids." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Dec.              2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJu6jUeHjY8>.

Medina, John Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.                     Seattle, Wash.: Pear Press, 2009.

"Seinfeld - George Sleeping under His Desk." YouTube. YouTube, 09 June 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.             <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W__qCFWi1KA>.

Brain Rules 1-6

On April 1, 2014 a few of my classmates and I had a discussion about the reading we had previously read before class. We read the first 6 rules out of 12 in the book Brain Rules written by John Medina. The first six rules listed were Exercise, Survival, Wiring, Attention, Short-Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory. These are all very important rules to help you understand how the brain works and why it works that way. When knowing this information, it can help you incorporate things in your classroom to help your students to succeed. 

RULE #1: Exercise boosts brainpower

 We all know exercise is good for the body. But it's extremely good for the brain, too. Exercise kills harmful stress chemicals. It boosts problem solving, planning and attention. John Medina made it very clear that exercise helps children to do better in the classroom. “Physically fit children identify visual stimuli much faster than sedentary ones. They appear to concentrate better” (Medina 18). He stated that brains develop while working out, not lounging around. Researchers did a study and found that exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, and fluid-intelligence tasks. He also mentioned that if you do aerobic exercise for 30 minutes two or three times a week, then you would gain cognitive benefit.

In this section of the reading Medina thought of an out of the box idea that, what if during a lesson, the children were not sitting at a desk but walking 1 to 2 miles per hour on a treadmill. He then asked if it would change their academic performance? During our discussion I asked the group what they had thought of that idea. First off they mentioned that it wouldn’t be productive to be walking that slow, because Medina noted that aerobic exercise is what benefits the brain, and walking isn’t an aerobic exercise. They then mentioned that maybe if they sped it up that it may work, but then it would just turn into a distraction and ware the students out to where the children would lose focus. My group thought that instead of walking on a treadmill to maybe have the children sit on a fitness ball, it gives them better posture and the opportunity to move a little without being distracting. Ashley had mentioned that she likes to do her homework on an exercise ball, it helps her focus more, and when she starts to lose her concentration she gets up, takes a walk and gathers herself back to get her work done. In a previous discussion we had also mentioned to have the students stand at their desks during a lesson instead of sitting, and that may also help the students to stay focused.

To keep the children active throughout the long school day, we came up with possibly switching seats after a lesson, or moving around before continuing the next task. For example maybe having the students all get up from their seats and lead them through some stretches, or let them wiggle their bodies, or even have them go take a lap outside and come back in quietly.

RULE #2: The human brain evolved, too

The brain is a survival organ, its job is to keep us alive long enough to pass on our genes. 

Our brains became much bigger than our evolutionary counterparts'. It takes more brainpower to solve complicated problems.

 

Our brain is designed to:

·      Solve problems

·      Related to surviving

·      In an unstable outdoor environment

·      To do so in nearly constant motion

Brains are adapted this way simply as a survival strategy, to help us live long enough to pass our genes on to the next generation.

RULE #3: Every brain is wired differently

What you do in life physically changes what your brain looks like. You can wire and rewire yourself with the simple choice of which musical instrument or professional sport you play. The human brain, only partially constructed at birth, won’t be fully assembled for years to come. Every given brain is wired differently; what you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like – it literally rewires it. Various regions of the brain develop at different rates in different people. No two people’s brains store the same information in the same way in the same place, not even twins.

Medina talks about smaller class sizes, he states, “Students comprehend complex knowledge at different times and different depths. Because a teacher can keep track of only so may minds, there must be a limit on the number of students in a class-the smaller-the better." Lauren was wondering, “If small class sizes are beneficial, why don't more schools have smaller class sizes?” The answer our group came up with is because of money. Unfortunately, schools don’t have enough money to afford to pay more teachers. We then came up with a way to make the classroom itself feel like it is smaller so that students can get the attention they would get if they were to be in a smaller classroom. We said that if classrooms had aids or parent help we could split the group into two or three to make it seem a little smaller so that those who are afraid to speak up and ask for help may now come forward and ask because there are less eyes focused on that student. We also decided that working in stations was a really good idea so that the teacher could work with a group of five or six and then rotate stations every ten minutes or so, so that everyone is getting as close to one-on-one help that they can get.

Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things

Better attention always equals better learning. The brain’s attentional “spotlight” can focus on only one thing at a time: no multitasking. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. You must do something emotionally relevant at each 10-minute mark to regain attention. Audiences check out after 10 minutes, but you can keep grabbing them back by telling narratives or creating events rich in emotion.

Multitasking = more errors

You make three times more errors on a task when interrupted. 

Makayla had asked a great question that led into a good discussion topic, she said, “According to Medina, A hook is very important in gaining the attention of students. Many of us know and refer to a, "hook" as a way of grabbing the attention of a reader in our writing. How might we as educators gain the attention of our students using a, "hook", when ever attention seems to be lacking?”

Our group decided that presenters, or teachers need to use exciting voices, lots of emotion, and/or humor every ten minutes to hook their audience or students and to keep them hooked. We also thought that including them in the discussion would be very helpful, for example maybe asking them questions applied to real life or how they felt about the topic. Another way to keep them engaged was to incorporate games throughout the lesson, which also may refer back to Rule #1 where it states that physical activity increases attention, so if we were to incorporate games then they would be focused and learning in a fun environment.

RULE #5: Repeat to remember

There are many types of memory, from autobiographical to declarative to motor memory. Brain Rules focuses on declarative memory (things you can declare, like "2+2=4"). The brain has many types of memory systems. There are four stages of processing: encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting. Your brain can hold about seven pieces of information for 30 seconds. It must be repeated or it disappears. That neuron is waiting for a repeat signal of the information; without it, it resets itself. The more elaborately we encode a memory during its initial moments, the stronger it will be. You can improve your chances in remembering something if you reproduce the environment in which you first put it into your brain.

On page 132 Medina says that repetition is in fact a viable way to increase a person's memory. In our discussion we were trying to find the balance between when is a good time to repeat things and when not to. We came to conclusion that it would be a good idea to teach a topic, move on, and come back to it later. For example if your students are learning their times tables, as they move on to the higher numbers review the ones they have learned before, so that they don’t forget the previous numbers as they move on. As we were discussing the topic repetition the saying practice makes perfect popped into my head, where I then came up with repetition makes perfection. For example people who play sports practice the same thing over and over again on the daily to make themselves better, so in the school setting repetition is also a good thing, because the more you do something the more it comes natural to the person.

RULE #6: Remember to repeat

The way to make long-term memory more reliable is to incorporate new information gradually and repeat it in timed intervals. Missing one piece of information hurts a student's ability to understand new information related to it. That's why repetition in the classroom is crucial. The more elaborately something is encoded when learning is occurring, the more likely it is to be retained. The more something is repeated, the more likely it is to be remembered.

Works Cited

Medina, John. Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press, 2008. Print.

Vulliemoz, Serge, Olivier Raineteau, and Denis Jabaudon. "Reaching beyond the midline: why are human brains cross wired?." The Lancet Neurology 4.2 (2005): 87-99. Print.

Visualization and Working in Pairs

My group talked about many aspects of the reading but focused on two things we felt were key points, visualization and working in groups or pairs. In regards to visualization we talked about how we can use visualization to aid our students in test taking. We thought our students would feel less anxiety if we taught them how to visualize themselves taking the test while studying it will help ease their minds and enable them to focus on the test. One person brought up the possibility of pairing visualization with guided meditation, she wanted to know if it could be done. If teachers before every test guided their students through a meditation where they were told to visualize themselves taking the test and doing well on the test, then maybe some of the test anxiety would disappear and they would do better on the test. Also tell them to visualize them studying so they will remember the material they are being tested on and this to would ease the test anxiety.

We also talked about having our student work in pairs in class time and possibly letting them take tests together or at least a practice test together. I think this could be a valuable learning technique for students, because they can have someone with them to ask questions if they don't understand how to solve a problem on the test. We also talked about getting rid of tests all together since teachers are being forced to teach to the test we didn't see their value. I found a you tube clip of Sir Ken Robinson giving a TED talk about education and its called “How to escape educations death valley” Basically its about how all children need is the right environment to be to taught in and when that is met they will thrive and learn. He compares education to Death Valley in Southern California, and how it was said to be completely dead and can't sustain any life. Once year it got tons of rain and as a result of the rain flowers bloomed all over the dessert proving it was not dead but dormant. He says this is true for our education system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc We as teachers need to create a climate of possibility, an environment that will be perfect for children to learn.

With all that being said learning in pairs or groups could be the environment needed for childrens desire to learn to stop being dormant. By creating the environment where children can take a test in groups or with a partner will help eliminate the stress and anxiety that most children face when taking a test. They will be able to collaborate with their peer or peers and talk out the problem, instead of sitting there wondering if they made a mistake and stressing out about remembering how to solve a problem. If children were allowed to do this then they may stop dreading going to school and look forward to it. Of course in doing this there is the risk that one student may be ahead in a few areas than the student or students they are working with, and that student may end up carrying the group. This is a risk taken whenever group work is assigned and one way to monitor is to possibly switch up the groups or pairs. Another way is to constantly watch all groups or pairs to see if one person is dominating the work effort and if this is the case maybe intervene in a not obvious way. Ask the students if everyone understands what they are supposed to be doing and going over the assignment. Repetition can aid in the learning process, and making sure everyone understands the assignments is hopefully a sure way to get every student on track to understanding the course material and the assignment.

Since we do need to assess the students understanding of the course material and parents would like to know their childs progress in school there are alternative ways to assess where they are. Sir Ken Robinson acknowledged how so called “alternative” education institutions seem to be doing much better at educating their students. If they are doing so well at educating their students in a so called alternative fashion maybe the “alternative” is working better than the traditional model of education. If this is true maybe education standards of teaching and assessing students work should start to change. Our country has one of the highest drop out rates and these so called alternative education institutions have little no none we have to think what are they doing right. Maybe its time this country takes a good hard look at education reform since alternative educational institutions. There is no one way educate our children, as long as they are learning, and what is the harm in them having fun while they learn? We need to water their minds so the flowers of curiosity and learning bloom and our children will become eager to learn again. 

Lets Keep Remembering Our Memories By Becca Jessup

On March 11, 2014 my classmates and I sat around a table discussing the topic of memory, after reading chapter 3 of Understanding how Children Learn, by Wendy Ostroff.  The dictionary definition of Memory “is the power or process of remembering what has been learned, something that is remembered, the things learned and kept in the mind” (Merriam Webster). All of these definitions were discussed in different topics that we discussed.

The main topics that were brought up on this subject were

•          How to remember
•          Mnemonic Devices
•          Reading for studying and tests
•          Working Memory 

How to Remember 

Memory Games

This part of the class discussion was based on the question “How can we help our students memorize in a fun way?” (Lela Harris). Some of the answers that were brought up were also ideas from Wendy Ostroff from in chapter 3 of Understanding how Children Learn. On page 97, Wendy Ostroff brings up the idea of using games, and even word relay races. For example she says, “Combine a physical workout with a mental one, by running a Working Memory Relay” (Ostroff 97). This is where you give every kid a word, and have them do a relay race, but using the word that you gave them instead of a baton. This way the kids have to remember their word, plus the kids before them words, as well. She also brings up the idea of a Snowman Memory Game. This game is where you “designate one child to be the snowman. All of the other children will close their eyes, while this child will choose what he or she wants to put on as the snowman. The children in the class should be asked to open their eyes look at the snowman for 30 seconds, then close their eyes again. The snowman will change one thing that he or she is wearing and ask the others to point out what has changed” (Ostroff 97). 

            Another topic that was brought up were using flash cards and taking notes. The problems with these are that they might not work for everyone, and in that case use one of the other ideas. There are so many different ways to take notes or even create flashcards. Taking notes or even crating flashcards work for people because when you write information on paper your brain remembers the motion of the writing, and can sometimes recall the information that you wrote down.  Some different ways to take notes are:

Note Taking Techniques

•          T-charts
•          Sketch with Labels
•          Webs
•          Bullet points or Bullet points with boxes
•          Timelines
•          Cornell Method

Different ways to create flash cards are: 

• Words with a picture 
• Word on one side definition on the other side
•  Picture one side word on the other

Cornell Method

Another way that we discussed was creating songs, dances and poems- something to trigger the information. These help me learn probably the best because anything with a catchy tune or something that keeps you move, or even something that you created will stick with you. Things that we still remember from elementary school in the form of song or dance were: The fifty states song, alphabet, school house rock, and the conjugation of verbs.

Schoolhouse Rock!

Mnemonic Devices

            Mnemonic devices are something that I remember to this day, and still help me when I am trying to us PEMDAS, or remember the order of the planets, or even the colors of the spectrum for science. Mnemonics are a way to help your brain put things together to remember the information that you are given. The dictionary defines mnemonics as “a technique of improving the memory” (Merriam Webster). When teaching them to little kids as we were discussing we were worried that if you taught them a mnemonic for everything that they needed to learn it would be too much, and they might get confused and mix everything up. So we decided that when used in the proper terms and when it is actually necessary they can be one of the most helpful ways to remember something. Examples that we thought of:

•          PEMDAS- Pleas Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
•          Planet Order-  My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles
•         Cardinal Direction Points- Never Eat Soggy Waffles
•          Color Spectrum- ROY G. BIV
•         Compound Sentences- FAN BOYS
•          Quadratic formula- Song
•          Dates, months- use Rhymes

Reading

Book on how to use Drama in the classroom

            Reading is another topic that we had a big discussion about. Not only is reading important because it is something that you will use for the rest of your life, but it is important to teach it the right way and make sure that kids understand what they are reading. One of my fondest memories about reading is when I was in first grade we read the three little pigs, and the entire group of first graders got to preform and act out the play on stage for the whole school and any parents that wanted to come. This is a way to make reading interesting and fun. Wendy Ostroff addresses using skits, and scripts in her book and this is a way to incorporate them into the day. Reading is just reading if you are not taking notes (for older kids) or discussing it to really make sure that you understood the reading, and got the main points that were being discussed in the book.

            Not only is reading important, so make a game out of it, but it is difficult for many kids. This is an area where a lot of kids fall behind, and some teachers just don’t have the time to help a child read better so they pass them on to the next grade anyways, so reading out loud to the class or teaching them how to get passed difficult words, by sounding them out or looking them up. Another thing that would help with hard readings and getting to the point of the main themes and topics would be to use your resources. Use Sparknotes, or Cliffnotes, watch the movies, include it in a lesson plan because this way kids can have the tools that they used inside the classroom outside as well can they can continue learning through an activity that they are used to doing, playing on a computer or watching T.V.

Working Memory

            Working Memory is a big part in any child learning. Wendy Ostroff defines it as, “a sticky note for temporary storage in our minds, a system for storing information for very short periods of time to be used for further manipulation (Baddeley 1986)” (Ostroff 93).  Children now have been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD starting at such a young age, and this could be the problem. Bad working memory has often been confused with being distracted for long periods of time which can cause children to be diagnosed with learning disabilities. Maija-Riikka Stennari, wrote an article about how sleep can affect working memory, and that now a days kids with all the distractions go to bed later which can cause according to her conclusion, “sleep quality and quantity affect performance of working memory tasks in school age children”, or a lack of focus and working memory task problems (Steenari).

Working Memory 

            One way that we can help working memory improve would be too lighten the load, assign a griot, and micro-move when it comes to instructions. One way to lighten the load would be to put the instructions up on the board, and this way if the kids forget to do something all they have to do is look up at the board to see what they have to do next. Another thing would be repeating it only so many times and then if they get stuck have them ask another classmate for help on what else they are supposed to be doing.  The next idea is having a child be the griot for the week. This means that that child is in charge of reminding the classroom what they have to do for the week, and what is due the next day and if there is anything special going on that week. This will help lighten the load on the working memory of students because this way they don’t have to always remember it and they can just ask the person who is in charge of it that week. The last way would be to micro-move. This means slowly doing more than one instruction at a time. Start off with just one instruction and then two weeks later move to two, once everyone can do two, move to three and then just continue and see how many the class can get to by the end of the year.

Conclusion

            Memory is a really important thing that people need to teach kids how to grow. As adults we have a lot of memories in our memory, and that includes school tasks that we did, and things that we learned, and we need to pass those techniques that we still know how to do on to the next generation so that they can learn them too. Mnemonic devices, reading, and working memory are some of the most important things that we will ever learn, and learn about, so we need to keep them interesting and fun so that we can keep remembering them and keep the memories of the things that we learned. Games, songs, rhymes are all good ways to help keep these fresh in our mind. These ideas will change over time and it is our job to help the future generations keep them fresh in their minds too. 


Citations: 

Ostroff, Wendy L. "Understanding Children's Attention." Understanding How Young
Children Learn: Bringing the Science of Child Development to the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2012. 54-87. Print.

Steenari, Maija-Riikka, et al. "Working Memory And Sleep In 6- To 13-Year-Old Schoolchildren." Journal Of The American Academy Of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 42.1 (2003): 85. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Attention, Meditation, Self-Regulation, Private Speech…Oh My!! By: Lauren Ryder

                               

This week in seminar we read Chapter two in Professor Wendy Ostroff’s book Understanding How Young Children Learn and the scientific article by Penelope Cousens and Kenneth Nunn, entitled Is ‘Self-Regulation’ a More Helpful Construct than ‘Attention’? Chapter two focuses mainly on the concepts of attention, self-regulation, meditation, and executive control, among others. The additional article focuses on questioning if self-regulation is the answer to many diagnoses of ADD and ADHD.

            First off, what does ‘attention’ mean? In both of our readings, the authors provided the reader with a definition of ‘attention’. Attention, according to Professor Ostroff, means “is the mechanism we use to bring certain things to our conscious awareness and to quiet or ignore others” (Ostroff 54). In the Cousens and Nunn article, using a definition by Churchland and Sejnowski, they defined it as “…focusing of consciousness on some part of the multitude of stimuli from the environment-a reductionist process in line with the constraints of the human brain (Cousens and Nunn 28). So, then comes the question, is it (attention) important to have in order to be successful in school? After reading chapter two, the article, and a peer-reviewed article, I have found that that the answer is yes. In my peer-reviewed article, “ Relating Kindergarten Attention to Subsequent Development Pathways of Classroom Engagement in Elementary School by Linda S. Pagani, Caroline Fitzpatrick, and Sophie Parent, it proves that a strong sense of attention at an early age will help the student in their future academic endeavors. Pagani, Fitzpatrick, and Parent, focus on a study that was done in disadvantaged parts of Montreal, Canada, in which,

“teachers rated children’s classroom engagement behaviors using an 8-item scale: plays and works cooperatively with other children at a level appropriate for age; demonstrates self control; shows self-confidence; follows directions; completes work on time; works independently; capable of making decisions; follows rules and task instructions. Potential responses ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (always)…” (Pagani, Fitzpatrick, Parent article).

The article goes on to say that the results went on to conclude that if a child had higher ratings in each category, then they did well in later schooling, and vice versa for the lower ratings. The authors went on to say, “Kindergarten attention, being singled out as an important predictor of first and third grade math and reading achievements, highlights its value in conceptual models of school readiness and assessment” (Pagani, Fitzpatrick, Parent article).

A-not-B Task with a 10 month old (Shown in class/mentioned in Professor Ostroff's book)

Topics Brought up in seminar:

1.     Meditation

2.     “Movement Enhancing Attention”

3.     ADD and ADHD Diagnosis Age

4.     Incorporating Technology (to aid with attention-games)

5.     Private Speech

6.     Attention connected to Emotion

7.     Meta-Attention

8.     Processing Speed

As you can see, we covered a multitude of topics in our seminar. I feel that the most important subjects covered that represented the reading were meditation, “movement enhancing attention”, ADD and ADHD diagnosis age, and private speech in executive control.

Meditation was the first topic in our seminar discussion. Lela H. asked, “should we incorporate meditation time into the day to help our students? Stepping back into the chapter in Understanding How Young Children Learn, Professor Ostroff cites Anand, Chhina, and Singh’s findings on meditation’s physical and medical effects on the brain. She writes, “brain activity is altered due to the practice of meditation. Meditation increases regional blood flow in the key brain areas for attention and emotions. It also activates the neural structures involved in arousal and autonomic nervous system control”(Ostroff 61). Knowing the physical benefits of meditation on the brain and how it could be used in self-regulation training, we all came to the conclusion that meditation was beneficial in our classrooms.  Stemming off from that question, I asked, could meditation really work with younger students (example of the Japanese Kindergarteners doing meditation in class)? Does it actually work and do they take it seriously enough to let it do its job? We felt that we could do meditation with Kindergarteners/younger students just as long as we “angled the activity so that they would be able to understand” (Sarah F.), using techniques like “rainbow meditation” mentioned in the book (Ostroff 67).  As a group, we believe that if we as educators made it more relatable to our students, they would be more inclined to participate. Lastly, we felt that older students would be less willing to participate or take it seriously than the younger students. It was at this moment in the seminar that Rebecca J. shared her experience in high school with meditation. She said that meditation that was done in her class appeared to have worked for her and her classmates (centering them, getting them ready to learn, etc).

Scientific American-How Does Meditation Change the Brain?

Kindergarten Class Meditating

The next important topic that we discussed in seminar was “movement enhancing attention”. Kaylyn M asked, “due to cuts to physical education how might you incorporate strenuous activity into your daily lessons? We as a collective group felt that we should try a variety of different kinds of lessons incorporating things like Around the World, the Fly Swatter games, as well as have plenty of outside time during our lessons. Makayla G. made a valid point that it is hard to focus when one is stressed, so if we did decide to use games/movement activities, “… we would need to somehow take the competition out and the fear of disappointment”. She told us about her experiences doing games like Around the World and how she was didn’t like the competition aspect/being put on the spot.  I added that another idea to incorporate movement into our daily lessons would be taking our children outside, go through spelling lists or math while completing reps of sit ups or push ups, etc. In this way our students get physical education time in and are working on the core subjects. There have been numerous studies that have found that movement helps maintain a healthy body and also that helps the functions of the brain. In the book, Understanding How Young Children Learn, Professor Ostroff cites Mattson 2004, when she writes about the benefits of movement on the brain, “Physical activity provides healthy stress for the brain. Just like exercising you muscles, physical movement followed by recovery promotes brain adaptation and growth, allowing the brain to respond to future challenges” (Ostroff 81). I agree with the group that movement in our lessons is very beneficial to the child as a whole, if done right.

                                                

                      

The subject of ADD, ADHD, and diagnosis age then came up. The some people of our seminar group thought that we shouldn’t simply medicate students simply because they can sit still. Most of us understand that young kids can’t sit still for long periods of time. I then spoke of my experience volunteering in a second grade classroom this year and how a few children, who can’t sit still actually prefer to stand up while working on their class work (which seems to help them focus on the task at hand).  After, Rebecca J. suggested that a better age to be diagnosed would be around seventh grade; instead of the young age she was tested for them (third grade). I thought that it was interesting that in the Cousens and Nunn article, that they were questioning whether or not self-regulation was the true issue behind the diagnoses of ADD and ADHD. I agree with the age that Rebecca J. suggested because like Cousens and Nunn suggested, the diagnosis could be more of a self-regulation issue as opposed to a more serious thing going on in the brain. I began to wonder, if it is an issue of self-regulation, couldn’t the child in question train their self-regulation, with help, and get better without medicine. A majority of the group felt that there needed to be clearer guidelines when diagnosing both ADD and ADHD. We finished by talking about how some parents want something to be wrong with their children and a personal diagnosis story from Makayla G.

The last important subject brought up in seminar was private speech. Makayla G asked, “In understanding the power that we as future teachers having in the allowance of private speech, what kind of threshold do you think you will have for private speech in your classroom? How could you allow private speech but also make sure that one student’s private speech is not getting in the way of another child's attention?” Our group came to the consensus that we would avoid hindering the private speech of our students. We understood after reading that we, as future educators, play a huge role in private speech. In Understanding How Young Children Learn, Professor Ostroff writes, “teachers’ views of private speech are important, because research shows that teachers can actively support or hinder private speech based on their beliefs and practices” (Ostroff 74). We suggested classroom organization and setting ground rules for private speech at the beginning of the year, as ways to help support private speech. Steve V. suggested that we could model examples of our own private speech to our students. Finally, letting out students know that if a group mate’s private speech is too loud, that they are more than welcome to sit somewhere else, i.e. move their desks or sit at the back table.

Example of Private Speech- 4 years old

 Conclusion:

 Attention is a very important aspect in a child’s life that will affect his or her future academic career. We should keep in mind what we learned in this week’s readings about attention, meditation, “movement enhancing attention”, self-regulation to help others understand more about ADD and ADHD (the possibility that it is just a self-regulation problem), and private speech while we teach. This new knowledge will not only help our students be successful in school, but will give us the tools we need to help get them there.

Works Cited

Cousens, Penelope, and Kenneth Nunn. "Is 'Self-Regulation' a More Helpful Construct than 'Attention'?" SAGE Social Science Collections, n.d. Web.

Ostroff, Wendy L. "Understanding Children's Attention." Understanding How Young

Children Learn: Bringing the Science of Child Development to the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2012. 54-87. Print.

Pagani, Linda, Caroline Fitzpatrick, and Sophie Parent. "Relating Kindergarten Attention To

Subsequent Developmental Pathways Of Classroom Engagement In Elementary School." Journal Of Abnormal Child Psychology 40.5 (2012): 715-725. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.