I learned many things in the process of completing my dissertation and it began my enduring fascination with the brain and learning.  I also read Gazzaniga, Sperry, and other pioneers in the field which prepped me for the many works to come.

I finished my dissertation in l986 at the University of Virginia.  Three years earlier in a proposal defense I was in front of a group of five rather distinguished professors.  My proposal was to study the degree to which principals—elementary, middle, and high school—evidence behaviors and thinking associated with the right hemisphere or those associated with the left hemisphere.  The proposed title of my dissertation was “Cerebral Laterality and Leadership Styles of Principals.” 

At one time during the proposal defense, it seemed that I wasn’t even at the table.  The professors were debating among themselves the legitimacy of the projected research.  One individual with a cognitive scientist bent said that relating behaviors to functions of the brain could not be substantiated.  He, however, was overruled and I was given the go-ahead.  I am aware that I could not present my proposal in the same manner today.  I used the right/left brain descriptors, but my dissertation occurred before the use of fMRI to discern brain function and we know so much more!

Fast forward years later as I finished reading Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, on an airplane trip from Richmond to New Orleans.  I was excited and amazed that Pink’s outline of the six fundamental human abilities that he deemed essential for professional success and personal fulfillment paralleled the attributes associated with integrated or right brain leadership talked about in my dissertation. 

I know there is more to be written on the topic of the brain and leadership. Wouldn’t it be revealing to compare the brains of world leaders in the process of making critical decisions? 

     I have opportunities several times a month to work with teachers at all grade levels.  Recently, I was doing a workshop at a middle school and was sharing information about ways to infuse higher level thinking into the curriculum using multi levels of resources and differentiated task groups. The middle school teacher I was talking to was very sincere about the fact that he did not need to work on building higher level thinking.  He shared that his pass rate on the state standards test was at 96% and his sole focus was to do whatever it takes to increase the pass rate to100%.  He was convinced that direct instruction–a just-the-facts approach–was all the students needed.  I failed to convince him otherwise.

     In most of my presentations, I talk to educators about the brain and learning and how, if we design lessons to fully engage learners, we activatethe brain and encourage growth of synapses (learning).  My “platform” includes trying to get teachers to see that struggling learners can access rigorous content if they build on prior knowledge, establish relevance with today’s world, and provide a path to get there that is more than a direct instruction “sit-and-listen” experience.  I know that we must equip ALL students and not just the high achievers with 21st century skills.

     I am particularly interested in what I refer to as the 21st century 4 C’s:  creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.  When you think about it–in most classrooms we have a deficit of these four skills.  If we are to really prepare our children (and I have four) to be our peace-makers and problem solvers–locally and globally–then we need to infuse these 4 C’s into the curriculum as we design lessons for optimal instruction.  I am beginning to work on a project that will help educators analyze the degree to which these important skills are evident.  Perhaps we can raise consciousness first by auditing practice–at least that is where I’m headed!

Block scheduling is benign.  When a parent says my child is so bored in block classes, I grimace, because it doesn’t have to be so.  The bottom line is students are bored when the primary mode of delivering instruction is lecture/question/answer/lecture, etc.  The parent I was talking to responded, “But the students can tolerate it more when the class periods are shorter.”  The sad thing is that she is right! 

The issue isn’t whether the class is 45, 60 or 90 minutes in length.  The real issue is whether teachers know how to design lessons that actively involve learners throughout the entire class period—regardless of the time allotted.  Personally, my preference is for longer periods, because I love to have the time to develop the lesson, stage the different learning activities, and involve learners using strategies that communicate the facts and concepts they need to know building one upon the other.  In a 90 minute class, my students will have on-your-own reflection, journal writing, partner and/or cooperative learning, peer-teaching, strategic reading of selected content (in each content area—not just English), real-life application, and closure activities to help cement the days lessons in their brains until tomorrow.

I am aware of the national call to have teachers better prepared with knowing the content of what they are teaching. Yes, we need math specialists and social studies and science teachers that have more than a superficial knowledge of the content, but acquiring the facts and concepts of the subject area will fall substantially short if teachers do not know how to design lessons that actively engage learners!  (Brain-compatible, “how” to teach ideas can be found in my book Teaching Smarter with the Brain in Focus available at

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Smarter-Brain-Focus-Comprehension/dp/0545021200/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221568892&sr=1-1 )

He describes how exercise improves attention, increases motivation and reduces stress, emphasizing that when students participate in physical activity, neurons are activated and memories of new information are solidified.

Too often students shun exercise and teachers find it challenging to get students in gear—not only in health/PE classes, but in other classes, as well. We simply must pay attention to the information in the book Spark and become part of the solution to help transform teaching and learning by supporting a culture of movement and exercise in schools.

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Smarter-Brain-Focus-Comprehension…

WOW!! Your book rocks!! Makes me want to go out there with some billboard around my neck shouting, “Buy this book!! It’s awesome!!” 

… the book is superb. I started reading it and completely forgot it was someone I know writing… rates right up there with all the other ASCD books I’ve read…You did a fabulous job with all the parts of the book and I am more than humbled to say I’m your friend. WOW, WOW, WOW!!!

Tamara Letter

Brain-Compatible Lesson Checklist (Word Doc)

Collaborative Classroom Checklist (Word Doc)

The gap between teachers’ assertions that they are conscientiously following curriculum guides and students’ actual performances on assessment measures is disheartening. Educators can find out why this gap exists by looking at brain research on how students learn and retain new information. In a brain compatible classroom the first insight is that learning only occurs when a teacher (or task) has the full attention of the learner. If there’s no attention, there’s no learning! The second critical understanding is students must be actively engaged as learners. A third imperative is that all new knowledge must connect or hook to something a student already knows in order to establish the pathways in the brain that will lead to long-term memory. If teachers adhere to these three basic tenets of learning, then they will see students being much more successful at processing new information.

What are some ways to get the brain’s attention? Need is one. When students have a need to know, they are tuned in to what is to be learned. A very clear example is found with students who struggle academically, yet keep up flawlessly with every step and requirement that has to be met to obtain a drivers license. To a teenager driving is a need!

The brain also pays attention to activities that are novel and involve the students in new ways. One aspect of novelty is to embed content in stories because our brains will remember a story before a list. Using metaphor (a kind of story) brings a picture or image to mind that can help retention. Props and hands-on activities increase novelty and can assist in recall, as well.

Activating visual memory systems also helps students remember information. Using of pictures, images or artifacts with study guides, learning logs, interactive notebooks, or other note-taking enhances retrieval of content. For example, a railroad suitcase that was a prop for the 4th grade unit on reconstruction following the Civil War had contents associated with post-war expansion. A lump of coal, picture of a tobacco leaf, and a piece of cotton cloth were some of the artifacts that helped students remember about the influence of the railroad during reconstruction.

Student engagement increases as the intensity of stimuli increases. The more intense the learning experience, the more the brain is activated. “Drill and kill” is an example of how students become numbed by rote work and often begin to disengage. It is flawed to assume that students need to practice the same thing in the same way over and over so that they can remember it. In fact, the brain has a way of habituating—saying, “been there, done that”—and the student’s brain stays in neutral. Elaborative rehearsal where ideas and understandings are integrated and connected so that students can scaffold old knowledge to new knowledge and build understanding is more powerful. Excessive lecture where students sit in their seats as recipients of a teacher’s knowledge is a version of drill and kill.

The most critical factor in building memory is that the content being taught has to be meaningful to the student and connect to something they already know. Referred to as activating prior knowledge (APK), new information has a better chance of getting into long-term memory if it hooks to an existing neural network. When these connections are made in the brain, synapses are strengthened and new learning occurs. As these connections or neuron pathways in the brain are reinforced, they become permanent in long term memory.

The bottom line is that these insights on how the brain learns best must be woven into daily lesson plans. We must be intentional about teaching smarter by applying best practices informed by research on the brain and learning. Sharing this message with teachers and school administrators is an important first step.