If John Medina, author of Brain Rules, ran your school it might look something like this.
Teaching School
The
school would be a combination of regular school, teacher preparation
school, and a research school that combines educational theory with
brain theory. Think of a teaching hospital. Teachers who are currently
teaching, aspiring teachers learning and interacting daily with
students and teachers, and educational researchers working with brain
researchers to develop new teaching theory.
Great relationships between student and teachers
Great relationships enhance learning and reduce stress which decreases learning.
Students are taught to love learning
Students
learn that learning is about intrinsic curiosity and desire. Students
love to learn because they see the intrinsic value of it, and not to
earn a grade.
Parallel schedules
Because
some brains are more effective during different parts of the day, there
would be two schedules to match the needs of teachers and students who
work better early or late.
Exercise
Recess
would be held twice a day. In the morning, 20-30 minutes of aerobic
activity, followed later in the day with 20-30 of strength training and
stretching. Students would wear gym clothes all day. Tread mills would
be installed in classrooms to further increase opportunities for
students to exercise while learning.
Small Class Sizes
Small
class sizes allow teacher to better understand the inner motivation of
their students, easily seeing if a student is engaged or confused and
if the teaching is being transformed into learning. Teachers would
think of themselves as managers of minds, and the fewer minds to manage
the better.
Technology
Adaptive
software that adjusts to the needs of each student would be used to
better individualize and differentiate for student needs.
Lecture and Lesson Design (1)
The
introduction is key. How the teacher introduces the material has a huge
impact on learning. Lesson would be broken into 10-minute blocks, each
of which focuses on a single subject or objective, the gist of which
can be explained in 1 minute. In between each 10-minute block an
Emotionally Competent Stimuli (ECS) will be place to grab the student’s
attention by triggering emotion and make the subject matter relevant.
During the lesson blocks, the teacher will provide a mental map of the
lesson and will check with the students to ensure that they know where
they have been and where they are going in the lesson.
Lecture and Lesson Design (2)
Lesson
or lectures will be highly visual. Many photos and computer animations
will be made use of. Lesson will be multi-sensory to the extent
possible. Heavy use of real world examples will be used to help make
meaningful connections.
Lesson Review
After
lessons, students will be given time to talk and think about the
learning. Reviews of material would be scheduled every 3-4 days. These
reviews would be multi-sensory as well.
Teacher Evaluation
Teachers would be screened for their ability to manage minds, understand their students, and create brain focused lesson plans.
So there you have it. The ultimate guide to the Brain Rules school design.
For more info I suggest:
No Such Thing As Learning Styles
Tips and Techniques for Memory Enhancement
Working Memory Capacity, Encoding, and Retrieval from Long-Term Memory
Learning About Swimming Takes Place Best At A Pool: Brain Rules Part 8
The Golden Moment of Learning: Brain Rules Part 7
Great Teaching and Presentation with the Brain Rules Lesson Plan: Brain Rules Part 6
Are You Paying Attention? -- Brain Rules Part 5
Theory of Mind-- Brain Rules Part 4
Billions of Intelligences? --Brain Rules Part 3
Student and Teacher Relationships: Brain Rules Part 2
Brain Rules was excellent work. We need to get bureaucracy out of education and let teachers teach.
Posted by: Michael Sporer | March 09, 2009 at 01:07 PM
I really love the slides about Brain Rules. This is amazing! I can easily read all the slides even at 11pm when I am always feel sleepy and cannot read any things. The tips in Bran Rules help a lot to make an interesting presentation which really do good job in teaching!
Posted by: Joyce | March 16, 2009 at 08:20 PM