Making Meaning and Hooking All Students for Learning

Theresa Knipstein Meyer

Emotional Tools and Making Meaning

Welcome Message

� Meaning is, quite simply, a sense of importance or purpose; understanding the significance of something.

� Please write down on a sticky note what you expect from this session and one piece of information you want to leave with for your next steps in the area of meaning and hooking students to learning. Share with your table.

MEANINGMeaning is a key component of the Brain Web, because without meaning there is no deep level of understanding. The brain strives for meaningful connections, patterns, and program. As teachers we thrive on that moment when meaning becomes clear to our students. That “aha moment” is priceless. As educators we must ask ourselves the following questions regarding meaning:

-How can we make curriculum meaningful and relevant to their lives?

-How do we provide meaningful experiences for students in regard to character, leadership, and curriculum?

-How do we structure collaboration between students so that they understand the magic of multiple brains coming together from multiple perspectives to create solutions, process curriculum, and change our world?

-What connections can we help students make personally, geographically, and conceptually to curriculum?

-What might it look like if we taught students the brain web piece that is meaning so that they use it in their own projects, presentations, and communications throughout their lives?

Agenda

� Hooking Our Learning Brains

� Strategies SPRW

� Elements of Brain Learning

� Emotional Connection

� Multiple Intelligences

� Adaptations/Differentiation

Robert Sylwester

� Emotion

� Attention

� Learning

VIDEO CLIPWe’ve all used a video clip to kick of the interest in a lesson. One thing that can ASSURE the impact of these clips is boosting student engagement during the viewing of them. Give them purpose, give them a task, give them MEMORIES!

Put Yourself in the VIDEO

One way to boost engagement, collaboration, and processing is by having students put themselves into the video by taking on the perspective of one of the characters.

PERSPECTIVE

*PERSPECTIVE IS:

*GETTING IN THE CHARACTER’S HEAD

*HOW ARE THEY FEELING?

*WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

*WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?

ARTIFACT

A well-placed object of interest can boost engagement, emotion, and memory at the beginning of a lesson. Something tangible and even a little mysterious can draw students in and create new memory pathways.

SAY IT CHOICE: VIDEO CLIP

How can you use a video clip for direction instruction or emotional hook in a creative way?-Divide the room-Think and jot-AHA facts-Questioning

Artifact Ideas

*Put several artifacts about a topic/standard/skill in a bag. Students pull thing out of a bag to guess the topic.

*Have students “figure out” the object.

*Find the pattern

Coach!This is just a structure for

collaboration. When the teacher says, “Coach,” students say, “We’re experts,” and turn completely so that they are facing each other and teach one another whatever has just been taught.

(Procedural Memory,

Interpersonal Intell., Play it,

Repetition, Academic

Success)

When the music starts, everyone pushes in their chairs and begins to move around the room. (You can practice the latest dance moves, give high fives, whatever revs your engine). When the music stops, you find the closest partner, shake their hand, then find the teacher to learn what you are to discuss with your partner.

Moving to Music

Each table of students has a “captain.” The captain stays at the table. The teacher gives a topic for students to talk/process at the table. When the teacher says, “Switch,” the captain points to a student that moves to the next table. The teacher gives a new topic and the cycle repeats.

Speed Talking

�Share some of the ideas you heard at your table.

Emotional Connections with Teachers

Brain Rules, 2008 John Medina, www.brainrules.net/dvd

� Our learning performance may be deeply affected by the emotional environment in which the learning takes place. There is surprising empirical data to support this. The quality of education may in part depend on the relationship between the student and the teacher.”

Brain Rules, 2008 John Medina, www.brainrules.net/dvd

� “If someone does not feel safe with a teacher or boss, he or she may not be able to perform well. If a student feels misunderstood because the teacher cannot connect with the way the student learns, the student may become isolated.”

“I believe the most important single factor in the learning process is the relationship between teacher and pupil…that provides the basis for effective instruction.” Bender

Multiple Intelligences

� linguistic/ verbal word smart

� logical / mathematical number smart

� visual / spatial art smart

� musical / rhythmic music smart

� bodily kinesthetic body smart

� naturalisticnature smart

� intrapersonal self smart

� interpersonalpeople smart

Elements of Brain Learning

� Creating a safe learning environment, treating students with caring and respect

� Building a community of learners that help each other succeed, using collaboration techniques

� Pattern seeking device is brain-make it a pattern

� Looking for strategies that improve memory and understanding

Differentiation

Adaptation

Modification

Adaptations

� Size

� Time

� Level of Support

� Input

� Difficulty

� Output

� Participation

Concerning a Teacher’s Influence:

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life

miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration…In all situations it is my

response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

Haim Ganott

What Questions?

� How Can I Make Things Clearer to YOUR Situation?