Since taking a Cognitive Science class in my undergrad, I’ve enjoyed reading about the brain and how it functions. A perfectly functional brain is fascinating; so, too, is how function changes when cognitive processes are impeded (for instance, I love reading Oliver Sacks’ works). Oddly enough, given this interest and the years I’ve spent in education, I’ve not spent much time analyzing how understanding the brain can help us understand our students and assist their learning process. I very much enjoyed reading both of the Jensen books and the articles I self-selected as they encouraged me to take the pieces I already knew about the brain and what I’ve learned about differentiation and design and synthesize it with the readings to determine best practices in my classroom moving forward.

I love the idea of being able to “hack” our students (and, frankly, myself as a student) – after all, we spend hundreds of dollars on tracking technology and health, exercise, and sleep apps to track our metrics, sleep patterns, etc. to ensure health and optimal body performance. Why not take into account the functions inherent to our neural systems and use it to our advantage? While I can absolutely see the relevance to my students, some of the strategies are a bit more difficult to apply when teaching an online course to adults –in many instances, they need to self-regulate the things I might do for a face-to-face class. That said, I’m definitely interested in trying a few on myself – particularly those that focus on information overload, management of time, brain breaks, etc. It’s also timely as I was late this week on my post and interaction because I just hit a wall. I generally struggle a bit in the spring (and always have); whether it’s seasonal affect disorder or something else, spring has always been a more difficult semester for me. After this last week or two, I’m feeling rather insane to be working full time, taking three classes, and teaching a course. Note to self and for everyone to see in writing, I don’t plan on doing that again, however, I do plan to implement a few of the concepts mentioned above to see if it helps in the meantime.

Aside from my personal reflection, although I was late, I did comment on several peer blogs to engage with at least their thoughts around brain-based learning. There were several posts that resonated with me this time. Cherie’s blog discussed how many teachers still equate poverty with inability to learn which I find to be an incredibly frustrating perspective in this day and age. I encouraged Cherie in her work with differentiation to help these students be successful in the supportive learning environment she creates and reminded her that choice in curriculum (which she offers) is one of the best ways to increase motivation. I also asked if she had read any works by Ruby Payne and how she thought they compared to Jensen.

Gerald’s blog examined the role of novelty in learning. I agreed with him that we need to capitalize on brain science and understanding students’ emotions to create optimal learning environments. I supported his premise that novelty in learning is a phenomenal tool as our brains grow bored with routine. To his comment that he wished he was creative enough to build in novelty, I recommended that he work with his peers, team, or department to discuss and brainstorm ways to create novel experience for students. I also noted that I am enjoying how classes such as this allow us to synthesize pieces of learning we may already have with new information (a perfect example of brain-based learning!).

Although we weren’t able to interact, Jim and I are on the same page regarding the fact that legislators and policy-makers don’t understand the nature of the brain, asking educators to focus on breadth of studies over depth. I shared an example of a standard from my World History course in Texas, one of over 100 I had to meet in a year. I find it incredibly frustrating that what we are asked to do runs counter to what neuroscience says is best for our students. I also encouraged him to think about how we can affect change in our classrooms and noted that we should all consider how we can bring change to the education system in which we operate.

Finally, I loved Kendra’s discussion of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and shared a personal experience from grad school with her. During a particularly rough patch, I discovered that regardless of how well we know education theory (in this case Maslow), having a personal experience with the inability to focus due to a need not being met really solidifies how difficult life circumstances can make learning for our students. I reinforced her point that we need to slow down and see our students and do so holistically, understanding that what we perceive as bad attitude, laziness, etc. might be so much more than we know.