Getting Unstuck: Looking at Learning from the Neuroscience Perspective
“As a young teacher, I wondered ‘How in the world can I be the most effective teacher possible if I don’t really understand how kids learn – you know, how the brain learns’?”
Melissa Hughes, Ph.D.
Today on Getting Unstuck
For the past few weeks, we’ve been focusing on answering a single question: How might we reimagine schools to better support our kids for the world today? To enrich that discussion, we welcome Melissa Hughes, Ph.D., a neuroscience researcher who has a knack for translating the discussion of how the brain works into plain English. She is a frequent speaker, workshop facilitator and the author of Happier Hour with Einstein - Another Round.
Melissa’s transformation ideas
We have to find ways to de-stress ourselves as teachers and our classrooms because when the brain is all stressed out and when our fear threat center is engaged, we don't do our best thinking.
Novelty, discovery, curiosity, and surprise are at the core of motivation; they’re at the core learning because it's that “Aha!” moment when we discover something new that the brain says, “Oh, that felt really good.”
“It’s the job of the teacher today to figure out how to tap into that innate motivation and really nurture that curiosity.”Extending agency to students – the choice of what they want to study and how they want to demonstrate their knowledge – and engaging them in problem-based or project-based learning will tap into their innate curiosity and thus motivate them.
Give students the opportunity to teach something to others.
To promote productive collaboration,
(a) ensure that teams practice conversational turn taking where everyone takes a turn speaking,
(b) teach team members to dialogue in such a way that it promotes psychological safety,
(c) stress the importance of working toward the best outcome versus ensuring harmony, and
(d) coach team members to respectfully challenge assumptions so as to help others see different perspectives.Work to make connections with kids so that they know “I belong here.”
“It seems like every year we try a ‘new’ educational initiative – something that somebody read about or experienced at a conference. We never seem to stay with it, though, because there’s always something new following on its heels. And our problems remain the same.” – A teacher
Tired of chasing the next shinny thing?
We’re pleased to announce that our book Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change is now available from Corwin Press or Amazon. You can preview it in the short video here. Thank you!
From our publisher:
In Shifting, educators and leadership experts Kirsten Richert, Jeff Ikler and Margaret Zacchei empower educational change leaders to proactively and coherently navigate complex change in schools to achieve the desired outcomes. Using a three-part framework—Assess, Ready, Change—this book leads educators to examine a school’s imperatives and readiness for change, identity the tools and abilities required to manifest change, and take action by defining the roles and processes necessary to effectively implement both sweeping change and smaller day-to-day adjustments.