How We Shape Our Brains

Teacher Training and Education and the Need for Individualized Education

Argument for the reform of teachers and their role in the schools and their training. A typical Finnish teacher teaches just under 600 hours a year, whereas the average American teacher teaches students over 1,600 hours annually. According to a recent Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-sponsored study of the teaching profession, U.S. teachers habitually work an average of about 10 hours and 40 minutes a day, with a great deal of time spent teaching and supervising students. Finnish teacher, “Our teachers who teach languages for which many essays have to be graded often have fewer lessons,” Marianna said. “And they can decide on their own where they get that work done. They may teach two lessons one day and then go home or to the gym around noon — and then correct papers or work online with students later in the evening.” With so many ideas and reforms and tests and strategies, it is my belief that teaching is getting more and more away from why many teachers went into teac...

Focus

How do we help children focus? Today more than ever children are faced with distractions and are becoming less and less focused. I recently completed my own study on how to help children focus. The research project was based on focusing in on the brain body connection incorporating cross body exercises, reflection, and purposeful practice of much needed cognitive skills. You can find the link to my research paper here FOCUS One favorite activity that came out of this was double doodle, here is a photo of what youngsters do during double doodle. To find out more view my research paper.

Books for Body and Mind

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch it Shape It This a great book for teaching children how they have the power to change their brains and what challenges are helpful to learning. The book published by Little Pickle Press also has a fantastic website with activities to use along with the book. Link to lesson plans can be found here Making a Splash Available on kindle at amazon, Making a Splash is a simple straight forward story of what happens when children persevere and work towards a goal with a growth mindset. This would be a great book to project on a large screen and discuss as the children make connections of their own. The Most Magnificent Thing Do you have children that get frustrated when what they are working on doesn't go as they planned? The Most Magnificent Thing is one girl's journey through the creation process and what techniques and strategies she uses to create her most "magnificent thing". What is the most important thing?...

The Sky Is the Limit Learning

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