For the Love of Teaching

Review: Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books: The C.I.A. Approach

2012-01-15T16:47:00.000-06:00

I found another book that really speaks to my teaching heart. Specifically to my “students should get to read chapter books and learn their 'thinking for reading skills'” heart. This book is called Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books: The C.I.A. Approach, by Sarah Collinge. (C.I.A. stands for Collect, Interpret, and Apply.) In her book, Collinge shares the research behind the C.I.A.

Teaching Thinking Skills - How it Helped me Survive a School Year

2011-12-29T14:36:00.000-06:00

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Book Review: Changing Kids' Lives One Quote At a Time

2011-12-26T11:06:00.001-06:00

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The Educational Pendulum and the Controlling District

2011-12-26T10:00:00.001-06:00

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How to Introduce Thinking Stems to Your Class

2011-10-22T18:30:00.006-05:00

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The Marriage of Thinking Skills and Blogging for Students

2011-09-25T10:00:00.005-05:00

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The Brain on Technology

2011-09-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

Guest Post by Lindsey Wright Many people can recall the required silent reading time from elementary school days. Some children dove right in and got lost in their books, others sneakily passed notes, and some just stared longingly out the window willing the bell to ring. Given the variety of different learning styles, it's no wonder that reading comprehension is a skill not everyone possesses.

Easy Brain-Based Strategies for Everyday Curriculum

2011-08-14T12:41:00.002-05:00

First, let me apologize for the gap in my blog posts. I made the move from Oklahoma to Texas and have been busy settling in my new home, new job, and finishing my BrainSMART Masters degree (one more week, yay!). To the PointI was at a conference once and overheard someone say that they would love to use brain-based strategies, but their school is very controlling. I have great news! Brain-based

BrainSMART: BrainSMART Blogging: In Full Support of Teachers

2011-06-30T13:53:00.002-05:00

I'm very excited to announce BrainSMART is now a part of the blogging world! Below is a link to their first post. Please welcome them to the Edublogging community! BrainSMART: BrainSMART Blogging: In Full Support of Teachers: "We are proud to introduce our new blog! Here is an example of the kinds of strategies that we will be sharing on this blog. I just saw Bra..."

The Global Learner and Learning Styles

2011-06-24T09:52:00.005-05:00

It hit me this morning. One of those AHA moments where you want to knock yourself on the head and ask, “Why didn’t I think of this before?” Here it is… brace yourself… ready…? When teaching a math problem, if a struggling student is a global learner they will learn the process better if you show them the solution first and work the problem backwards. Not just in math though. Let’s take an

An Answer For Some Struggling Readers - The Reticular Activating System

2011-05-30T10:10:00.005-05:00

“Oh my goodness!” I gasped, “Her reading level went up by 5 months in 30 minutes!” I was stunned. How was that possible? I call it the “Jared Factor.” Let me back up a bit. How it HappenedIt was March and one of my second grade students, Karen (not her real name), had been stuck at a 1.3 reading level (1st grade, 3rd month) since December. I was trying everything I could think of. I

Brain Based Teaching PPT presented at #EdcampPlano

2011-05-14T10:58:00.012-05:00

Here is the PowerPoint I shared at #EdcampPlano. I discussed some fantastic information I've been learning in BrainSMART and utilizing in my class. A lot of the information I used came from the BrainSMART 60 Strategies book pictured here. Please see my Amazon side panel for more recommended reading. What an amazing group of teachers! I had a wonderful time learning from and sharing

Printable Bookmarks with Thinking Skills/Thinking Stems/Summaries

2011-04-28T17:49:00.001-05:00

I’ve blogged about the successful use of thinking skills in promoting reading comprehension and the huge increase I saw in reading levels here: Reading Levels Jump 5 Months in just 2.5 Months! I started thinking how great it would be if each student had a bookmark detailing the thinking skills AND thinking stems/summaries. So I made a bookmark that includes the thinking skills on one side,

Increase Study Skills and Test Performance through Predictions

2011-04-17T10:43:00.001-05:00

Image via WikipediaMore things I'm learning through BrainSMART... Making predictions utilizes the higher-order thinking skills of our frontal lobes. Teach students the metacognitive power of predictions to ensure interest, motivation, as well as current and future academic success. Before a test, encourage students to predict what information will be on

Reading Levels Jump 5 Months in just 2.5 Months!

2011-03-31T20:13:00.005-05:00

The reading levels of my students have increased an average of 5 months in the last two and a half months. I am thrilled! How did it happen you ask? Metacognition. The BrainSMART courses I am taking are chock full of fantastic metacognitive strategies. I feel like I’m opening a present every time I start a new course. Seriously! I’ve been blogging about my experiences, so some of this will

How and Why to Get Your Class Blogging

2011-03-20T13:15:00.007-05:00

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Our Fun Brain Awareness Week

2011-03-13T20:38:00.006-05:00

The Dana Foundation and BrainSMART helped my class celebrate Brain Awareness Week (BAW). They provided cool pamphlets, brain erasers, and BAW pencils to add to our BAW fun! We want to say THANK YOU! ActivitiesWe had a fun week learning more about how our brain works. Early in the week we went over the senses of our body brain system. Students experimented to see what it would be like to have

Demonstration of Metacognitive Thinking Strategies...by 2nd Graders!

2011-03-05T15:37:00.006-06:00

I've learned through the BrainSMART program that one of the most powerful tools you can give your students is thinking skills. When you or I read (or do math, science, and even everyday life situations), we automatically make predictions, inferences, questions, schema, etc to help us understand and make decisions. Most of us weren’t explicitly taught these skills…we simply figured them out over

Wildly Successful Metacognition Lesson

2011-02-26T13:24:00.005-06:00

Today my class was featured in an article in The Edmond Sun. The reporter discussed our growing class brain in her article. This has prompted questions from other interested teachers, so I’ve decided to give an update. The Edmond Sun article is here: Students Give Thumbs Up for Brain-Based Teaching. The Beginning of the Class Brain The BrainEarlier this school year I was inspired by one of

It's Good Reader Boy! 3:30 Weekdays...

2011-02-11T17:35:00.009-06:00

I’ve wanted to come up with a clever way for students to remember their thinking for reading strategies. A list just seems too boring. One thing I’ve learned in BrainSMART is to connect information to parts of the body to make it more memorable. So I came up with this Good Reader Boy poster! The poster connects like this: Head: Think. Good readers monitor their own thinking while reading.Eyes:

Student Blogging is a Brain Based Strategy!

2011-01-22T17:54:00.006-06:00

I’ve had a wiki for my 2nd grade classes for a few years now. So I couldn’t see the point in having students blog on top of that. However, a comment by Angie Rumsey in an Edupln blog post had me reverse my thinking and start my students blogging! The Comment Her comment was after a post I wrote about Metacognitive Strategies for Reading Comprehension. In her response she wrote, In Third grade

How Stress Impacts Learning

2011-01-17T16:08:00.001-06:00

More amazing things I’m learning in the BrainSMART graduate program... The Impact of Stress on Learning Stress causes changes in the body-brain system and actually inhibits learning. John Medina states on his website Brain Rules that, “Stress damages virtually every kind of cognition that exists. It damages memory and executive function.” This has tremendous implications for teachers. What

Reducing Stress in Kids by Lori Lite

2011-01-14T20:45:00.011-06:00

Since I began my masters program in brain-based teaching, I've learned about the negative effects of stress on the brain. I now realize the importance of teaching children how to recognize and control stress. Did you know that stress actually damages the brain? For more information, see Stress-Brain Rules. Therefore, I was thrilled to discover Stress Free Kids! There are many fabulous

Metacognitive Strategies for Reading Comprehension

2011-01-10T19:50:00.001-06:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeMore amazing things I’m learning in the BrainSMART graduate program... Students who are taught reading comprehension strategies are more successful readers. While some students may eventually learn some of these strategies on their own, they can be taught quite effectively in the early elementary grades. Here are ten reading comprehension strategies from Ellin

The Brain, Processing Speed, and Fluency

2010-12-09T11:36:00.004-06:00

More amazing things I’m learning in the BrainSMART graduate program... Reading is not a natural act for the brain. In other words, there are no existing structures wired into the brain specifically for reading. To read, the brain uses structures meant for other processes. This is a complex task that takes years to perfect. The brains of readers who seem to learn with relative ease have chosen