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Grades versus Growth

11/14/2017

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Grades versus Growth
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When I was a parent for the first time I noted every single thing the tiny human did…and drove my pediatrician nuts because the moment something seemed out of the ordinary, she would receive a phone call.  And then she gave me a piece of advice that continues to resonate almost a decade later and extend to most aspects of of daily life.  That sage bit of wisdom was to, “Observe over a three-day period rather than every single moment”.  For example, in the case of the tiny humans and eating, her advice was, “Over the course of three days, they should have some protein, some vegetables, some fruit, some starches…” and, well, you get the idea.

I’ve extended this advice of looking over a period of time, rather than a single point in time, to teaching and assessment.

Brain Target 6: Evaluating Learning
Assessment is tough and a letter grade doesn’t always provide the full picture of a student’s knowledge.  Vicky Krug, Assistant Professor at Westmoreland County Community College, featured in the documentary Grey Matters: Teaching The Way The Brain Learns aptly describes letter grades from tests as measuring “a single point in time” of the learning journey.  Krug continues, “The tests are good tests, but it’s one instance”.
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Jeremy Mettler, featured in the documentary Grey Matters: Teaching The Way The Brain Learns, makes the case for measuring growth as part of evaluating learning (Brain Target 6 of the Brain Targeted Teaching Model), “Growth can be many different things from speaking up in class to working through math problems and for Mettler, “It’s probably one of my favourite things to measure because it gives me a more holistic picture of a student’s progress.”

Portfolios can help.

Portfolios are a great way to capture progress over time, painting a more accurate picture of a student’s knowledge base.  If you're interested in building a more complete picture of your students’ knowledge base consider these tips to get started using a portfolio:
1. Outline the goal of the portfolio.Are you using it to track short term student progress, such as a unit study, or more long-term progress?  

2. Who’s the audience?
Is it for you, the teacher, to have a tangible representation of your students’ progress? Is this for parents to obtain a more detailed picture of their student’s work load? Will it go to a fellow teacher? Is this a student project? Outlining the audience will aid in how the student’s work is curated.

3. Will you grade it?
If you are grading it, who’s selecting the work to be included? Have you shown students the grading rubric? Is the rubric standardized? 

Further reading
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For more reading on Portfolios, check out: 
https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/classuse.html
http://etale.org/main/2015/11/18/3-reasons-to-use-portfolios-in-education/

Purchase the film

If you would like to order Grey Matters: Teaching The Way The Brain Learns for professional development, please click here.

More about the model

For more information on the Brain Targeted Teaching Model, check out www.braintargetedteaching.org.
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Get social with us

Facebook: www.facebook.com/greymattersdocumentary

Twitter: www.twitter.com/changethelens



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Why Social Emotional Learning Matters

4/26/2017

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Setting the emotional tone of your classroom is the most important thing a teacher does.”  (Dr.Mariale Hardiman, founder of the Brain Targeted Teaching Model)
Grey Matters was recently included in a teacher training on social emotional learning, in particular, how to work with stressed children.

Stress is a funny beast.  It’s kind of like chocolate - small amounts are fine, but it’s the larger quantities that can do you in.  Here’s what we know about stress - large and consistent exposure to stress shrinks the hippocampus, the region of your brain involved in memory, and neurons in the pre-frontal cortex, the area of your brain responsible for problem-solving.  Read the research here.  

So what does this mean for your classroom?

It’s simple - stressed brains aren’t learning.

If a kid shows up to your classroom, having started their day with stress or encountered stress along the way, they are going to be sitting in that stress.  A simple “shake it off” or “slip into a learning mindset” or “let’s leave our baggage at the door” isn’t going to shift their brain from the “protective fight or flight mode” into the “thinking thoughtful mode”.
Social-Emotional Learning offers teachers a basic understanding of emotions and the brain and equips teachers with tools and strategies to help students move out of the stress and their emotions, and into the learning day. 
In the film Grey Matters, we see the Peace Path used by Justin Holbrook in his Grade 4 classroom, offers students and teachers, a way acknowledge their emotions, communicate calmly and make a resolution for future behaviours.  Holbrook designated a space in the rear of his classroom for his Peace Path which offered students a way to vocalize what was troubling them.  Maybe someone had called them a mean name, or grabbed something from them.  “My kids know that they can go to the Peace Path at anytime, even if I’m teaching.  I’ve had kids ask me to go the Peace Path and I’ve asked kids to go to the Peace Path,” Holbrook explains.  

One of the biggest things teachers talk about is how to handle external situations that result in stressed students. From home life to peer relationships - there are a lot of things that teachers can’t control.  Yet, those outside the classroom situations, often spill over to the classroom.  

Do you deal with it? Or ignore it, in hopes it’ll sort it self out? 

Turns out neither of those.  

A 2007 research study suggests acknowledging the emotion and redirecting the student (barring a life-threatening issue) may be the most effective approach.  In action, that could look like, “Did you want to chat after class or do you want to have lunch with me?”, effectively creating some distance between the student and the emotion.

But what if you can’t tell when a student is upset?   

Here’s what one teacher did and this piece is excerpted from “The Brain Targeted Teaching Model for the 21st Century School” by Dr. Hardiman, “She designed a simple emotional temperature form with a row of emotions and corresponding adjectives (e.g. good, bad). Students circled how they felt that day and wrote a word or sentence or drew a picture to express his or her emotion. They would take the form, complete it, and return it to a basket, before beginning their work Two things came out of this approach - kids had the opportunity to acknowledge the emotion which helped them to detach.  And the teacher was able to quickly spot where further follow-up or intervention might be needed.

Yours in learning and filmmaking.
​

Ramona
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Conversations: Jeremy Mettler on "Is the brain the latest fad in education?"

3/24/2014

5 Comments

 
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Brain-targeted teaching is not a quick fix.  I can't fix in 10 weeks, students who've struggled for 10 years.  Students come to me 3 weeks before finals and I tell them I can't magically erase their struggles for the last three semesters.  It's not a magic wand. 
Except, here's what I'm seeing.  I have students right now who have struggled through high school and according to New York State, we haven't gotten them there yet but I'm seeing tremendous growth and improvement.  They're actually starting to talk about the topic because they're learning finally comprehending what's being discussed.  These are kids who wouldn't ask questions because they just didn't understand the content. One of the things I've changed after learning about how the brain functions and learns, and adopting this (brain-targeted teaching) method, is to slow down and go deeper, unpacking things more.  We start with a plan of this is what you're going to learn and this is how we're going to do that, rather than take these notes and memorise them.
I think the pseudo-science got a hold of the whole "brain" thing just to make the quick buck off of it.

5 Comments

Brain Target 3: Designing the Learning Experience

3/12/2014

1 Comment

 
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When Justin Holbrook is tackling a new topic in his class, he searches for real situations where the lesson is applicable, "I have to keep in mind, everyone's background knowledge is different so I can't just assume this will make sense for everyone."  This taps into the brain's tendency to look for patterns and associations between information at the forefront of thought and information stored in memory (Posner & Rothbart, 2007, p.205).  "You have to connect the known to the unknown," Vicky Krug explains in layman's terms.  See the trailer at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grey-matters-teaching-the-way-the-brain-learns/x/2765447.

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How to engage your students and create a supportive classroom.

2/19/2014

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Teachers often think their job is solely about filling their students' heads with knowledge as efficiently and effectively as possible, yet students say knowing their teacher cares makes a huge difference in their engagement levels. “If they believe I can do it, I believe I can do it," says Bri Parker, high school senior. Research from the neuro and cognitive sciences indicate cognition and emotion are intricately connected in terms of brain structure and function. Simply put, if your heart's not engaged, neither is your brain!

Here are 3 ways teachers show their students how much they care, on a regular basis:
“I write inspirational quotes on sticky notes and as I walk around the class, I subtly place them down for a select student. I keep track in my grade book so that I can mix up who receives them”. Vicky Krug, Professor, Westmoreland County Community College
“I ask them non-content related questions about work, sports, etc.” Jeremy Mettler, Batavia High School
“I praise for specific things like pushing in chairs, listening skills, etc.” Justin Holbrock, Roland Park Elementary Middle School.

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    Author

    Ramona Persaud

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