Ways to train the brain's operating systems include physical activity, a process that can increase the production of new brain cells; playing chess or other games that have been shown to improve capabilities in reading and math by increasing attention, motivation, processing, and sequencing skills; engaging in the production of artistic pieces shown to improve attention, sequencing, processing, and cognition; and using computer-aided instructional programs that can improve working memory, increase attention, and generalize to other unrelated reasoning tasks.
The first few years of life are a critical period in our learning. Early education programs have been shown to help narrow the socioeconomic gap, reduce the number of dropouts, reduce the number of students retained at grade level, and reduce the number of students needing special education. These early intervention educational programs have been shown to improve language fluency, IQ, and cognition; reduce school problems and academic failure; and improve social, academic, and emotional intelligence. It has been shown that students who have had early educational intervention have displayed fewer risk-taking behaviors. They are also typically more able to self-assess and self-correct.
Alan, I am curious about using art in the classroom. Do you know any teachers who do? I'm not really sure what to do to use art as a way to increase my student's skills.
I think being able to self-correct is a wonderful, necessary skill. It helps students in so many ways; without it we would all have a great deal of trouble learning and being socially acceptable.
Rae Lynn, I am fortunate to team teach an English class. We have the students illustrate at least once a week to reinforce a skill we have taught. This week we looked at hyperboles and they were to come up with five and illustrate one...I'm so hot I could explode like a volcano.
Rae Lynn, I have a student who has a difficult time communicating - writing as well as speaking. This student is an excellent artist. Recently they had to do a project for World History and this student presented on Japanese Anime. Two detailed pictures were drawn over Thanksgiving break. This was a great way for this student to interact and share with students because it was a "passion" - the fear of speaking in front of others was forgotten.
Engaging the brain can help train it. Engaging it with a multisensory approach is the best way to increase the brains ability to access, apply, and manipulate information. Physical activity, art, and music are essential components to training your brain. There is research to support that the Montessori approach to learning is very good for students from poverty because it helps prepare their brains for learning. With the teacher's proper teacher methods, students can train their brains for higher levels of thinking, problem solving, creativity, and also social/emotional development.
Early interventions, like Head Start, can give young children to chance be exposed to learning techniques, vocabulary, learning by play, and also routine that will help support their brains in development. These programs give students skills they most likely would not learn at home. These programs build on the whole child, which will have lasting effects as they grow into young adults and have more options for their lives. These preventative programs can help children in the long run and are in some ways the best chances kids have to break the cycle of poverty.
Coming from an early childhood background, I can attest to the value of good early childhood programs and how the affect kindergarten. (Did that also.). ECH programs are truly invaluable. These should not be limited to preschools but carry through to day care, whether it be in a church or home.
Rachel, I agree with your comments about early intervention. Those programs are beneficial to the kids and their families. I believe parents want to do their best, and often times are doing their best. Unfortanately, their best is sometimes lacking. That is where Head Start, Parents as Teachers, and other programs are so beneficial. If the parents can be taught more skills, then their best becomes better.
I think this is why the Parents as Teachers is such an important program. If the parents learn to help stimulate their children, the better off they are.
I was surprised to learn music played such a role in brain development. I think of the hours and hours we spent with our children teaching them nursery rhymes. It never occurred to me I was doing brain stimulation, we were just having fun. With secondary students, continued physical activity helps brain development. We also do patterns, ‘sing/song’ rhymes, and pneumonic devices to learn vocabulary words and key concepts for classes. Any memory work should help stimulate their brains. Head Start and other programs help stimulate a child’s brain at an early age. Anything to increase their learning at an early age will pay off during their life. The more the child is provided early in life, the greater their chances of success later in life.
The brains operating systems are malleable. Give an example of how you can “train the brain”? One way to train the brain is to use computer programs. I thought of the ipad - one app I had was for memory. It showed something then you had to find it on the next screen. I wonder about things like "hidden pictures" or "spot the difference" activities. You need to hold onto information when you do those.
How does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example. Enriched environments provide a place for students to have positive interactions, arts, music, and more opportunities in general. One example is The Boys and Girls Clubs. I think just having some place positive to go is the most important thing for kids in low income housing areas. They are around adults who are good role models and also around other kids who are trying to stay out of trouble. My town used to have an after school program at a church but it is no longer going. The school has some after school programs, but really they are just more school. Most kids need to have some physical activity and other stimulation rather than sitting at a computer for another hour. It makes me wonder about how an after school program could be started here - maybe through a church again.
I was very intrigued by the physical activity piece mentioned in “training the brain”. I’ve seen some additional research on this in an article for another class. While many of our high school students do not have p.e. we can encourage purposefully encourage some physical activity: walking outside for a mini field trip; Stretching “exercises “ during class; planning movement around the classroom (rather than sitting the whole class time); walking in the gym. In the past I attended a workshop called Brain Gym that had students stand up and do some stretching exercises to help them focus and regroup during the school day. (I plan to find the manual and look through this again). The other area that caught my eye was the one on having students complete tasks administered by computer aided instruction that have students identify, count and remember objects and their locations. There are several levels of memory and “brain games” on the gamequarium learning site. How does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example. I just had a conversation with a high school student yesterday where he told me that “too much learning is bad for the brain – you can’t keep adding new things”. He has been taught that the brain only holds so much and if you keep trying to learn new information then it has to get rid of some old memory or learning. This line of thinking definitely comes from home. (Ironically there is no physical activity encouraged at home). I believe that early intervention in an enriched environment that includes lots of physical and learning activities gives children a chance to learn without them realizing they are “learning”. In my county preschool is a part of our schools and is free. Many parents are excited and relieved when their children can attend preschool because it reduces the childcare bill. Here children are introduced to a variety of learning activities that are fun. A healthy snack is provided and often the “play time” is guided toward learning. Extra-curricular activities such as 4-H and Girl or Boy Scouts also provide rish learning environments often including music and physical activity and a certain amount of memory work.
The brain operating systems are malleable. Eric Jensen reports that playing chess, exercising, and music can positively impact the brain. I thought it was interesting that playing chess can improve math skills. Early intervention has the potential to narrow or eliminate the SES performance gap. The children who receive early childhood interventions were less likely to drop out of school, repeat grades, or need special education. They were found to have an improved language fluency, IQ, and other cognitive processes. Jensen also reported that the brain is more receptive to major rewiring from birth to the age of 5.
Jensen is so right about brain training and transformaiton. When ever you are needing to teach a child music, exercising, and any had eye cordination skills will get the job done.
Music has a powerful effect on the brain. My daughter who is in gifted remembers listening to classical music as a child. And as I have been in early education for years, I can witness to the positive effects of early intervention.
Anyone of us that have had a student that was not your run of the mill LD kiddo, can appreciate how much of our brain it takes to stimulate their brain. I have been blessed to pick the knowledge and expand the techniques of a music therapist. While our schools have had the opportunity to participate in inservices like Dr. Marcia Tate's. When music affects the life of an individual, it can improve language, which in turns influences other cognitive functions, which in turn keeps a student from failing academically and socially. Early childhood programs can enhance a students ability to learn by providing a full enriched curriculum that includes music and intentional physical activity. How many of us remember the jump rope rhymes? One of my daughter-in-laws started early with a programmed physical and music regiment when her girls were young. They are now way ahead of their peers.
I couldn't agree with you more. Music is an amazing teaching tool and should be used everyday. Kids are so excited to move and learn to the music you really can't go wrong. School can be a safe and enriching environment is we create the environment the kids need not what we think will look cute in our classrooms.
This also makes me think about what it takes to read music and play an instrument. It really gets both sides of the brain working. I play the piano so can speak from experience how at some point when playing - -your brain just goes on "autopilot" -it somehow just knows what to do --it's a pretty cool feeling. I teach my daughters to play so it's been fun to watch them get to that skill level. This is something children from poverty wouldn't get to experience.
Last year I had a profound student who was non-verbal. This student received music therapy and responded very well to this time. A phenomal change during these sessions as compared to the rest of the time.
I think preschool and Kinder teachers are more likely to use music in the classroom. By the time the students reach high school, teachers are less likely to use music in the classroom. We know that this age student still like music (since they beg to listen to i-pod and mp3 players in the hallways). I wonder if the teacher was creative to come up with ways to incorporate music into her high school classroom if the students would enjoy it more and interact more?
The brain has to ability to be trained. Certain activities can actually increase the brains ability to learn. As a classroom teacher, I would often times have the students learn new material to movement. My allowing the students physical activity either during, before, or after. This method of training the brain actually increases new brain cells along with a better mood and memory towards learning. I can still remember learning the states and capitals of Mexcio from my high school Spanish classroom and the only reason I can still remember them is we used music and movement. Another method of training the brain that I have personally used is art. I will often times have my students draw a picture of what I am wanting them to learn. Whether it be the characters of the story, problem of the story, vocabulary about the story or a math problem. By having them physically do something to learn it helps the brain grasp the concept being taught.
Environments are one of the most important concepts in teaching students. When a child has early intervention and the correct environment the possibilities can be endless. One specific areas that help a child in early intervention is improvement on languange and fluency. Many times a child that is low in the area of language and in poverty does not get exposure to the correct type of language. They may hear lots of slang or in some cases no interaction at all. Therefore, early intervention will help this child improve in that academic relm. The classroom environment can make or break a classroom. If your classroom is over stimulated then your students will not be able to concentrate. It is important to understand the needs of your students and design the classroom around them.
I agree that the enviroment is SO important, but the teachers need to be effective too. A classroom may be full of enrichment activities, but if the teacher doesn't use those activities to teach the children, then the environment won't teach itself.
There are many ways to "train the brain." I like to use a multi-sensory approach. The most beneficial in my experience is teaching with music and movement (especially movement across the mid-line) It works wonders in the lower elementary age group. These simple adaptations to the curriculum, can improve short term and long term memory recall.
I think early intervention is the best thing we can do. I would love to see more intervention in the birth to 3 year old range. Children form so many synapses in that time frame that it would be highly beneficial to enrich stimuli during that period. Another benefit of early intervention is readiness for school. The child who comes to kindergarten not knowing his name or ABC's has to learn all that before they can move on, and the child who already knew those things, has ahead start on the previously mentioned student.
~~Tammi-- I agree that environment plays a big role in child development and learning. I have seen families where the oldest three children had no toys, games, puzzles etc. The achievement was so much lower than that of the younger four who had toys, puzzles and older siblings to stimulate them at an early age.
~~Stephanie-- I couldn't agree more about music. There are so many benefits. It trains your brain to think in organized and mathematical term with rhythm, and timing. It is soothing and relaxing which can be so beneficial to kids who live in a stressful environment (such as in poverty) and it is such a good tool to help with memorization and recall.
dclodfelter- I agree with your statement about the lack of interventions from 1-3. I currently have 3.5 year and a 20 month old. It is so important to engage them and read to them. I see them compared to some of their peers and it is amazing how ahead my kids are compared to some. I will have to thank all those on Pinterest for ideas for my kids because I was not trained in early childhood.
Tammi: I was just talking to a teacher today about adding in movement to her lessons throughout the day. After reading your response, I think music and movement would be even better!
Rachel: I am a speech path and I often get to hire paras - -what I look for?? Realllly good moms. I am sure you are providing language enrichment without even realizing you are doing it to your own children because you do have some background knowledge and education (and the resources to learn) .
Training the brain is LEARNING. We all have ways that we learn best - -so using a multisensory approach is best. Our job in special education is to figure out how kids learn best -- which modality -- and use that to teach new skills while still supporting the other senses. Early intervention is key. The brain is most "plastic" through age 5 meaning neuron pathways are establishing patterns. This doesn't mean we can "malleate" the brain but it's much easier before age 5. In an earlier blog I discussed how important "talking" to our children is - -not talking at them. This goes beyond naming everything in their environment but being able to define/describe as well as talk about what has happened in the past and antcipate the future. These are all skills preschoolers should be able to do but those from poverty -and lack of experiences - often struggle with. I did my thesis on Metacognition and Metalinguistic skills with kindergarteners (thinking about thinking and thinking about language). Wish I could go back now and analyze the data on SES.
There is so much research about the importance of learning done before age 5. Your comment about talking to children, not at them, is so important. Great points!
Sometimes when I think how important the first 5 years of life are-it scares me because there is so much to learn and if children come to me already with a delay-it that much more important to give them as many opportunities as possible.
The book provides several activities that would be beneficial in training/improving one’s brain. These included participating in physical activity (can increase brain cell production; highly correlated with learning, mood, and memory), playing chess (can increase attention, motivation, processing, and sequencing skills), and participating in the arts (can improve attention, sequencing, processing, and cognitive skills).
Early intervention and enriched environments provide children with exposure to more positive learning opportunities. Such activities could increase a child’s attention, motivation, processing, sequencing, and memory skills, facilitating their brain development and capability to learn. One of my schools provides an after school program where the students receive a snack, tutoring and time to work on homework, a structured fitness program, and then some type of enrichment. For this last piece, they’ve brought in a WIDE array of activities including martial arts, dance, photography, violin, bowling, etc. You name it, and they’ve probably done it!
Rae Lynn~ I agree with your comment regarding the benefit of a positive place that kids from low-SES environments can go to. I think it’s very important for them to have those good role models and truly understand that there are better things out there for them to achieve. If the only experiences those kiddos know are negative, then they probably won’t ever expect anything more than that out of life.
Stephanie~ I completely agree with you about the benefits of music and how it affects our brain’s development. One of my best girl friends just had her first baby, and I loaded her up with an entire collection of classic composers CDs from Baby Einstein. By the time they’re through those, her little girl is going to be a Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms expert, haha!
I've seen music in early childhood programs and kindergartens for several years, love it! and bought my babies lots of Baby Einstein too. This week, I saw teachers turning on the classics during 4th grade writing - the students even had requests...
The brains operating systems are malleable. Give an example of how you can “train the brain”?
Research verifies the brain can be trained through physical activity, playing chess, the arts, or computer programs that require holding objects locations in working memory. Sad that the arts are being cut in many elementary programs.
How does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example.
Longitudinal studies show early intervention can improve language fluency, IQ scores, reduce academic failure, improve social/emotional skills, leading to improved reading, verbal, and writing skills, school performance, interest, grades, and attendance. (I would guess math too, maybe we should do a study :)
It has amazed me how chess helps children. I have a son who has had some interest in the game. He has taught me a lot about the game that I didn't know. I now see how it can help with education.
One way to stretch the brain of students would be to enrich and expand their vocabulary. I don't mean just going over the new words for the Language Arts story for the week, but finding a new word and having them use it. Introduce it and use it in conversation with them, but find ways to get the students to use the new vocabulary words as well. This will get them to stretch their brains and get them thinking more.
Some of the early intervention strategies can include doing developmentally appropriate activities, having social-emotional support, watching less TV, and encouraging the parents or care-givers to read to the children daily. There are many examples in the book of how a changed environment changed the IQ of the children involved. The one that stuck out to me was with the orphans. The group (with lower IQ scores)had the support of people around them who cared about them and was compared with children of average IQ who stayed at the orphanage. The group with support did better at school (graduating high school) than their peers of average IQ (who didn't finish 3rd grade). That says a lot to me about the importance of a support system.
I think a great way to "train the brain" is through music. Research has shown that if you put concepts to music you can learn them faster-ABC's is a perfect example!! In the preschool classrooms I work in, they use a lot of music to teach phonics and even handwriting strokes. Early Intervention is the most important!-providing support for language development early has been proven to be effective. Children that are given language rich settings will most likely develop language like their peers if they lack language to begin with. Their brains will "soak" it in and become more like their peers.
Physical activity is a way to 'train the brain.' Physical activity can increase the production of new brain cells which helps with learning, mood, and memory. Research has shown that early education and enriched environments improve language fluency, IQ, and other cognitive processes. It also reduces school problems and academ;ic failure in both elementary and high school. Also according to Campbell et al (2001), it improves social, adademic and emotional intelligence. Research by Love et al (2005) has shown that students who participated in Head Start demonstrate higher educational outcomes and lower occurrences of criminal activity inlater years.
We can train our brain through a variety of methods. Completing games or puzzles can increase our brains ability to be trained. We can let students play games such as backgammon, rummy cube and puzzles and word teasers to let them learn. The younger the student is the better chance we have of closing the gap. They can learn the skills and not have to try to make up ground later.
Margie - I like your suggestion of physical activity. There are so many games and activities that teach people to memorize, use strategy, and work in groups.
Dana - your example of music is so true. It can be a great mnuemonic device to teach and learn by.
Ways to train the brain's operating systems include physical activity, a process that can increase the production of new brain cells; playing chess or other games that have been shown to improve capabilities in reading and math by increasing attention, motivation, processing, and sequencing skills; engaging in the production of artistic pieces shown to improve attention, sequencing, processing, and cognition; and using computer-aided instructional programs that can improve working memory, increase attention, and generalize to other unrelated reasoning tasks.
ReplyDeleteThe first few years of life are a critical period in our learning. Early education programs have been shown to help narrow the socioeconomic gap, reduce the number of dropouts, reduce the number of students retained at grade level, and reduce the number of students needing special education. These early intervention educational programs have been shown to improve language fluency, IQ, and cognition; reduce school problems and academic failure; and improve social, academic, and emotional intelligence. It has been shown that students who have had early educational intervention have displayed fewer risk-taking behaviors. They are also typically more able to self-assess and self-correct.
Alan, I am curious about using art in the classroom. Do you know any teachers who do? I'm not really sure what to do to use art as a way to increase my student's skills.
DeleteI think being able to self-correct is a wonderful, necessary skill. It helps students in so many ways; without it we would all have a great deal of trouble learning and being socially acceptable.
DeleteRae Lynn, I am fortunate to team teach an English class. We have the students illustrate at least once a week to reinforce a skill we have taught. This week we looked at hyperboles and they were to come up with five and illustrate one...I'm so hot I could explode like a volcano.
DeleteRae Lynn, I have a student who has a difficult time communicating - writing as well as speaking. This student is an excellent artist. Recently they had to do a project for World History and this student presented on Japanese Anime. Two detailed pictures were drawn over Thanksgiving break. This was a great way for this student to interact and share with students because it was a "passion" - the fear of speaking in front of others was forgotten.
DeleteEngaging the brain can help train it. Engaging it with a multisensory approach is the best way to increase the brains ability to access, apply, and manipulate information. Physical activity, art, and music are essential components to training your brain. There is research to support that the Montessori approach to learning is very good for students from poverty because it helps prepare their brains for learning. With the teacher's proper teacher methods, students can train their brains for higher levels of thinking, problem solving, creativity, and also social/emotional development.
ReplyDeleteEarly interventions, like Head Start, can give young children to chance be exposed to learning techniques, vocabulary, learning by play, and also routine that will help support their brains in development. These programs give students skills they most likely would not learn at home. These programs build on the whole child, which will have lasting effects as they grow into young adults and have more options for their lives. These preventative programs can help children in the long run and are in some ways the best chances kids have to break the cycle of poverty.
Coming from an early childhood background, I can attest to the value of good early childhood programs and how the affect kindergarten. (Did that also.). ECH programs are truly invaluable. These should not be limited to preschools but carry through to day care, whether it be in a church or home.
DeleteRachel, I agree with your comments about early intervention. Those programs are beneficial to the kids and their families. I believe parents want to do their best, and often times are doing their best. Unfortanately, their best is sometimes lacking. That is where Head Start, Parents as Teachers, and other programs are so beneficial. If the parents can be taught more skills, then their best becomes better.
ReplyDeleteI think this is why the Parents as Teachers is such an important program. If the parents learn to help stimulate their children, the better off they are.
DeleteI was surprised to learn music played such a role in brain development. I think of the hours and hours we spent with our children teaching them nursery rhymes. It never occurred to me I was doing brain stimulation, we were just having fun. With secondary students, continued physical activity helps brain development. We also do patterns, ‘sing/song’ rhymes, and pneumonic devices to learn vocabulary words and key concepts for classes. Any memory work should help stimulate their brains.
ReplyDeleteHead Start and other programs help stimulate a child’s brain at an early age. Anything to increase their learning at an early age will pay off during their life. The more the child is provided early in life, the greater their chances of success later in life.
The brains operating systems are malleable. Give an example of how you can “train the brain”? One way to train the brain is to use computer programs. I thought of the ipad - one app I had was for memory. It showed something then you had to find it on the next screen. I wonder about things like "hidden pictures" or "spot the difference" activities. You need to hold onto information when you do those.
ReplyDeleteHow does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example.
Enriched environments provide a place for students to have positive interactions, arts, music, and more opportunities in general. One example is The Boys and Girls Clubs. I think just having some place positive to go is the most important thing for kids in low income housing areas. They are around adults who are good role models and also around other kids who are trying to stay out of trouble. My town used to have an after school program at a church but it is no longer going. The school has some after school programs, but really they are just more school. Most kids need to have some physical activity and other stimulation rather than sitting at a computer for another hour. It makes me wonder about how an after school program could be started here - maybe through a church again.
I was very intrigued by the physical activity piece mentioned in “training the brain”. I’ve seen some additional research on this in an article for another class. While many of our high school students do not have p.e. we can encourage purposefully encourage some physical activity: walking outside for a mini field trip; Stretching “exercises “ during class; planning movement around the classroom (rather than sitting the whole class time); walking in the gym. In the past I attended a workshop called Brain Gym that had students stand up and do some stretching exercises to help them focus and regroup during the school day. (I plan to find the manual and look through this again). The other area that caught my eye was the one on having students complete tasks administered by computer aided instruction that have students identify, count and remember objects and their locations. There are several levels of memory and “brain games” on the gamequarium learning site.
ReplyDeleteHow does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example.
I just had a conversation with a high school student yesterday where he told me that “too much learning is bad for the brain – you can’t keep adding new things”. He has been taught that the brain only holds so much and if you keep trying to learn new information then it has to get rid of some old memory or learning. This line of thinking definitely comes from home. (Ironically there is no physical activity encouraged at home). I believe that early intervention in an enriched environment that includes lots of physical and learning activities gives children a chance to learn without them realizing they are “learning”. In my county preschool is a part of our schools and is free. Many parents are excited and relieved when their children can attend preschool because it reduces the childcare bill. Here children are introduced to a variety of learning activities that are fun. A healthy snack is provided and often the “play time” is guided toward learning.
Extra-curricular activities such as 4-H and Girl or Boy Scouts also provide rish learning environments often including music and physical activity and a certain amount of memory work.
The brain operating systems are malleable. Eric Jensen reports that playing chess, exercising, and music can positively impact the brain. I thought it was interesting that playing chess can improve math skills.
ReplyDeleteEarly intervention has the potential to narrow or eliminate the SES performance gap. The children who receive early childhood interventions were less likely to drop out of school, repeat grades, or need special education. They were found to have an improved language fluency, IQ, and other cognitive processes. Jensen also reported that the brain is more receptive to major rewiring from birth to the age of 5.
Jensen is so right about brain training and transformaiton. When ever you are needing to teach a child music, exercising, and any had eye cordination skills will get the job done.
DeleteMusic has a powerful effect on the brain. My daughter who is in gifted remembers listening to classical music as a child. And as I have been in early education for years, I can witness to the positive effects of early intervention.
DeleteAnyone of us that have had a student that was not your run of the mill LD kiddo, can appreciate how much of our brain it takes to stimulate their brain. I have been blessed to pick the knowledge and expand the techniques of a music therapist. While our schools have had the opportunity to participate in inservices like Dr. Marcia Tate's. When music affects the life of an individual, it can improve language, which in turns influences other cognitive functions, which in turn keeps a student from failing academically and socially.
ReplyDeleteEarly childhood programs can enhance a students ability to learn by providing a full enriched curriculum that includes music and intentional physical activity. How many of us remember the jump rope rhymes? One of my daughter-in-laws started early with a programmed physical and music regiment when her girls were young. They are now way ahead of their peers.
I couldn't agree with you more. Music is an amazing teaching tool and should be used everyday. Kids are so excited to move and learn to the music you really can't go wrong. School can be a safe and enriching environment is we create the environment the kids need not what we think will look cute in our classrooms.
DeleteThis also makes me think about what it takes to read music and play an instrument. It really gets both sides of the brain working. I play the piano so can speak from experience how at some point when playing - -your brain just goes on "autopilot" -it somehow just knows what to do --it's a pretty cool feeling. I teach my daughters to play so it's been fun to watch them get to that skill level. This is something children from poverty wouldn't get to experience.
DeleteLast year I had a profound student who was non-verbal. This student received music therapy and responded very well to this time. A phenomal change during these sessions as compared to the rest of the time.
DeleteI think preschool and Kinder teachers are more likely to use music in the classroom. By the time the students reach high school, teachers are less likely to use music in the classroom. We know that this age student still like music (since they beg to listen to i-pod and mp3 players in the hallways). I wonder if the teacher was creative to come up with ways to incorporate music into her high school classroom if the students would enjoy it more and interact more?
DeleteThe brain has to ability to be trained. Certain activities can actually increase the brains ability to learn. As a classroom teacher, I would often times have the students learn new material to movement. My allowing the students physical activity either during, before, or after. This method of training the brain actually increases new brain cells along with a better mood and memory towards learning. I can still remember learning the states and capitals of Mexcio from my high school Spanish classroom and the only reason I can still remember them is we used music and movement. Another method of training the brain that I have personally used is art. I will often times have my students draw a picture of what I am wanting them to learn. Whether it be the characters of the story, problem of the story, vocabulary about the story or a math problem. By having them physically do something to learn it helps the brain grasp the concept being taught.
ReplyDeleteEnvironments are one of the most important concepts in teaching students. When a child has early intervention and the correct environment the possibilities can be endless. One specific areas that help a child in early intervention is improvement on languange and fluency. Many times a child that is low in the area of language and in poverty does not get exposure to the correct type of language. They may hear lots of slang or in some cases no interaction at all. Therefore, early intervention will help this child improve in that academic relm. The classroom environment can make or break a classroom. If your classroom is over stimulated then your students will not be able to concentrate. It is important to understand the needs of your students and design the classroom around them.
I agree that the enviroment is SO important, but the teachers need to be effective too. A classroom may be full of enrichment activities, but if the teacher doesn't use those activities to teach the children, then the environment won't teach itself.
DeleteThere are many ways to "train the brain." I like to use a multi-sensory approach. The most beneficial in my experience is teaching with music and movement (especially movement across the mid-line) It works wonders in the lower elementary age group. These simple adaptations to the curriculum, can improve short term and long term memory recall.
ReplyDeleteI think early intervention is the best thing we can do. I would love to see more intervention in the birth to 3 year old range. Children form so many synapses in that time frame that it would be highly beneficial to enrich stimuli during that period. Another benefit of early intervention is readiness for school. The child who comes to kindergarten not knowing his name or ABC's has to learn all that before they can move on, and the child who already knew those things, has ahead start on the previously mentioned student.
~~Tammi-- I agree that environment plays a big role in child development and learning. I have seen families where the oldest three children had no toys, games, puzzles etc. The achievement was so much lower than that of the younger four who had toys, puzzles and older siblings to stimulate them at an early age.
~~Stephanie-- I couldn't agree more about music. There are so many benefits. It trains your brain to think in organized and mathematical term with rhythm, and timing. It is soothing and relaxing which can be so beneficial to kids who live in a stressful environment (such as in poverty) and it is such a good tool to help with memorization and recall.
Multi-sensory is a great word in teaching. We should all consider it with every lesson plan we write (sure making me think about mine!)
Deletedclodfelter- I agree with your statement about the lack of interventions from 1-3. I currently have 3.5 year and a 20 month old. It is so important to engage them and read to them. I see them compared to some of their peers and it is amazing how ahead my kids are compared to some. I will have to thank all those on Pinterest for ideas for my kids because I was not trained in early childhood.
ReplyDeleteTammi: I was just talking to a teacher today about adding in movement to her lessons throughout the day. After reading your response, I think music and movement would be even better!
Rachel: I am a speech path and I often get to hire paras - -what I look for?? Realllly good moms. I am sure you are providing language enrichment without even realizing you are doing it to your own children because you do have some background knowledge and education (and the resources to learn) .
DeleteTraining the brain is LEARNING. We all have ways that we learn best - -so using a multisensory approach is best. Our job in special education is to figure out how kids learn best -- which modality -- and use that to teach new skills while still supporting the other senses.
ReplyDeleteEarly intervention is key. The brain is most "plastic" through age 5 meaning neuron pathways are establishing patterns. This doesn't mean we can "malleate" the brain but it's much easier before age 5. In an earlier blog I discussed how important "talking" to our children is - -not talking at them. This goes beyond naming everything in their environment but being able to define/describe as well as talk about what has happened in the past and antcipate the future. These are all skills preschoolers should be able to do but those from poverty -and lack of experiences - often struggle with.
I did my thesis on Metacognition and Metalinguistic skills with kindergarteners (thinking about thinking and thinking about language). Wish I could go back now and analyze the data on SES.
There is so much research about the importance of learning done before age 5. Your comment about talking to children, not at them, is so important. Great points!
DeleteSometimes when I think how important the first 5 years of life are-it scares me because there is so much to learn and if children come to me already with a delay-it that much more important to give them as many opportunities as possible.
DeleteThe book provides several activities that would be beneficial in training/improving one’s brain. These included participating in physical activity (can increase brain cell production; highly correlated with learning, mood, and memory), playing chess (can increase attention, motivation, processing, and sequencing skills), and participating in the arts (can improve attention, sequencing, processing, and cognitive skills).
ReplyDeleteEarly intervention and enriched environments provide children with exposure to more positive learning opportunities. Such activities could increase a child’s attention, motivation, processing, sequencing, and memory skills, facilitating their brain development and capability to learn. One of my schools provides an after school program where the students receive a snack, tutoring and time to work on homework, a structured fitness program, and then some type of enrichment. For this last piece, they’ve brought in a WIDE array of activities including martial arts, dance, photography, violin, bowling, etc. You name it, and they’ve probably done it!
Rae Lynn~
I agree with your comment regarding the benefit of a positive place that kids from low-SES environments can go to. I think it’s very important for them to have those good role models and truly understand that there are better things out there for them to achieve. If the only experiences those kiddos know are negative, then they probably won’t ever expect anything more than that out of life.
Stephanie~
I completely agree with you about the benefits of music and how it affects our brain’s development. One of my best girl friends just had her first baby, and I loaded her up with an entire collection of classic composers CDs from Baby Einstein. By the time they’re through those, her little girl is going to be a Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms expert, haha!
I've seen music in early childhood programs and kindergartens for several years, love it! and bought my babies lots of Baby Einstein too. This week, I saw teachers turning on the classics during 4th grade writing - the students even had requests...
DeleteThe brains operating systems are malleable. Give an example of how you can “train the brain”?
ReplyDeleteResearch verifies the brain can be trained through physical activity, playing chess, the arts, or computer programs that require holding objects locations in working memory. Sad that the arts are being cut in many elementary programs.
How does early intervention and enriched environments change a child’s ability to learn? Give an example.
Longitudinal studies show early intervention can improve language fluency, IQ scores, reduce academic failure, improve social/emotional skills, leading to improved reading, verbal, and writing skills, school performance, interest, grades, and attendance. (I would guess math too, maybe we should do a study :)
It has amazed me how chess helps children. I have a son who has had some interest in the game. He has taught me a lot about the game that I didn't know. I now see how it can help with education.
DeleteOne way to stretch the brain of students would be to enrich and expand their vocabulary. I don't mean just going over the new words for the Language Arts story for the week, but finding a new word and having them use it. Introduce it and use it in conversation with them, but find ways to get the students to use the new vocabulary words as well. This will get them to stretch their brains and get them thinking more.
ReplyDeleteSome of the early intervention strategies can include doing developmentally appropriate activities, having social-emotional support, watching less TV, and encouraging the parents or care-givers to read to the children daily.
There are many examples in the book of how a changed environment changed the IQ of the children involved. The one that stuck out to me was with the orphans. The group (with lower IQ scores)had the support of people around them who cared about them and was compared with children of average IQ who stayed at the orphanage. The group with support did better at school (graduating high school) than their peers of average IQ (who didn't finish 3rd grade). That says a lot to me about the importance of a support system.
I think a great way to "train the brain" is through music. Research has shown that if you put concepts to music you can learn them faster-ABC's is a perfect example!! In the preschool classrooms I work in, they use a lot of music to teach phonics and even handwriting strokes.
ReplyDeleteEarly Intervention is the most important!-providing support for language development early has been proven to be effective. Children that are given language rich settings will most likely develop language like their peers if they lack language to begin with. Their brains will "soak" it in and become more like their peers.
Physical activity is a way to 'train the brain.' Physical activity can increase the production of new brain cells which helps with learning, mood, and memory.
ReplyDeleteResearch has shown that early education and enriched environments improve language fluency, IQ, and other cognitive processes. It also reduces school problems and academ;ic failure in both elementary and high school. Also according to Campbell et al (2001), it improves social, adademic and emotional intelligence. Research by Love et al (2005) has shown that students who participated in Head Start demonstrate higher educational outcomes and lower occurrences of criminal activity inlater years.
We can train our brain through a variety of methods. Completing games or puzzles can increase our brains ability to be trained. We can let students play games such as backgammon, rummy cube and puzzles and word teasers to let them learn. The younger the student is the better chance we have of closing the gap. They can learn the skills and not have to try to make up ground later.
ReplyDeleteMargie - I like your suggestion of physical activity. There are so many games and activities that teach people to memorize, use strategy, and work in groups.
Dana - your example of music is so true. It can be a great mnuemonic device to teach and learn by.