Becoming A "Wiz" At Brain-Based Teaching

I really enjoyed learning about this book from you guys! At the beginning of the presentation, I had hard time because without more background knowledge about the brain, it is difficult to understand the complexities you were referring to. What is tough about it is in this kind of presentation, there is no room for elaborate studying of what the ideas are, but it is something that cannot be briefly touched on to permit understanding either. Because of this, it was definitely useful the way you guys delivered the information. I have no real advice on how that portion of it could have been different because it was such a challenging piece of the presentation. However, it was useful the way you created a relationship between names of animals and the parts, that did help! You handled that portion of the presentation well! The rest of the presentation was also excellent. There were so many engaging and cool activities for us to do and learn from at the same time. It was a rich presentation with a lot of things that got me thinking about myself as a teacher an role model. The overall energy of the presentation was also something I was very impressed by! Everyone was positive and helpful in presenting the information. The group work worked out well by separating into pairs to deliver the information we learned in the first section. It was important to break it up that way so that we could all clearly communicate the information and understand easily. It worked much better than the way we did our jigsaw-ish group work in the first book presentation.
Overall the presentation was incredibly informative and fun! You guys did a wonderful job sharing the information, explaining the book, and promoting it's ideas and topics! Thanks a lot!

Brain Research Applied to Middle School (Ch.3)

Abstract
The chapter gave a lot of information about students' brain studies, related mostly to memory. It encourages teachers to teach with all of the senses to create a more memorable learning experience. It talks about the different types of memory and ways to extend the amount of time students are focused and thinking about the topic at hand. For further understanding and better memory, the chapter talks about repeating concepts and skills for permanent knowledge rather than teaching, testing and moving forward. Some of the studies within the chapter indicate positive findings in using social interaction in lessons as well as chunking, which stores all different concepts and understandings under one main topic area. Some other useful and successful techniques discussed in the chapter are good hydration for the students, teaching the most difficult content very first (because they are wired to remember the most of the first told information), using summary and reflection, using metaphor and analogy, as well as practicing Bloom's Taxonomy. Teaching students to reason was also a main part of the chapter. If they cannot apply their knowledge, it may not be worth it. The reasoning is a very important piece.

Reflection
This chapter was actually incredibly interesting. There were a lot of new ideas and concepts that I was impressed by. I found myself highlighting and taking a ton of notes. Usually Meet Me In The Middle is sort of a refresher text, but this chapter was definitely new to me. A lot of the techniques and ideas in the chapter were really cool and well recieved by me. I think it makes so much sense to pay close attention to actual brain activity and patterns in students, because it really is crucial to how they are learning. We can only improve their experience when we follow their needs more closely. Overall, I gained a lot of cool ideas and information from this chapter.

A Whole New Mind

I really enjoyed this presentation a lot. I was very impressed by how well it was put together and how easily it flowed! I liked being able to follow along with the wiki while we moved through all of the different activities. At first I needed a little more help with the concepts of right and left brain, I was hoping the presentation would have defined that a little more clearly in the beginning, but once we got into the activities I really began gaining an understanding of the differences. Each of the activities was not only a good way to help us understand the book and its concepts, but also to the relay the messages of how these things could be worked into our own classrooms. The activities also did a great job of reaching all of the different types of learners, I could tell the group put great thought into doing that! The writing activity was one of my favorites because it really brought out the creativity we were talking about throughout the presentation. Everyone had a chance to contribute and work together, it turned out to be really fun! After the presentation, I have been become interested in the book and would like to learn more about the main concepts. I thought I could have used a handout for the right brain and left brain differences, for purposes of personal memory - trying to get a better handle on all of these things we talked about throughout the lesson and how they apply. I would have also liked to hear a little more about the connections to some of the things we have read and done in class. Overall, I really loved the presentation and thought they did an excellent job engaging us and relaying the information! Wonderful class!

Outdoor Adventures (Ch.13)

Abstract
This chapter is promoting the use of outdoor activities and interaction in relation to the learning community. The benefits of this are personal autonomy as well as physical, emotional, and intellectual self improvement. The chapter also suggests that experience these types of activities can help students see adults as more than just authority figures, but it can help them close the gap and allow for students to view the teachers as more human and approachable, as "fellow travelers in life's journey." The chapter provides some examples of useful activities that teachers can use as a guide for any outdoor excursions they might pursue with their students. Each of the ideas is tied to a basic content area, showing the use of this type of activity in almost all subjects. All of the activities have possibility of academic benefit for the students. The author was truly inspired by the experiences that he has had with his students in these situations.

Reflection
I think this was such a cool chapter. Although at first I questioned the practicality of all of these crazy adventures, I am not one to dwell on that, and ended up really loving all of these ideas. It sounds like a camp experience where students can get the most fair and important balance of activity, social interaction, and learning on all levels, including the academic. The many ideas that the chapter displays relate directly to content areas and presented some cool projects and suggestions that could work with or without the extreme activity condition. Outdoor writing would be in every one of my lesson plans if I could make it work that one. I have always loved the concept and the many connections it brings to the students. This chapter gave some awesome ideas on that particular activity and made me really excited to embark on these kinds of adventures, while incorporating something relatively basic, but substantially exciting and beneficial.

Active Learning (Ch.4)

Abstract
This chapter explores the idea of incorporating some type of physical activity into the curriculum on a regular basis. It urges the reader to consider the content that must be taught, so that the activities can be tied directly into the curriculum. It explores ways to do this based on the content and what parts of the body relate and such. The chapter gives a basic list of activities that could be used including simple ones such as letting the students get up to pass in their papers (rather than collecting), Simon Says with content as the words, designing a rap song that involves the content (something they can move to a bit). The list also includes more complex examples such as using sidewalk chalk to draw a massive human heart in the school parking lot and letting the students walk through when you explain the blood flow, representing terms and concepts artistically- allowing for movement and interactions, academic Olympics, or using skits within the lessons. All of the ideas get students up and moving and more hands on with the content than usual.

Reflection
I think so many of these activities could be useful and exciting for students. I loved the idea of drawing the human heart, what a cool way for students to get to know the parts AND understand the different functions of what they are learning. By seeing and doing, I do agree that the students could benefit greatly from the extra mile the content would be taking. I have a few ideas, but was having a hard time applying all of this action into English. The chapter makes it feel possible for every subject, and I've always thought getting the students physically involved would help the content, now there is a chapter in support of that.

Curriculum and Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning (Ch.3)

Abstract
This chapter in Turning Points 2000 focuses on the building of curriculum around the standards we are all so used to. The idea that the students will be most likely to succeed with a standard based curriculum is an idea that is repeated several times throughout the chapter. It also alludes to the importance of responding properly to the changes in students' and the ways they are learning from the curriculum. Most of the chapter is relaying advice on how to modify the standards and create a curriculum around them that best supports the students and the teaching methods that are most effective. By giving tips on how to work with the standards, it gives the reader a better look at how they can be best incorporated. Backwards Design was also a big part of the chapter, because of the standards being worked into the curriculum. It is a common and effective way to build this kind of curriculum.

Reflection
I found this chapter to be a bit of a refresher, but packed with good information none the less. There is so much information out there on ways to build curriculum and teach for the students' needs and change things when they do or do not work out as expected. This chapter highlights some really great points and gives a lot of useful information including assessment for the different types of changes for curriculum. This is basically practicum in a chapter. It was nice as a refresher, but at times it feels like it is being drilled a little with the repeat information. Always a good resource to go to is a book that spells out such good techniques and ideas as this one does.