BRAIN-BASED LEARNING Our Lady of the Assumption teachers attended an in-service conducted by Ann Anzaone, an expert on brain-based learning. She shared valuable information with our faculty, and though much of what she shared with us has a practical application in the classroom, there were some concepts that apply at home as well. Here are some of the things she shared that parents, grandparents, and guardians might find helpful: • The best sources of stimulation for the brain are: physical exercise, mental exercise, and social bonding. • There isn’t a strong correlation between ability and achievement. Achievement happens through 1) attention, 2) attitude, 3) aspiration, and 4) asking (inquiry). • Repeating a concept 3-5 times orally helps students to remember a new concept. • The #1 predictor of success: how much one practices. Deliberate practice: o Requires concentration o Builds mental models o Requires repetition o Provides lots of feedback on result • Eat a breakfast each morning that contains a protein item. • The scent of cinnamon (real cinnamon, not a manufactured or chemical fragrance) helps diffuse hyperactivity in a child. The scent of Lavender and Rosemary also have a calming effect on children. • Video game time should be regulated. She recommends that parents pick a set number of hours for a child to play each week and schedule it out over seven days. The number she offered as an example was 5 hours a week. • Children should get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day. • A child should get a full night of sleep. One hour less than the required amount of sleep for a child equals 2 years of cognitive delay in the child. • Students can develop attention by playing cards, board games, concentration games, chess, scrabble, puzzles, reading, spinning, and swinging. • It is important for students to follow routines, and set specific times for homework, meals, and sleep. • Games that help with attention are: Jeopardy, Concentration, Boggle (wordSplay.net), Scrabble, Set (setgame). • Other sites with helpful brain activities include: freebrainagegames, memory-improvement-tips, speedstacks, • Read aloud every day. It can be paragraphs; doesn’t have to be pages. • Do mental math. That should get the juices flowing for this Monday morning!
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:21:46 +0000
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