Remember Teacher Appreciation Week May 7-11!

If you can read my blog remember to thank a teacher during this week, May 7-11. Teacher Appreciation Day is May 8. We hope that all our teacher friends and colleagues who give so much have a wonderful week and fully internalize all you do for your students and school community!

American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting

I just finished presenting at the INET Parent Education meeting just prior to the formal start of the American Educational Research Association annual conference. While at the INET meeting this morning I met teacher educators from across the world. What a wonderful start to the AERA 2012 conference! I'll be sharing more later!

Most Recent Events with BrainSMART and CIEP

There has been a whirlwind of activity recently as Marcus and I have recently presented at the National Association of Elementary School Principals, held four events in Colorado, and are now headed to present at two SIG meetings at the American Educational Research Association conference in Vancouver. There I will present the effects of graduate study in education, mind and brain in terms of parent education and the informal learning of teachers. For more on these upcoming presentations at AERA, e-mail at nsu@brainsmart.org.

Thank you again to our teacher leader hosts in Colorado!!! So enjoyed being with you, meeting your colleagues, and growing these exciting studies in Colorado! On a personal note, I have so enjoyed spending time over the Easter holiday with our nephew, Clancy Wilson, a fine young man who is going back to the dorm today for early classes tomorrow! Now on to put the final touches on my presentations for AERA!!!!

Colorado Tour: Education, MInd and Brain Studies and Professional Development

I am so excited to meeting with our education, mind and brain graduate and host, Kathleen Bohrnsen, today in the Denver area! It is wonderful to meet with teacher leaders and their colleagues and friends across our country! Later this week I'll be meeting with more Colorado teacher leaders, Stephanie Schulfer and Alisha Florian:) Cities: Grand Junction, Rifle, and the Glenwood Springs (Roaring Fork School District) area. For more contact Mary at nsu@brainsmart.org!

Repost: From Teacher Leader Diane Dahl

You may want to check this out...

http://www.brainhealth.utdallas.edu/index.php/blog/what-is-plasticity

BrainSMART at Georgia Gifted Education Conference

Sue Hyzer and Diane Dahl are running the BrainSMART booth at the Georgia Gifted Educators conference. For our Georgia colleagues at the Georgia Gifted Education, do come by the booth and stay awhile! Importantly, Sue also has a BrainSMART presentation tomorrow at 8 am! If you're there, plan to attend this exciting session where you will meet Sue and Diane!

Press Release

For immediate release

Research on NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler School of Education Graduate Programs with Majors in Brain-Based Teaching Shared at National Teacher Education Conference

A qualitative study on the effective teaching practices of graduates of the Nova Southeastern University programs with majors in Brain-Based Teaching was featured in a presentation at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) recent annual conference.

Donna Wilson, codeveloper of the M.S. and Ed.S. degree programs with majors in Brain-Based Teaching, presented the study “Strengthening Teacher Effectiveness with Education, Mind, and Brain Research: A Qualitative Study of K-12 Teachers Focusing on Higher Needs Students” at the AACTE Annual Meeting in Chicago on Feb. 18. Wilson is Team Leader of Academic Affairs for the Center for Innovative Education and Prevention (CIEP, www.ciep.org) and BrainSMART (www.brainsmart.org).

Wilson’s presentation summarized ethnographic research involving seven recent NSU graduates with a focus on how what they had learned about education, mind, and brain research influenced their teaching practice. Several of the teachers who participated in the study reported student achievement gains, and they attributed that progress, in part, to the neuroeducational principles and strategies they learned while earning their degrees.

The term neuroeducation refers to an interdisciplinary field bringing together research from neuroscience, psychology, and education with the aim of improving teaching methods and outcomes. The NSU graduate degree programs with majors in Brain-Based Teaching emphasize several principles from neuroeducation, including the potential for all students to learn, physical changes in the brain that result from learning, and classroom research demonstrating the academic gains that result from teaching students metacognitive strategies, or thinking about their thinking with the aim of improving learning.

“This study is based on in-depth interviews with seven graduates, but many of the teachers who have earned their degrees with majors in Brain-Based Teaching tell us this foundation from neuroeducation on how student learn best has been extremely useful in their classroom practice,” Wilson said.

Wilson is a nationally known presenter at educational conferences and professional development events for teachers and school administrators throughout the United States and in other nations. In fact, she will be presenting next at the International Roundtable on School, Family, and Community Partnerships on April 13 in Vancouver, British Columbia, on “Improving Students’ Health and Cognitive Skills: An Examination of the Impact of Education, Mind, and Brain Research on Teachers’ Interactions with Parents.” The upcoming roundtable conference is sponsored in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA, www.aera.net).