ACE Report Cites Our Work in Self-Regulation and Metacogition

A recent report from the American Council on Education, Unpacking Relationships: Instruction and Student Outcomes, references our work in the areas of self-regulation and metacognition. The authors of this prestigious report write, “Students are more likely to persist and graduate when actively involved in the educational process.”

Citing our book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching, the authors continue, “Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers (2013) outline five ideas from cognitive science research that are applicable to teaching and learning, one of which focuses upon the role of metacognition and reflection to enhance students’ active engagement in their own learning.”

Praise Effort to Drive Academic Success

We all like to be recognized for a job well done. However, research indicates that teachers and parents can increase youngsters’ motivation by focusing their praise on students’ efforts and improvements rather than on outcomes alone.

In our book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting, Mind Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice, Marcus Conyers and I give examples of what teachers can say to students to keep the focus on hard work and effort rather than on results alone:

• “All that effort you put into your homework has really made a difference—look how much your grade improved on this week’s quiz.”
• “I like how you looked up the definition yourself rather than just asking what the word means.”
• “If you work on your note-taking skills, you will have better materials to use when studying for the next test.”

Using Mistakes as an Opportunity to Teach

Everybody makes mistakes—even teachers. Showing your students that you make mistakes and then demonstrating how you correct them can be an important way to help them build their problem-solving skills.

An effective way of modeling cognitive strategies is to demonstrate to students how you work through a mistake. Students may giggle when you as their teacher make a mistake, but you can use such a situation as an important problem-solving exercise by working toward correcting your mistake out loud and in full view of your classroom.

Marcus Conyers and I discuss the use of metacognition—that is, thinking about your thinking—as a pathway to becoming functionally smarter in our book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. As students become more cognitive and able to identify and work through their own problems, this strategy may be extended to include student-to-student problem solving aloud.

Helping Your Students' Potential Blossom

Happy spring!  In many parts of the US, this season of renewal may seem long overdue—all the more reason to celebrate its arrival with a metaphor about the seeds of potential that all students possess to learn, grow, and achieve their goals in school and in life.

A favorite teaching and learning strategy among educators who participate in our brain-based teaching program is using metaphors to explain and explore new concepts. So let’s say that within each student, seeds of learning can take root, powered not by photosynthesis but by neuroplasticity, defined as changes in the structure and function of the brain as it processes new information.

Be The Lead Learner

In our study of metacognitive strategies, we have found that the best way to teach is to embrace the concept of metacognition as part of our own learning process. In the classroom, it is important not only to be the teacher but also to be the lead learner by modeling the use of metacognition and cognitive strategies. When students see their teachers putting these strategies into action, they can more effectively learn how to use the cognitive processes themselves.

For instance, when reading aloud a passage, it's often a good idea to think aloud about the author's perspective to underscore the importance of his or her point of view.  Or when undertaking a class project, the teacher can model planning and organization by developing a checklist of tasks that need to be completed and sharing this with students.

An important way we learn is by making mistakes. The phrase "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" can be adapted quite nicely into a neat little axiom: "Nothing ventured, nothing learned." When teachers make a mistake, they can analyze these mistakes out loud. Students may get a "kick" out of realizing that even adults make mistakes, but they can also see how the adult in charge of their classroom works through a mistake, making it a learning experience rather than a source of embarrassment or frustration.

Our Chapter on Cognitive Complexities Included in Free IAE Book

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Information Age Education announces the publication of its most recent free book which features a chapter by Marcus and myself:

Sylwester, R., & Moursund, D., eds. (March, 2014). Understanding and Mastering Complexity. Eugene, OR: Information Age Education. 

Cut and paste either of these links into your browser: 

PDF file:   http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/256-understanding-and-mastering-complexity.html

Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/255-understanding-and-mastering-complexity.html

Fourteen people collaborated in writing the IAE Newsletter articles that comprise the book. The book is for people who are interested in exploring ways that informal and formal education can help all of us individually and collectively deal more easily with the complexity of many problems and tasks.

Springing Forward With Upcoming Education Events in Georgia and California

As we move toward spring, I am looking forward to making presentations at upcoming education events in Georgia and California.

First up is the Early Literacy Spring Symposium, co-sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Reading Association, which will take place March 10 at Middle Georgia State College in Macon, Ga. That will be followed by a presentation at the upcoming ASCD 69th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, "@EveryLearner: Someday is Now," taking place March 15-17 in Los Angeles.

My topic at the symposium in Georgia is: "Wiring the Brain to Read: Practical Strategies for Increasing Reading Comprehension." Drawing from my book series, Wiring the Brain to Read, I will discuss how young brains learn to read and provide practical strategies that teachers can use in their classrooms to increase reading comprehension. Those interested in registering for the symposium should visit the Georgia Reading Association's website.

P21 Blog Praises Powerful Message from ‘Five Big Ideas’

Our book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice, received praise in the Book of the Month Review at the P21 blog. In his review, P21 blog's editor-in-chief Jim Bellanca was impressed by the book's powerful message that "any child, any adult can get better, smarter every day."

Here's an excerpt from the review: "When it comes to the research based practices that have the biggest impact on students, this book serves as a powerful primer. Novices will be able to weed out other time of practices, many obsolete, which don’t have research support; experienced teachers will be able to review their own instructional repertoire, clean out the closet, as it were, and add new insights to their instructional wardrobes. Principals and professional developers will want this book in their reference libraries and parents will find it a solid source for helping their own children learn more effectively." 

You can order the Five Big Ideas at Amazon.com.

Re-defining Student Potential

At BrainSMART and the Center for Innovative Education and Prevention, Marcus Conyers and I support schools and communities to eliminate the gap between mission statements celebrating the potential of all students to succeed and the deeply held expectations that contradict those sentiments.

Deeply held assumptions and expectations that some students don’t have the potential to do school well are, in fact, pervasive in our society. For example, these assumptions arise in the practice of providing instruction on thinking strategies and higher order literacy only for students identified as gifted, while focusing on basic skills training for many others.

Further, when children begin school without the reading readiness skills that their peers possess, those assumptions may lead schools away from a focus on the concentrated instruction and exposure to reading all children need to succeed and toward an often-unspoken belief that they lack the cognitive potential to read on grade level with high comprehension.

Our book Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching reviewed positively:)

Marcus Conyers and I are pleased to see that our recently published book with Teachers College Press, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice, was included on the The UK Times Higher Education list of suggested texts for educators.

The list includes less than one hundred texts from across the world with many coming from European publishers. Therefore, we are especially glad that our book made the list as one of only eight from TCP and the only book named from the domain of mind, brain and education studies applied to teaching.

The Times list was compiled by senior lecturer, Sandra Leaton Grey, Institute of Education, University of London, who writes ...

"One thing soon becomes clear in attempting a comparison of contemporary trends in education textbooks, and that is that many of the titles dealing with global or international issues stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of competent use of research and fresh analysis. Perhaps these are the books we need to pepper our reading lists with if we are to inspire a new generation of educators, rather than focusing on the musings of egotists."

Diane Dahl and I Give “Joyful” Presentation at Learning Forward 2013

Implementation of the Common Core State Standards can be a time of stress, setbacks, and low morale. However, if professional developers, administrators, and teachers are empowered with five fundamental “big ideas” that support effective teaching, the process can be positive and, yes, even joyful at times.

That was the encouraging message that I presented along with Diane Dahl when we spoke together at the Learning Forward 2013 Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas.

Diane is a second-grade teacher in the Frisco Independent School District in the Dallas area and a 2011 graduate of our master’s degree program. At Learning Forward 2013, we teamed up for an upbeat, practical presentation entitled “Toward Joyful Implementation of Common Core State Standards,” sharing advice on implementing the standards to an audience that included teachers, leaders of professional learning communities, teacher educators, and a director of a state department of education.

The presentation tied into the concepts of the book that I co-authored with Marcus Conyers, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice (Teachers College Press, 2013). Diane and I explained how using the core concepts set out in that book and explored in the graduate programs can provide a conceptual framework for learning and teaching. We also tied implications from mind, brain, and education research to the practical challenges of implementing the Common Core State Standards with the goal of creating more thoughtful and effective classrooms.

Elsewhere at the Learning Forward conference, I had the opportunity to sign copies of the book at the Teachers College Press booth. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with longtime colleagues and friends and to forge new relationships.

Hope to see you at Learning Forward's Annual Conference in Dallas!

I am on the way to present at the Learning Forward Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas, December 7-11. Our presentation at conference is December 11, 7:45-9:45 am. We are excited to announce that Diane Dahl, currently a 2nd grade classroom teacher in the Dallas area, will be presenting with me!

Additionally, Teachers College Press is hosting a book event where I'll be signing, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching, on Monday, December 9 at 2:00.

We hope to see many of you in Dallas at one or both of our events!

‘Five Big Ideas’ Is Basis of Pioneering Paper Presented at International Conference

Marcus and I had the opportunity to speak before a distinguished audience of researchers, psychologists, and teacher educators attending the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology’s (IACEP) 2013 International Conference and share the achievements of teachers who have completed our graduate degree programs with majors in Brain-Based teaching. The conference took place this past summer at the prestigious Leiden University in Leiden, The Netherlands.

The IACEP is a worldwide organization of professionals whose goal is to advance the cognitive education of children, youth, and adults. Our presentation, “Connecting Five Big Ideas from Cognitive, Brain, and Education Research to Teacher Education,” fit in well with those ideals. Leading the presentation, Marcus described how graduates of the program are enhancing their students’ academic performance by applying the research, theory, and strategies they learned in their graduate studies. As a result, teachers are helping their students achieve more of their academic potential and develop an appreciation for lifelong learning.

Our presentation drew from the core concepts explored in our book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice (Teachers College Press, 2013). We also provided real-life examples of these concepts in action in classrooms and schools. It was especially gratifying to have presented at the conference among colleagues I met in the early to mid-1990s as I was completing research for my doctoral degree and studying structural cognitive modifiability internationally at the post-doctoral level.

AERA Presentation Highlights Graduates' Success Stories

Among the highlights of my spring was Marcus' and my April 27 presentation at the American Educational Association's (AERA) 2013 Annual Meeting. We were pleased to have the opportunity to share the impressive success stories that graduates of our programs are experiencing in classrooms across the country and internationally.

Speaking at the AERA gathering in San Francisco, Marcus led a presentation describing how graduates who have completed our brain-based teaching program are well equipped to help students achieve their learning potential.

Our presentation, “Exploring the Impact of a Graduate Degree Program Connecting the Implications of Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Teaching and Learning,” was presented through the conference segment of the AERA Special Interest Group on Brain, Neurosciences and Education, a group that I joined in the early 1990s. We are happy to have been a pioneering part of this movement over the past two decades.

Selected Upcoming Conferences for 2013

Marcus and I will be presenting at key educational events during the course of 2013 that will take us to various parts of the United States and Europe. Here are a few highlights:

— American Educational Research Association's Annual Meeting, April 27-May 1, San Francisco. On April 27, we will present “Exploring the Impact of a Graduate Degree Program Connecting the Implications of Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Teaching and Learning.” In addition, the AERA Annual Meeting will mark the launch of our new book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. Coinciding with the launch, we will take part in a book signing from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 29 at the Teachers College Press booth, Booth No. 413, in the AERA exhibit hall.

— The International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology's 2013 International Conference, June 24-27, Leiden University in Leiden, The Netherlands. This year’s conference theme is: “Unfolding Potential: Assessment, Strategies, Change, and Intervention.” Describing the potential of the human brain, we will speak on the subject of “Connecting Five Big Ideas from Cognitive, Brain, and Education Research to Teacher Education.”

— Learning Forward 2013 Annual Conference, December 7-11, Dallas, Texas. In this case, I will be teaming up with Diane Dahl, Texas elementary teacher and a graduate of our program, to present "Toward Joyful Implementation of Common Core State Standards."

Two Books Coming From Wilson & Conyers in 2013

Marcus and I are pleased to announce that we will launch two new books over the next several months. Coming in April from Teachers College Press is Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. Core concepts explored in this exciting new book are:

• Neuroplasticity, understanding that the structure and function of the brain change in response to learning.
• Potential, the capacity for all students to make learning gains.
• Malleable intelligence, which stands in opposition to traditional views of fixed intellect.
• The Body-Brain System, the role of movement, physical fitness, healthy nutrition, and positive emotions in facilitating learning.
• Metacognition, explicit instruction on the use of cognitive strategies to guide students to “think about their thinking” with the aim of improving learning.