Our New Book, “Developing Growth Mindsets,” Launches With ASCD

Helping students of all ages to develop a growth mindset will enable them to experience higher levels of success! That’s the main message of our latest book, Developing Growth Mindsets: Principles and Practices for Maximizing Students’ Potential, published by ASCD.

In our new book, we stress that human beings have tremendous potential to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills. As we explain, teachers are in a unique position to unleash the potential within every student by introducing them to the concepts of brain plasticity and malleable intelligence—i.e., the idea that learners can become functionally smarter through ongoing effort, perseverance, and the use of effective strategies.

Our EL Article Stresses the Importance of Believing in the Brain

We are pleased to hear from educators around the world who have received the May issue of EL, ASCD’s magazine for educational leaders. The issue features “Believing in the Brain,” an article that Marcus and I wrote on the importance of teaching students about brain plasticity as a means of helping them develop a growth mindset. 

The issue is devoted to the theme, “Learning and the Brain,” with additional articles covering such topics as neuroscience and psychology, the creative brain, picturing the brain, building teen brains, and more.

Care For Yourself As You Care For and Teach Others

As another academic year begins, my mind is flooded with images of passionate and knowledgeable teachers we have met through the years. We feel grateful to have the privilege of getting to know you and to be able to continue to learn with many of you.

Something I read recently reminded me that one of many things that makes you so special is that you each possess a generous spirit of giving to the community, as you care about others even when you sometimes hear few voices of appreciation. The positive difference that you make in the lives of other people’s children is remarkable!

Metacognition: A Skill Strong Readers Share

A key difference between children who can read well and those who cannot is the ability to use metacognition, which can be understood as being thoughtful about what you read. Continue on to learn more about this key skill and how to help youth develop it.

Metacognition can be regarded as a conversation readers have with themselves about what they are reading. Metacognitive readers enjoy reading because they can find meaning in texts and think deeply to comprehend what they’re reading.

Those who have not yet learned to be metacognitive often have trouble reading fluently and comprehending what they read. Virtually all students can learn how to become metacognitive readers when they are explicitly taught. Here are some tools for teaching students how to become metacognitive readers.

W.V. High School Teachers Use Our Work to Address Barriers to Learning

We are pleased to see that our work, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains, was used in year-long programming in which West Virginia high school teachers helped identify barriers to learning.

Teams of teachers from four Harrison County High Schools participated in the program, which also entailed testing solutions to address the barriers they identified.

According to an article that appeared on the WVnews.com website, Eve and Joetta Schneider of JS Educational Consulting, met with the teams monthly for feedback, strategy discussion and data analysis. As part of the programming, the teams also participated in a book study in which Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains was the featured work.

Our Ed Week Post Stresses the Importance of the Caring Classroom Where Students Learn How to Learn

In responding to Education Week as a part of the popular Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, Marcus and I described our exciting, unique, and productive approach that we have taught educators for relating with students.

The question for this blog post was: "What are the best ways to build relationships with students?"

“Our cognitive approach positions the teacher-student relationship as one where effective teachers are expert learners who explicitly teach students how to learn in ways they can use across contexts in academics, life, and on the job,” we wrote in our reply. “Teachers find this fulfilling because they know how important it will be for their students to be able to learn new skills to enjoy success across many jobs across their lifespans.”

Ann Arbor School References Our Work to Define Their Approach to Brain-Based Education

Clonlara School in Ann Arbor, Mich., references our work to help define “Brain-Based Education: An Overview of Research Supporting Clonlara’s Educational Approach.”

The school defined brain-based education “an approach that draws from the science of how the human brain learns naturally and aligns instructional strategies to support student learning at different stages of the brain’s development.”

Vietnam Blog Highlights our "Driving Your Brain" Metaphor

It's exciting that the internet has extended the reach of our writings and research around the globe. We recently became aware of a blog, Educational Designing World, created by Huong Dinh of Vietnam, in which the topic of metacognition—thinking about one's thinking—is featured.

Ms. Dinh has worked for GreenViet, a NGO in the field of saving biodiversity and combating the problems of climate change and global warming. She has taken a master's degree program at the University of Oulu, Finland, with a "Learning, Education, and Technology" major to further her goal of becoming an educational designer focusing on environmental issues.

Dallas School Highlights Our BrainSMART Strategies in Professional Development

Marcus’ and my professional learning strategies were featured in “The Weekly Armadillo,”  an online newsletter published by the Nathan Adams Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District.

Quoting from one of our Edutopia blog posts, Inspiring Progress Toward Learning Goals, the excerpt drove home the point that, "By teaching students to monitor their thinking during learning by setting goals, applying strategies, reflecting, and adjusting, teachers will help them improve their learning ability."

The newsletter also drew attention to our strategies for “Goal Setting and The Brain,” which stressed the importance of setting learning coals; choosing the most effect learning strategies, reflecting on what you know and what you need to find out, adjust strategies accordingly, and learning from experience.

The Forgotten Secret to Leadership Success

By Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers

Follow these four guiding questions to improve leadership and student learning

 

Recent research by London neuroscientist Stephen Fleming indicates that metacognition—‘thinking about thinking’—is the forgotten secret to success across all domains. Educational leaders can use this powerful tool to question, monitor, and adjust their thinking in ways that help drive action toward achieving goals.

We believe that metacognition can be applied to school leaders’ support for teachers and teacher education and improvement. How? By providing opportunities for teachers to work together—and in effect think about their teaching and their thinking about teaching—to improve their teaching practice. By reflecting on best practices for classrooms together, teachers have a chance to become more effective educators, both individually and collectively.

During the past two decades of providing brain-based professional development and university graduate studies, we have seen that when teachers have opportunity for purposeful collaboration, they are more thoughtful, joyful, and resilient professionals.

We Explain in Ed Week Why Brain Plasticity Should Be Taught More in the Classroom

Marcus and I had the opportunity to stress the importance of teaching students about brain plasticity in responding to Education Week as a part of the popular Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo.

The question for this blog post was: "What is an instructional strategy and/or teaching concept that you think is under-used/under-appreciated in the classroom that you think should be practiced more widely?"

As we emphasized in our response, teaching students about how their brains change during learning can have a positively transformative impact in the classroom. This is something that is not traditionally taught in schools, but certainly deserves to be. When kids realize they can become smarter through study and practice, it often helps improve their dedication to the learning process.

For Ed Week's Classroom Q&A, We Urge Principals to Promote Teacher Leadership and Purposeful Collaboration

In responding to Education Week as a part of the popular Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, Marcus and I described the school principal's role in emphasizing teacher leadership and purposeful collaboration among teachers.

The question for this blog post was: "What are the biggest challenges faced by principals, and what are the best ways to respond to them?"

We point out in our response how quality of teaching has a significant impact on students' ability to achieve their full learning potential. Principals play an important role in elevating the level of teaching by understanding and emphasizing  teacher leadership and purposeful collaboration among teachers to support effective teaching.

Building a Metacognitive Classroom

Teaching students basic knowledge about the brain’s potential can have a positive impact on their motivation, grit, and achievement. In particular, explicitly teaching them that learning changes the structure and function of their brains can be transformational in building a stronger belief in the value of working hard to master new material.

Teachers who explain these findings report that the knowledge has a positive effect on students’ perceptions of their abilities as well as on their expectations for success.

Examples from Elementary Classrooms

Diane Dahl of Texas, a participant in our brain-based teaching program, enjoys teaching her elementary students about the brain and strategies for learning. Students learn what neurons, dendrites, and axons are and how connections between neurons created by axons and dendrites create learning. Dahl emphasizes that each child has an amazing, unique brain and that through their practice and effort, all students will learn and remember a lot during the year. (Marcus discusses these brain basics and classroom implications in a short video.)

Ed Week's Classroom Q&A Response Highlights Memory Scaping as a Learning Strategy

Marcus and I describe memory scaping as a means of helping students retain information about social studies in responding to Education Week as a part of the popular Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo.

The question for this blog post was: "Are there curricula or strategies I can use to make social studies exciting to my students?"

Memory scaping is one of more than than 100 strategies that we have developed for use in the classroom. Memory scaping uses the power of location and movement, as well as episodic and sensory learning systems, to increase student engagement, attention, and recall of content.

A Skill Strong Readers Share

Students in classrooms across the United States spend an estimated 85 percent of their school day on assignments that require reading texts. A key difference between students who can read well and those who cannot is the ability to use metacognition.

Metacognition can be regarded as a conversation readers have with themselves about what they are reading. Metacognitive readers enjoy reading because they can find meaning in texts and think deeply to comprehend what they’re reading.

Those who have not yet learned to be metacognitive often have trouble reading fluently and comprehending what they read.

A Powerful Way to End the School Year

One of our strategies that teachers enjoy using at the end of the school year is a practical, easy-to-use tool we call Celebrating Learning With Year Mapping. This activity gives your current students a chance to feel good about what they’ve learned and provides incoming students an opportunity to see real evidence that they can be successful learners in the coming school year. And it gives teachers a chance to enjoy seeing students share what they’ve learned and to internalize their successful teaching.

Several elements of this strategy make it a powerful way to end the school year with a positive experience, often much needed after testing is over and as a busy year comes to an end. With prompted recall, each student can remember learning events that mean the most to them. Year-end mapping utilizes the power of positive teacher-student relationships as well as personalized learning, summarizing, group learning, and organizing information graphically.

Guiding Students to Be Independent Learners

It’s estimated that students in the U.S. spend nearly 20,000 hours experiencing classroom education by the age of 18, and that much of what is taught is forgotten within a short time. And there’s little evidence that they know how to apply effective learning strategies when they arrive at college.

In essence, many students have not learned how to retain and apply knowledge. Fortunately, current research offers fascinating insights about the brain’s capacity to learn at higher levels when effective learning strategies are used.

Celebrating BrainSMART’s 20-Year Anniversary: Teachers Speak

The BrainSMART program has been excellent for teachers as well as for school administrators who are looking for principles to enhance their staffs’ professional and personal development.

Retired principal Priscilla Bourgeois and teachers in her parish had a positive experience using the program to bring out the most in educators and students. Here is her description of her BrainSMART experience.

Marcus Describes Link Between Learning and Exercise in Motiv Running Article

Marcus was the expert voice in an article entitled "Learning on the Run," which appeared on Motiv Running, a website dedicated to helping runners of all levels run better, reduce injuries, and live an active, outdoor lifestyle.

The article described the University of Oregon's "Run with a Researcher" program, which highlights the connection between running and learning. Marcus confirmed the powerful connection between movement and learning, pointing out that the brain's central processor of learning and memory—the hippocampus—is larger among people who exercise regularly.

Online Video Companion for “Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains” Will Be Available This Spring

This past autumn, I was delighted to lead the development of our upcoming online video program, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains: Metacognitive Strategies, Activities, and Lesson Plans, with ASCD.

The video is based on research, development and practical strategies from the ASCD book of the same name, which I co-authored with Marcus Conyers. Both the book and the accompanying video highlight the principles of metacognition as a tool that helps students unlock their brain power and take control of their learning.