Brain Rules

The Way We Learn

How are you smart?• National Standards: Actions of teachers are

deeply influenced by their understanding of and relationship with students.

• Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and social processes.

• Objective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

Rule #1 ExerciseBlood brings nutrients and removes waste from the brain.

The brain is 2% of the bodies mass but consumes 20% of the glucose.

Rule # 2 The Brain Changes

• Cooperative Group activities are critical for learning.

• We work in groups by understanding the intentions and motivations of others.

Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently

• We all have different learning temperaments and intelligences.

How Are You Smart?

How are you smart?

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Brain Rules/Intelligences

Objective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

How are you smart?• National Standards: Actions of teachers are

deeply influenced by their understanding of and relationship with students.

• Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and social processes.

• Objective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

AbstractAbstract

RandomRandom

ConcreteConcrete

SequentialSequential

Card Shuffle Card Shuffle Temperament SorterTemperament Sorter

Creating Your Personal KiteStep 1

•Study the pictures and words on the front of each Color Wheel.

Step 2

•Check the words on the back side rim that firmly describe you.

•Total your score for each card.

Scoring your Personal Kite

Graphing your Personal Kite Step 3•Stamp your fingerprint on the center of the Color Wheel.

•Plot your totals from each color card onto the Color Wheel (count from the inside hash marks outward).

•Draw a line from mark to mark.

•Fill each area of the quadrant with its respective color.

Evaluating your Personal Kite

Step 4

•This diagram describes the basis of your Personal Kite. It shows your strengths and your struggles.

•Read the back side of each card to better understand the characteristics and strengths of each Color Wheel.

Stretching YourselfStep 5

•Consider an area of your life you want to stretch (heart, mind, body, or soul).

•Use the back side of the card to identify a behavior or character trait you would like to improve.

•As you stretch an area of your life other areas will improve as well.

Stretching YourselfStep 5 cont.• Ask yourself the following questions and

create a plan to support your stretch:

1. What? – what specific behavior do you wish to improve.

2. Why? – examine your motives for the change. If it isn’t a strong personal choice, choose a new “what?”.

3. When & Where? – identify a specific time and place you could make the change.

4. How? – use the strengths of your profile to create a how-to plan.

5. Who? – share your plan with someone who could encourage you and hold you accountable to it.

Have cake - give yourself a simple reward!

Step

6!

Temperament Type• Educators typically

have strong yellow and blue temperament types.

• Struggling learners tend to be dominant in the red and green temperaments.

• We have a disconnect between traditional school systems and learning.

Learn to teach to all using strategies that reach learners in each quadrants.

Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.

• The brain loses attention every 10 minutes.

• The brain needs breaks.

• The brain cannot multitask.

Paying Attention

• Emotions get our attention.

• Use “Bait and Hook” when teaching

Rule #5 and Rule #6: Repeat to Remember

Repeat to Remember

Repeat to RememberRepeat to Remember

Repeat to RememberRepeat to Remember

Repeat to RememberRepeat to Remember

Repeat to RememberRepeat to Remember

Repeat to Remember

Repeat to Remember(Short and Long Term memory)

• Our brains give us an approximate view of reality by mixing new knowledge with past memories and storing them together as one.

• We must incorporate new information gradually by repeating it in timed intervals creating long-term memory.

Rule #7: Sleep well, think well

• During part of your sleep cycle your brain replays thousands of times what you learned during the day.

Sleep Well - Think Well• Loss of sleep hurts: attention,

executive functions, working memory,mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoningand even motor dexterity.

Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.

• Under chronic stress, adrenaline creates scars in your blood vessels that can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Our Bodies Release Cortisol Under Stress

• Cortisol damages the cells of the hippocampus, crippling your ability to learn and remember.

Stressed brains

• Individually, the worst kind of stress is the feeling that you have no control over the problem; you are helpless.

Rule # 9: Multiple sense stimulation creates better learning

• We absorb information about an event through multiple senses. This reinforce learning.

Brain cross-sectionBrain cross-section

Visual

Physical

AuditoryLogic & Reasoning

Visual

Kinesthetic

Auditory

Creating Memories

• Smells have an unusual power to bring back memories.

Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses

• Pictures grab attention. We pay lots of attention to color, orientation, size, and special attention to motion.

Vision trumps all other senses

Rule #11: Male and female brains are different

• Women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdale and remember the emotional details.

• Men use the right amygdale and get the gist of the emotional input.

Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers

• Babies are the model of how we learn – not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion.

How are you smart?• National Standards: Actions of teachers are

deeply influenced by their understanding of and relationship with students.

• Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and social processes.

• Objective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

Learning & Brain Rules

Using 4 colors create illustrations showing how the brain best learns

Quick write: explain how your instruction can enhance student learning.

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Objective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

Brain RulesObjective: I will create a non-linguistic graphing representation and illustration representing my learning temperament.

Learning & Brain Rules• Learning occurs

better when the environment has multiple sensory and emotion arousing inputs followed by repeated input that builds on previous learning.

Learning & Brain Rules• Students do best when

they get plenty of sleep, exercise, learn in a positive low stress environment and work in groups. They also do better when taught using multiple senses that stimulate their learning intelligence.

Brain Rules