This week we were introduced to cognitive development in adolescents. Specifically, we looked at the concept of Brain Rules. There are twelve brain rules (pictured above) which are essentially twelve different factors that affect the brain's ability to function. As an educator, it is important to keep these rules in mind as I teach as they will help me develop lesson plans and activities that better appeal to all my students. I had originally chosen Stress as my favorite brain rule as I have always found the topic of stress to be very applicable to my own life. While I still think monitoring Stress merits inclusion into my lesson planning, after our interactive class, I am more inclined to focus my future classroom around the brain rule of Attention. 

 

When I like something, I actually LOVE it. I am borderline obsessed (ask me about my collection of Starbucks mugs). I will seek out everything I can find about the topic and I will force my friends and family to talk with me about it (usually against their will). It's amazing how the brain so fully adopts something when we are truly interested in it. When we are actually interested in a topic, we pay greater attention to it, our brains absorb everything we can get our hands on. When we are not interested, our brains shut off, that is, we have become bored. I believe boredom is the ultimate things to avoid in any classroom. No teacher wants to be "that boring teacher." We want all our students to be engaged and attentive. To capture their interests, we need the materials to be of interest to them. That is why, in my classroom, my number one brian rule will be attention.

 

To realize this rule, I will make my lessons as much inquiry-based as possible. That is, at every opportunity, I will allow my students the opportunity to choose what they would like to study. This way, they can pick something that actually interests and engages them. Studying something interesting to them will arouse their brain more than something I force them to study and an aroused brain retains more information than a bored brain. Alberta Education actually has an entire portion of their website site designed to give teacher like myself the tools to create an inquiry-based classroom. Inquiry-based learning is not simply an add on to classroom instruction, it can actually replace classroom instruction!

 

Finally, when it is not possible to allow my students to choose their own materials, I will keep my presentations short and in chunks. The shorter bursts of information gives the students some processing time and keeps them from tuning out during the lessons. As well, we can use the breaks to either discuss what we just heard or maybe fit in a good stretch.