Throughout the school year, the Middle School director, Lars Kuelling, sends notes home to parents updating them about the Middle School division and school life. The following is an excerpt from a recent note.
Feel free to ask Mr. Kuelling for more information about any of the programs or activities he mentions here when you visit.
Dr. Kathie Nunley, brain researcher and teacher, presented a full day workshop titled “Brain Biology and Layered Curriculum” to the entire Canterbury faculty. Her presentation was split between two topics: what current research tells us about brain development in children and adolescents and its application in the classroom through Layered Curriculum.
Our faculty reported that her day with us was one of the most engaging, inspiring, and informative workshops they had attended.One of the first points that Dr. Nunley made was that when it comes to selecting what we will attend to or focus on, the brain must filter and choose between multiple stimuli before it focuses attention on one item. The four main categories that grab the brain’s attention are:physical need, novelty, self-made choice, and an individual’s name. As teachers, we know that it is hard to keep a child focused on learning when he is sleepy, needs to use the restroom or is hungry because he didn’t have a good breakfast…all physical needs that the brain attends to before our lessons.
We also know that it can be hard to compete with the novelty of electronic media; one of the main reasons television and computer media are so attractive to children is because they constantly bombard the brain with novel stimuli at a very high rate. As she noted, children in the past might have attended to subject matter more fully because of the novelty of the teacher presentation, but they are less likely to do so today. And,we all know that saying (or repeatedly saying!) a student’s name will often get a student’s attention, even if for just a few moments.
So, what is left for teachers who want a child to focus on a lesson? Choice. Dr. Nunley argues that students will be better learners if they are given some choices in how they learn. It is important to reiterate what she shared with the faculty: teachers should not abandon what they want students to learn, and they should keep many traditional methods such as tests, quizzes, and age-appropriate lectures. We should, however, present students with some choices in how they learn material. So, for instance, in my Spanish class, when I ask students to learn new vocabulary, I now give students the choice of creating flashcards, defining the words on a list, or developing another method. To check for student mastery of the vocabulary (the real goal of the exercise), I can pick up a student’s flashcards or list and quiz him on three words at random. Later, students will be required to show further mastery of the vocabulary in traditional writing exercises and quizzes. In an example like this, it doesn’t matter how they learned the material, just that they did it!
Dr. Nunley’s presentation involved a great deal more than what I have shared today. Since the workshop, the Middle School faculty have been working to develop and adapt lessons that capitalize on what we learned about the brain. While we will not adopt all of the Layered Curriculum methods, we will continue to incorporate those elements that best enrich our already strong program. Should you like to learn more about brain development or Layered Curriculum, you may visit either of her websites at brains.org or help4teachers.com.