Saturday, August 23, 2014

How Do I Explain My Strategies?


The new school year begins in my new district on Monday. I'm thinking about all the metacognitive skills I teach my students and how to go about sharing brain-based strategies with those who inquire. The easiest way would be to direct them to the book, Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice by Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers. Wilson and Conyers used several of their BrainSMART graduates as examples of research in action. I'm one of the graduates they used and as a result I, along with other graduates, are referred to throughout the book. Sometimes I find it difficult to articulate exactly what I do in the classroom that is different because brain-based strategies and reasoning permeate everything I do. When I first read the Five Big Ideas I exclaimed, "This is it! This explains it perfectly!"

One thing I love about the book is that it is well researched, yet still an easy and engaging read (at just under 200 pages). That said, I want to touch on the Five Big Ideas over the next few days to give readers an idea of the rich content available in the book. Maybe this will assist me in articulating the range and reasoning of what I do in my classroom. Stay tuned!


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing.
    I am looking forward to reading your future posts.
    Brain based research is something that interests me.
    ( perhaps we can continue our conversation from a few years ago )

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