Michelle Finney

Teaching with The Brain in Mind, Eric Jensen, 1998, 1st Edition
Essential Question: How does learning happen?

Task Response
Select 2-3 key areas or Point 1: Learning about the Brain
points made by the According to Jensens writing, he mentioned that the cerebral cortex of the thick outer covering
author that add to your of the brain and is divided into a left and right hemisphere. It is important to know what parts of
professional learning the brain triggers a person because it is an important way to help them learn. The left
and synthesize the
ideas by making
hemisphere of the brain processes things that are more in parts and active when we experience
connections to other positive emptions. People who tend to use more of their left hemisphere are those who love art
relevant research and and music. Another part that is controlled by the left hemisphere is gross motor functions for
current information to people who are right-handed. With the right hemisphere section of the brain, these people are
support the validity of mathematicians, problem solvers, and chess players. Also controlled on the right hemisphere
the book content. are almost all right-handed people are using the right side of the brain for language. However,
when it comes to a person who is right-handed they use the left side of the brain to function.
Knowing this information is important to help people maximize their skills by using the correct
side of their brain.

Point 2: What helps us Learn

As we grow up and continue to learn new information, our brain is going to change. To help us
better understand this Jensen wrote that the neuron and glia in the brain are the parts of the
brain that helps us begin to learn. When triggering the brain to work, we are either doing
something that we already know how to do or we doing something that is new. Once the brain
has received the stimulus that was learned the child will take the information the brain cells then
take the information and is chosen in either long-term or short term memory. Now that the
information is stored in the brain it is necessary for themselves to check to see if they got
actually processed the material that was taught to them. In some cases though, when a child is
taught something they may not remember it the first time around. They will need extra practice
on completing or review the information that is going to store in their long-term memory. If for
some reason the information is not being transported then the brain is only going to keep the
information in the brain for a short period of time. Hence, as teachers, we need to make
connections with the brain cells in order for the learned information to stay in their long-term
memory.
-Essential Question: Idea 1: Attention
How does learning The first thing a teacher needs to do before starting to teach is making sure that the students
happen? are paying attention. In the case of paying attention, Jensen mentioned that not all students
have to be looking at the teacher to be paying attention to what is being taught. To learn more
How does the content
support long term
about this, we can use the brain to see how people take information in and process it. With a
learning? persons attention processing, it is triggered by alarms, orientation, identification, and making
decisions. Knowing this information is essential for teachers to get the students in the classroom
triggered to pay attention. Additionally, once we have a persons attention the information that is
presented begins being processed. Research on the brain has found that 80% of the information
that goes into the brain is from our visual system. The information that we see is going back and
forth from our eyes to the thalamus to the visual cortex. This allows us to focus on one thing
more closely to understand or see the object. However, there are also issues with people who
do not pay attention to everything that is presented to them. If they are told to look at the object
then they are more willing to pay attention. People often choose to be selective about what they
pay attention too, so knowing this; the teacher will want to make sure all the students are paying
attention to the most important parts of the learning.

Idea 2: Motivation
Motivation is not going to be the same for all students in the classroom. Jensen explained that in
a classroom students are motivated based on a short-term and long-term memory. To capture
someones motivation in the short-term portion of their brain, the teacher needs to offer choices
 Michelle Finney

for various things, allow for privileges, and motivate students by letting them go out early to
recess or other fun activities. These triggers are not going to where for long-term memory
because it is triggering a different portion of the brain. When motivating students for long-term
activities, teachers use grades, pleasing the student, graduation, and future job as a way to get
them to do well in school. Knowing ways to motivate students is essential so the student does
not become unmotivated to learn. When a student becomes unmotivated to learn they begin to
not complete assignments, not care about school, or cause behavior issues in the classroom.
Therefore, it is good that the teacher uses the correct motivation tactics in the classroom to get
students to want to learn.

Idea 3: Reward
Along with motivation, rewards are another great way for teachers to get students interested in
learning in the classroom. In the past teachers were just teaching students in the classroom and
not using any reward system for completing work or great behavior. Now in schools teachers
use behavior charts, classroom points, and any other reward they may have to control student
behavior.

Idea 4: Environment
When the teacher has a classroom that is safe for the students and is deforested in posters with
bright colors, the students are more willing to learn. In Jensens book, research was connected
to show that 30 to 60 percent of our brains are wired, and 40 to 70 percent is impacted on the
environment around us. Along the way growing up, educators also impact the brain of each child
based on nurture and learning environment. By knowing how much we impact students as
educators, we need to learn to eliminate any negative environmental influences like
embarrassment, bullying, lack of resources, humiliation, sarcasm, unrealistic deadlines, finger-
pointing, and making students stay after school. On the other hand, a teacher who has a great
environment in the classroom still needs to make the environment exciting. When a teacher has
a boring environment, it causes the brain to have a thinning effect on the cortex while an
enriched environment created a thickening of the cortex on the brain (Diamond, 1998 pg 31).
Therefore, the environment the teacher creates in the classroom is very important to the
learning of the children in the classroom.
Evaluate the content in In Jensens book he mentioned that teachers are here to make sure students learn by paying
relationship to a attention and becoming motivated to learn. With the Christian viewpoint, I want to follow the
Christian worldview. teachings of Palms 25:4,5. Palms 25:4,5 states that Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy
Describe and explain paths, lead me in the truth, and teach me. I want to install this as I am the lord that is showing
areas of compatibility
and areas of
the students how to learn to be successful as they are learning in my classroom. I will first teach
differences? my class how to pay attention through different forms of motivation. By having the students pay
attention, I am teaching them the path that will make them successful. As soon as I have
engaged their brains through a reward, I will then teach my lesson which will connect them to
the truth. This will allow me to teach the class with my individual teaching style because I will
have taught them the pathway to success. As a result, I am using my Christian view point as if I
do not teach what is right truth, than the students will never know what they are learning if I did
not teach them how to pay attention in class.
Link the book content Behaviorism
to one/several of the The behaviorist theory talks a lot about motivation through positive and negative rewards and
four theories we are not so much about what is going on in the brain. In 1950s and 1960s, the behaviorist started to
studying in this course. use the reward system in the classroom as a teaching approach to motivate students. When
Provide a
comprehensive
rewards were implemented as a teaching strategy on students, teachers began to trigger a
overview of how the stimulus in the brain. The teacher began to use rewards in various ways in the classroom based
content of this book on the type of behavior the students displayed. For example, if a child is displaying good
falls into the category behavior, the teacher can reward them with something positive or take something away that is
of one or more of negative. When the child is doing something bad, the teacher will take away something good or
these four theories. punish them with something they do not like. This has shown to work in most cases with
children and is still used today in elementary classrooms.

Information Processing
 Michelle Finney

Research in Jensens book mentioned that the amount of information that crisscrosses our lives
today is hundred to a thousand times more than 50 years ago. Understanding this allows us to
understand how the brain is being trained to process all the new information going into our
brains. In the school environment, teachers are now giving students more content, information
to learn, and having us take more classes. With all this information thrown at us daily, students
are become more stressed by the overload of information and held to higher standards to do
well in school. So as teachers it is important to provide quality information rather than the
amount of work that we give the students. This shows that students can learn if given the right
tools without having to do a lot of extra work that is used to keep one busy.
Describe1-3 Big Big Idea #3: Learners learn more effectively when they relate new information to prior
Ideas that seem to link knowledge
your book to a theory Prior knowledge is mention in the book as something that they have learned on their own or by
we are studying and someone else. One example that relate to a behaviorist theory is that children learn from
provide a rationale for
your choice. Explain in
watching others. If a child watches an adult act a certain way then they will start to imitate their
full detailed manner. behavior. This also goes for the classroom behavior. For children in kindergarten, they have not
been to school so they do not understand how to behave in the classroom. The teacher will then
Your critical thinking teach the class the rules that are going to be stored into their long-term memory. When the child
should come through moves up in grade level, they will use their prior knowledge of behaving in the classroom to the
your report. new teachers behavior and learning style. This goes to show that without this prior knowledge,
the teacher will have taught the student correct behavior and how to pay attention all over again.

Big Idea #5: Learners future learning and performance are influenced by the
consequences that follow their behavior
As Jensen relates education to the behaviorist model, teachers can see how it connects closely
with behavior. First off teachers need to build a set structure of rules that have consequences for
their behavior. Without a punishment for a childs behavior, they will think they can get away with
whatever they want. So as a behaviorist, we like to use motivation and rewards as a way to get
the class behavior under control. For example, a child who displays poor behavior will either get
rewarded with a negative punishment or have something they like taken away from them.
Students with good behavior will be reward with something positive or have something they do
not like taken away. As this system of reward is used to control behavior and a motivator, the
students are building their future learning of knowing what good and bad behavior is in the
classroom. However, if the teacher does not use consequences, the student will never learn
right from wrong.
How has this reading As educators, it is our job to teach the information for students to learn and help them feel
helped you develop a motivated to learn. First off, teachers need to be able to have higher quality of teaching than the
deeper conceptual quantity of work that is given out. I agree with the book in this sense because students become
knowledge of this unmotivated and stressed when there is more work. Knowing this, I will take this and apply it to
content? Refer to
deeper learning in
my classroom by not giving the students tons of work if they already know what they ae
Learning Sciences learning. Another takeaway from the book is that when a teacher is motivating students they
article. have to know that not all students are going to be motived to learn in the same way. This is
helpful for teachers because this is going to help structure their classroom environment and
created the rules for the students. Therefore, a teacher will first structure the classroom and
then provide rewards later on to get the class to pay attention to the lessons.
Depth and Eric Jensens book on the brain in the education world has helped me have a better
Complexity: How did understanding of how people learn and become motivated about learning. Reach was
you achieve deeper conducted on the brain on how information is processed which gave me a better understand on
learning for yourself in how we use the left and right hemisphere of the brain. This is going to help me better deepen
your study of this book
content? Provide
my understanding of why students are better in math and using problem solving skills while
explicit evidence. others are better in music and art. Also deepening my learning, I was able to learn that students
are not going to be motivated to learn in the same way. Being able to learn about different
motivates that trigger different parts of the brain is going to help me find better ways to motivate
students who are not willing to learn. So to start as a teacher, I will make my classroom
environment welcoming for the students to want to learn and find the best ways to motivate the
students in the classroom.
How has this study Learning about what impacts the brain when children are in a classroom has taught me a lot
 Michelle Finney

helped move you from about my own teaching. Jensen has mentioned that the behavior of children in the classroom is
novice to expert a big part of the learning process. Research has shown that not all students are motivated to
professional? learn when they come to school. I have learned from this because I have taught in classes
where a reward for one student is not going to be the same motivate for another student. By
understand why this happens, I am able to understand how to motivate my class better. Another
important connection Jensen made was the classroom environment. I agree with Jensen that a
classroom that is safe and brightly decorated is important because my classroom was like this
and the students were always excited to learn and see their work around the wall. So as a
teacher I am glad to see how I can take Jensens brain research and see how children learn in
the classroom to better the learning environment.
How does this In the GRIT article the question Why do some individuals accomplish more than others of equal
information help intelligence? relates to Jensens ideas. Jensen first mentions that the classroom environment
students develop a needs to be exciting to look at and have information that is related to what is being taught. Then
positive growth from there, there the teacher can begin to structure the classroom to help each individual learn.
mindset for learning?
How does it help
As teachers though it is hard to capture each individual to want to learn. We know that all
students develop students are capable of learning, but do not accomplish learning with equal intelligence. This is
GRIT? because students do not always pay attention to what the teacher is teaching so they miss
important information. So in order for students to accomplish a positive growth mindset,
teachers begin to implement motivations and rewards in the classroom. The rewards are used
as a motivator for the students in class and it helps them pay more attention to learn. As more
and more individuals pay more attention they will be able to have equal intelligence as their
fellow classmates.