iLead with the Brain in Mind
Brain-Based Training for Change Agents
Eric Jensen Conference
January 16-18, 2012
Learning Agenda
• How to Build Student Achievement
• How to Plan and Present Staff Development
• How to Get Staff on Board to Improve Any
School
Raise your hand if you heard . . .
•
•
•
•
Neurogenesis
Neuroplasticity
Growth
Hope
Critical Questions
Is it even possible to take the struggling,
underperforming learners and turn them into
high-capacity students who graduate? Can the
human brain change that much, that fast?
If you answer “No,” is it due to student’s
limitations or our own?
Old Paradigm: Brains stay the same as
do our students.
New Understanding: Brains can and do change
everyday, but if something doesn’t change in a
student’s experience (school and/or home),
neither will his or her brain!
“If we keep using the same strategies, and they
keep failing, who is really the slow learner?”
Neurogenesis
• Generation of neurons.
• Neurogenesis occurs in
three known areas, each
with important roles in
memory and learning.
• If connections aren’t
made between new
neurons and others, they
will die.
Neuroplasticity
• Lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize
neural pathways (dendrite addition and
pruning)
Neuroplasticity
• Changes in brain activity
• Changes in gray matter volume
Capacity for Change
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exercise
Diet
Sleep
Allostatic Load – stress level
Mental Stimulation
Novelty
Variety
Challenge
Positively Impact Neurogenesis and
Neuroplasticity
“High Return” Achievement Factors Within Our Control
•
•
•
•
•
Stu__________ eng__________
Ho__________ and gr__________ mindset
As__________ (formative and summative)
Rel__________ building skills (multi-level)
Exe__________ fun__________ skills
Characteristics of different Types of Memory
Kind of memory
duration
type of
information
Short term
seconds
verbal or
non-verbal
Working
seconds
any kind
Episodic
hours to days
details of experiences
Autobiographical
lifetime
basic facts/conceptual
knowledge
Semantic
lifetime with
regular exposure
knowledge including
personal facts
Procedural
lifetime once skill
is established
any skill that can be used
automatically
Source: Working Memory and learning, Susan Gathercole and Tracy Alloway, Table 1.1, pg 17
Let the memory games begin!
Read the following words silently.
When they disappear, see if you can
recall the words in order.
Green
white
yellow
purple
orange
Working Memory
• Working memory is a term used by psychologists to refer
the ability we have to hold and manipulate information in
the mind over short periods of time.
• It provides a mental workspace or jotting pad that is used
to store important information in the course of the our
everyday lives.
• It is crucial for acquiring new learning, using prior learning
to manipulate or process information, or to change
information into new learning.
What is the meaning of the sentence below?
The man bought a hot dog at the fair.
The brain makes associations
and connections.
Did you determine the meaning to be:

the man bought a live dog that was
over heated

a frankfurter
How does poor working memory impact
academic progress
Reading – impacts the mapping between the sounds in the language and
individual letters and combination of letters.
Math – mental math is heavily dependent on working memory, working
memory overload during numeration activities will result in frequent
errors and task failure.
Writing - poses substantial demands on working memory.
Science and Social Studies – reading skills are being used to process the
text and vocabulary and make new connections.
Verbal and written language – word retrieval for students with poor
working memory is a challenge. Second language learners and students
with, low language skills, are processing the concept while their working
memory is retrieving the necessary language
Source: Working Memory and learning, Susan Gathercole and Tracy Alloway,Table 1.1, pg. 17
Working Memory can (and
should) be Improved!
The researcher said, “We found that
15 minutes of training per day for 5
weeks had significant effects on
working memory and after 3 months,
over 90% of the gains were
preserved.”
Training and transfer effects of executive functions in preschool children, Lisa B. Thorell, Sofia
Lindqvist, Sissela Bergman, Gunilla Bohlin, and Torkel Klingberg
Top 5 Reading Strategies
• Skill building for 20-90 min daily with high
quality reading program
• Provide books for students to take home
• Teach and strengthen working
memory
• Allow student choice of high-interest
books for guided independent reading
• Teach vocabulary every day and follow up
Building Math Skills
• Estimation and counting activities daily
• Connect to real world using daily
activities
• Working memory activities daily
Eric Jensen, Game Changers, Jensen Learning, pg. 12
http://www.spaceminespatrol.com/gamepage.html
www.Neave.com/simon
http://www.cogmed.com/work
ing-memory-challenge
Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Revised 2nd Edition By Eric Jensen
Enriching the Brain: How to Maximize Every Learner's Potential By Eric Jensen
Brain-Compatible Strategies From Corwin Press
Joyful Fluency: Brain-Compatible Second Language Acquisition By Lynn
Dhority, Eric Jensen
The Great Memory Book By Karen Markowitz, Eric P. Jensen
Brain-Based Learning:The New Paradigm of Teaching By Eric P. Jensen
How the Brain Learns – David A Sousa
Designing Brain Compatible Learning – Gayle Gregory and Terence Parry
How the ELL Brain Learns – David A Sousa
How the Brain Learns to Read – David A Sousa
Working Memory and Learning – Susan Gathercole and Tracy Alloway
www.cogmed.com
Kidsmemory.com
Steps For a Great Staff Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ask, “What is my desired end point?”
Describe evidence of learning success
Opening / housekeeping
Initial buy-in
Discovery of prior knowledge
New content explored
Content/skill processing activities
Formative assessment for mastery
Consolidation (encoding and transfer)
Closure time (celebration and next steps)
Buy – In Strategies
For buy-in, you can use 6 strategies to get
your staff to be “hungry.”
Three Buy – In Strategies
• Use their own experience to validate an
idea (Have you ever noticed that….)
• Share fresh research you learned to bias
their behavior (I just read a new article…)
• Use the “experimental” strategy (This is
very new. So we’ll see what happens…)
Three More Buy – In Ideas
• Use a quick benefit to boost reward
path -WIIFM (“How would you like to get
out of here early for lunch?”)
• Use raw enthusiasm
• Framing
What is Framing?
It is the process of adding an intentional bias to the
message.
It gives the listener:
•
•
•
•
a “slant” or “point-of-view”
a “lens” through which to see
a “spin”
a “filter” through which to hear
Framing Examples
• Before we begin….. (disarming)
• I shouldn’t be telling you this but…. (elicit
curiosity)
• You know what’s interesting?..... (this is
worth listening to)
• As someone who used to….(you’re
listening to an authority)
• From an insiders point-of-view…..(this
perspective is really good)
More Framing Ideas
• Here’s a good one…. (pay attention to this)
• You know what I found to be
interesting….(this is not as boring as before)
• You won’t believe this….(be ready to be
shocked)
• As someone who used to call her a
friend…(I have “hot” insider knowledge few
others have)
• Hey, can you keep a secret?....(you won’t hear
this just anywhere)
Three Bonus Buy-In Ideas
• Ask a little, take a lot (stair step activities;
do micro chunks with no apologies)
• Let music solve your problem (songs can
do the “heavy lifting” for you)
• Invite a team leader or other staff to
start an activity
Getting Staff on Board
All Aboard!
Strategies to Get Staff on Board
Transparency
(Builds Trust and Reduces Delusions)
Create Ownership
(Make the Problem and the Solution All Theirs)
Shrink the Change
(Make the Solution Seem Possible)
Deal with Stress/Distress
(Its Killing the Change Process and Some Staff)
Power of the Nudge
(Smart Nudges can Turn distractions into Success)
Focus
(Doing the Basics Very Well is Priceless)
Transparency…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How decisions are being made
What the scores are
Funding levels
Accountability for Individuals
Opportunities
Where the cuts are likely
What needs to happen
Which One of These is “The Truth”
1. Many teachers never thought they “signed up” for the
intensity and testing climate they face daily.
2. Many teacher never thought the accountability would get so
personal, so often, with such serious consequences.
3. Many teachers never thought their own stress levels would
be pushed up so much. They don’t have the coping skills.
4. Many teachers have lost the passion for their current job,
but in this economy, they can’t quit and find a new job.
5. Many teachers are unwilling to face a new reality: they might
not be as competent as they used to think they were.
6. Many teachers know they are not a star, but there’s no way
to get them up to speed to build their own capacity.
Script for Transparency:
Acknowledge “Reality”
“Listen, your job has more accountability, more paperwork, more meetings,
more focus on testing and more stakes in the game than you expected when
you sign up.
Your job requires a greater number and wider range of skills and more
unflinching positivity than you ever dreamed of.
You are being asked to do more with less: there are dwindling resources, with
larger class sizes, more program cuts and fewer counselors and special
services.
I am sorry that’s happening. We administrators are being squeezed, staff
developers are asked to cram more into less time and it’s going to get worse
before it gets better.
So, I am on your side…what are our options?”
Create/Develop Ownership
Shift the perspective “framing” so that your staff
looks to each other and inward for solutions.
How do you do this with staff that have gone
“helpless” on you?
Develop Ownership
Additional Ideas…
“How about if we find you some help? When is the next time we can
get your team together?”
Say, “Here is what I CAN do and what I DON’T have the resources to
do…”
“Sometimes the person who discovered the problem also has some
thoughts on what some solutions might be. What are they thinking
might work?”
“At the moment, my brain is fried. If you were to just throw out a
couple of wild ideas to solve this, what might they be?”
Strategies to Develop Greater
Staff Ownership
CHOICE: The more input staff has, the more vested they get. Provide
opportunities to make decisions. ____________________________
WIIFM: Can you make immediate gains or benefits for the ownership (e.g.
privileges)? ________________________________
IDENTIFY: The more their name and reputation is on the process, project
or result, the more vested they become. _______________________
RESOURCES: The more resources they had to get themselves, the better
they use them. __________________________
YOUR OWN FAVORITE: ______________________________________
Shrink the Change
Start with
simple and
small
changes
Figure out how to shrink
the changes into bite-sized
chunks. Make the steps
easy!
What’s the Single Greatest Motivator
to Humans in a Workplace?
Is it…
a) Recognition for good work
b) Incentives for work well done
c) Management support
d) Interpersonal support (other staff)
e) Clear, achievable goals
f) Making progress
3 Biggest Staff Motivators?
Here’s What the Research Tells Us
80%
70%
60%
76%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
53%
43%
Which of the Following Seem “Doable” To a
Busy Staff at an Underperforming School
Raising AYP
Add 2 New Engagement Strategies This Week
Boosting Daily Attendance
Increasing Graduation Rates
Use Working Memory Builders 3X This Week
Reducing School Suspensions
Implementing One Formative Assessment
Strategy All Week
• Ending Bullying This Month
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
STRESS/DISTRESS
Chronic Stress (common among many staff & students)
does the following:
 Impairs social skills
 Reduces working memory
 Crashes creativity
 Fosters existing habits
 Saps energy levels
 Inhibits motivation
 Crushes teamwork
 and worse of all…inhibits new behaviors
What is Allostatic Load?
“Adjusted stress points which create excess
demands on your mind and body that chronically
deplete your available resources.”
EXAMPLES:
PTSD, Learned Helplessness, Depression,
General Anxiety Disorder
Why Care About Allostatic Load?
This condition is highly damaging for your staff.
Allostatic load reduces memory, their social
skills, creativity, intelligence, deferred gratification
and patience.
Stress and Distress
Stress (on/off) is healthy for us. It often builds
resilience. “Eustress” is the healthy stress you
feel from a workout or excitement.
Distress (chronic or acute) is toxic to our
brain and body. It typically drains resources.
Title I Schools and Allostasis
 Chronic stress impairs working memory
(kids forget directions, can’t juggle content in their
head and struggle to process simple problems)
 Chronic stress impairs social skills
(teachers and kids are more rude and less forgiving)
 Chronic stress impairs habit changes
(staff and kids repeat the same old behaviors)
Six Types of Nudges
How Timing and Intention Make a Huge Difference
• Ncentives
(rarely work the way you intend, test ideas 1st)
• Understand staff paths
(be in their shoes to figure out what’ll get done easily)
• Defaults should be planned on
(the path of least resistance must be anticipated)
• Give feedback to nudge
(figure out the feedback that will prompt the change)
• Expect Errors
(build those into the nudges needed)
• Structure Complex Choices
(help staff who feel overwhelmed with choices)
Nudge the Environment
Is Environment part of the problem…
Nudge the Environment
…or Solution
Nudge
Richard H. Thaler
and Cass R. Sunstein
Focus
Stay focused on just one thing at a time. Once it
is mastered then you can move on.
Focus on the Simple
(This gets the award for “Least Sexy”)
True Story: A person emails me and says, “Can you give us more
strategies to boost working memory? We used the ones you have us
already and we’re ready for more.”
A better email would be, “I’ve been using your strategies for building
working memory. I have been noticing a pattern where kids lose
interest over time. What are the guidelines for me to create my own
criteria for working memory strategies? This way, I will have an endless
supply!”
Learning the basics is, well, priceless. They were told the guidelines, but
at the time, weren’t very interested in them. They wanted “make ‘n
take” so now they realize, “Oops, maybe I should have been a better
learner.”
Focus!
STOP Looking for
the “newest” thing.
Instead, become
extraordinary at the
basics. Start making
the 5 solid
achievement boosters
fully automatic in
every class.
FREE