Bill McBride
Educational Consultant
Author of Entertaining an Elephant
Engaging the Disengaged
Sponsored by
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt
Two questions:
1: What does
neuroscience
tell us about
student
engagement?
Two questions:
2: How do we
use this
information to
help students
read SS texts?
Begin with
a teaching
strategy.
Anticipation Guide
Agree - Disagree
1. 1 in 5 students drop out of high
______ ______
school.
2. Los Angeles has more dropouts than
New York City
______ ______
3. The cost of each drop out who
goes into crime is $1.2 million over
his/her lifetime.
4. Instruction involving mostly
predictable stimuli helps the brain
retain its focus.
______ ______
______ ______
5. Most dropouts are already failing.
______ ______
How many of
you lie to your
students?
?
Drop in a
little
uncertainty.
When faced with uncertainty,
students spend the time actively
trying to sort out what is true
from what isn’t, and are more
engaged, with greater retention.
Source: Ellen J. Langer, Harvard
?
Focus on
three
questions.
1. Do we want
our students
to pay
attention ALL
the time?
Brain vs. Computer
“Our brain has 100 billion
neurons, or cells. It
takes in more information
from our environment in
a single day than the
largest computer does in
a year.”
David Sousa, “How the Brain Learns”
What does the brain
care about?
“The survival brain is
interested in two things:
desire and need.”
When presented with
new information the
brain asks ...
Do I need to know
this information?
Do I want to know
this information?
Constant Attention = No No
• Much of what we learn cannot be
processed consciously; it happens too
fast.
• In order to create new meaning, we
need internal time.
• After each new learning experience,
we need time for the learning to
“imprint.”
2. Are our
students
paying
attention ANY
of the time?
THE PATTERN THAT HAS
DOMINATED CLASSROOM
TEACHING
• Teacher provides a brief discussion
of a new chapter/topic
• Assigns pages to read and end of
the lesson questions for
homework, and asks students to be
prepared to discuss text
• Lectures, discusses and asks
questions
• Written tests
Show a video clip!
Brain-based Teaching
“An environment that
contains mainly
predictable or repeated
stimuli (like some
classrooms?) lowers the
brain’s interest in the
outside world and
tempts it to turn within
for novel sensations.”
David Sousa, “How the Brain Learns”
“What percentage of high
school students drop out in
America each year?”
5% 9% 15%
23%
27%
34%
45%
“An increasing
number of
researchers are
saying that
nearly 1 in 3
high school
students won’t
graduate.”
Time – April 17, 2006
www.polleverywhere.com
Teen Cell Phone Use?
Source: USA Today, June 18, 2009
• Average 440 text
messages a week.
• 110 of them
during a class.
• Works out to
more than three
per class period.
• 65% of student
use cell phones at
school.
• 23% of parents
believe they do.
?
How
engaged
are our
students?
High School Dropouts
WHY STUDENTS DROP OUT
• Almost 50% said they were bored
Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, March 2006
“Boredom is a disease of
epidemic proportions….Why are
our schools not places of joy?”
Source: John Goodlad, A Place Called School
High School Dropouts
WHY STUDENTS DROP OUT
• 69% said they were not motivated
or inspired by teachers to work
hard
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, March 2006
High School Dropouts
WHY STUDENTS DROP OUT
• Life events such as pregnancies,
arrests or need for full-time income.
• 60% of girls who have babies at 17
or younger drop out.
Source: Education Week, June 3, 2009
The Silent Epidemic
• 70 percent were confident they
could have graduated.
• Most students do not drop out
because they can’t do the work.
Nearly 90% had passing grades
when they left school.”
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, March 2006
The Silent Epidemic
“Studies show that the lifetime cost
to the nation for each youth who
drops out of school and later moves
into a life of crime and drugs ranges
from 1.7 to 2.3 million.”
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, March 2006
The Silent Epidemic
“If the number of 20 year old
dropouts were cut in half, the
government would reap $45 Billion
in extra tax revenues and reduced
costs in health, crime, and welfare.”
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, March 2006
Process Time!
Directions: With a partner list two things you’ve learned so far.
• _____________________________________
• _____________________________________
• _____________________________________
• _____________________________________
• ______________________________________
• ______________________________________
3. What
engages
our
students’
brains?
Powerful Teaching
The brain’s first job is to
keep you alive--survival.
Powerful Teaching
The brain constantly learns
from its environment.
Powerful Teaching
What is programming the
minds of many of our
young people?
What does Technology have that
captures the brains of our children?
Choice
Challenge/
Competition
Communication
Collaborative
Problem Solving
Connection
Commotion
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
Choice!
“Choice changes behavior,
motivates, provides a sense of
ownership, and makes the
world seem right to the
learner.”
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Choice
External versus Internal Motivation
Richard deCharms – Educational Leadership, March 1977
Pawn – forcing students to learn
through threat, reward, or
punishment.
Origin – encouraging internal
motivation
Choice
External versus Internal Motivation
Richard deCharms – Educational Leadership, March 1977
“Both academic achievement and attendance
significantly improved in internally motivated
classrooms. Rather than coercion, the emphasis
in on CHOICE—allowing students to feel a
sense of personal influence over the learning
process.”
Choice
Which assignment would you rather do?
1. Read the chapter silently. Get out a sheet
of paper. Answer all 10 questions at the
end. NO TALKING.
2. Choose a partner. Read the questions at
the end of the chapter first. With your
partner, choose 6 of the 10 you want to
answer. Read the chapter and answer the
questions you chose. Be prepared to
show the class how you found the answer
to your questions.
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
Powerful Teaching
At age 6 Irene Kordick emigrated
from Munich to the slums of
Cleveland.
She managed to reach the 5th grade
as an “A” student without knowing
how to read or write in English.
She vowed that this would never
happen to anyone else.
Source: Washing ton Post.com May 28, 2008
Powerful Teaching
She is now the Principal of Ocean
City Elementary, and 100% of her
students passed the state assessment.
Her secret: She abolished the practice
of teachers asking questions, students
raising hands, and the teacher
picking one to answer.
Now students pair off and answer the
questions together.
Powerful Teaching
Getting Groups
to Work
Collaborative Review
Activities
Cooperative Learning and
Rubrics
“By offering students the choice of
how to create the rubrics, a feeling
of control and ownership is further
enhanced, ...
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Cooperative Learning and
Rubrics
“... and using a rubric helps
students see connections between
what they are supposed to be
learning and how they will show it.”
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Dodging the Question
1. Why does “Choice” get students engaged?
2. What percentage of American dropouts are making
passing grades?
3. 1 in how many American students drop out of
school?
4. What is a good technique to use at the beginning
of every class?
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
Powerful Teaching
“Powerful teachers build
explicitly on their students’
prior knowledge and
experience.”
Linda Darling-Hammond
Stanford University
Powerful Teaching
“Today’s students want to see
their real world reflected in
the classroom.”
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
People love games
Challenge Games
What is it?
King of Pop
Challenge Game
What is it?
A card shark
What is it?
Pool table
What is it?
Dr. Pepper
What is it?
Gator aide
What is it?
Egg Plant
What is it?
Light beer
What is it?
Tap dancers
What is it?
Assaulted peanut
What is it?
Tie maker
What is it?
An eye pod
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
20 Questions
2nd grader
listening to a
teacher’s lecture
2nd grader telling
a classmate what
the teacher said
In a study of over 2,500
classrooms, “fifth-graders
spent 91.2% of class time in
their seats listening to a
teacher or working alone,
and only 7% working in
small groups, which foster
social skills and critical
thinking.”
from USA Today, as reported in
Science magazine, March 30, 2007
Listening Rubric
1. Keep eye contact with the
speaker.
2. Never interrupt the
speaker.
3. Never respond with a
statement beginning with
the word “I”.
4. Repeat back to the speaker
what you have heard using
a phrase like, “So I hear
you saying ....”
Feedback!
“After looking at more than 7,000
studies, John Hattie and Helen
Timperley (2007) concluded that
providing students with specifics
about how they are doing in
regard to learning objectives
raised student achievement 37
percentile points!”
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Choice
(content, process, resource, environment)
Collaboration
(problem solving through trial and error)
Connection
(use of personal and subject prior knowledge)
Challenge/Competition
(attainable and exciting goals)
Communication
(feedback as immediate as possible)
Commotion
(physical and verbal)
Commotion!
“Exercise readies our neurons to
connect more easily.
• improves attention and
motivation by increasing
dopamine and norepinephrine
• creates positive moods, lowers
anxiety, raises self-esteem
• causes stem cells in brain to
divide, making new brain cells
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Commotion!
“Exercise readies our neurons to
connect more easily.
• decreases impulsivity
• adds new cells to the
hippocampus (the memory
control area)
• adds to the “chemical soup” that
promotes growth and survival of
neurons
Sprenger, M. (2010), Brain-based
teaching in the digital age. ASCD
Powerful Teaching
The more senses you use to
learn something …
the greater imprint it makes
on the brain.
Myelin coating
Neuron
Axon
Source: Learning and Memory
by Marilee Springer
Myelin – a fatty substance that coats the axons and allows
messages to travel quickly without any loss of transmission.
Myelin Promotes
Retention
Myelin-coated neural pathway
What Causes Myelin
Secretion?
Reteaching and Practice
Emotion
Think of one of the best
teachers you ever had.
Think of one word to
describe that teacher.
Engagement Requires
Emotion
“Good learning does not avoid
emotions, it embraces them.”
Eric Jensen
Teaching with the Brain in Mind
Powerful Teaching
“Powerful teachers motivate
with the heart as well as the
head.”
Linda Darling-Hammond
Stanford University
Powerful Teaching
“Students
learn as much for a teacher
as they do from a teacher.”
Linda Darling-Hammond
Stanford University
Anticipation Guide
Agree - Disagree
1. 1 in 5 students drop out of high
______ ______
school.
2. Los Angeles has more dropouts than
New York City
______ ______
3. The cost of each drop out who
goes into crime is $1.2 million over
his/her lifetime.
4. Instruction involving mostly
predictable stimuli helps the brain
retain its focus.
______ ______
______ ______
5. Most dropouts are already failing.
______ ______
Were you engaged?
Choice
Collaboration
Connection
Challenge/Competition
Communication
Commotion
Contact Information
Dr. Bill McBride, Ph.D.
432 Vicksburg St., San Francisco, CA 94114
Email: drbilly@comcast.net Web Site: www.entertaininganelephant.com
Bill’s Wiki: http://billmcbride.pbworks.com/
Entertaining an Elephant
Carrying a Load of Feathers
Teacher Price - $6.36
Half the proceeds go to charity!
Order online at www.underoneroof.org
Reading and Social Studies
• Four strategies that help students learn new vocabulary terms
• Eight hands-on lessons for teaching students to comprehend textbooks
• Step-by-step approaches to helping students read and interpret primary
sources, newspaper and magazine articles, and information from Internet
sites
Order from www.ascd.org
Engaging the Disengaged through Debate
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

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Speaking and Listening through Simple Debate
Internet Research and Evaluation
Critical Thinking
Persuasive Writing
Teacher Debate Blog: http://arguewell.blogspot.com/
Order at: www.incentivepublications.com
The Great Debaters
“We’re daft if we don’t
see that argument
teaches students to
think and is about the
best inducement for
getting them to read
purposefully and
write with passion.”
Mike Schmoker
“If They Can Argue Well, They Can Write Well”
Step-by-Step Student
Activity Pages
www.incentivepublications.com
1-800-421-2830
-- Speaking and Listening
through Simple Debate
-- Internet Research and
Evaluation
-- Critical Thinking
-- Persuasive Writing
Words to Remember
The systems you have in place
are perfect
for the results you are getting.