Modeling Best Practices:
The “Tipping Point”
in Staff Development
with Martha Kaufeldt
NSDC’s 38th
Annual Conference
December, 2006
Nashville
WHEN THE PRESENTER IS SPEAKING
 LISTEN and WATCH
 FIDGET quietly
 STAY in seat
 USE Post-It’s and Highlighters
for note-taking.
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DURING PROCESSING TIMES
 SIT or STAND near your table
 STAY in group’s area
 ENGAGE quickly with a partner
 EXCUSE yourself to meet basic needs
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Not sure what to do? Need
help?
• ASK 3 BEFORE ME!
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GET
ORGANIZED!
• Get a colored fish bead and put it in your
clear name tag holder. Try to have several
different colors represented in your group.
• Select a highlighter or post-it’s if you want.
• Get a FIDGET FROG, BENDY BUDDY,
or CALMING STONE if you could use it.
• Determine who will be your PROCESS
PARTNER(S) one or two only.
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“The Tipping Point:
How Little Things Can
Make a BIG Difference”
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By Malcolm Gladwell
© 2002, Little, Brown & Company: New York
“THE TIPPING POINT IS THAT MAGIC MOMENT WHEN
AN IDEA, TREND, OR SOCIAL BEHAVIOR CROSSES A
THRESHOLD, TIPS, AND SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE.
Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of
the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push
cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new
product, or a drop in the crime rate.” (Back Cover)
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“The Tipping Point: How Little
Things Can Make a BIG Difference”
By Malcolm Gladwell © 2002, Little, Brown & Company: New York
From Malcolm Gladwell’s web site: http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html
7. What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
One of the things I'd like to do is to show people how to start
"positive" epidemics of their own. The virtue of an epidemic, after all, is
that just a little input is enough to get it started, and it can spread very,
very quickly. That makes it something of obvious and enormous interest
to everyone from educators trying to reach students, to businesses trying
to spread the word about their product, or for that matter to anyone who's
trying to create a change with limited resources…. This is not an abstract,
academic book. It's very practical. And it's very hopeful. It's brain
software.
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Begin With the Brain:
Orchestrating the Learner-Centered Classroom
By Martha Kaufeldt © 1999 Zephyr Press
Teaching with the Brain in Mind
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Jensen 2nd Edition
© 2005 ASCD
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Teachers, Change Your Bait!
Brain-Compatible Differentiated Instruction
By Martha Kaufeldt © 2005 Crown House Publishing
The Learning Brain:
Lessons for Education
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By
Sarah-Jayne
Blakemore and Uta Frith
©2005 Blackwell Publishing
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How the Brain Learns
-3rd Edition By David A. Sousa
2005 SAGE Publications
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When presenting staff
development sessions,
what might the
TIPPING POINTS
be to assure
engagement,
maximize learning and
inspire participants to
take action?
AGENDA
• “Starting on the Right Foot” (First Impressions)
• “Front-end Alignment” (Advanced Preparation)
• “Keep the Brain in Mind” (Safe, Healthy, Relaxed)
• “Change Your Bait!” (Differentiation-Mult. Intell.)
• “Be a Guide on the Side” (Not a Sage on the Stage)
• “Paper, Rock, Scissors!” (Decision-Making Tools)
• “Chew, Swallow, Digest” (Reflection, Expansion)
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Which one represents how you
are feeling right now?
A
B
C
D
E
Adapted from “TRIBES” by Jeanne Gibbs
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“Starting on the Right Foot”
First Impressions
•
•
•
•
POSTED ARRIVAL PROCEDURES
POSTED CLEVER AGENDA (BRIEF!)
OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET-GREET-EAT
PERSONAL INTRODUCTION AND
CONNECTION
• REFLECTION AND GROUP INCLUSION
ACTIVITY
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Systems and Procedures
“The brain seeks to make order out of chaos….You
can establish patterns of appropriate behavior and systems
for doing things in a classroom… Confusion and frustration
will be reduced as the brain feels secure in knowing and
detecting the pattern for appropriate behavior.”
“Begin with the Brain” Martha Kaufeldt, 1999
• Post a daily AGENDA
• Create simple PROCEDURES for the expected behaviors on how
things are to be done in the classroom and at school
• Guide students to create personal GOALS for
themselves each day
• Establish routines, rituals, celebrations
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•Create an “Agenda”
•Use a Mindmap format
•Use graphics/photos
•Participants state goals
•Review at end of day
•Keep posted for next
meeting
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Agenda for Staff Meeting
On Your Own
With Your Focus Group
1) Fill out forms
2) Form your opinions
Community
Check-in
How r u?
Monarch
School
Staff Meeting
Wed. 3-14
1)Cur.Night Committee
2)Get Forms in
“To Do” List
Discuss possibilities for a schoolwide Curriculum Night in March
1) Results of Walk-Throughs
2) Curriculum Night
Admin Key Points
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Sample Procedures
Procedures for:
“What to do if you’re done.”
Procedures for:
“What to do if you need help.”
Recheck your work.
Be willing to help others
Do an extra “Choice” or
“May Do” activity
Select an “Anchor Activity”
•Ask three before me!
Find a Peer Helper
Put name on Help List
Keep working on a part that
you CAN DO.
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“Front-end
Alignment”
Advanced Preparation
• PLANNED AGENDA MATCHES
ADVANCED ADVERTISING…
• HANDOUTS - ORGANIZED, CLEAR
• A.V. NEEDS MET AND SET UP
• ROOM ARRANGEMENT - FURNITURE,
DÉCOR, LIGHTING, SMELL, SOUNDS
• TABLE ITEMS - FIDGETS, SUPPLIES
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Maintain Brain and Body
Compatible Environments
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• Fresh water should be easily accessible and encouraged.
• Natural and incandescent lighting has advantages over
fluorescent lighting in learning & working environments.
• Constant exposure to “white noise” and electromagnetic fields
may inhibit learning.
• Movement and exercise can enhance neural connections in the
brain as well as improve general health.
• Basic needs such as hunger, thirst, elimination, temperature,
odors, lighting, and movement must be addressed in a timely
manner to decrease stress levels.
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DISCUSSION
DOTS
• Work in groups of 3 or 4 from your table.
• Each take one of the colored sticky dots strips
• Quickly discuss thoughts you have about the
effects of the environment on participants.
• Each time you make a comment, put down a
sticky dot.
• Only make another comment AFTER the
other “colors” have commented.
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“Keep the Brain in Mind”
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Safe, Healthy, Relaxed
• BASIC NEEDS CAN BE MET EASILY
• MAINTAIN LOW STRESS TO MAXIMIZE
LEARNING
• USE NOVELTY FOR ATTENTION
• KEEP A JOYFUL ATTITUDE - USE HUMOR
• ORCHESTRATE CHOICE OPPORTUNITIES
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Brain-based? Brain-Compatible? BrainFriendly?
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Brain-based learning involves using approaches to schooling that
rely on recent brain research to support and develop improved teaching
strategies. Researchers theorize that the human brain is constantly searching for
meaning and seeking patterns and connections. Authentic learning situations
increase the brain's ability to make connections and retain new information.
Teaching strategies that enhance brain-based learning include manipulatives,
active learning, field trips, guest speakers, and real-life projects that allow
students to use many learning styles and multiple intelligences. An
interdisciplinary curriculum or integrated learning also reinforces brain-based
learning, because the brain can better make connections when material is
presented in an integrated way, rather than as isolated bits of information. A
relaxed, nonthreatening environment that removes students' fear of failure is
considered best for brain-based learning. Research also documents brain
plasticity, which is the notion that the brain grows and adapts in response to
external stimuli.
Source:
Adapted from The Language of Learning: A Guide to Education Terms, by J. L. McBrien &
R. S. Brandt, 1997, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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3 Key Elements of
Brain-Compatible Teaching and Learning
B-C Element # 1 - LESS STRESS!
• Stress, Confusion, and Perceived Threat can minimize the brain’s capabilities.
• Create a Safe and Secure Climate and Healthy Physical Environment
• Promote Personal Relationships and Social Skills
B-C Element # 2 - DO THE REAL THING!
• Multi-sensory experiences promote brain growth and connections.
• Provide Enriched Environments for learning that encourage Discovery Play.
• Hook new ideas to prior understanding and personal experiences.
B-C Element #3 - USE IT OR LOSE IT!
• Multiple opportunities to Actively Process new learning in a variety of ways
assures Long Term Retention.
• Differentiate Instruction, Provide Choices, Vary Grouping and Honor the Multiple
Intelligences
• Orchestrate opportunities to apply new learning in real-world settings.
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Let’s see who is with us today!
Please respond to one of the choices below:
A. I’m more of a camping and outdoor vacation
person.
B. I’m more of an island-water-beach vacation person
C. I’m more of a foreign country - explorer vacation
person
D. I’m more of a big city-museum-theater vacation
person.
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B-C Element #1: LESS
STRESS!
Stress, Confusion, and Perceived Threat can
minimize the brain’s capabilities to learn.
• Create a safe and secure climate and environment.
• Maintain an atmosphere of low threat balanced with high
challenge.
• Make sure participants know the agenda, purpose & game plan.
• Orchestrate opportunities for positive social interactions.
• Keep learning joyful but still rigorous.
• Allow time for reflection, contemplation and expansion.
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REFLEX RESPONSE TO
PERCEIVED THREAT
Hippocampus
Reflex Triggers:
1.
2.
3.
Survival, danger
Old memory
The unknown
Amygdala
Physiological Responses:
•Stress hormones - reaction
•Startle Reflex
•Blood pressure, rapid breathing
•Upset stomach, dry mouth
•Large muscles stimulated
•Hackles tighten!
•Freezing
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Brainstorm a list of things that a presenter
can do to make a workshop environment feel
more “brain and body compatible.”
Use the D.O.V.E. rule:
D = Defer judgment
O = Original - Off-beat
V = Variety - Vast Number
E = Elaborate - Extend - Expand ideas
Use a two-minute timer. Blue or Red records.
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Bait!”
Differentiate Instruction
Use Multiple
Intelligences
• USE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
STRATEGIES TO HOOK EVERY
PARTICIPANT
• USE A JIGSAW OR DISCOVERY PROCESS
• CREATE A VARIETY OF PREESTABLISHED GROUPS AND PARTNERS
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differentiated instruction
A form of instruction that seeks to "maximize each
student's growth by meeting each student where she is
and helping the student to progress. In practice, it
involves offering several different learning experiences in
response to students' varied needs. Learning activities and
materials may be varied by difficulty to challenge students
at different readiness levels, by topic in response to
students' interests, and by students' preferred ways of
learning or expressing themselves.”
Source:
"Lesson 1: What Is Differentiated Instruction?" in ASCD PD Online: Differentiating Instruction,
by L. Kiernan [course author], 2000, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. Retrieved February 21, 2002, from
http://www.ascd.org/pdi/demo/diffinstr/differentiated1.html
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Multiple Intelligences
”(An Intelligence) is the ability to solve problems or
create meaningful products in a particular setting.”
(Gardner, 1997)
At least eight “Intelligences” have been identified as people’s most common or
preferred processing and problem-solving abilities:
•Verbal-Linguistic “Word Smart”
•Logical-Mathematical “Logic Smart”
•Visual-Spatial “Picture Smart”
•Bodily-Kinesthetic “Body Smart”
•Musical-Rhythmic “Music Smart”
•Naturalist “Nature Smart”
•Interpersonal “People Smart”
•Intrapersonal “Self Smart”
Students may grasp new concepts more easily if they have opportunities to process
the information in a way that makes sense to them - and comes more easily to them.
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N
W
E
S
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“Be a Guide on the Side”
Not a Sage on the Stage
•
•
•
•
LIMIT YOUR TALK TIME
DISCOURAGE LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
ORCHESTRATE ACTIVE PROCESSING
PROMOTE GROUP INPUT
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B-C Element #3: USE IT OR
LOSE IT!
Actively process new learning in a
variety
of ways to assure long-term
retention.
• Structure frequent opportunities for students to do
REFLECTION on the product and process of their
learning.
• Provide daily activities that allow students personal
CHOICE in how they process and store new
knowledge.
• Orchestrate a variety of COLLABORATION
opportunities.
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Provide Reflection Opportunities
Any activity through which the brain recalls a
concept, skill, or process. Reflection activities will
prompt the brain to re-stimulate the new connections
among the neurons, which helps strengthen them.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Journaling
Visualizing
Discussions
Reproductions
Interactive Notebooks
Guided Note-Taking
Graphic Organizers
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“Paper, Rock,
Scissors!”
Decision-Making Tools
•
Edward de Bono’s Thinking Tools:
“P.M.I.” PLUS-MINUS-INTERESTING
•
1
Decision Making Gradient:
2
3
1-Hate it! 2- Don’t like 3- Can live
Will stand it, but won’t with it, But
in the way stand in the won’t help.
way
4
4 -It’s pretty
good, I’ll
help make it
happen.
5
5 -Love it!
On Board
all the way!
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“Chew, Swallow,
Digest”
Reflection,
Expansion
• Summarize new information & ideas
•
•
•
•
•
•
Orchestrate a Reflection Activity
Consider possibilities
Brainstorm applications
Create an Action Plan
Self-Assess personal involvement
Offer feedback to presenter
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8 Best Practices
Tipping
Points
1) Orchestrate a CLIMATE that lessens perceived threats, alleviates
extreme pressure, minimizes physical discomfort, and lightens
emotional STRESS that can MINIMIZE the brain’s capabilities.
2) Maintain a BODY COMPATIBLE environment that encourages
movement, healthy habits and allows participants to meet their
basic needs.
3) Nurture SOCIAL relationships and build a sense of INCLUSION.
4) Orchestrate INSTRUCTIONAL and PRESENTATION
STRATEGIES that are COMPATIBLE with how the brain learns
naturally.
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8 Best Practices
Tipping
Points
5)
Create SYSTEMS and PROCEDURES to reduce confusion, to
streamline management and maximize participant engagement.
6)
Provide FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCES and MAKE
CONNECTIONS to the participant’s daily life to enhance
engagement.
7)
Differentiate how participants ACTIVELY PROCESS new
information to increase long-term retention.
8)
Always take time to experience the JOYFULNESS of teaching
and learning.
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Choose and Respond to at Least 1…











I would recommend this session to….
I noticed that…
A strategy that I will use right away is…
My brain feels ….empty?…mushy?…full?
The example I liked the best today was…
I feel that now I can…
Something I know I will do differently right away…
It would have been better for me if…
A graphic that would describe the day for me would look like…
I noticed that you used the Multiple Intelligences when we…
…
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EXITCARD– Staff Meeting
Date:__________
 Something I will remember from today’s meeting:
 A question I still have:
 At today’s meeting, I appreciated:
 Something I think still needs to be discussed/ addressed:
Name: _____________________________
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EXITCARD
- Professional Development Session
Date:__________
 Something I will definitely use from today’s session:
 A question I still have:
 During the session today, I appreciated:
 Something I think still needs to be discussed/ addressed:
Name: _____________________________
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