Smilkstein Increasing Student Motivation, Engagement, Empowerment, and Success with Brain-Compatible Teaching

22/W 1:00 PM Rockefeller

Type_Presentation: 3-Hour Pre-conference Institute

PresentationTitle: Increasing Student Motivation, Engagement, Empowerment, and Success with Brain-Compatible Teaching

ProgramStrand_Primary: Brain Compatible Teaching/Learning

ProgramStrand_Secondary: Learning Strategies

Presentation_description:

This interactive institute presents classroom research about how students naturally learn and research about the brain’s innate learning process. These areas of research converge, providing a classroom-proven guide to help faculty develop and deliver curricula that make it possible for every student to experience engaging, empowering, successful learning. Handouts included.

Purpose: The purpose is to share with participants research about how students experience learning, research about the role of the brain in the learning process, and how to translate these two converging areas of research into brain-compatible, interactive, student-centered curricula/lessons and pedagogy. When teachers do this, they can increase their ability to help every student become a naturally motivated, engaged, empowered, and successful learner. This is the ultimate purpose.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the institute, participants will have increased their understanding of how people learn; how to develop brain-based, student-centered curricula/lessons; and how to use interactive, student-empowering pedagogical strategies in their classrooms.

Significance to the Field: When developmental educators know how students experience learning and the brain’s role in learning, they can translate this knowledge into curricula/lessons and pedagogy that will help their students become engaged, empowered, and successful learners. Since helping our students reach their fullest potential is our field, this research-based approach has a significant contribution to make.

Relevance to CRLA Membership and the Conference Theme, “Halls of Fame.” This institute’s focus is on learning, on how students learn and how to teach so that students will be successful learners. When CRLA members have the knowledge of how human beings learn and guidelines for how to put this knowledge into their classrooms, these classrooms become Halls of Learning, True Halls of Fame, for both the teacher and the students.

Outline of Content:

1) Participation in interactive research about how people learn, which participants can then share with their own students as empowering metacognitive knowledge for their students

2) Discussion of cutting-edge research about how the brain learns, including how emotions affect the brain’s ability to learn, think, and remember

3) Interactive discussion of the implications of this converging research for developing and teaching curricula/lessons that empower and engage students

4) Interactive demonstration of a classroom-proven method for developing brain-based, natural-learning curricula/lessons and interactive pedagogy that engage and empower students

5) Hands-on participation, as students, in interactive lessons in different disciplines, e.g., reading, math, grammar, study skills

6) Opportunity for participants to begin work on a learning activity or lesson they can use with their own students.

Handouts: One handout will be of the PowerPoint about the classroom research and brain research. Another handout will be about curriculum development and pedagogy. It will also include pre- and post-tests from the presenter's basic skills grammar classes.

PresenterBio:

Speaks nationally and internationally on brain-compatible education. Has taught in middle school through graduate school including 28 years at North Seattle Community College. Currently Professor Emerita, North Seattle Community College, and invited faculty in Educational Psychology at Western Washington University's Woodring College of Education. Publications include articles and books on brain-based curriculum and pedagogy. Author of "We’re Born to Learn: Using the Brain’s Natural Learning Process to Create Curriculum" (Corwin Press, 2003), which won the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society’s Educator’s Award of the Year, 2004; co-author of "Igniting Student Potential Using the Natural Human Learning Process" (Corwin Press, 2007). M.A. (English), Ph.D. (Educational Psychology). Many teaching awards, including the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development’s Excellence Award, 1991, 1995; the College Reading and Learning Association’s highest honor, the Robert Griffin Award, 2005; Induction as a Fellow of the American Council of Developmental Education Associations, 2006, which is the highest honor in the field of Developmental Education.