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Before reading this chapter, I didn't really know too much about the technical jargon of the different parts of the brain and how they react with one another, so this was a very informative read.

However, as a teacher, one thing I learned early on is that students will not learn from someone they are not comfortable being around, no matter how great of a teacher they are or what fancy technology may be used in the classroom. This connects back to the second Culturally Responsive Brain Rule, "positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in check." If a student doesn't feel safe or welcomed in the classroom, if they feel as if the teacher is throwing microaggressions their way, if they feel like there is anything in that class or from the teacher that makes them feel unsafe or unwanted, their brain simply won't allow them to learn. To me, this really gives a scientific backing to something I think most of us learned fairly early on in our teaching careers.

Another of the Culturally Responsive Brain Rules that I recognized were number 3) Culture guides how we process information, and 4) Attention drives learning. I don't know about anyone else, but when I was in college, if the professor didn't make whatever we were learning about interesting OR at LEAST try to present the information to us in an interesting way, it was VERY difficult to pay attention and really let the lecture sink in. Some of the most engaging and interesting classes were my education classes, where the professors really tried to make sure we as future educators saw the benefit of us getting up, moving around, calling out to one another, and using music and dance in lessons. Making content engaging and attention-grabbing is very critical for students to learn the content. My experiences working with children from different cultures/economic situations has shown me that everybody doesn't have the same experiences as I did, and if I want to reach those students, I need to approach interacting and teaching them in a way that is relevant to them, not just myself.

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I put an emphasis on positive relationship building so students feel seen, heard, and safe in my classroom. It's important to build these types of relationships to help reduce stress in students so they can learn from a place of empowerment! 

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I put an emphasis on positive relationship building so students feel seen, heard, and safe in my classroom. It's important to build these types of relationships to help reduce stress in students so they can learn from a place of empowerment! 

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Creating and maintaining positive relationships also impact my lessons. Students will learn better when they feel seen, heard, and safe. I want to create engaging and meaningful lessons, but if I don't have strong relationships with my students the content has less meaning. I want students to feel empowered to express themselves and to be their authentic selves when they are with me. If the content of my lessons shows my students that I care about them and know them, I am confident that I designed a purposeful art lesson  

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Creating and maintaining positive relationships also impact my lessons. Students will learn better when they feel seen, heard, and safe. I want to create engaging and meaningful lessons, but if I don't have strong relationships with my students the content has less meaning. I want students to feel empowered to express themselves and to be their authentic selves when they are with me. If the content of my lessons shows my students that I care about them and know them, I am confident that I designed a purposeful art lesson  

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I learned a lot about the Human brain in this chapter. A lot of things I did not know. Some things that stuck out to me was how the brain has so many parts that control different things and are all connected. Knowing how the brain works can help me influence my teaching more. I cannot say I know exactly how it influences my teaching, but I can say that I am learning. Learning about how neurons work and fire off and create long term memory is important. Another part that stuck out to me was learning that the brain is a "social organ" and it works best when it has the opportunity to connect and interact with others. Knowing this confirms my want for students to engage with each other during their learning and have space for student talk rather than teacher talk. I look forward to researching more about the brain and looking up difference with students who have disabilities and how I can use neuroscience to influence my teaching for them.

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Some Brain Rules that guide my lesson designs are: creating a safe and open space for my students to learn, building positive relationships with the students and knowing their interests to incorporate in the lessons. (ex. putting stuff that interests them in word problems! They love it). Knowing students prior knowledge in order to create  lessons is important so they can use that knowledge to build upon new knowledge is important in building my lessons as well. 

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Some Brain Rules that guide my lesson designs are: creating a safe and open space for my students to learn, building positive relationships with the students and knowing their interests to incorporate in the lessons. (ex. putting stuff that interests them in word problems! They love it). Knowing students prior knowledge in order to create  lessons is important so they can use that knowledge to build upon new knowledge is important in building my lessons as well. 

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I am big on creating relationships and trying to create a safe and positive environment.

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Create and safe open space for the students to learn.

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At the start of every school year I focus on bonding with my scholars and having them bond and establish positive relationships with each other. I work on everyone feeling that they are part of my Crew and understand that we are a "family" that we celebrate successes and work through challenges. My goal is for everyone to feel safe physically and emotionally and it is ok to make mistakes and take risks.

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Although this school year was little different for me, at the beginning of each year I typically spend the first week working on bonding activities with the class. This allows me to bond with the scholars and the scholars to bond with each other. Later on down the line, this bonding will be evident in my scholars' ability t make mistakes in front of one another and still be confident in their ability to contribute to the class.

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Some brain rules that guide my lesson design are making sure the lesson is engaging and motivating. I also think about the complexity of the lesson. I think, "Is this something my scholars can do based on their prior knowledge?". I include directions, teacher think aloud, modeling, working together to build confidence in their ability to complete the task, and then independent practice. I encourage scholars to take risks and that we learn from mistakes.

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The most important brain rule that I implement is creating a safe and open space for scholars. I sometimes even intentionally make mistakes so that my students can point them out and feel even more confident in their knowledge.

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I learned a lot about the brain and how it connects with teaching throughout this chapter. I feel like I know a little bit more about RAS now, and how all the parts of the brain can affect how students learn and retain information. Learning about the RAS confirmed why attention getters are super important before tasks. As well as learning about the brain being a social organ and how important it is for my students to work together and communicate through discussions with each other.

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Learning about how the brain works and how it determines what we feel and how we or others react is so important. It helps us to understand even more the importance of building relationships and bonding with our scholars. I feel building relationships with students is key and I spend a lot of time building those relationships with scholars and parents so my crew feels they are in a safe place to learn and grow.

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The brain rules that guide my lessons are creating a safe place for my students to learn in. I believe this also goes well with creating positive relationships with my students, and for my students to create positive relationships with each other. I want my students to feel welcomed by all, and that all of their voices matter.

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Some of the brain rules that guide my lesson design would be first and foremost getting to know my students and creating a warm, safe, inclusive space for them to learn. Additionally, as they continue learning, designing lessons that connect to things they have learned previously, or activating their background knowledge, is woven throughout. The background knowledge could either be a previous concept they've learned in previous lessons, or something they may have experienced outside of school with their families, friends, or in their community.

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Creating a safe space for my scholars is key to feel they can take educational risks to grow and thrive in their learning. Every voice matters and is heard. Also, understanding and taking from their prior knowledge and designing lessons using things that interest them. This will help them recall and feel invested in their learning.

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When we think about the brain and its default programming as trying to minimize threats, it makes sense that our students aren't learning when they don't feel like they're unsafe or unwelcome. We know that relationship building is a foundation to any successful classroom, but I never considered how tied this response was to the nervous system. What we perceive as laziness or disengagement may literally be fear. Their brains can't learn because they're preoccupied with self-preservation.

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Having a safe space is the brain rule that guides my lessons. Students need to feel that they are in an environment where they can express themselves which in turn helps to build positive relationships. The confidence that comes from this helps them as they are learning.

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Reading about the limbic layer of the brain was one thing that will influence my teaching. Essentially, the limbic layer will store memories of positive and negative things that have occurred in the past. I feel that creating those positive relationships, behaviors, and experiences with scholars right from the beginning is important in ensuring they have positive memories that get stored in their brain. This way, they will feel comfortable with myself and their peers when in the classroom and they will feel confident asking questions, having discussions, and participating.

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Knowing that we seek connections and that students need to process and repeat what they learn in order to truly learn and keep it helps me plan. When I can I connect information to concepts or ideas that students understand already. This allows them to easily establish a pathway in the brain that can be reinforced and kept.

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Something that stood out to me was the importance of creating a learning community where all students feel welcomed, accepted and supported. Students need to feel safe and valued to maintain a positive relationship with learning and their learning environment. As an educator, I work to be aware of actions or words that may make a student feel threatened or unsafe. If I detect a student feels unsafe or threatened in the classroom whether it be from a comment or action from another student or an adult, I believe a conversation is meant to happen in the moment. The content can be paused until everyone in the classroom feels safe and supported. These are usually the most important teachable moments.

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As we come together in small groups, I ask scholars what did
we work on/learn yesterday? This triggers their brain to remember (from the limbic layer) what we did and helps them practice the skill so that it is stored in the brain, working the memory in the hippocampus. Everyone has a turn to share, creating that safe space for scholars to communicate.

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Brain rule 5 stuck out to me. When kids are building their schemas, they use their background knowledge and personal experiences to make connections. Cute acronyms and rules might be helpful for recall, but ultimately, to make learning "stick", I have to determine what my students already know. It makes me think of all the KWL charts we make.
Also, that brain growth happens most when the brain is stretched. I have to be more willing to let my kids engage in productive struggle in order to be more independent.

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Understanding that our brains are always monitoring for threats, and seeking safe connections with others has always influenced my classroom environment. I try to make my physical space feel comfortable, bright and welcoming. Imbedding music, games, and discussion into instruction when possible and during crew builds those connections. I share my own experiences and mistakes with students, so they understand and relate to me better. When it is appropriate I also let them know when I am feeling stress and how I deal with it. I know that students learn and process more information when they play than when they read, so where I can I try to include games, hands on, or laughter into our learning. In the physical room, I have spaces where students can go chill out, but during this virtual year, I have had to monitor faces and behaviors closely and sometimes suggest breaks or give the whole class a break. Also,  knowing that students go into fight or flight mode when they are stressed gives me a lot of empathy and an understanding of how and when to approach students who are struggling. The autonomic nervous system is designed to be intensely “on” for a period of 15 minutes. So knowing this, when something happens and a student is “stuck” in the fight or flight response, they are really going to need 15 minutes to calm down before you try to talk to them about what happened.

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As a student, I was all too familiar with the limbic "freeze" response when I was called on to answer a question in class that I didn't know or made to publicly share my math problem solving when I wasn't sure what to do. That sense of humiliation has stayed with me. Although I have learned that cold calling students is a beneficial practice, I always give a student who answered a question wrong another chance to answer a question that I know they know the answer to, so that they can feel "competent" again.

I also acknowledge the importance of students simply being able to chat throughout the day. In my classroom in the past I have implemented "talk time breaks" where students are allowed to just socialize with each other for a couple of minutes. Knowing they will have a chance to connect with others socially reassures their polyvagal nervous system that social time will be provided and they can stay focused on the lesson during the time that they need to hear from me.

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As an educator, it is very crucial, in my opinion, to make students feel welcomed and loved whenever they enter the classroom.

From the moment they enter the classroom (this is especially true for new students, or younger students who are just starting school), The Watcher (RAS) is looking around for possible threats while The Guard Dog is ready to respond with a fight/flight/freeze response at the ready. This is exactly what we don't want as teachers, because with those two parts of the brain active, the hippocampus can't work as well to let information sink in.

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Connecting to background knowledge has always been really important to me in my lesson design. I frequently like to start my lessons with "Yesterday we learned about ____, today we are learning about ____" to help students see the connections between the lessons

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"All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned" The importance of background knowledge guides my lesson design. I consider both my students interests, which Ed Tech tool they like to use the most, any gaps in learning or foundational skills they might need reviewed, etc. all in order for them to make a strong connection to the new content.

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An important part to me was the focus on making student's feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. In small groups, I try to use this a lot in my teaching. I feel that building these relationships with my students helps them to feel more confident with decision making and vulnerable when speaking in front of other classmates. Having students feel comfortable in their enviornment positively impacts learning and overall student achievement. This also reduces the stress levels/anxiety students face when they don't feel comfortable engaging.

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Brain Rule 4, Attention drives learning, stood out to me the post while reading. I feel that right now in a virtual setting, being able to hold a students attention during a lesson is one of the most important things. It is important to be able to keep them focused and engaged in their learning from lesson to lesson.

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Reading this chapter I noticed the stress of importance on building and establishing relationships with students. This influences my teaching, I use what connections I have with the students to drive conversation/lessons/etc.

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It influence my teaching because knowing how the brain work and the impact it has on our social emotional state, in order to be a culturally responsive I need to be able to bond and connect with my students and understand them. To help me better understand their actions.

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Brian rule 6, the brain physically grows through challenge and stretch, expanding its ability to do more complex think and learning.

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Brain rules that guide my lessons would be creating a safe space. This also falls into creating positive relationships with my students. In order for them to be successful in the classroom they need to first feel safe and comfortable with me as the teacher as well as other peers in the classroom.

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Looking back on my academic upbringing, I believe that education has given me a view of learning that was imbalanced. Teaching was more about the intellectual mind being developed in a way that can often leave out the social/emotional aspect of music learning. Principles of neuroscience help me include the heart factor in teaching and learning. People often say, "What comes from the heart reaches the heart." I have a huge heart and love to see students learn, but teaching from an intellectual perspective, from the head, will be less effective. Teaching from the heart nurtures the whole scholar. It develops students, nurturing the heart, soul and mind.

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principles of neuroscience influence my teaching by helping me to create a safe, nurturing, no stress classroom environment. they also help me to connect with my students (build rapport) and show compassion for their varying needs. 

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principles of neuroscience influence my teaching by helping me to create a safe, nurturing, no stress classroom environment. they also help me to connect with my students (build rapport) and show compassion for their varying needs. 

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the "brain rules" that guide my lesson design are connecting with my students and their parents and creating positive relationships with my families.

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the "brain rules" that guide my lesson design are connecting with my students and their parents and creating positive relationships with my families.

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I have to remember that I am not just teaching so that students learn. I am teaching so that students learn to do. In other words, I have to structure the lesson in a way that allows students to connect to where they are and what they already know and gives them something to take from my classroom and apply it or utilize it elsewhere when they leave the classroom.

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The principles that influence my teaching the most are comfort for students so that they can learn. It takes me all the way the old school book of "the first days of teaching" by Harry Wong and understanding the point of connection and comforting students by greeting each one at the door to make them feel welcomed.

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The brain rule that guides my lesson design is definitely attention drives learning. If you don't have a students attention then it will be impossible for them to learn anything. So attention getters, openers, energizers and activities are the key to success especially at the elementary level.

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The principles of neuroscience influences my teaching by helping me to understand the different reasons for why my scholars do what they do and possible reasons for my actions as well. Relationships are not just emotional they exist at the intersection of mind-body.

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Stay safe and be happy! I try to stay fully aware of my nonverbal messages. I never want my scholars to feel as though what they are saying is not important or valid. I am always sensitive to their feelings. No child will listen to you if they don't feel you care about them and attention drives learning.

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The Limbic Region really struck my clarified drive to always reach for empathetic connection as the initial step to activating a scholar's genuine desire to learn.

The way that neuroscience influences my teaching is by understanding that establishing positive relationships is the first step to feeling safe, welcomed, and empowered to learn in their full capacity.

Despite the many mistakes they'll inevitably commit, scholars feel motivated to explore self-expansion and will happily invite challenges with repetitive infusions of communal confidence.

My primary mission in teaching is to spark a warming joy inside each student's heart whenever they think of me, which opens and excites their mind to achieve intentional and optimal learning victories.

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Creating a safe, warm, fun, and positive environment through innovative methods burst the floodgates of engagement in my classes, which fortifies our communal trust factor.

By transferring the ownership and awakening the 'leader' trait in every scholar has tremendously transformed my class beyond my imagination because students heightened their attention whenever the lesson was delivered by their peers backed by my positive guidance during their simultaneous learning!

My "Brain Rules" recently evolved from teacher-led lessons to scholar-led learning game shows, which catapulted my engagement rate from 70% to 95% in one day.

My intention is to create culturally-centralized lessons that celebrate each scholar's authenticity and highlights their unique learning abilities so they can circulate their influential encouragement with fellow learners.

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The principles of Science influence my teaching by acknowledging that "learning is a dynamic action!" I like to keep my scholars actively engaged by using call and responses, hands on learning, problem solving activities, etc.

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Authentic engagement guides my lesson design. Bored scholars will not learn. Scholars who do not feel included will not retain information. Students need to feel safe and nurtured in their learning environment.

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Establishing a classroom culture where mistakes are celebrated and where problem-solving is collaborative, helps students feel less pressure to always 'be right' and helps grappling with a new concept feel less scary. It fosters an envornment of Growth Mindset. In the growth-mindset unit I teach with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th we learn about how your brain actually grows by doing hard things. The students learn about the dendrites formed by learning something new, in addition to learning about the creation and development of neural pathways that occurs when new information is learned and repeated or practiced.  I would love to be able to also teach executive functioning skills to all grades (volition, motivation, organization, initiative, responsibility, etc.) ...we get upset with students when they are not responsibile or if they miss deadlines but fail to realize that executive functioning skills are often the missing piece in helping students monitor their own understanding and be successful.

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Growth Mindset and Executive Functioning

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Growth Mindset and Executive Functioning

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Teaching kids that it's 'ok to be wrong' is a huge part of CRT in my classroom. Students need help from a young age understanding that mistakes are a *good* part of learning. Students often need to be explicitly taught how regroup and try again if they fail or fall-short of a goal. Coping with failure or rejection is not always taught at home, but can be easily normed and demonstrated in a school environment.

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I have always loved the science behind how and why we learn, and this chapter really spoke to me. Especially in the fact that they need to feel safe and secure in order to do their best, otherwise their mind is completely elsewhere. I try to make the classroom as welcome and inviting as I can, greeting with a smile no matter how my morning is going. This also helps them to feel comfortable enough to take risks in the classroom and try difficult problems and push through challenges.

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Growth mindset has always been a huge factor in my teaching, and this chapter solidified that. I am always reminding students that it is okay if you don't understand something right away, especially if it's a brand new skill. It will take time and practice, and I have found that that reassurance has really help students grow in their own confidence in learning. Working together and teaching them how to collaborate with one another is also a huge rule I try to foster with my students. Being able to feel comfortable to be wrong in front of their peers is huge, but then still being able to learn and feel confident afterwards is the goal.

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Honestly, before reading this chapter, I had never real thought about using the understanding of the brain to guide my teaching. After reading this chapter, I believe that I can use this teaching to understand the importance of building a relationship and making scholars feel safe. This has always been my purpose; to make scholars feel apart and welcome into their learning envrionment. Now, I understand the neuroscience perspective of its importance. While reading the text, I do have a teaching perspective to challenge students through the learning process. This was support from reading the text. However, I have a better understanding its importance.

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As previously mentioned, I didn't teach from this perspective but I did use some of the strategies without the scientific information about culture.
I had an understanding of how a scholars culture plays an important role in their learning experience and the way they process information. Therefore, I made sure to be relatable with my students when using examples. Playing music they like/identify with to get them "warmed-up" for the day. I incorporate things they enjoy into the lesson.
Also, understanding that students build on their knowledge with their previous expereinces. I always guide students to share their personal experience to connect with the lesson.
Last, I believe that students do not learn the academic information they need from people that do not like. Building relationships with students is very important and this drives my approach to building a relationship/partnership with scholars and families.

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When reading the text, I noticed that the text talked about the brain being the hardware and culture being the software. This resignated with me that the culture is"downloaded" into the brain. With this understanding our scholars cullture (values, beliefs) change as they have many experiences.

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As an educator, not only is it imperative to produce reliable learning techniques, it is important to connect the learning techniques to the brain. By studying neuroscience research, we are able to distinguish those practices that are least effective. Neuroscience research makes it easier to identify students with learning disabilities and to provide interventions that can significantly help students with their academic performance. Some learning techniques that may work for some may not work for others. Understanding the activity of the brain and its behaviors it produces, allows for a more harmonious sense of learning . Learning occurs via changes in the strength of such neuronal connections at synapses. As synapses change when they transmit signals, learning occurs whenever the brain processes information. It is imperative to create resources and tools that promote that process in the brain more swiftly. I find that throughout this virtual learning process I have had to constantly rule out what works and what doesn’t work based off the responses and behaviors from my students. This process of rerouting has helped many of my students grow and find new ways of learning themselves. Learning occurs for everyone, even us teachers; when we create a safe space for our students and listen to them and their learning language!

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All my lessons designs reflect my love for teaching. They all implement my energetic, positive, and attentive spirit. When creating these lessons I always refer to my own personal experience with learning. A “Brain rule” that I have always kept in mind even prior to reading has been “energy and attention”. In order for our kiddies to want to learn we must create an energetic space to learn and capture their attention. This rule will promote purpose to the lesson, and will also draw the use of prior lessons and knowledge.

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The brain and its amazing functions and plasticity is always very interesting. I teach students about loss of control in their brain affects how they perform and behave in class. Students have been learning about how using coping skills sends a message to your brain to bring it to center where the student is able to attend to the task at hand.

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The pandemic has been tricky but finding different methods to reach students..arts, music, writing, videos. etc.