Brain Compatible (11-17-08)

This week I had the privilege of hanging out with some really smart, talented, and driven people. I am referring to, (and complimenting) school principals, who I mingled with and learned from at the annual fall conference of the Kansas Associations of Elementary and Secondary School Principals (KAESP and KASSP).

The day and half conference had a little bit of everything: outstanding presentations by national speakers, informative breakout sessions led by other principals (who were kind enough to share some of the secrets of their success), and even an awards ceremony where I learned just how far I have yet to go to reach the honored title of an “NDP” or “National Distinguished Principal.”

So all in all, I had one amazing time. The trip served to recharge my professional batteries and to help answer the question, “What is next for Bill Goodwin?”

Of all the presentations I heard, the most powerful came from our keynote speaker, Dr. Marcia Tate, author of a series of books focused on raising student achievement. Her idea is simple, in order to help students really learn content, then teaching must be “brain compatible.” In order to “grow dendrites,” as she cleverly put it, a teacher must frame their content in a way that is compatible with the way that the brain learns.

Immediately, I recognized much of what she was saying from the Conscious Discipline training I had attended this summer. It never fails to amaze me how good educational programs simply espouses much of the same core information as other good educational programs. While it is tempting for educators to complain of too many bandwagons to jump on, I would counter that all the education philosophies of the past are simply different ways to say the same thing. Instructional practices such as “Whole Language,” “Project Based Learning,” “Conscious Discipline,” and “Brain Compatible Instruction” all amount to this: effective instruction results in meaningful and lasting learning. Content is not just learned for the test. The best teaching produces learning that lasts for a lifetime.

Take, for example, the ability to ride a bike, to swim, or to operate a manual transmission. Once learned, those skills stay with you forever.

These are examples of physical learning, where the content is hardwired in the brain through physical practice. It is just one example of “brain compatible” instruction. Another would be the use of mnemonic devices. Do you know what TV stands for, AM and PM, CD, DVD, or PC? Can you describe SCUBA, CPR, or MASH, even if you aren’t exactly sure what word each of the letters represent? Dr. Tate made her point with the spelling of her first name. “Let me tell you how to spell my name in a brain compatible way, in a way that you will never forget,” she told the group of principals. “Remember that my name is spelled M A R – C I A because I act like a secret agent of the CIA.”

That line was said in jest, with a bit of silly emphasis that evoked laughs from the crowd. When we were done chuckling, she informed us that she had just modeled another brain compatible technique, the use of humor to make a point.

By the end of her ninety-minute presentation, she had taught us a list of twenty brain compatible strategies. More importantly, she had modeled many of them as the method of delivering the content.

Let’s see. I have yet to refer to my conference notes while writing this article. I successfully remembered “making learning physical,” “using mnemonic devices,” and “using humor to make a point.” She also modeled, “relating content in a story,” “use of graphic organizers,” “incorporate music memory,” (yes, she had 150 school administrators all singing…you should have been there!) “teach what you learn to someone else,” “make learning fun,” and “allow the brain to do one thing at a time.”

That’s nine. If I recall, she boasted of modeling twelve of the twenty instructional techniques. So without any review, I recalled three fourths of the content she modeled. And that was just while writing this article.

Oh yeah, I can remember one more. Practice makes perfect - repeat, repeat, repeat. Gee, isn’t that what good teachers and coaches have been making their students do since the first cave teacher taught the first cave class of cave students cave drawing?

My point is most teachers use some of these techniques everyday. Labeling such effective practices as “brain compatible” simply allows educators to see the why and the how behind the effectiveness of their teaching.

I hope you have found my column to be brain compatible. Needless to say, it has given me a lot to think about.