my blog Reflections

If you succeed in gaining their love, your influence will be greater in some respects than that of parents themselves. You have the power to make them kind, benevolent, and humane, or, by your neglect, they may become the reverse of everything that is lovely, amiable, and generou

 

 

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Educate [15th century. < Latin educat-, past participle of educare "bring up, rear," related to educere "lead out" < ducere "lead"]

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Education, the root of the word is "duct," as in aqueduct, means "to lead from." Prefix means "out from." Education means "to guide students out from things inside they know and have.

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Hi, Bob McCormick. I am the Special Education Department Leader at Marple newtown High School which is located in Delaware County Pa. I would like to thank all involved from Bryn Mawr College for sponsoring the Institute, the amount of involved in the operation of the Institute of which I am certain is immense.

 

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How does a teacher maximize the learning environment for all students?

A teacher creates an emotionally and physically risk-free, protected, and dynamic learning environment for all children.

How can a teacher accomplish creating this type of learning classroom atmosphere?

To create this type of learning environment for all students, a teacher utilizes the following concepts.

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Proper Mindsets and Assumptions

High Expectations for All Students

Respect and Encourage all Learning Styles

Eliminate Fear of Failure and Mistakes

Create Accommodations for all Students

Develop Empathy

Develop a sense of Self-Determination

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Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated. Anonymous

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Correct Mindsets and Assumptions and Having High Expectations for All Students.

A good way to test your accuracy of your initial impressions is to take the famous person test. Remember your initial judgement of the person as you read about his/her life.

To take the test, click here.

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Another way to look at assumptions and expectations is the Facial Expression test. Take the Facial Expression Test.

 

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The story of why and how we make initial assumption. It is a story of mirror neurons and spindle cells. Click the links to find out more information on either topic.

 

Mirror Neurons

Spindle Cells

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Emotion means, “to move out from.” [Late 16th century. < French, < émouvoir "stir up the feelings of" < Latin emovere "move out, remove" < movere "to move"]

 

 

 

 

We had emotions before we had language.

 

The brain is a natural learning organ that was thinking eons before schools were created.

 

Emotions are the key to learning.

 

In my opinion, there is no thinking/cognition without emotion.

 

We are always emoting.

 

Context is more important than content. Click here for examples.

 

We constantly driven by affect/emotion, Oh, I don’t like this, I don’t like it. Oh, it is hot in here. When is the break? This is something good. All of this stuff is emotional processing. Moreover, we are feedback dependent.

 

There is no Mr. Spock!

 

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For some thoughts on teachers and their affects on students click here.

 

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Quotes.

 

“Many people with IQs of 160 end up working for people with IQs of 100. Why? The former have poor interpersonal intelligence and the latter have high personnel intelligence.” Howard Gardner author of many popular books describing his theory of Multiply Intelligences which was first published in Frames of the Mind.

 

“In the day-to-day world, no intelligence is more important than the interpersonal. We need to teach interpersonal intelligence in our schools.” In the viewpoint of Dan Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and recently Social Intelligence, forcefully argues that emotional intelligence is a better indicator of success than IQ.

 

“Our children are the messages we will send to a time we will never see.” Neil Postman, New York University, cultural critic, educator, and media theorist.

 

 

“Truly the goal of guiding child development is to foster the expression of the child’s inner essence. But this process is delicate because it can be damaged by unfavorable experiences.” Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

 

 

“Perhaps there is no subject where the quality of the teacher matters so much since how a teacher handles her class is in itself a model for student behavior.” Michael Konen, Emotional Literacy

 

******************************* Excellent resources for brain-based study.

 Dr. Robert Brooks. Leading authority on empathy and resilience and his monhtly articles are a must read.

Howard Gardner One of the authorities on intelligences.

 

Dan Goleman Author of two outstanding books, Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence.

 

John Ratey Author of numerous books and articles on AD/HD.

Gessner Geyer His company teaches individuals and organizations how to optimize brain function and how to promote brain health.

Daniel Amen Dr. Amen is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He is child and adult psychiatrist and brain imaging specialist.

Michael Gurian Author of fourteen books, including the bestselling The Wonder of Boys.