Learning Styles

How do people learn? That is the fascinating question that got me into education in the first place. For myself, my process to learn something feels a bit chaotic. Typically I go into "gatherer" mode first. I collect as much related information as I can find on a topic. When I say "related" I mean centrally, peripherally, tangentially, and any other way a topic can be connected. I need to "see" all the ways I could go before I can find a focus. I'm one of those that must get the whole before I look at the parts. So I'm in gatherer mode right now and here are a few tidbits I am trying to weave together to answer the question.

It is the forever question, how we learn. Doesn't matter how many years I've been at it, the answer is always the same: make it personal. But how does a high school student relate to cells? What personal connection can I help them make to cellular respiration? Why do they need to know how DNA and RNA work together to make proteins? As a biologist, my first instinct is to look to neuroscience to help understand how learning works in the brain. According to Dr. Caine: "Gestalt psychology suggests that everything comes together in the moment of action, and if we want to know why and how students are learning then we have to know how they are making sense of a situation – how they are relating to what is being learned."

This past year I started out by talking about diversity and I asked my students to share with me their thoughts about how they learn and what I should know about them. Of course, they are teenagers and so the responses I got varied from insightful to "I don't like school". In an article by Jay N. Giedd, what happens at this stage of life is described as "....... a changing balance between brain systems involved in emotion and regulating emotion spawns increased novelty seeking, risk taking and a shift toward peer-based interactions." So each year, in addition to finding out what makes each student tick there is the added factor of who is in the class with them and how they interact. Many of my students have known each other since grade school, but I'm new to them so I have a chance to create a bit of novelty. From the NPR series on stress:
"hormones spur action and increase fuel to the brain, helping the animal react to danger appropriately. Those hormones also flow to memory centers in the brain, to help the critter remember those notable moments and places."  The trick is to add enough newness to get them out of their comfort zone, but not so much that they shut down on me.  Humor is a great strategy to help make stress less threatening, for example this podcast is quite silly and I use it when talking about cell growth. 

To make it personal this year these tidbits begin to suggest a plan. Instead of asking them to share with me their thoughts about how they learn and what I should know about them, I'll give them the opportunity to make a profile like you do when joining an online community. It needs to be open ended, but also have categories that will provide insight like the priority list mentioned in my previous post. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

School starts "officially" for me on Monday and YES it is the most wonderful time of the year because all kinds of things are possible. Last year I missed the first three days of school and I paid for it all year long. Sure I had a student teacher and I video-taped an introduction, but things just never felt right. One of my colleagues said the first three days are the best time to miss because "nothing happens". I could not disagree more!

So much for starting my blog off right this year........ I wrote the above paragraph back in August 2013 and it has been neglected ever since until this publication in July of 2014! It's been that kind of year. New computer system, more students, fewer resources - a hard year to be optimistic as a teacher here in North Carolina, but you have to be optimistic to continue to teach especially now.

Nevertheless, a small miracle occurs every summer.

I read, I daydream, I reflect on all of the things I love about science. It's not about daily lesson plans, managing student attitudes, dealing with administrative issues.... It becomes about why I want to teach..... why I want kids to learn to love the world around them the way I do..... how the quest for knowledge and understanding can be a beautiful part of life..... The Joy of Learning! That's what I want to communicate all year long, but it is mostly present those first few days of school when I am trying to convince students to trust me and follow me on a journey. The most wonderful time of year is when I can see these possibilities.

So, I think I am going to change the focus of this blog a bit. I am going to use this space to remind myself of the bigger picture as I read and reflect. I hope it will be more than a catalog of resources, but if that is all it becomes so be it. You who are reading this may find something useful (I hope so), but this is just my journey to become a better teacher.

There are two things I am currently struggling to put into my teaching practice. Emotion & Neuroscience. Connected, yes, but quite different. I think the neuroscience will be the easiest and I already do a bit with that. The emotion part stems from my long standing envy of language teachers. They get to read and discuss people's emotions, life purpose, personality traits..... all those things that are most important to teenagers. How do you do that in a biology classroom? I am currently reading The Priority List by David Menasche. This just reinforces my envy. The stories he tells about how he made an impact on student lives just puts me in AWE. I know the power & responsibility of my role as a teacher, but how do I leverage that into the positive outcome of empowering students to take charge of their lives and their learning? That is now my own focus for learning and hopefully this blog will help document my growth.