The parts about brain-based learning I like the most are the relationships and the rest times. I think relationships are key for any teaching to happen. There has to be a mutual respect built in the classroom and students have to be able to trust you in order for learning to really take place in my mind. Along with relationships comes the idea of humor in the classroom. I think that is high on the list of musts in the classroom. No child or adult wants to sit in class where they don’t laugh at all, where it’s just serious 100% of the time, I don’t know about you but that sounds boring to me. I love adding humor in the classroom through youtube videos, telling jokes, or just being weird and getting way into the lesson and making the kids laugh because they are making fun of me (which I’m totally okay with if they’re giving me the hard time). Life can’t be serious all the time, so really neither should school. Building a familial atmosphere of fun, love, respect, and trust with one another is what is going to get the kids excited to go to school and with the excitement of liking being in class, the learning will happen.
The other part I thought was key this week is when the authors talked about the brain taking “rest” times. I get that at the younger ages, the nap times and recess. I think though, that once kids hit middle school, we sometimes forget they still need this, we take recess away and expect them to sit in seven classes a day. Of course one of these is usually PE, but still I know for me, I don’t take time to let the rest and let the content sink in. This is one thing I am going to work on these last couple weeks of school. I’m only going to be in school two more weeks this year, so it’ll be a quick incorporation, but hopefully I will remember to keep that going next year.