Our Brain Books: The 10 Essentials

When Brain Books were integrated into our learning environments, we saw a dynamic impact.  Students were empowered by their moment-to-moment interactions in our classrooms, making authentic connections among content areas and within their own lives. Brain Books immediately guided students in the direction of personalization, providing frequent opportunity to connect new learning with past while focusing-in on individual goals and interests.  Students were given the opportunity to attack learning through their own style, consistently applying strategies that worked the best for them to aid in retention.

As Brain Books were intended to be a student-centered tool from the beginning, we were very cognizant of our tendency to “take control” of the resource in a way that matched our personal learning styles and organizational preferences.  We really had to coach each other through the process of “letting go”.  It was very important to us to separate Brain Books from direct instruction and teacher-driven strategies.  Brain Books became a simulation of individual brains learning, so they no longer served the same purpose of a one-size-fits-all journal or notebook.  We didn’t want their Brain Books to be carbon copies of our “model notebook,” instead we wanted individual learning styles and strengths to shine within our diverse learning environments.

In sharing with other colleagues, we have found the following aspects to be imperative in keeping with the authenticity of a truly personalized notebook.  These 10 essentials help Brain Books to remain a student-centered tool, empowering students to take ownership for their learning in a way that best fits them as a learner.

The 10 Essentials

1.      This is a Personal Book:  OF the student, BY the student, FOR the student.

Each and every student’s Brain Book should be completely different, mirroring the students’ individual styles.  Each and every student chooses what goes in their Brain Book, where it goes, and when to expand their book.  Each and every student should see the Brain Book as a necessary

resource for themselves.

Pondering Questions: ·         Is this artifact for me or my students?   Remember the words of Sousa, “The brain that does the work makes the most growth!”   ·         Will engagement increase with a student created resource?

2.      Independent Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences must be known.

Teaching students about each of the styles/intelligences allows them to understand their own personal strengths and challenges within the academic setting, so they approach each learning task with success.

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I promote self-awareness in my students? ·         Am I continuing to do my job teaching all learning styles/intelligences so my students continue to use and benefit from their Brain Books?

3.      Frequent modeling by teachers and students must be used.

For students to understand the potential of the resource modeling must occur, along with intentional teaching around the Brain Book.  Students must also understand the WHY behind Brain Books.  Continuously sharing sample Brain Book pages and possibilities is important.

Pondering Questions:     ·         Do my students understand the importance of a personalized resource? ·         Will my students benefit from creating a resource that is customized each and every day to meet their own learning needs?

4.      Organization by the student is key.

This is really the place where “letting go” was the most difficult for us as teachers.  But honestly WHERE students put information in their Brain Book and WHY they choose to organize it the way they did really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  What matters is that each student has the opportunity to experience, investigate, and understand what works best for their learning style.  Their Brain Book allows them to experience learning from their own perspective, adding to and changing the format of the book as their knowledge increases and connections are made.  By using a personalized organizational style, meaning is connected to the learning.

Pondering Questions: ·         What type of “meaning making” will come from students discovering what organizational practice works best for them? ·         Can independence of thought and purpose be supported by Brain Books?

5.      Open-ended access to Brain Books is necessary.

By permitting open-ended access to this resource, students are allowed to make natural connections, value information individually, and reinforce what they learn over time. The Brain Book is a STUDENT resource, therefore, once classroom expectations are set for the culture and learning environment and students are taught the complete and possible use of a Brain Book, the resource should be seen and valued no matter the time of day.  It is okay for Brain Books to appear during instruction if the information going into them is on topic.  They should stimulate conversations and connections constantly.  Brain Books will be completely different from one another, which is why they should be THE choice resource- students will feel as though their own thinking is relevant, important, recognized, and appreciated.  Thus, assume these books to travel everywhere and always be in the hands/backpacks of their owners!

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I see Brain Books as a resource that encourages metacognition? ·         Do I keep in mind students’ feelings of ownership and value of their own work in order to increase their engagement and purpose in learning?

6.      Brain Books should become a natural resource in the Classroom Community.

This resource should be referred to often in order to review previous learning, make connections, and add relevant information.  Students should also access their Brain Book often as a go-to reference tool.  They will also document their progress, displaying evidence of their learning related to their individual goals.  Reflections will be stored in their personalized notebook to recognize their growth, innovative ideas, and associations.  This resource should also be used to share learning by way of comparing notes, sharing connections, and asking questions.  

Pondering Questions: ·         Is reflection a common process in my classroom? ·         Can I encourage, then in turn trust, my students to use this resource effectively for themselves?

7.      Books should be added as the brain naturally “grows”.

Adding additional notebooks to the original should not be a forced, time oriented, or teacher directed process.  Only a student should decide when another book needs to be bound (duct-taped) to their Brain Book.  The student needs to decide when their own brain needs additional space to work with.  Imagine being given lots of extra space prior to needing it.  For some students it may be overwhelming and cause anxiety to figure out what to do with it.  However, on the flip side, if you restrict a student from expanding their book because you deem it unnecessary it may cause the same effects.  Some brains need to feel as though there is enough storage space for what is to come and like to prepare in advance with 2-3 blank sections.  As we recognize that our brains do not increase in size as we learn, the students love this metaphor and play-on-words of adding notebooks as their brain is filled with knowledge.  It is a visual reminder for them of all they are learning, as well as a celebration of their personal growth. 

Pondering Questions: ·         Am I cognizant of the adage that each child develops at their own pace? ·         Do I believe that Brain Books can assist in recognizing, promoting and celebrating this?

8.      Daily rituals should be used to value the thinking within Brain Books.

In our classroom, we have established 2 rituals for reflective thought and discussion:  One to start our day (Brain Breakfast) and one to end our day (Brain Snack).  Our Brain Breakfast is the brain food we need to get us going in the morning.  Our Brain Snack is the brain food we need to snack on as we head home for the day.  Both involve very strategic prompts/activities/conversation starters that integrate and infuse previous and future learning, along with all content areas.  We also carve in 2-4 additional reflection points throughout the day to allow students to confirm learning, self-assess, and/or make connections. 

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I establish rituals daily for my students to reflect, discuss, and share?  ·         Am I intentional about minimizing teacher talk and maximizing student thinking?

9.      Brain Books should never be scored.

This resource plays a very powerful role in recognizing and appreciating that learning is a process.  When students feel safe and valued, they are more open to “muck around” in the learning process.  Thus, putting a mark on their resource would defeat the purpose.  We have stuck to not scoring, grading, checking-off, or collecting their Brain Books.  The message has been clear that this is a resource for them and not us.  As they bring their books everywhere with them, we often see their documented/gathered thinking first hand.  But they are in control of these moments.  We truly want them to own their learning, especially during the articulation/communication process.  Students should feel the power in exploration of the topic and their journey towards meeting their learning goals.  They should be empowered by their own thinking, allowing them to rise from mistakes and wrong turns along the way.  The purpose of this book is for it to be a resource:  a place to store thinking, connections, new knowledge, private thoughts, goals, dreams.  To put a score on any page would devalue their brain and the personal thinking that is occurring. 

Pondering Questions:                   ·        Am I clear with the message that this book is for them and not me?                   ·         Can I help my students feel comfortable with putting their ideas and thinking in their book because it is for their brain?

10.  Brain Books are a vital component of a student-centered classroom.

Students who believe their teachers really listen and care about what they think results in students being more engaged and invested in their own learning, their classroom, and their school.  Our philosophy is to empower students through frequent choice, reflection, self-assessment, voice, and providing opportunities for them to take on the role of the teacher.  Brain Books facilitate all 5 of these strategies to occur seamlessly within our learning environment.

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I ask my students for feedback regularly?  ·         Am I recognizing Brain Books to be a highly effective way of documenting learning and valuing student thinking?

 

~Celina and Ann

The Story of Our Brain Books



Brain Books have become the anchor within our learning environment, for our students as well as us personally.  Ann and I have been excited to share this resource- a good idea that our students made great.  But as we have tried to put the idea in print we have struggled a bit…. Then Ann reminded me again of the great words of Simon Sinek, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”  So here is the story of the WHY behind our Brain Books:

Do You Carousel With Your Students?

Well, I’m sure everyone has heard that Ann and I have the best dance moves around.  Seriously, how could you not know about them when our students’ are shouting about our insanely cool moves from the rooftops!  Thanks to our students’ endless encouragement and amazing growth we show no shame as we frequently dance our socks off to celebrate their progress.  We have perfected some pretty interesting dance moves this year, including the Dougie and some kickback moves from the 90s.  The choreographed routine we are the most proud of, though, is the Carousel.

The Carousel is an instructional strategy we have developed throughout the year that ties to the Perfect Storm, our philosophical approach behind the development of our 3/4/5 Multiage Program.  This “dance of the minds” is an interactive experience that addresses the needs of all 50 individuals within our classroom, while focusing on a particular topic or content strand. 

The Science Experience

Science inquiry through a Project-Based Learning approach is not a new concept, but the idea of tackling it in a multiage experience was new for Celina and me this year.  We approached it as we do any teaching and learning in our classroom through a lens of questions, not unlike the inquiry process:

1.       Students first: What would they need? We have three different grade levels that need high interest and engaging opportunities to build their learning.  They learn best through an active approach to acquiring knowledge, where they have ownership and are inspired.  Many also benefit greatly by building their social skills through interacting and conversing with others along the learning path.

2.       Standards:  Within the Earth Space Science strand there are standards in our state for grades 2-3 and 4-5.  Starting with the students and using the standards as a focus, the questions become around connections.  How could these standards connect to make a cohesive WHOLE to enhance the learning of all 3 groups? 

3.       Curriculum: What could we use to meet the needs of students and the expectations of standards?  Our district kits are big on process and thin on content, and in some cases the activities only connect tenuously to the standard they are supposed to be teaching.  Plus Celina and I feel to make strong connections the content needs to also be integrated across the content areas with authentic reading, writing, communicating, evaluating and thinking skills, just as the Common Core states reading and writing should be used to promote learning of the content areas.

Inspiration to Application: What have we noticed?

As Celina said, our new teaching assignment this year has been a chance for us to strike out into new territories and also to synthesize what we have learned previously in order to meet the needs of our students.  What a journey and we are only 1/3 of the way through (our first year).   In order to meet the needs of 51 students, within 3 age levels and even more developmental levels, there was no other option but to differentiate.  Here was our chance to channel our inspiration into application!

Our multiage philosophy of meeting students’ needs based on building blocks required a lot of background work in creating a community of learners. Students had to feel safe in sharing what they know and don’t know, and how to learn without comparing themselves to others.  We had to teach them how to be engaged, responsible and respectful to everyone within the community, and from this we could all grow.  What have we noticed?  Students across all grade level bands are working together for the success of all.  It is ok to “need” a target, and to seek out resources or partners to help you.  It is also ok to be an expert and teach others, even when you are the youngest in the class!  It is ok to hit the target on one assessment but have to move your sticker back on the next assessment, this means you need to keep practicing and keep this target active in your mind.  It is ok to work on targets that are below your grade level and even above.  There is no ceiling and there is no floor.  Suddenly this recognition that we are a community of learners allowed students the chance to let go of notions of being just like their classmates.  Each of us is different and that is to be celebrated!

Our brain based learning led us to create a learning environment that uses connections, novelty and timing to meet student needs.  No longer do students read and recite, but they actively seek out what they need to know, often with essential questions or targets in mind.  Novel ideas for gaining their attention abound, from dressing like Monkeys to make a point, to wearing a symbol of every genre to start a study of literature.  What have we noticed?  Time is always of the essence, and yet teaching students to continually practice targets, even mastered ones, has helped the learning to move into long term storage in the brain.   Making connections between topics and to overall big ideas helped new learning “hook” onto learning that is already in the brain.  Students began to see our overall big idea of STRUCTURES in everything that we did, from the structure of a book to the structure of an essay, from place value as the structure of math, to variables and the scientific process as the structure of our science experiments.  With connections our classroom day was no longer a random collection of subjects, but a sustained learning opportunity.  We could practice a topic for a day and then revisit it two days later with little gap in understanding. Novelty is so often our mantra that our students no longer bat an eye at us dressed up in costume, from the Genre Genies to the Queen Bees, we believe in grabbing the attention of our kids from the get go.  The brain as our focus became our greatest ally in the learning process as each student came to appreciate their own unique qualities!

Learning about meeting the needs of the gifted and talented students within our room led us beyond basic academics to meeting students’ affective needs as well.  We contemplated how we could help even our highest kids excel with confidence, bounce back from emotional setbacks and learn the necessary skills, like organization and time management, for success in all areas of life not just school.  What have we noticed?  Students began to discuss and connect with like talented peers and from this developed new friendships.  Given our multiage groupings they were able to learn from and teach to others who are talented in areas different from their own.  Our desire to meet the affective needs of our gifted and talented learners has helped us to meet the same need in all our students.  No matter what academic level, all students need to feel safe, appreciated for who they are, and accepted for their needs and talents. 

We have both taught with themes, and have recognized those flimsy connections we have tried to make between topics.  Yet we knew that we wanted a central organizing principle to bring it all together, that learning is not a separate process but a fluid one of using skills in all situations.  Our organizing principle became THINKING SKILLS.  What have we noticed?  The thinking processes of making connections, determining importance and asking questions apply in all academic areas.  Using schema in science was as relevant as using background knowledge in reading.  Thinking processes and skills became our common thread, our guiding work through all topic areas.  Kids have begun to effortlessly use these processes across content areas, no longer seeing math as separate from social studies, or writing separate from science. They are beginning to articulate what they know through the use of analogies and metaphors, applying even higher order skills.  What a moment to celebrate when there are five glowing children intent on sharing their analogies at the end of a work session.  A gem shared by one: “Hearing is to listening as thinking is to knowing!”

Self-assessment has also been a driving force within our classroom.  Formative assessments push our instruction every day, as well as how students spend their time learning and practicing their targets.  What have we noticed?  Students have far greater motivation and ownership in their learning when they can easily see what they know and what they need to learn.  It is no longer a mysterious process; grades are truly earned based on the evidence that is provided at a given point in time, rather than a summary of work/effort over time.  Students are more aware of what they need to do to take charge of their learning and are focused on meeting their own goals.  Our classroom has become a place of empowerment!

Again a “Full Circle” moment, appreciating that our inspiration has become application, and with that application we are seeing an amazing community of learners continue to grow.  What’s next? The sky is the limit!

~Ann

5 Things that Ensue Inspiration

Ann and I took on a new teaching assignment this year, challenging us both.  Through the challenges, though, we have enjoyed every “Full Circle Moment” that has occurred.  Many had the perspective of us throwing ourselves into a Multiage and Team Teaching situation.  However, the reality is that we did not volunteer for the role lightly.  We began our research before we stepped up to the plate.  Hours upon hours went into divulging literature related to all topics of this unique teaching opportunity.  We read and reflected for days (as we didn’t actually have months or weeks to process, but just days…).  Regardless, by the end of our processing state we were confident enough in ourselves and our previous teaching experiences that we would be successful for ourselves, our students/parents, our building, and our district.

As soon as the assignment was official, we continued to unearth as much knowledge as we could for 5 major areas (all of which we deemed essential for making our Multiage Program work):

1.       Multiage Philosophy

2.       Brain-Based Learning

3.       Gifted & Talented

4.       Integration of Content Areas (not to be confused with theme teaching)

5.       Student Self-Assessment

We believed deeply that these were the concepts we wanted at the CORE of our program.  As we read a variety of Professional Development Books, Articles, and Blogs, we found ourselves more inspired than we had ever been before. 

Our own personal ESSENTIAL question was:  Could we create a classroom community that truly differentiated for the needs of EVERY learner?

In the past, we had felt very strong in the area of differentiation.  We used a variety of strategies and felt like we had a handle on our daily instructional practices, but still felt like a few kids each year fell through the cracks and didn’t meet the growth we felt they were capable of.  What we found through our summer research, though, was that there was so much more that differentiation had to offer.  As we dug deeper into literature and others’ perspectives of the above topics, we found that essentially these were the reasons Multiage Programs were successful; if they were dutifully following the above “protocol”, so to speak. 

In September, we established our program with these 5 at the CORE as we had originally planned. 

1.       Multiage Philosophy:  We have taken on the perspective that every child can learn and has the right to at their own pace, diversity is a celebration each day, and our classroom is a family of learners.  We teach students on a continuum, and we established a metaphor that we refer to each day:  The grade level standards are building blocks.  When you are missing a block your tower will fall, so it is important to go back and fill in the gaps (bricks).  We focus on where a child individually is rather than their “grade level benchmark” indicates, therefore a student has the opportunity to fill in blocks or extend themselves to a higher block. 

And with the opportunity for looping with students we do not lose ground, because we have the chance to just keeping moving forward from day 1 of each new school year.
2.       Brain-Based Learning:  We used to think we were “Constructivists” with our teaching style, but now we have moved to this side of the tracks.  J   I actually think good teachers use a little strategy from each theory (just like good reading teachers use phonics and whole language).  We actually are also partial to William Glasser’s Control Theory of Motivation.  http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/isr/education/theories.htm  (This site by Jim Askew is a great reference tool!)  When you walk into our classroom you see both Theories living and breathing…  Our favorite authors on this topic are:  Marilee Sprenger, David A. Sousa, and Eric Jensen.  In fact, our students quote Sousa almost every day:  “The brain that does the work makes the most growth!”
3.     Gifted & Talented:  After obtaining my Master’s Degree (from Whitworth University), my passion for this area has grown and grown.  I took all of my elective courses within this field of study and learned so much about myself as a parent, teacher, and learner.  I am constantly reading new information and discovering each and every day strategies to assist our gifted learners.  My favorite website is:   http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/ 
4.       Integration of the Content Areas:  As this is the direction we are headed anyways with the Common Core Standards, Ann and I decided give ourselves a jumpstart.  We intentionally plan lessons that will have natural crossovers among the content areas, while focusing on real-world concepts.  Our reading, math, and science/social studies blocks really have grown into just continuously learning opportunities that are more succinct rather than disjointed.  Art, music, communication, and writing occur daily.  We also have a common theme, each trimester, which ties it all together- for example right now we are working on “Structures”.
5.       Student Self-Assessment:  Our formative self-assessment occurs daily, and it is really in the hands of our students.  In order to really empower learners, they have to know what they have (their “got it” targets) and what they are missing (their “need it” targets).  About 90% of our students have no problem, just 2 months into the year, accurately self-assessing as they must provide “evidence” to support that they have it!  They can also successfully establish a plan of action utilizing the tools and resources (students, teachers, computer, and text) within our classroom.  They have independent/partner focus time daily to work on their goals.

As we move forward each day, we are continually inspired by each and every one of these 5 concepts.  We persistently find literature related to the 5- and many on our staff joke about us needing a PD Book intervention!  Yes, we may be obsessed, but for us this growth path we are on is invigorating!  We continue to apply new strategies each week and allow our students to provide feedback to us.  Their voice is the most important ones in the learning process.   And they are the evidence that tells us that our  5 Things that Ensue Inspiration are powerful entities within our Multiage Program!
~Celina

Metaphorically Speaking

As teachers, we strive everyday to connect the learning to the lives of the students we are teaching, whether it be within the whole group, small group, or individual conversations.  If there is one thing we have learned the most over the past year it is, “just because we taught it doesn’t mean they learned it.”  Seems like a no-brainer, maybe even a DUH statement, but for us it has been a revelation as we use daily formative assessments to track our teaching and the students actual learning. And more and more we find the statement to be true… even when we teach a fantastic lesson, one that makes us go home and continue to text each other regarding our excitement, we sometimes come back to school and realize that what Glasser, Sprenger, and all of our other “PD book mentors” are telling us is true:  it will take more reteaching, review, and rehearsal for them to truly have the ability to RETRIEVE the information.  So with the acceptance of this fact, we have been on a mission to find metaphors that will allow the students to connect the new learning to their schema, building upon their learning structure and recode the new information alongside what they know to be true.

From a brand new read, picked up at a recent WSASCD/OSPI conference, inspiration continues.  Rick Wormeli confirms our understanding of what we know now to be true in his book, Metaphors & Analogies.  He states, “What may need to change in many of our classrooms is the purposeful pursuit of metaphors and analogies in our teaching instead of the momentary inspirations that may or may not be helpful to students’ learning. We don’t want to leave such effective strategies to chance.   Teaching through metaphors and analogies isn’t just about building personal background knowledge so students have a context for understanding…..  It’s also a conscious choice to scaffold learning by making meaningful connections among topics” (2009).  He discusses that some of us make routine and natural comparisons throughout the day, but that others will be required to adjust their thinking and curricular planning in order to use metaphors effectively.  We have relied on metaphors in many situations so far this year, and these metaphors have provided “anchors” for different topics across the content areas and within the community structure for our students. 

Wormeli goes on to quote Carol Ann Tomlinson  from her DVD, Connecting Differentiated Instruction, Understanding by Design, and What Works in Schools:  An Exploration or Research-Based Strategies (2008), using her metaphor, “Standards are not dinner.  They are the ingredients.”  We have not yet viewed this DVD, but this reference made us think of a metaphor we have been using lately to explain our differentiated approach that involves a heavy load of individualized instruction.  Teaching with a differentiated style is just like cooking.  We can extend this metaphor with:

·         Our curriculums are our cookbooks

·         The standards/targets are the ingredients (note Tomlinson's quote above!)

·         Planning for instructional groupings [from one-on-one to small group to whole group] is like planning for meals [from snacks to lunch to a Thanksgiving Dinner]

·         Individual instructional needs/goals are the similar to individual dietary needs/ aversions/ allergies

·         The novelty added to lessons is the spice

·         The resources/tools/tech in the classroom are the cooking utensils in the kitchen

You can see how this metaphor can continue to grow… We can now ask questions like:

• Do you like to cook?
• Are you a natural cook, or do you need a class to improve your skills?
• Do you rely on the recipe?  Or do you focus on who is coming to dinner?
• Do you change the recipe as needed, or do you always make it the same way because that’s the way it’s always been prepared?
• Are you inspired to create your own dishes?
• Are the plates being cleared, or are people leaving the table with food still on their plates?
• Are people lingering at your table, or scurrying off to better meals?

Metaphors can help anchor learning, or even just create inspiration, but either way they allow the abstract to become concrete.   And doesn’t that make the most sense anyways?  Think of information as bugs flying, flittering, and crawling around.  The information is everywhere, coming at us every day, whether we are a child or an adult.  Do we take the time to make sense of the purpose of the bug?  Or would we rather swat it away, squash it, or run away because it annoys us or scares us?  What if we looked close enough and took a moment longer- just a little bit more patience or focus in order to observe or think- would we be able to find the beauty in such a small thing?