Reviewing How To Article #2 - Brain-Based Learning

Start                : 21:03 pm – 21:10 pm

Title                 : Brain – based Learning

Page                : -

Topic               : Teaching methods, lesson designs, and school programs that are based on

scientific research

Details             :

                Brain-based learning refers to teaching methods, lesson designs, and school programs that are based on scientific research about how the brain learns, including how students learn differently as they age, grow, and mature socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Brain-based Learning is the engagement of strategies based on how our brain works. In his book, Human Brain and Human Learning (1983), Leslie Hart argues that teaching without an awareness of how the brain learns is like designing a glove with no sense of what a hand looks like–its shape, how it moves. As teachers, understanding brain-based learning allows us to design learning around student interests and make learning contextual.

Brain – based Learning Explained

Brain – based learning can be used to maximize learning. Researchers tell us learning occurs best during shorter instructional periods. According to David Sousa, Ed.D., author of How the Brain Learns, an ideal lesson is divided into three sections. 1. Students best remember the information that comes first. 2. Students remember least the information that comes in the middle. Because of that, it is a good time to do some activities, but spend no more that 12-15 minutes of focused attention on passive learning. 3. They remember second best the information that comes last.

Brain based learning is a meta-concept based on research about how the brain functions, that includes a mix of techniques and educational concepts such as:

1.  Mastery learning

2.  Learning styles

3.  Multiple intelligences

4.  Cooperative learning

5.  Practical simulations

6.  Experiential learning

7.  Problem-based learning

8.  Movement education

Some Tips for The Classroom

1.    Experiences which involve strong feelings, whether positive or negative, are more likely to be remembered. This can act as a motivator or barrier to future learning. Teachers should consider what children enjoy when planning tasks.

2.    The brain performs better in a positive emotional state. Teachers can create a positive environment by encouraging and praising their students’ efforts.

3.    Research has taught us that learners don’t learn much from sitting and listening.  Sure, they need to listen a bit, but they need the opportunity to talk!  Give your students some information, then give them talk time, where they discuss what they’ve learned. 

4.    If students use many different senses and many different ways of learning something, the more likely they are to remember it later. It gives them many different ways of recalling.

5.    Studies show that the brain absorbs and retains more information when the body is exercised periodically. Taking a five-minute brain break to exercise the body and refresh the mind actually is more effective than marathon teaching sessions in which they tend to become overwhelmed.

Purpose of Writer        : To inform the brain – based learning method

Quotation/Expression : “The more we understand about the brain and how it works, the

better we can design our teaching to be effective.”

Opinion                       : The method is good, English teacher should try this method to catch

students’ attantion and to maximize learning.

Click this for more information! :)

Reviewing How To Article #1 - The Importance of Classroom Dynamics

Start                : 07:48 pm - 07:59 pm

Title                 : The Importance of Classroom Dynamics

Page                : -

Topic               : Creating a positive learnind experiences through setting up a

positive learning environment

Details             :

It is very importance for a teacher to create a positive learning experiences for the students through setting up a positive learning environment. the teacher should recognize students' emotions, students' backgrounds, and students' characteristics. 

Classroom dynamics includes student behaviors, emotions, and imagination; teachers’ behaviors, emotions, and imaginations; teachers’ ways of presenting academic materials; students’ interactions with teachers; and students’ interactions with other students. Good classroom dynamics consist in the engagement of everybody in the classroom. Classroom dynamics are the products of a teacher’s interactions with the entire class. In many ways, positive classroom dynamics result from the intersection of professionalism with a dedication to connect with students and make a difference in their lives. Here are some ways to make a good classroom dynamics :

1.    Routines

·     Starting the lesson with something familiar will make students feel safe, secure, and more confident in their abilities.

·     Students should be part of the first 5 -10 lessons of a course.

·     The teachers should join in the activity themself

·     Ending the lesson with something you know they can do, something that’s familiar and easily achievable will ensure they finish their English lesson on a positive ‘I can do it’ note, rather than an ‘English is hard and I don’t like it’ negative note.

2.    Interactions

Good classroom dynamics involve interaction, and practice at interacting is a key element in learning and being able to speak a language.

·      Set the tone early to improve teachers’ ability to comunicate with students

·      Start by giving your students some ground rules for discussion, and engage them with comfortable, simple discussion topics and tasks early in the semester.

·      Later, when effective class rapport is established, you can move more easily to more challenging problems, subjects, and discussion formats.

3.    Positive Learning Environment

One of the most important aspects a teacher can foster for a positive classroom environment is the overall attitude. Remember that even an unsupportive parent, or an argumentative student does not have to affect your feelings or make you angry unless you allow them to.

4.    Classroom Contracts

The Classroom Contract serves as a collaboratively-created framework for behavior expectations in the classroom. Students and teacher work together to design an agreement for classroom norms, rules and consequences.

·      Every classroom has contracts in place, some explicit, some implicit.

·      The explicit contracts are usually found in the syllabus: what the course is about, what has to be read when, what and when papers or exams are due, what the grading scheme is.

·      Implicit contracts at work: who gets to speak, for how long, how do they get to speak, who sets the agenda, what kind of learning is expected, how is success measured.

How To Use Classroom Contracts?

·      Ask students’ opinions

·      Ensure the ideas will nurture a safe learning environment.

·      Teacher actions.

·      Reinforcing it.

·      Signature.

5.    Be Fair

Treating students fairly does not mean treating them the same.

6.    Be Yourself

Purpose of Writer        : To help teachers to create a good classroom dynamics

Quotation/Expression : -

Opinion                       : The article is very good for the teacher who feels hard to set a

positive learning environment and to create a good classroom dynamics.

Just check this out for more details! ;)

From Intensive to Extensive Reading by Dr. Day

For your further information, watch this video!

The video is the presentation video about intensive and extensive reading by Dr. Richard Day. Here, I will share some points that I got from the video, started from his belief of reading. He believes that reading is a number of interactive processes, interactive means there is two ways when we read and the two ways is between the reader and the story. Every readers will create, build or construct different meaning of the same text when they read, it depends on their knowledge (knowledge of the world, the author, the topic, the language), as we know that people have different knowledge and background, thus there is no really-true meaning. He also stated that reading is magic and fun, I'm sure that you understand with the words "magic and fun", our imagination is 'on' when we read.

On the video, he gave a simple way how do we learn to read. He says that we learn to read by reading.

"the more reading we do, the better readers are students become. The more    opportunities we give our students to engage in reading, the better readers they  become."

He talked about reading strategies and skills, but firstly he focused on strategies. He doesn't agree of the use of grammar translation method in teaching reading because he believes that translation and reading is very different. Students do not read but students just learn to translate. Students just focus on translating word by word to find its meaning not to find the meaning or the main idea of the passage, theywill not understand the passage. Dr. Day differenciates the meaning of skills and strategies. Strategies are things that we do to help us do something, like what should we do? what will we do? strategies are planned, then when we do the strategies or the planned things automatically without thinking, they become skills. So he suggested us not to teach reading skills to our students but teach reading strategies to make them become skills for the readers, they will take the conscious behaviour and make it automatic behaviour. There are two points in strategy; Comprehension and Fluency. He makes a different of comprehension and fluency, comprehension strategies are the process to help us get meaning from the text there are several basic activities of comprehension strategy :

1. Finding main ideas in paragraphs
2. Recognizing the point of view
3. Recognizing the refference words
4. Identifying the meaning from the context

Fluency strategis that helps students move away from word by word but not reading slowly. There are also several activities:

1. Sanning
2. Predicting the topic
3. Skimming for main idea
4. Recognizing signal words

Dr. Day suggested us to moving away from comprehension and fluency

From the explantion, I got the point that comprehention is intensive and fluency is extensive. Extensive reading involves students in large quantities of material in new language. The goal often goes beyond learning to read and may improve stidents' overall language proficiency and their attitudes toward English and mtivation for learning. It can be blended into any language course and program regardless of the focus or methodology.
Dr. Day stated two benefits of extensive reading :

1. Better readers
2. Increased vocabulary knowledge

There are some extensive reading activities :

1. Timed repeated reading
2. Re-reading
3. Predicting
4. Thinking about the story
5. Listen to the recording