Ed Surge – Sydney Johnson
“Jasselle Cirino’s classroom might surprise those accustomed to traditional lectures. Instead of being told to sit quietly and listen, her first graders absorb material through physical movement, vocal exercises and group activities meant to indulge in students’ tendencies to socialize, move and speak. “We’re teaching to use multiple parts of the brain to better engage students and retain more information,” says Cirino, a former classroom teacher now training for Reading Recovery, a nonprofit tutoring program for first-grade students. The approach is something Cirino and other educators refer to as “Whole Brain Teaching.” It involves techniques—like assigning arm gestures to instructional content to engage students’ motor cortex, or call and response phrases that grab attention and tap into students’ prefrontal cortex—specifically designed to tickle different parts of the brain while learning. And it’s becoming more popular among scientists and educators alike, who believe teachers—and therefore students—can benefit from a better understanding of how the brain works.”(more)