![]() Is intelligence determined at birth? Will concentrated effort shift academic abilities? What if I told you, that you have the power to change your brain by improving how you approach learning and how you study. Judy Willis, a former neurologist, now middle school teacher, shared some fantastic incites on brain based strategies, and how teaching simple activities to improve brain processing, students will not only become more engaged and confident, but they also begin changing their study practices which leads to higher achievement (Willis, 2010). Teaching students how our brains operate is a huge step in empowering them on how they can control their own cognitive and emotional health, and bonus….their learning! You can control what gets filtered into your prefrontal cortex. Your physical health, emotions and how well you focus attention affects whether new information reaches the brain or gets filtered because of negative emotions. Having students “prime” themselves for learning entails focusing on positive moods (Willis, 2007). Every morning, I start the day by sharing “good things" and the kids can't wait! Loosing teeth is a biggie in first grade. The day begins on a positive note, therefore opening their minds to learning and maintaining focus. Visualizing, picturing vocabulary words or even imagining a math story play out can really helps with recalling the information taught. Breathing exercises before a test or hefty lesson helps students stay calm, therefore understand and remember more information. Neuroplasticity is when the brain grows new connections between neurons when we experience something new. By practicing, visualizing and using the new information, we can strengthen these new connections. The connections forming between the neurons are called dendrites (Willis, 2010). The brain is such a fascinating organ, and as educators we should know more about! It is the most powerful tool, and the more we practice, the sharper we will become. The more repetition, the more neurons grow and connect to other neurons. Every day when I walk into our classroom, I have project based learning activities ready to go, and support them if they don't know the correct answers. Mistakes are a great way to learn! We are helping them become more mindful and helping them grow those dendrites. I have noticed, with multiple brain breaks a day, my students are much happier, they have better attitudes and their study habits increased as well. Using brain science to promote learning and success in your classroom will create mindful, happy students. We breathe, we learn, we grow. Reference: Willis, J. (2007). How to Teach Students About the Brain. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Health and Learning. Volume 67. Number 4.
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![]() In this article, Bintz' major aim is to instill instructional strategies that give students tools they need in order to achieve success in reading and writing. His target is through singing across all content areas (Bintz, 2010). He expresses his hopes for teachers to use this strategy in their classrooms, to help all students, like it helped his own. Singing supports personal expression, builds community and connects reading and writing naturally (Vacca et al., 2006). Bintz states that singing songs help students learn core phonics, build phonemic awareness and even builds sight word vocabularies. He goes on to say that repeated singings and readings help develop reading fluency (Bintz, 2010). Would you know how to sing, The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round without repetitive singing when you were young? What about Take Me Out To The Ball Game? Bintz also mentions to take a popular song, giving it a new title and words and present it to your students. For example: The song Row Row Row your Boat with changed lyrics a parents desperate plea to put their child to sleep now goes: Go Go Go to Sleep (with the tune of Row Row Row your Boat). I thought this was genius! I do the same thing with my students to line up, only they sing a counting-by-threes song using the Jingle Bell tune. (3, 6, 9…12, 15….18, 21. 24, 27, 30 and we’re done) The students love it and they learned to count by 3’s! Bintz, who is a graduate professor, describes how one can add in more than just words to a song. You can teach by using figurative language and metaphors. You can delve into science and analyze the differences between climate and weather amongst many other amazing ideas (Bintz, 2010). As I was reading this article, Bintz talks about similar issues that I currently face as a teacher in primary classroom: reading. When I look at my schools’ overall reading and writing scores, I can’t help but think why? Why are student's scores not as high as they should be and how can I fix it? I have a passion of wanting students to love what they read, to pick up a book rather than opt for just listening to someone else read to them. So I started singing phonics patterns to them when were learning our spelling patterns and sounds. We started moving our bodies to the beats, we come up with songs all day long. Their little ears perked up and their bodies started moving. We were in business! I had found a new way into their hearts and souls, dancing, singing and coming up with our own songs and jingles. Tips and tricks: Bintz also mentions to take a popular song, giving it a new title and words and present it to your students. For example: The song Row Row Row your Boat and with changed the lyrics a parents desperate plea to put their child to sleep and now the lyrics are; Go Go Go to Sleep (with the tune of Row Row Row your Boat). I thought this was genius! I do the same thing with my students to line up only they sing a counting by threes song using the Jingle Bell tune. (3, 6, 9…12, 15….18, 21. 24, 27, 30 and we’re done) The students love it and they learned to count by 3’s! Bintz, who is a graduate professor, describes how one can add in more than just words to a song. You can teach by using figurative language and metaphors. You can delve into science and analyze the differences between climate and weather amongst many other amazing ideas (Bintz, 2010). Through all the songs Bintz talked about in his article (science songs, weather songs..) he mentioned that the students were not only engaged but didn’t separate reading and writing from science but integrated them efficiently! He goes on to say you can use singing in any content area. I use singing familiar tunes all day everyday and am even known to volunteers as the “singing teacher!” It works! It is not only an engagement strategy, but a very effective learning tool! As a newer teacher, I naturally sung directions, activites or pretty much anything, and realized that students are really drawn to singing. I say a direction, and they sing it right back to me. We have fun with it, it helps build relationships and when you align it to your lessons, it is even more powerful. Try it out sometime. References: Bintz, W. P. (2010). Singing Across the Curriculum. Reading Teacher, 63(8), 683-686. Vacca, J.L, Vacca, R.T., Grove, M.K., Burkey, L.C., Lenhart, L.A., & McKeon, C.A. (2006. Reading and Learning to Read (6th ed). Boston: Allyn &Bacon. ![]() Neurophysiologist and author Carla Hannaford wrote the book, Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head. This was a fantastic book to read and I recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about the connection between physical movement and learning…at any age. What do we enjoy about music? First of all, it triggers emotions, feelings, laughter and tears but it also assists in the development of the limbic system and its connection to high level reasoning and memory (Hannaford 1995). The earlier children are introduced to music, dancing and exploring movements, the more their brains develop and can express emotions in healthy ways. Dopamine is important to cognitive processing because it activates the amygdala around emotions having to do with new, exciting experiences, which are necessary in learning and memory (Hannaford, 1995). When a child hears a song they have heard before, their bodies start moving and they get excited. Isn’t that how we all feel when a Bruce Springsteen song comes on...Or is that just me? How about Taylor Swift? Hannaford talks about rote learning-which is a memorization technique based on repetition. The idea behind rote learning is one will be able to recall the meaning of the material the more they repeat it. Movement is necessary to gain the thought and build the nerve networks (Hannaford, 1995). Using gestures, body movements, or any other movement associated with what one is learning can highly benefit. I can directly relate to this as I have found that teaching the terms horizontal and vertical to first graders was extremely effective when I put my arms out (horizontally) and then straight up (vertically). We have a little song that goes with it- and its great to teach oblique lines, perpendicular and so on. Now lets take our focus back to the brain. We all know that nerves are fibers that transmit sensations to the brain and then on to our muscles and organs. There are three parts that make up your brain: The cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. The cerebrum encourages remembering, problem solving, thinking, movement and feeling. The cerebellum is at the back of the head and controls coordination and balance. Finally the brain stem connects to your spinal cord. This controls automatic functions like breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood pressure. Movement anchors Thinking and learning. “The cerebellum possesses the fasted conducting pathways between itself and the neo-cortex adding 5-10% to the speed with which the cortex can put together information and reason. Thus moving while learning increases the learning” (Hannaford, 1995 p. 110). Another chapter I found very intriguing associating movement and the brain is the vestibular system. A quick review on the vestibular system: A sensory system that provides contribution to the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance. I saw a student dragging her hands up against the hallway. Another teacher, in passing, firmly told the students to get their hands off the wall. I walked along in silence thinking, “Hmmm, was she upset the wall might be dirty now?” Then a seminar I attended a few months after had an occupational therapist talk about certain things children do, how to help and what to be cautious of. She mentioned the hallways and students dragging their hands against the wall. My ears perked up immediately. I found it astonishing that children are trying to find a balance. They need to feel the structured wall in order to find their “place” in the world. The spatial connection to our body’s movements and our brains are connected and influence each other in so many ways! The more they develop their sense of balance and their entire vestibular system, in turn affects their hearing, attention, language, and all learning.” (Hannaford, 1995) Involving cross lateral movements directly stimulate the vestibular system by strengthening it. When I have a brain break, I make sure to add in their the cross lateral movements. Those precious brains need as much exposure to movements and understanding their bodies. Learning is experience. Everything else is just information. -Albert Einstein Reference: Hannaford, C. (1995). Smart moves: Why learning is not all in your head. Arlington, VA: Great Ocean. ![]() This article explores the hypothesis that fundamental benefits of performing arts involvement make up an important contribution to learning (Jensen, 2000). Science says that theatrical involvement during learning facilitates the maturation of the brain’s cortical systems. (Allman, 1999) Movements such as spinning and body rotation can have an effect of the formation of brain areas responsible for controlling spatial, visual and auditory functions which in turn enhance learner maturation and brain function (Jensen, 2000). I found this to be very interesting, as in my classroom I incorporate multiple brain systems throughout my lessons. One that came to mind is an exercise to remember what horizontal and vertical mean. We have a song that goes along with movement of using our arms to show vertical and horizontal. Anytime I need to get their attention, I can do the movement and immediately they lip-sync the words as they do the movement. Activating one part of the brain can activate another part of our brain, which helps with cognition. This article also talks about how movement increased the standardized testing scores of the National Reading Exams. The graph below illustrates that success. I found it interesting that Jensen mentions pantomiming and how it is a great tool for teaching social skills. It allows for the development of nonverbal skills, combining thoughts and acting out something when prompted. This article also supports motivation and brain neurotransmitters. Students that show helplessness in a classroom often suffer from a chronic depletion of the chemicals-acetylcholine, dopamine, GABA, norepinephrine and serotonin. These neurotransmitters are the fuel for thinking, planning, feeling good and taking action (Jensen, 2000). These specific students would definitely benefit from movement incorporated into their lessons. Therapy can also aide in this disability, but Jensen’s research states that, “re-wiring the brain is more effective in feeling successful and rebalancing the brain through active movement.” When it comes to cognition, Jensen mentions a study in which students had to remember all 50 states and they did that by running around the room to each state that was placed on the floor. Did they remember where they were? Yes. In my classroom we incorporate spelling with sounds of a drum. Students use the parts of the brain that stimulates body movement and in turn, the correct spelling. We use clapping and catchy songs to aide in that cognition. The difference in telling students that we use a “ck” after a short vowel and coming up with a song and snapping fingers to trigger those important brain systems in powerful! The orbitofrontal Cortex is the part of the brain that aides in cognition, sensation and emotion (Jenson, 2000). Emotions play a huge role in overall intelligence. What we can control is how we regulate that system. Movement is a key factor in expressing our human emotion. The brain is a beautiful thing. Understanding its components and how to best use the brain systems to better understand our students in education can be so powerful. References: Allman, J.M. 1999. Evolving Brains. New York, NY: Scientific American Library. Jensen, E. 2000. Learning with the Body in Mind. San Diego, CA: The Brain Store, Inc. Palmer, Lyelle. 1980. Auditory discrimination through vestibule-cochlear stimulation. Academic Therapy. September. 16(1): 55-68. ![]() This article was about how math and music are closely related and how it traces back to early life of a human. There are elements of music such as tempo, rhythm and beat that trigger principles like spatial properties, sequencing and counting patterns. (Geist and Kuznik 2012). They mention of how parts of the brain process steady beats and how that is closely related to attention. Mathematical learning begins very early in life. There have been many studies on infants and the benefit of music in their developmental stages of emergent mathematics and literacy. If we teach patterns through musical influences at an early age, there is a good possibility it will benefit a child's cognitive abilities. (Bell et al. 2009; Meltzoff et al. 2009). Human brains process the sound of steady beats in the premotor area of the brain which is coincidentally related to attention (Bengtsson et al. 2008). I find that very interesting because if you think of going to a concert, we all bob to the same beat and if we weren't paying attention, we would all be off beat. After reading article upon article, I really loved and connected on what Geist and Kuznik had to say about music and the effects of the brain-especially relating to early life. One of the pieces that really stood out to me was the mention of how a steady drum beat (or rhythm-only stimuli) was more engaging than verbal only instructions (Geist, Kuznik 2012). I found this to be very true when I was in my first year of teaching. I noticed when I incorporated drumming beats during our syllable and spelling lessons, it really got those little bodies moving and brains firing. Same with math patterns. I started a conga line as we sung the "doubles rap." They were attentive, they smiled, and they really focused on the beat of the drum in relation to the spelling word or math problem. Another point Geist and Kuznik mention that I found to be interesting was that our bodies naturally move to a steady beat. When Geist and Kuznik mention that steady beat in the premotor context of our brains related to attention, I took a look back in time when I started to drum, or clap to a beat- the kids immediately followed along. There is no denying that music doesn't help us learn. On top of learning, it generally makes us happy which in turn, stimulates our brains and that is when the wanting to learn begins and therefore leads to ultimate retention. Reference: Geist, K., Geist, E. A., & Kuznik, K. (2012). The patterns of music: Young children learning mathematics through beat, rhythm, and melody. YC Young Children, 67(1), 74. |
About:Welcome to my blog! If you are interested in learning how music, movement and the brain work together, check out my summaries and reviews based on peer reviewed and research based articles. I have loved reading and learning more about how music, exercise and movement help the brain learn. I hope you enjoy it too! Archives
March 2017
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