Study Group In Brain Based Learning

Study Group Of 20 Teachers And Administrators Created On February 2014 To Promote Brain Based Learning At Rochester School In Bogotá, Colombia.

HOW DID WE START?

In the beginning of February 2014, I posted an email ad inviting people from the school community to participate voluntarily on a study group to know the benefits of Brain Based Learning in our school environment. Within one week, 20 interested people answered positively! Among them, 13 of them were teachers, 2 of them were therapists, 2 of them were mothers, 1 was a literature promoter from the library and 2 of them were administrators.

Course Outline:

12 Principles

Brain Structure, Chemistry And Functions

Use Of Energizers, Hooks, Rituals And Procedures To Improve Class Management

Use Of Thinking Routines – Project Zero Classroom

7 Strategies: Vicmarc

Brain Health And Nutrition

Every other Wednesday, starting February 12, we met for a period of two hours, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., and ended the 30th of June, culminating a total of 10 sessions during the semester…

The experience for everybody was more than fulfilling… We studied, used many different resources, discussed the day to day teaching challenges and I had the opportunity to model a BBL class structure…

We went from story telling, to videos, to reading, to dancing, to meditating… More than once, there were so many questions about how the brain worked, that content became just an excuse to get together and share our visions on education… They showed very much interest in principle # 8, the snowman, ENVIRONMENT COUNTS, and discovered many things about the importance of relationships, linking it to our school’s philosophy on William Glasser’s Choice Theory. Words such as plasticity, adaptability and change, remained throughout the course, as a miracle discovery for the everyday job of teaching, learning and parenting…

Our last two sessions in June were dedicated to Health Coaching, for which I invited a guest speaker, Gina Yepes, who talked about tips that would help our brain to maintain itself in shape. Things such as drinking water, proper nutrition, exercise and sleep, were some of the themes that were discussed in that particular workshop.

We did homework, reading assignments, varied social structures for group sharing and GLP walks to stay on task…

Our last and final session was a cooking class in a nearby university, where they have a Gastronomy Department, and I arranged two chefs to teach us a complete meal, that inspired brain health! We learned to cook salmon in a passion fruit dressing, a mixed salad with almonds, among other exquisite entrées!