My take aways:

1.  Long term memories become short term memories again when we recall them.  That’s important because it means that in order for that memory to be set back into long term storage it must go through the whole process of consolidation again.  This seems counter intuitive to me.  Shouldn’t the items we access the most often be the things that are most likely to be in long term storage?

2.  Recalling something that you learned is not like going to the library and pulling a book off the shelf and reading the information.  Dr. Medina likens it to a dective having to put together a case from a single scrap of information.  If all the puzzle pieces can’t be found then the brain may go to other unrelated memories to pull together an entire memory.  But we don’t know that has happened.  This helps to explain to me why most educators remember the early years of their career being a lot less full of trouble with students.  I have never been fully convinced that today’s students are less respectful, less willing to learn, less able to learn, etc.   Perhaps another way to describe this retrieval process is to liken it to looking up something on the Internet using Google!  You can get lots of good information that goes with your target but you might also turn up some product sold on a TV infomercial.

3.  Information needs to be repeated in short periodic bursts.  This one can be a problem with my elementary classes.  I only get to see them on set days of the week.  I really see this become a problem when I have a section of a class that meets on Mondays and Fridays.  I didn’t realize exactly how many of the days we have off are on Monday and Friday until I had a single section of a grade level that met only on these 2 days!  Not only were they further behind in being presented information but they also had a much more difficult time recalling things from the last class.  The challenge in presenting the same information multiple times is that it still needs to be interesting to the students on the 2nd and 3rd showing.  Perhaps this is where using things like Gardener’s Multiple Intelligence Theory would help to make learning more palitable.  Using these separate types of learning would also help the brain to make new and different connections with the material.  This should also help to solidify the learning that has taken place.

My take aways:

1.  Information  that gets into my brain is sliced up in many different small parts and sent to different areas even though the information fits together.    So the information for how I go about singing a certain piece is stored all over my brain.  Pieces about correct diction are stored in different places than those about how to breathe for a phrase  or how to use my facial muscles to convey an emotion.

2.  Our brains like patterns.  Comparing and contrasting a new idea to ideas that are already understood helps the learning of both ideas to be more permanent.  I do this to some degree in my classroom when I teach.  On the day the half note is introduced to my students we spend a few minutes talking about how it is the same and different as the quarter note (a note they are already really familiar with) both in its visual qualities and its musical meanings.

3.  Automatic processing is key! Students have a much better chance of recalling information if the setting where it was presented to them is recreated.   This is part of the reason why we have a “dress rehearsal” for our concerts.  I want my students to be recalling how to sing in the concert hall (gym) during the concert not learning how to do it during the concert.  Before we even get to the dress rehearsal I’ve been going over with the kids the basics of “how to” perform.  How do you stand?  Where do you look?  Where do you stand?  What’s the difference between a good performance and an average one?  Hopefully because of the number of repetitions of the information their body recalls it automatically.  Once we get in front of an audience whole pieces of the brain are busy helping the student to cope with this new piece of the puzzle.  I need for as many parts of the performance to be automatic as possible.  If I can remove other stresses it is more likely my students will be able to focus on and enjoy the process of making the music.

My take aways:

1.  I should structure my lesson into10 minutes segments of time.  I did this often during my first few years of teaching.  I only see my students for 20 or 30 minutes twice a week.  Using this format helped me as the teacher to stay organized.  Early in my career I had a tendency to over explain things.   Since I knew I HAD to move on to my second idea in ten minutes it helped me to keep things concentrated.

2.  I must connect each thing I am teaching to my students some how.  So often I think teacher feel the need to explain to kids why their subject is necessary.  Upon reading this book I was reminded that the student does not always need a “logical” investment in the subject.  Those emotional investments can provide learning that is just as, if not more permanent.  This is especially true for my elementary kids.  My subject becomes important because it’s how some kids cope with day to day living.  Part of what I do is helping my students to uncover why music moves people in such wonderful ways.

3.  Multi-tasking is a myth! Like many folks my initial response to this is “No Way! I multi-task all the time!”  But the author is referring to completing items that require us to pay attention.  Everything we do requires some degree of attention.  I can type and a answer a student’s question but neither item is going to get my best work.  This presents problems.  I can walk and talk at the same time but there are very few times in my life where my absolute best walking has been demanded of me for long periods of time.   But this idea of no multi-tasking does make me wonder about some of the new trends in technology in education, specifically the inclusion of a “back channel” in a classroom.  I do wonder about the long term effects on the student who is constantly being “multi-stimulated” in a classroom.  I know, I know, I’m going really old school here.  This one item may eventually turn into a whole blog post for me later.

Lots of really interesting technical information in this chapter.  While I enjoyed reading it I’m still sifting out what parts of it will benefit my teaching.

My Take Aways:

1.  Did you know the information about vowels and the information about consonants are stored in different places in our brains?  And our brains can lose the power to put that information back together again through things like strokes.  Yikes!  Our brain is truly a powerful thing!

2.  There is a lot of interaction between different sections of our brain.  So all that wiring is rally important

3.  Our brain is continually connecting new areas up to one another.  No one’s brain is stagnant!  I think Ian Jukes calls it “plasticity”.  This is truly a wonderful thing - it means we all can be life-long learners!

1.   We have three brains.  That’s an interesting way of thinking about what our brain does for us.  I know I learned all this stuff in high school but it’s nice to be reminded.

Our Brain Video

2.  Music has it’s own form of “dual representation” in the form of musical notation.  I understand that this skill is unique to humans.  But is it a skill we develop?  When should we really begin to stimulate it’s development?  When I started teaching I thought it was so important to teach my first graders how to read musical notation proficiently and SOON.  I spent many days trying to pound this information into their heads.  Some kids never really got it.  So should I wait to begin to teach this information till later on?  There were many things in math I never really understood for the first few years that they were presented to me.  Take multiplication for instance.  I could recite my facts tables and even did quite well in math all through school but I didn’t really grasp what multiplication was until the end of fourth grade.  But I was presented that information at the beginning of 3rd grade.  Did I need those 2 years of having access to the information before I was really able to fully understand it?

3.  Learning requires some emotional investment on the part of the student.  My students MUST feel comfortable around me.  This is a fine line to draw.  After all I must have control in my classroom for everyone to be safe.  I need to make sure my students feel supported in their learning so that they can operate at optimum efficiency.   I especially need to remember this with my tiny little Kindergarten kids at the beginning of the year.  They scare sooooo easily.

That will free up this virtual space to host my professional endeavors.  Thanks!

Rule #1 - Exercise boots brain power.

Exercise video

1.  Our bodies think better when we move daily.  Did you know in our caveman days we walked between 10 and 12 miles EVERY day.

2.  People who exercise can focus better.

3.  Why do we make our students SIT for so long during the day?  Every little bit helps.  Have them trade seats every 10 minutes if you can’t work in something more.

And I’ve watched many other students walk into my room knowing only that they wanted a blog because it sounded exciting. “Being on the internet will make me famous,” they thought. So we sit down and brainstorm things they might be interested in blogging about. Eventually we come to idea and the blogging begins. But inside this group there are a few kids who never really got past just “being famous on the net”. These students are the ones I struggle with. Every time one of their classmates starts something new on their blog they want to do it to.

“That looks cool! Show me how to do it on my blog.,” says my student.

“But honey your blog is about internet gaming not writing your own music.” I respond.

There’s so much to teach them and I only get them for a little while.

Then it hits me…..I blog this way…I’m the little dude that can’t focus. I want my blog to be about everything that I’m interested in. I’m interested in music, education, teaching, technology, geocaching and the list goes on! Can’t I just jput it all up there? Is that wrong? Perhaps that’s why I’m the one who’s most interested in reading my blog! Once I can figure out how to help myself then I can begin to help my students more effectively.

But first I need to decide if this is something that even needs fixing.

1. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Elton John
2. Maniac from Flashdance!
3. Find Me Tonight -  Everyday Sunday
4. Blazin’ Your Own Trail - REO Speedwagon
5. In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
6. Country Road Take Me Home - John Denver
7. Sunshine on My Shoulders - John Denver