Learning is an essential survival skill, as it helps us thrive in new or changing situations. We can all agree that the goal of learning is to perform well when it counts. But let’s be clear that learning is not performance. Just memorizing material does not ensure the ability to test well or know how...
Learning is an essential survival skill, as it helps us thrive in new or changing situations. Yet this can be uncomfortable and challenging. Sometimes the stakes are high. Knowing how the brain works can give us the inside track to learning and develop resilience. *Amygdala. Test anxiety can diminish our test taking abilities. The amygdala is...
Memory magic happens when learners interact with the material using all senses. Hearing, seeing, saying and having correlating action helps everyone learn new information. Learning Styles. Cognitive Skills, such as visual memory, visual processing, auditory memory, auditory processing, spatial logic, working memory, long term...
Knowing this can set us up for optimal learning. Our brains are part of our whole connected person and it all works together in an interconnected porous way. If we do not have these foundational aspects then we have compromised our ability to learn and perform. *Sleep 8-10 hours. Optimal sleep is your superpower. Sleep...
It tasted like cardboard. Literary cardboard. Tasteless characters, simplified plot, with bland language. Martha, my friend and mentor, cocked her head to one side as I explained we had taken her advice and I read aloud the Greater Illustrated version of Heidi and we weren’t impressed. When I finished she smiled and handed me...
Good readers play a movie in their mind as they read. They are imagining and filling in details to complete the story. Whereas poor readers see only words and sparse pictures. Let’s play with this sentence: The dog chased the squirrel up the tree. What do you imagine? Look how many details are left to...
PLAY IS THE WORK OF CHILDHOOD, SO LET’S PLAY! Foster your children’s love of nature and science with these unforgettable learning experiences. Watching caterpillars form a chrysalis and then emerge is almost as spell binding as seeing them use their proboscis to sip from an orange slice. Enjoy! Butterfly Garden Ant Habitat NASA gel...
Have you read Daniel 3 about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refusing to worship the gold 90’ tall idol, despite death threats? They stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC because they were trusting God, boldly proclaiming even if He didn’t save them, they would still choose to trust Him. It is IN the fiery...
I just wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t plow through 100 math facts in the allotted time with perfection. For a while my punishment was to miss recess and do it again, chained to my desk with my arch enemy. Thus began my fearful relationship with math that endured until I learned to teach math at...
The longest longitudinal study of humans is the Harvard Grant Study that began in 1938 is still being continued today. It reveals the two variables from childhood that predict happy and successful adults: 1. Love 2. Good Work Ethic Based on the experiences of 724 high achievers that were part of the study, childhood chores...
