Brain Compatible Teaching Quiz Reflection

 How Brain Compatible is My Teaching/School/District Quiz Reflection

Page 11 of How the Brain Learns, 6th Edition by David A. Sousa

Most of the scores for this survey fell in the mid to high range. Those items that fell in the mid (3) range, were because as a teacher I feel that I am not as intentional about setting up some of those opportunities. For example, giving students time to talk about what they are learning could certainly increase, but there is a line between discussing the learning and getting distracted. Numbers 9 and 10 I rated as a 2 overall because they are not terms I am familiar with (chunking and primacy-recency effect). After reading the definitions, those are present in my lessons and daily teaching, but I am not intentional with the approaches yet. 

The other item that I would score at the mid range is adapting the curriculum to the windows of opportunity during cognitive growth. This happens naturally in the curriculum, first grade concepts are introduced in first grade when students are ready for that information. There could be room for more growth there, but we are adjusting the content per student as needed everyday, so changing the curriculum is not inherently necessary. Our school does not have a rigid stance of following the chosen curriculum in certain order or intensity. Teachers are able to adjust and use the parts of the curriculum to the best advantage to the students and supplement as needed. The goal is student growth and ensuring the state standards are met by the end of the year. 

Overall, my teaching approach as well as the approach of my school is very brain-compatible. Most of the rating items seemed to be just basic best practice. As long as schools are continuing to keep student needs in the forefront of their educational planning and teachers continue to do reflective teaching, maintaining a brain-compatible, highly effective learning environment can be accomplished with only a little extra effort.