Saturday, February 7, 2015

Rapping About the Brain

On Friday, my colleagues studied some brain based learning research and learned about MindUp, an approach to creating awareness in your thinking, and how the brain and emotions affect our learning. One of the tasks was to do a song or skit about a part of the brain. Our group was given the amygdala. This rap is based on the old school Run DMC song "My Adidas." Enjoy!

Me and My Amygdala, walking through the land
Keeping me safe from things unplanned
It's the center of my brain controlling, fight, flight or freeze
'Cause living in the world ain't no easy breeze
Can't clean up your mess just by sprayin' Febreeze

My Amygdala is the part of the brain that regulates
Keeps in check my emotional state
When I'm positive it feeds me thoughts and reasoning
Gives my imagination flavor and seasoning

But when I'm scared, I don't shut down
It turns off my judgment because it's time to throw down!
It protects me from threats, so I can survive
But I still have to manage it, if I want to thrive

ME and my Amygdala!

Mark with Less Effort - Let's Talk About it!

I have been thinking a lot about giving kids feedback versus grades lately. What makes for smarter kids?

I had some students choose their own questions from a list I provided so that they would think more deeply about their novels. Students read novels in groups, and then used these questions to have discussions. The students then proceeded to write answers in their OneNote notebooks that I provided them with the OneNote notebook Class Creator.

 Two-thirds of my students... have a personal device, be it a parent's old laptop, a small android tablet, or an iPad. The rest use the class computer, or do the assignment on paper in point form, and enter it online when they go home where they have a computer.

I can access all the student notebooks from within my OneNote notebook, and when I use the desktop app, I can record my voice into their notebooks using the "Insert Recording" button and my laptop mic! This means I can leave them a personal message with lots of specific details on how to improve their writing. I can give far more feedback this way, than I would when I write it out. Also, I have learned through my research that student listening comprehension is higher than reading comprehension as high as age 13. Seeing that I teach students from ages 11-13, this is an important consideration.

I don't tell them their mark in the recording, but keep their mark in my mark book. when the student wants to know the mark, they have to approach me, and tell me the feedback I gave them in order to know their mark. I have learned that kids only pay close attention to the written feedback if they are negatively surprised by the mark they receive. Often students need to go back and listen again to my feedback, and this has improved their reading and writing skills.

If students are using OneNote online, they need to right-click on the audio file, download, and then playback the comment.

 If they are opening their OneNote notebook in a desktop program or app, they should be able to play it back by clicking on the play button to the left of the recording.

My students have told me they like having personal messages recorded into their homework, and it allows me to provide better feedback, closer to the time the student finishes their work. It saves me time, a lot of effort, and I don't carry papers home with me to mark. Try it yourself!