{"id":10609,"date":"2017-01-26T07:48:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T12:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10609"},"modified":"2017-01-26T07:48:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T12:48:52","slug":"book-review-the-motivated-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10609","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Motivated Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’m a member of professional learning community called ASCD<\/a> that sends me great resources every month or so. \u00a0Some of the books are extremely helpful and some of them likely might be better fits for other people or situations. \u00a0One of their recent resources was The Motivated Brain: Improving Student Attention, Engagement, and Perseverance<\/em><\/a> by Gayle Gregory and Martha Kaufeldt. \u00a0Definitely an attention grabbing title! \u00a0I can’t imagine anyone that wouldn’t be interested in learning more about motivation…particularly in the areas of student engagement. \u00a0If that isn’t something that keeps you up at night, you likely ought not be an educator. \u00a0This book is not written from a Christian perspective, in fact it has a pretty strong evolutionary tilt…but there are some very valuable points to consider if you can take the time to sift through that. \u00a0This book has great research on neuroscience and how understanding the way the brain works should inform the way that you structure your classroom and the way that you plan to engage your students. \u00a0This book is a pretty quick read and one that I will definitely pass along to others. \u00a0I know that I particularly learned a good bit about the way that I learn and how that knowledge is helpful to me as I approach something new.<\/p>\n

I took highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • Motivation, enthusiasm, perseverance, drive, grit, and tenacity are currently very hot topics in education. \u00a0Understanding how to get students to pay attention and engage in rigorous tasks is something ever teacher desires. \u00a0p. 1<\/li>\n
  • Originally referred to as “brain-based\u201d and \u201cbrain-compatible\u201d teaching, this instructional pedagogy is now often labeled \u201cbrain-friendly\u201d. \u00a0The philosophy and strategies encompass the following elements:
    \nthe design of the learning environment
    \n<\/i>the use and scheduling of time
    \n<\/i>the integration of\u00a0play<\/i> and joyfulness
    \n<\/i>opportunities for firsthand learning<\/i>\u00a0and outdoor experiences
    \n<\/i>the importance of collaboration<\/i> and social interactions
    \n<\/i>relevant and\u00a0meaningful connections<\/i> to the content
    \nrespectful understanding of students\u2019 cultures, interests, and prior experiences
    \nthe importance of student voice, choice, and self-determination p. 3<\/li>\n
  • A growth mindset and the ability to persevere when faced with setbacks are skills that can be developed with practice and opportunities to make mistakes. p. 4<\/li>\n
  • \u201cTraditional schooling isn\u2019t working for an awful lot of students. \u00a0We can respond to that fact either by trying to fix the system (so it meets kids\u2019 needs better) or by trying to fix the kids (so they\u2019re more compliant and successful at whatever they are told to do).\u201d \u00a0Alfie Kohn p. 4<\/li>\n
  • Our challenge as educators is this: how can we encourage students to allocate some of their energy into their learning and school experiences. \u00a0p. 5<\/li>\n
  • If we don\u2019t learn how to deal with frustration and obstacles, we are not likely to choose challenging or risky paths and will perhaps lead a life of mediocrity and predictability. \u00a0The trait of delaying gratification is necessary to persevere despite encountering obstacles. \u00a0p. 14<\/li>\n
  • If learning is interesting, challenging, and meaningful, doing the work is its own reward. \u00a0p. 19<\/li>\n
  • If students feel disconnected and frustrated that their needs are not met, they will likely give up. \u00a0A sense of not belonging is a major source of school failure (Glasser, 1998) \u00a0Students need to feel that they belong and have some choices and a certain degree of personal control. \u00a0p. 20<\/li>\n
  • As educators, we need to be more overt and transparent as we connect student assignments to curriculum standards as well as real-world standards. \u00a0p. 25<\/li>\n
  • Rather than working under the construct that our reward system is triggered when we complete a task or finally achieve our intentions, the theory is that the SEEKING system provides us with continued enthusiasm, interest, and motivation while we are in the midst of processing incoming information that is important to us. \u00a0We feel good while we are doing the task, not just upon its completion. \u00a0Dopamine provides us with a continued feeling of \u201cwanting\u201d as we seek, investigate, and research, and this is a desirable, even pleasurable feeling. \u00a0p. 38<\/li>\n
  • Research shows that the dopamine system is the one that leads enthusiastic appetitive behavior, while the opioid system registers the satisfaction of gaining various specific rewards. \u00a0Thus, in education we need to encourage productive seeking as much as the satisfaction of goals achieved. \u00a0p. 41<\/li>\n
  • When we get thrilled about the world of ideas, about making intellectual connections, about making meaning, it is the SEEKING circuits that are activated. \u00a0If, in fact, the SEEKING system underlies all positive motivation, tapping this system would be a key to success in classrooms. \u00a0If educators can stimulate this system into action, they can trigger students\u2019 instinctual urge to get out there, do something, find answers, and learn! p. 45<\/li>\n
  • The brain is naturally curious, and offering puzzles or conflicting or discrepant events will cause the brain to begin SEEKING answers or solutions. \u00a0p. 54<\/li>\n
  • \u201cElements of instruction\u2026should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing education. \u00a0A freeman ought not to be a slave in the acquisition of knowledge of any kind. \u00a0Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.\u201d \u00a0Plato 387 BC p. 55<\/li>\n
  • Our innate need for belonging is a catalyst for cooperation and sets a good stage for interactive exploration. \u00a0p. 56<\/li>\n
  • It is a feedback loop: cooperation fosters belongingness and belongingness leads to cooperation. \u00a0p. 56<\/li>\n
  • Sometimes teachers involve students in developing classroom norms so that they have meaning and ownership for all students. \u00a0Ask students what norms are important to them in school and in the classroom. \u00a0Giving them a voice and then listening and acting on their needs gives them a sense of emotional, psychological, and cognitive safety. \u00a0This trusting environment lessens the chance for stress and anxiety and prevents cortisol (stress hormone) release. \u00a0Without the \u201creflex response\u201d in a stressful environment, students are more motivated to keep working on tasks without fear of failure and within and atmosphere of peer support. \u00a0Their ability to focus and problem solve is greater as they are working in the prefrontal cortex and not in the fight, flight, or freeze mode. \u00a0p. 60<\/li>\n
  • Pre-assessing students\u2019 capabilities lets teachers know what students already know, what they are interested in, and what gaps there are to fill, so there is a foundation on which we can attach the new learning. \u00a0Sometimes in pre-assessing we realize that students have \u201cburning questions\u201d that set up the appetitive SEEKING system. \u00a0p. 67<\/li>\n
  • It\u2019s not about educators filling up \u201cempty vessels\u201d; it\u2019s about students coming up with questions and ideas and learning alongside the teachers. \u00a0p. 71<\/li>\n
  • Classrooms must be designed to facilitate multiple opportunities to do active processing. \u00a0Processing new learning in a variety of ways, multiple times over several days, and discussing it with others will build long-term memories and deepen learning. \u00a0If the initial experience is relevant, meaningful, fun, novel, and exciting, the learning will gladly SEEK to do it again and again. \u00a0p. 77<\/li>\n
  • \u201cAllowing one\u2019s self to be puzzled helps generate anticipation of knowing a solution to what is causing the puzzlement\/mental discontinuity. \u00a0The mental discontinuity can function to help create a broader continuity (a larger connected chuck of reality). \u00a0A student who explores what she finds remarkable, interesting, and important is more wonderfully mentally aroused and engaged. \u00a0Teacher-telling doesn\u2019t help exploration.\u201d \u00a0Pritscher, 2011, p. 12 p. 88<\/li>\n
  • Students with a growth mindset will be more motivated to keep on working despite setbacks. \u00a0Teachers can teach students about how their brains work and the concept of neuroplasiiicity that assures them that brains continue to grow and change throughout life even into old age. \u00a0p. 92<\/li>\n
  • Teachers must be willing and motivated to become learners, too. \u00a0We will no longer always be the \u201ckeepers of the knowledge.\u201d \u00a0Investigating, analyzing, and problem solving are skills we will need to develop and practice right along with our students. \u00a0It\u2019s been said that \u201cthinking will not be driven by answers but by questions.\u201d \u00a0Educators really can\u2019t continue to replicate a mode of teaching that is obsolete in our current era (Pritscher, 2011). \u00a0p. 97<\/li>\n
  • One of the most important tasks in education is to provide opportunities to teach students how to learn on their own throughout their lifetimes. \u00a0p. 99<\/li>\n
  • Norman Webbs \u201cDepth of Knowledge\u201d taxonomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
    \n
      \n
    1. Recall and Reproduction<\/li>\n
    2. Skills and Concepts<\/li>\n
    3. Strategic Thinking<\/li>\n
    4. Extended Thinking p. 105<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      • \u201cOur capacity to think is fueled by our storehouses of memory and knowledge acquired by living in complex physical and social worlds. But the ancient feeling states help forge our memories in the first place.\u201d (Weintraub, 2012, p. 66) p. 105<\/li>\n
      • \u201cPreschool children, on average, ask their parents about 100 questions a day. \u00a0Why, why, why\u2014sometimes parents just wish it would stop. \u00a0Tragically, it does stop. \u00a0By middle school they\u2019ve pretty much stopped asking. It\u2019s no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. \u00a0They didn\u2019t stop asking questions because they lost interest: it\u2019s the other way around. \u00a0They lost interest because they stopped asking questions.\u201d \u00a0(Bronson and Merryman, 2010) p. 107<\/li>\n
      • \u201cTraditional academic approaches\u2014those that employ narrow tasks to emphasize rote memorization or the application of simple procedures\u2014won\u2019t develop learners who are critical thinkers or effective writers and speakers. \u00a0Rather, students need to take part in complex, meaningful projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration.\u201d (Barron and Darling-Hammong, 2008, p. 1) p. 113<\/li>\n
      • \u201cChallenges, especially real-world challenges, invite students to use their imagination to extend thinking about what is known in order to solve real problems.\u201d (Drape, 2014, p. 60) p. 113<\/li>\n
      • Students will create strong connections between concepts when they actively engage with information instead of being passive recipients of it (Gallagher, 1997; Resnick and Kloper, 1989). p. 117<\/li>\n
      • \u201cTo build grit in students, put them in situations that require it. \u00a0Instead of asking them to show grit by finding ways to sit dutifully through years of meaningless assignments and boring instructional methods, give students challenging, long-term projects that call for grit.\u201d \u00a0(Larmer, 2014) p. 119<\/li>\n
      • Brains don\u2019t like being bored. \u00a0p. 146<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            I’m a member of professional learning community called ASCD that sends me great resources every month or so. \u00a0Some of the books are extremely helpful and some of them likely might be better fits for other people or situations. \u00a0One of their recent resources was The Motivated Brain: Improving Student Attention, Engagement, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,35,25,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-creative","category-education","category-leadership","category-north-cobb-christian"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}