A good place to start

The first day of classes is right around the corner for us here at the Loomis Chaffee School and the excitement, nervousness and optimism surrounding a new school year are palpable. A colleague, Naomi Appel, @njappel and I gave a 90 minute presentation to our faculty the other day on learning and the brain titled: Neuroscience and the Classroom after attending a Learning and the Brain institute this past summer led by Dr. Judy Willis @judywillis. The institute was by far the best one I have attended on the topic and contained a wealth of practical information for any classroom teacher. I would strongly encourage anybody interested in the topic to look into any of the workshops or summer institutes offered through Learning and the Brain.

As a follow up to the presentation, I would like to share four learning and the brain related links/resources in this edition of the Friday 4. For those who are new readers of this blog, every Friday I try and post interesting links or resources that I come across related to teaching and education. I encourage you to share the links with colleagues and send along any interesting ones you come across that you think would work in a future edition of the Friday 4. You can e-mail me at smacclintic@gmail.com or reach me on Twitter at @smacclintic or simply post a response right below. Enjoy!

• Dr. Judy Willis has a website called RADteach.com that is great place for anybody new to the neurobiology of learning to start his/her journey.
• The ASCD website has an entire section devoted to brain-based learning that has links to articles, videos, PD courses and much more. Another phenomenal resource for anybody interested in the application of neurobiology to learning and teaching.
• The Edutopia website also has a section devoted to brain-based learning that is chock full of great info for teachers.
• If you are looking for somebody to come to your school and do engaging learning and the brain training with students, teachers or parents; a wonderful resource is Andrew Watson. Andrew is a former colleague who has started his own business Translate the Brain that “offers professional development presentations and workshops that explore and explain the practical teaching implications of today’s brain sciences.”