Customer Reviews

Teaching with the Brain in Mind

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very good introduction to applying knowledge gained from studies on the brain to teaching. It covers in a simple way the nature of the brain, of memory and recall, alternatives to using rewards, the biology of attention, how enriched environment affects the brain, how emotions, threats and stress, and movement affect learning... It is easy to read, helped by the diagrams. For those interested in more scope and depth, the author's newly revised Brain-based Learning would be a better choice.

This book is an excellent resource in my class at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). I use it in my X401 class, Critical Reading in the Content Area. To me, it only makes sense that teachers start teaching with the brain in mind. This book is an excellent source because it gives the necessary biological background and adds practical information for teachers, so there is theory and practice. This book will explain why great teachers do the things that they do. Again, an excellent source.

Teaching with the brain in mind is a great book for teachers who feel that they don't have time for "fun" or activities that involve moving around in their classroom. As more is added to the curriculum, fun things are often taken out. That is where we are missing out on teaching and connecting with kids! Teachers and parents are called on to be more and more creative as they teach new things in a new way. Making a connection with motor skills, rhythms and singing can teach kids in a way that helps them reinforce the basics. They are provided with a knowledge bank that they can call on when they have forgotten a math fact for instance. Jensen says that the words "stick like glue" to notes so when you teach code words to unlock word problems in subtraction, a teacher can teach a song such as "This Old Man" except substitute words about subtraction. Jensen also had some astounding facts about how the brain develops in young children and the connections with motor activities. Great Book. Good opportunity to use it for test-taking strategies, which I did.

As I started reading material on how to apply the latest brain research to improve instruction, many of the books were difficult to "wade" through. This book was a refreshing surprise! Eric Jensen has taken all the main points of the how to use this research and compiled an user friendly book. It is an easy read and filled with many suggestion that are easily applied in the classroom. I would highly recommend this book (and I do at all the workshops I conduct) to educators at all levels.

This book has helped our entire staff understand what we need to do, as teachers, to get our students ready to learn. It unlocks many of the mysteries of why we use specific brain-friendly strategies.

I am using several of the strategies in my classroom and also sharing the ideas of why I am using them with my students. They, too, are interested in how the brain works and what they can do to become better learners.

It is exciting stuff and seemingly we are only at the beginning of understanding how to effectively use brain research to better our teaching strategies!

This is the first book on brain and learning that really got me excited again about teaching. I was so frustrated with my students, I was thinking about retiring. But this book showed me why things work and how to make them work better. Can't wait for the next book by Eric Jensen!

Teaching With The Brain In Mind helped prepare my students for the Stanford Nine. By implementing many of the ideas/suggestions written in the book, I found that my students were better prepared to learn. This book has a wealth of information for teachers and parents. This book has helped me become a better teacher and eventually a better parent.

As a light, interesting read, this book has its moments. But as a source of direction for curriculum changes, it is nothing short of dangerous. The scholarship of the book is highly dubious: most of its dramatic claims have extraordinarily weak source references: pop culture magazine articles, tabloid journalism, and even a racquetball club brochure. Many wild claims have no citation at all. In the meantime, the author ignores much of what REAL brain research implies about teaching. For example, great strides have been made in understanding neural networks, and from that we learn that the natural basis for how the brain works is through repetition and practice -- an insight that is just about exactly contrary to the author's touchie-feelie approach. In general, the author is highly selective in material included: brain research that supports classical education is ignored, while even the most outrageous claims in support of progressivist dogma are treated as gospel.

If you truly wish to practice lifelong learning and critical thinking, read other perspectives on the rush towards "brain based learning." A good start would be to go to the website for the "Illinois Loop" and reading the page there about "brain based learning."

The book is very good for educators who would like to get basic information about the brain-mechanism without getting into too profound details of the terminology or biology, etc. It also provide excellent information for parents-to-be about how to "educate" your child starting from pregnancy. However, if you are looking for practical information in "how to teach brain-compatibly", this would not be what you are looking for. Theory is the footing for this book.

Every parent, as well as every educator, must read this book so that children get the best opportunities for learning for life. I wish I'd read it before my children started school. It has changed the way in which I will insist the be educated. Technical, but so readable, this book explains how learning is inextricably linked to motion and emotion. It also lays out how and why eduction systems must change.