Brain-friendly teaching (Joaquín Triandafilide)
And here go my notes for the only session I’m attending on Day 4 of the fabulous Cambridge Day 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8kB-ZU8lD4&feature=youtu.be)
Interestingly, when teaching a lesson, we deal mostly with our learners’ working memory. However,when testing them, it is their long-term memory they need to appeal to (Joaquín pointed out it is the transfer of working memory to long-term memory that we call “learning”):
Multi-tasking can interfere with our working memory (made me think of sts who keep “glued” to their mobiles).
TIPS TO AVOID COGNITIVE OVERLOAD (whether teaching online or on site):
At any given time, go for new content OR new modality (eg. tools or learning environments)
Store by similarity, retrieve by difference
Manage the emotional atmosphere (show you care regardless of their success in your classes, respect different opinions)
Don’t promote multi-tasking. Use the Pomodoro technique. Choose your words and graphics carefully. Remove interesting pictures which are not essential (coherence). Highlight key words or pictures (signalling). Avoid on screen text if possible (redundance), prefer graphics + oral narration.
Teach students thinking routines (Eg: the 3 Ws: “what did I know? What did I learn? What should I learn more about?”)
Provide cognitive “helpers” (scaffolding - facilitate transfer). Give them checklists, case studies, graphic organisers, to help them store and retrieve information.
See a possible organiser students can work with when learning vocabulary:
Promote collaborative work (group work helps us self-regulate and improves self-esteem)
To finish, Joaquín asked us to choose ONE strategy to start using TOMORROW (OK, let’s say on 5 August, when classes start again!). My choice? “Teach thinking routines” (I challenge myself to do it with ALL my groups, not just high school students). He finished with this inspiring quote:
Recommended site: https://bebrainfit.com/
