In the words of others: Reynolds & Sousa

GARR REYNOLDS
I’ve mentioned Garr Reynolds before, so many times, in fact, that he is even included in the Tag Cloud at the right. Garr writes an informative blog about presentation design at Presentation Zen, and while I initially found his writing (both his blog, and his book of the same name) enjoyable and accessible for learning about presenting and design, he often includes references to, and whole posts about the brain. So it is with his June 17, 2009 post The power of emotional contagion. Garr does a lot of traveling and presenting outside of Japan (where he lives). This current post finds him visiting Tivoli Gardens after presenting in Sweden, and he writes about mirror neurons, yet another topic that figures in my Tag Cloud.

DAVID SOUSA
A colleague who I met at the AIMS Technology Retreat twittered me an article in ASCD by David Sousa: Educational Leadership – Brain-Friendly Learning for Teachers. Sousa, who has also written an information packed book How the Brain Learns, discusses professional development that is geared towards learning for the participants. He references current brain research and provides practical suggestions designed to help make PD opportunities useful rather than onerous. Especially since I am knee deep in co-planning a full day’s worth of opening meetings for the fall, this article is a welcome “hand to the forehead” reminder of what will make the day worthwhile.

Digital Wave – Students on Tech

This has been a remarkably productive and enjoyable week of professional development. Special kudos to those brave and incredibly PATIENT students who were on the other side of the help desk, helping us get up to speed on their favorite tools.

Hands on work, lots of time to practice, good company and able, caring facilitators and teachers are the best elements in a successful PD experience. They have all been readily available! (Head Librarian)

I thank you for all your support! What sources of information you were for me, as well as for the participants. Your ability to jump right into any situation… you were eager, polite, and so friendly.… each and every participant thanked me over lunch, telling me how wonderful you two were, and wondering how RCDS had such nice kids…with fabulous backgrounds in technology. (3rd Grade Teacher and Facilitator at our Smart Board Conference)

…thank her for empowering our students. Yesterday’s student sessions were amazing. I learned so much about Twitter, Pulse Pen, I-Phones, Facebook, etc. We have an incredible number of incoming 9th graders [and 10th graders] who are going to amaze you with their knowledge of technology! The world is ever changing…use our students to help adapt to all the changes. You won’t be sorry. The students are so easy to work with and they enjoy helping. (US Math Teacher)

These students were/are AMAZING!!!!! I went home thinking a few things: Like, why are they still in school when they could easily be running their own corporations, and …how can we keep up with them? …and…we have much to learn about the world of tomorrow from them! Thank you, I loved every minute of learning from you!! (MS Learning Specialist)

Thanks…for recruiting and organizing this talented group. I attended Monday’s workshops and came away with a better understanding of how students are using and enjoying technology. These students piqued my interest in expanding my own use of the internet and technology. Thanks to everyone for all the time you put into preparing and presenting your technology insights. (Art Department Head)

I attended some of the Monday workshops and am totally impressed with the students’ knowledge as well as their poise and superior pedagogical skills. They were amazingly patient, knowledgeable, interesting, relevant, intellectually curious, and with-it. I want to sign up for any future workshop that may be offered by our students. (LS Learning Specialist)

Well, the faculty reviews above should give you a glimpse into the reception of our faculty to the Students on Tech sessions this past Monday. Seven students kicked off Digital Wave by sharing their favorite apps with faculty in thirty minute sessions. The goal was not to proselytize, but rather to answer the question “Why I use this app (or tool)?” and give a brief demo of it. In addition to the applications already mentioned, students covered Google Docs, Tech Tips (an in-house podcast created by one of the students), iChat, and blogging.

I am so proud of these students, who presented like professionals and managed to model best practices of presenting, sharing some impressive slides that would make Garr Reynolds quite happy. (I think that some of the students may have learned their presentation skills from years of watching Steve Jobs keynotes.)

As if Monday didn’t keep them busy enough, these students returned on Tuesday, along with three others, to assist in our hosting of a Smart Board Conference. More on that tomorrow!

Creating Off the Grid

Garr Reynolds writes about “going analog” during the beginning process of creating. In his June 17th post, Creativity, nature, & getting off the grid, he even shares a one-minute video of his favorite “off the grid” location, which is on the coast of Oregon.

I’ve been thinking about that for the past few days as I’ve kayaked on Long Island Sound, just out of Mamaroneck Harbor.

Otter Creek, behind our house, is a tidal creek that serpentines out to Mamaroneck Harbor:

Some of the many types of birds and water fowl that hang out on the rocks:

Long Island Sound, facing Long Island – Larchmont, New Rochelle, and eventually NYC to the right; Rye and Greenwich to the left:

Greeted by an egret upon returning to Otter Creek (yes, it’s said there used to be otters swimming in this creek):

There’s no doubt that my most creative thinking happens when I am not thinking about the topic in question. While that could be during any number of activities, it typically seems to be during recreational moments, such as kayaking or lap swimming or taking long walks. Interestingly, when I’m fully engaged in yoga, the breathing has me so focused that there is no room in my brain for any other thoughts to enter. The same is true for when I’m drawing or sketching; I am so absorbed in the process that my brain silences all other thoughts.

The June/July 2008 issue of Scientific American Mind includes a panel interview with three people who focus on creativity: John Houtz, psychologist and professor; Julia Cameron, poet, playwright and filmmaker; and Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today and currently a visiting scholar. How to Unleash Your Creativity is an interesting discussion between the three of them and interviewer Mariette DiChristina, executive editor of Scientific American and Scientific American Mind.

Each of these individuals has similar approaches to stimulating their creativity, and all of them seem to get off the grid, meaning they walk away from whatever it is they are thinking about. They “take breaks and learn to use them strategically; use daydreams as sources of new ideas.”

I spend a lot of time using my computer, not only related to school but also writing and blogging, and communicating with friends and family via email, iChat or web pages. In this past year much has been written in the press about email and related technology information overload; it’s even become a big topic on the tech listservs I read.

The solution – Get Off the Grid. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds, but for those who manage to do it, I’m willing to bet all sorts of interesting ideas will pop into your head.

Brain Imaging from the Inside–>Out

This morning I clicked on over to Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen blog, the way I do most mornings. His post, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s amazing TED presentation, describes Dr. Taylor as a brain scientist who will move you to tears. That was all it took – the combination of a brain scientist and something emotional – for me to sit glued to my computer screen at 6:32 this Saturday morning.

I’ve watched Jill’s talk and I was moved to tears. And now, before the sun has even tickled the horizon, the birds are chirping. This Wednesday past, true as clock work, the Osprey who summer on the creek behind our house returned to their perches. And I thought of my Dad at King Street Nursing Home…how his brain is humbled by Alzheimers but his heart still smiles with song. Unable to speak many words, he tells me he wants to go home, and he can still respond to family news with “That’s wonderful.” And Frank Sinatra or any of the Columbia University fight songs can still elicit from him a hum or a phrase of song and a twinkle of recognition.

Mel meet Ken, Ken meet Mel

Just imagine a conversation between Dr Mel Levine and Sir Ken Robinson. They’d both be telling stories about individuals, education, and the process of learning. They really should meet each other, if they haven’t already, as they both advocate for finding your passion and pursuing it, and they both would like to see education change to better serve all students.

Mel Levine aims to help demystify kids and young adults to themselves, so they better understand how they learn by understanding their strengths and weaknesses. A person’s strengths can serve as the foundation around which their learning and maturing take place. Sometimes it is difficult to assess one’s own strengths, though, particularly when one’s weaknesses can seem insurmountable or simply overshadowing. The goal of Mel’s program is to assist individuals in overcoming or circumventing their weaknesses, while highlighting, enjoying and celebrating their strengths.

Ken Robinson believes that individuals should pursue their passions, and that many times in education the educators school individuals out of their passions. Schools should retune themselves to place equal emphasis on the nontraditional areas, such as the arts, thus permitting students who enjoy or excel in these areas ample opportunity to pursue their studies while being lauded for those skills, regardless of their aptitude in more traditional areas.

Both Mel and Ken feel that having a passion and being able to pursue it are highly motivating and important aspects of education, and are often downplayed (when not in typical academic areas) in favor of more traditional areas. I think they would have a fine time chatting with one another!

Don’t take my word for it! Here they are, in their own words (except for Garr’s blog entry.)

On his Presentation Zen blog Garr Reynold’s has an excellent summary of Sir Ken Robinson on the art of public speaking.

Interviews with Ken Robinson

• IMNO – International Mentoring Network Organization: World Renowned Expert on Innovation and Creativity
• Phorecast Podcast No 01 – Sir Ken Robinson (12/10/07)
• DishyMix Episode 6 – Sir Ken Robinson, Creativity and Innovation Expert
• Mediasnackers Podcast #88 (6/24/07)

Interviews with Mel Levine

• Educational Leadership – Celebrate Strengths, Nurture Affinities: A Conversation with Mel Levine (9/06)
• NPR – Mel Levine: Teaching All Kinds of Minds (1/24/05)
• A Series of audio and video interviews with Mel Levine on the All Kinds of Minds web site
  Family Talk – Part 1
  Family Talk – Part 2
  How To Nurture Success In All Children
  Students As Innocent Victims Of Their Own Wiring
  How To Understand Difficulties That Are Not Well Understood

Creativity

To create means to me that something is made. By that definition, we all create, probably multiple times over. According to my computer’s dictionary widget, the verb create means to “bring (something) into existence” or to “cause (something) to happen as the result of one’s actions”.

Creativity also entails the act of creating, specifically creating from scratch, making use of “imagination or original ideas”. The widget uses a number of adjectives to help flesh out what it means to be creative: original, imaginative, inventive (“the practical side of imaginative”), resourceful, ingenious, and clever.

I am in accord with Sir Ken Robinson and Garr Reynolds, both skilled at making presentations within their respective fields, in their assessments of creativity. In the beginning we are all creative, but to summarize Sir Ken’s words, that sparkle of creativity is educated out of us by our educational systems. Why? – because we teach children to not make mistakes. Yet, children make mistakes because they do not know they should not make mistakes, and it is their comfort with making mistakes that nurtures their ability to be creative. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”

Sir Ken shares some humorous, to–the–point anecdotes in his 2006 TED Talk about creativity. Referenced here previously, I steer you to it again if you have yet to watch his entertaining and thought-provoking presentation. He believes that creativity entails the “interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things”.

In a different talk, this one to our faculty at opening meetings, Robert Greenleaf, stated that “Creativity is more parietal lobe and the optimal functioning of both hemispheres.” I conjured up a picture of neurons firing all over my brain, lighting up from my cerebral cortex all the way deep down to my amygdala, and I thought of how satisfied and exhilarated I felt with the completion of the Professional Development activity I created.

Garr Reynolds, on his Presentation Zen blog, writes about The creativity imperative: nurturing what is our nature. He begins outright with “You are a naturally and supremely creative being – why do you think you are not?” Presentation Zen is about presentation design, and creativity has a very definite role in the design and carrying out of presentations. Garr’s point, similar to Sir Ken’s, is that as we get older, creativity takes a back seat or – even sadder – creativity is no longer even riding along with us. Yet, as he continues, “…the real irony is that our true nature is to be creative – it is who we are …”.

I have long felt that nourishing a teacher’s creativity is one of the primary roles of professional development, and you can be sure that this theme will reemerge in my posts! (Images from Fred’s Abstract Art and SketchUp Models collections.)

Amygdala – Small on Size, Big on Function

The amygdala deals with our emotions, helps process our memories, and gets totally absorbed in managing our response to fear and stress. Combined, these are biggies, so the hippocampus and hypothalamus chime in with some assistance.

We all have, built-in from birth, this automatic response system that triggers a fight or flight reaction based upon an event. The amygdala’s job is to determine how to respond to a “wow” type of event, be it an emergency or something that simply startles you, or indeed any type of event that produces an emotional response. In so responding the amygdala causes the release of neurohormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.

You can read more about The Autonomic Nervous System at Neuroscience for Kids. Jim Phelps, on his PsychEducation.org site, provides an explanation of fear and the amygdala from a psychological perspective, and includes several detailed diagrams and images. Lastly, especially if you are a visual learner, see what the Amygdala is up to in this animated opening page for Joseph LeDoux’s Laboratory site, sponsored by the Center for Neural Science at New York University.

In addition to interpreting incoming sensory information, the amygdala is involved with processing memory, particularly memories with emotional impact. Given how intense emotions can be, perhaps you can understand why memories tagged with emotions would be among the strongest memories we have. However, if you get stressed over something, the stress response may actually make it more difficult for you to recall a specific memory by inhibiting your ability to think clearly. The interplay between the amygdala and the cerebral cortex is such that the amygdala may respond before the thinking part of your brain has an opportunity to compose a response. The result can range from a lifesaving solution to a red-faced embarrassment!

Garr Reynolds writes about presentations in his Presentation Zen blog, and in a recent post he wrote about Dan Pink’s presentations. It has relevancy here as Dan Pink is perhaps best known for his book, A Whole New Mind, which discusses the need for beefing up the emotional side of human functioning in order to be an engaged participant in the 21st century. Surely it can’t hurt to read the book and give your amygdala some pointers!

Presenting & the Brain

Research points the finger at PowerPoint is an April 4, 2007 article posted by The Sydney Morning Herald. This article can be viewed through at least two lenses – presenting information using slide shows or thinking about how the brain works.

If you view the article through the first lens, presenting information using slide shows, then please include a visit to Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen blog, where he provides thoughtful and informative comment “on issues related to professional presentation design”.

If you view the article, as I did, through the second lens, thinking about how the brain works, then please continue reading this post. What follows are comments I made as part of a discussion taking place in a teacher’s group.
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This is the second time I’ve seen this research mentioned, and yes, I do find the conclusions disturbing. In addition to what you note, it goes against what I see and hear at school. Modeling solutions can be helpful to a point, but giving solutions tends to cause people to turn off their thinking. My own children tell me they prefer thinking and find it insulting when teachers just lecture or provide all the answers.

“Pioneered at the University of NSW, the research shows the human brain processes and retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written form, but not both at the same time. … The findings show there are limits on the brain’s capacity to process and retain information in short-term memory.”

In fact, bombarding people with information (i.e. verbal and written form at the same time) has the potential for stimulus overload. However, research does show that providing access to information in multiple formats (verbal, visual, musical, physical, emotional…) is very helpful. The articles about Sweller’s work do not mention any of this. It strikes me that it’s all in Sweller’s interpretation of the findings. Professor Sweller seems to choose a provocative and “easy” approach to explaining his data: Too much information, heck, just give ‘em the answers!

As for short-term memory, it’s long been known that there are “limits on the brain’s capacity to process and retain information in short-term memory” and there is plenty of research that shows how to deal with this: organize information in chunks, give plenty of time to process the information, and provide varied ways to connect with the information. From what I can tell, Sweller does not take any of this into consideration. He doesn’t seem as interested in figuring out how to stimulate the brain to interact with information; rather, he seems to want to make life easy for the brain, which, based upon my understanding of how the brain functions, will actually be counter productive to “learning”.

Granted, I have not seen his entire research or read an article written by him, so am just judging by other’s descriptions. From those descriptions the results seem rather shallow. What I hope is that people who read about Sweller’s work will think for themselves about the validity and usefulness of what he concludes, and not take his words as gospel.