Angie's Youth and Young Adult Ministry Blog

Enriching the Brain

In Chapter 10 "Enriching the Brain: How to Maximize Every Learner's Potential" (Eric Jensen's latest), there's a quote from Dr. Bruce Perry: "There's so much more we can do...our current living systems are disrespectful of the brain's potential." This new book is based on that assumption: that we greatly underestimate people's achievement capacity (including our own) because we often think that we are what we are. We can't change things.

Wrong. Dr. Jensen shows that the human brain is dynamic and malleable. Here in this book, he tells how the brain can be enriched to maximize learning, memory, behavior, and overall functioning.

To way, way, way oversimplify, we need to do the following in order to continue growing and changing in healthy, positive ways (this is my simplificiation, not Dr. Jensen's): we need physical activity; novel, challenging, meaningful things to learn; we need to be busy, but not chaotic-busy; and we need to keep from being bored, too; we must manage our stress levels (through exercise, time-management, etc.); we need social supports (friends, a community); we need to eat right; and we need to have time to develop our interests and skills; and time to socilize, reflect and review.

Sounds easy enough: exercise, nutrition, challenges, friends, time.

But there's more to it than that, too: there are chapters on why the brain grows and thrives, how we can use this information not only for ourselves but for our relationships, how schools would change if they implemented some of these ideas and how we can all lead richer, fuller lives if we would stop believing that we can't change who we are. We can. We can become nearly anything that we imagine and act upon. Amazing.

Borrowed Material

http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/winter03/html/vs_connect.shtml

Here is a website for an article about the importance of community, connection, and relationship when raising kids--both for the kids' sake and the parent's.  Dartmouth Medical School ran this article in their alumni magazine "Dartmouth Medicine" a few years ago.

An interesting tidbit from the article: "scientific evidence demonstrates that children are 'hardwired to connect' on a biochemical level, first with their immediate family and then with the broader community. If that connection isn't there, then 'the brain may not develop as it is supposed to...You can't change genes, but you can change how they are translated, and a nurturing environment can make a world of difference."

What we do and say, how we interact with and support one another, is critical. Change happens in the world one relationship at a time.

(thanks, Rich, for sharing these thoughts!)

Brainy Tidbits

Malcolm Gladwell says "Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push--in just the right place--it can be tipped."

He's right. And understanding how people tick, what makes them act and react, what gets them excited and what scares them, is how you know where to push to make the world tip.

"Leading With the Brain in Mind" by Dickmann, Stanford-Blair, and Rosati-Bojar addresses the issue of "brain-tipping": how people act and react, why people get defensive and excited, what empowers people and what neuters them. It's not 'hit-or-miss', voodoo, slight of hand, manipuative tricks that they offer. It is brain-science, what-makes-us-tick studies that they offer so that people can work together with as little threat, conflict, and fear as possible.

An example: methods of acknowledging people's emotions in any process. We all have them. Ignoring them is a huge mistake.

And another: self-care is critical for anyone. As a leader (whether at home or at work), the best thing you can do is take care of yourself: exercise (for air that feeds the body and mind), lots of water (hydration is key for body functions and brain health, too), music, laughter, trying new things.

A good read for those of us who want our relationships to work and would like to understand why and how that can happen.

Certifiable?

I'm halfway through the process of becoming a certified brain-based educator and presenter. This week, I'm finishing a journal and requesting letters of recommendation from my friends and mentors around the country hoping that their kind words will move me on down the path. One of these kind friends asked the profound question, "Why?" Why bother with certification? Why bother learning about the brain? Why go to all the trouble?

Short answer: It sounded good at the time.

Long answer: Because it will make me better at what I do. All of the reading, all of the late nights writing papers, all of the videos and models of the brain, all of the research and presentations and studying--hopefully all of this information will shed some light on how we can structure classes so that students can learn more effectively. Hopefully at the end of this process I will have ideas about how we can organize worship services so that people will feel more engaged...which might lead them to try and live as though what we preach and teach in the church matters. Maybe I will even have some ideas on how small groups might work better. And I might even have some thoughts about how staff meetings or board meetings or committee meetings might feel like time well spent.

It's all very exciting. Remind me of that when I'm pushing a research deadline (as I am today). Only two more regular classes, lots of reading, a few more projects, a written test, an oral exam and a master class and I'll be done!

And the Brain Goes On...

I just received an invitation to present a workshop on brain-based learning at this year's School for Congregational Leaders for the Christian Church of the Upper Midwest. Wow! Talk about fun. We'll be talking about how preachers can preach more effectively, how teachers can teach more effectively, how committee chairs can lead their committees more effectively...it will be way cool.

August 26. I'll let you know how it goes.

Brains, Stepping Stones and St. Louis

I'm back home after a quick trip to St. Louis. I drove down Monday to meet with David Greenhaw, president of Eden Seminary, to talk about brain research, theological studies, and how I might tie the two together. That's what I'd planned to talk about, anyway. What we ended up discussing was the Stepping Stones program and how it has the potential to not only change families but entire congregations as well. We talked about families sitting down to pray together, children who feel safe talking to their parents about tough issues, the ability for moms and dads to share their faith with their children and children to share their faith with their parents. It was a great conversation that gave me hope and renewed my sense of passion for this important ministry.

After that, I had fun saying 'hi' to some old friends that I'd lost touch with. Lots of fun.

Tuesday, I met with Karen Tye--a professor at Eden who takes brain research and techniques seriously. We had an interesting conversation about how the church really operates as one big brain: full of information, wired to do things in the most effective and wonderful ways, but often stuck in a rut because it chooses to use familiar pathways and known methods.

I drove home Tuesday night, a little more recharged and a little more ready to go back to work. A little more, that is. Still two weeks to go...

Brain Harvesting

Somebody asked me how in the world I became interested in the brain. Most recently it has been through the curriculum we use at Plymouth for confirmation and family ministries (Head to the Heart and Stepping Stones, both from Faith Inkubators). But that's not where it all began: I started getting interested in brains about seven years ago. Clark Lindgren, a biology professor at Grinnell College, invited Bailey and I to go on a field trip to witness some research in the field of neuroscience. His lab was great: microscopes, test tubes, funny smells and all--it was really cool. But the lab was only the beginning--we were asked to watch an experiment: the study of a real brain cell. And not just a frozen brain cell purchased from the neuroscience supply catalog (is there such a thing?) but one that would be freshly 'harvested'. Who could turn down an invitation like that? I know I couldn't. It was an eye-opening experience--we got to see it all: the removal of a rat's brain (Bailey turned pretty green at this point), slicing a whisper-thin piece off that brain for study, placing the sample on a prepared slide, putting that slide under the microscope and then peering into that microscope to see the brain cells exploding (or at least that's what it looked like to me). I didn't know the correct names for the procedures or the parts or even the event that we witnessed--I still don't know the correct names for all of those things--but I do know that what I saw was absolutely amazing. Very small cells taken from a very small brain were growing, connecting, moving, charging. I can only imagine what whole human brains must look like--hundreds, thousands, millions of cells firing off, growing, connecting and moving. It must look like quite a party.

And that's how I got interested in the brain. It's amazing stuff.

Presenting Tips

Some more Brain-Friendly Presentation Tips:

If you are presenting information anytime in the near future (preaching, teaching, leading discussions, presenting at a workshop, etc.), here are some tips that you can use to engage your audience and get them excited about your presentation. There are also some ideas here for you if you want to make your audience apathetic and even resentful about your presentation. Happy presenting!

To increase attention, increase motivation and engage attention, the presenter needs to provide:

a. Choices. When at all possible, participants should be given choices in content (would you rather talk about this or this), timing (would you like a 10 minute break or 20 minutes--the longer the break, the longer the workshop), work partners (find groups of 2, 3 or 4), projects, environment, seating and resources used.

b. Relevance. Make the material personal (stories of personal experience), connect it to people's everyday lives, tell how your information will make a difference and why.

c. Engagement. Engage your audience through emotions (raise your hand if you have ever...), through physical movement (every 30 minutes at least), even through friendly peer-pressure (friendly competition!). Use visuals and direct your audience to those visuals every now and then.

All of these techniques will increase learner/participant motivation and engage attention for ten minutes or more!

If you want your audience members to tune out, become apathetic and resent being a part of your presentation, try these tips:

a. Required information, only. Do not ask for audience input, make sure they know that they have to know everything you are telling them, only let them work alone while sitting in their seats, and restrict their resources (maybe a pencil and notebook paper). Basically, stress them out!

b. Irrelevance. Keep your information impersonal and seemingly useless.

c. Use only Passive Instructional Techniques. Keep interaction between audience members to a minimum--no talking, no asking questions, no movement. Do not use visuals (video, posters, flip charts, etc.) or, worse yet, use them and read the information word for word for your audience--do not elaborate. If using Power Point, make sure you spend at least 10-15 minutes on each slide--and you, as the presenter, do all of the talking.

Why Study Brains?

Read more about brain-based education at http://jensenlearning.com/truth.html

Focus!

Our five senses are working all the time. Sight, smell, sound, taste and touch--we're constantly pulling information into our brains. Scientists estimate that a human brain is receiving over 10,000 bits of information every second you are awake. So, if all of that information is pouring in at all time, how does your brain know where to put it's focus? Hmmm.

It's a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) that sorts it all out. The RAS takes in all of the stimuli and lets you know which things you need to be consciously aware of and which things can be unconsciously worked on. Cool...but so what?

Here's why it's important to know about the RAS: what you say to others can provoke either a positive or negative reaction based on the language you choose to use. A quick example: "I want you to listen very carefully". If these words are said to a teenager, the phrase "I want you to..." is what the RAS will focus on. Instead of "listen very carefully" the brain has already started to process the fact that you are the one in control (implied by the statement). Teenagers don't like to be controlled, so their brains are telling them to rebel: don't you dare pay attention! If the objective is to have someone pay attention, a more effective phrase might be: "Please pay attention--this is important" or even "Cool! Did you know..."

If getting people to focus on what you are trying to say is important to you, avoid trigger words such as:  "You should..." or "I want you to..." These phrases often make people feel defensive and puts them in a rebellious state. Try using words like "Let's..." and "We can..." instead of "should" and "ought". Inclusive, non-directive statements make people actually want to participate!

Just something to think about.