I am thankful that we have had time to work on our literature review and I feel prepared to write about the effects of hydration on learning and cognitive performance. The only thing that is new to me is creating headings for subsections of my writing. It is not difficult, but I have never used this feature of organization before.
This course has taught me to seek out scientific reasoning for the teaching practices we use with our students. Understanding the “why” of teaching and the “how” of learning has given me a deeper understanding of education as a whole. Specifically, I plan to implement the strategies shared by the Amygdalas in regards to dichotic listening as they relate to BTT-2. There are a lot of auditory distractors at my school and careful planning could minimize their negative effects on my students and help them concentrate on listening with their left ear. I have also become very comfortable navigating the Sheridan Library and know that I have the skills to find scientific knowledge about my teaching practices. I also now feel solid about my knowledge of educational philosophers and their various theories of cognition.
I have also learned from this experience to question and think critically about every aspect of my teaching. There are so many opportunities to support student learning and development and science is helping to make teaching more exact and informed. I am thankful to be privy to this knowledge and am looking forward to learning more.
Hi Meghan,
ReplyDeleteYour Lit Review should be distributed at beginning of every faculty’s Back to School meeting! It’s amazing that so many teachers fail to realize the importance of hydration. My students always had water bottles handy at their desks. In fact one year I “got in trouble” because my class took “too much time” at the water cooler refilling their bottles. Fortunately I had some brain research to back me up, so problem solved.
I also couldn’t agree more with the Amygdalas in regards to dichotic listening as they relate to BTT-2. The information in their PowerPoint was new to me. A few years back I bought an inexpensive (about $50) microphone system at Walmart. Initially I was inspired by gender research suggesting that the hearing of boys developed later than girls. I also had some friends who taught in a newly built school that was equipped with audio systems in every classroom. They really believed it increased student attention and thus student learning. So now thanks to our fellow BTT teachers we have the additional evidence!
The beauty of BTT is that the emotional and physical targets are on equal footing with the academic ones.
Best regards,
Sharon