This year I have been attempting to teach my students to not only learn the material in my class,
but to also learn to train their brains. In the next couple of pages I will be showing you the
materials I have been using and how we go through our "Brain Training" at the beginning of
each class period.
The following pages show the resources I use to help my students learn the skills needed to train
their brains.
Brain Hats:
I have found a wonderfully fun activity that I use with my students the first several day of class.
It is the Brain Hemisphere Hat created by Ellen McHenry. The free PDF file that you get from
her website has two different sizes of the brain (Large and Small). It also includes hemispheres
that are labeled and some that are without labels. It also has a colored copy of the hemispheres.
I usually will print off the Large non-labeled black-and-white hemispheres for each of my
students (pages 6-7 in the PDF). I will usually print off one copy of each page, then I cut out the
"Size: Large (older child or adult)" and the instructions at the bottom (I found the instructions to
confuse students more than helping them). I also print off one copy of the labeled hemispheres. I
then place the non-labeled copy on top of the labeled copy so that I can make large, dark lines
separating the different lobes and cortexes --pictures to come soon. I will then make enough
copies of each hemisphere for each of my students.
I then also print out one copy of the colored hemispheres. I then put each of these hemispheres
together (cutting on the one side of the triangles and gluing them together). However, I don't
attach the hemispheres to each other. I then cut out each lobe individually (keeping the motor
cortex with the frontal lobe and the sensory cortex with the parietal lobe) -- pictures to come
soon.
On the first day of class I inform my students that we are going to learn about their brains and
how they work. I then hand out the Left hemisphere only (or you could start with the Right
hemisphere, it doesn't matter). I will then have a copy of the same hemisphere that I gave to my
students under my document camera and projecting onto my screen. I tell them that our brains
are separated into four different lobes and sometimes these lobes have different parts. I usually
will start with the Frontal Lobe and point to it and ask my students if anyone knows what that
lobe is called. Most likely no one will know (but if you do have someone that knows, let them
answer, depending on your class). I then take the colored Frontal Lobe that I cut out before and
place it on the Frontal Lobe area of the black-and-white copy. I then have my students label their
papers with the words "Frontal Lobe".
I then ask them to look at the copy on my screen and ask them what they think the Frontal Lobe
takes care of in our brains. There are some good labels on their and sometimes with a little
prompting students will be able to figure it out. However, if they don't I will help them learn it by
using the clues on the colored copy. I then have them label the things the Frontal Lobe takes care
of. I let them draw pictures or write words on their papers. I also talk about the Motor Cortex and
indicate that it is part of the Frontal Lobe. I then try to have them figure out what the Motor
Cortex does (there aren't any pictures or words that can give them any clues). Sometimes there
will be a student or two that might be able to figure it out, but most of the time I do need to tell
my students what it does (controls the voluntary movements that we make--like using a pencil to
write words).
I also ask them where they thing, physically the Frontal Lobe is in our heads. Hopefully
somebody will figure out that it in the front of your head as it is called the Frontal Lobe.
However, if they don’t, that’s ok. Just help them to learn that.
I then go through the other lobes to help them fill out their brain papers, both labeling the names
of the lobes and cortexes and describing what they take care of. I also help them to know where
in their heads the different lobes and cortexes are.
I then have them put their names on the papers and hand them in and we move on to the
beginning of the activities we will be doing in class.
The next day I will hand them the Right Hemisphere and do the same thing. This one usually
will go a lot faster as they know what the different lobes are and basically what they do. I do
indicate the differences between the Left and Right Frontal Lobes at the beginning.
I also then (after having them label the Frontal Lobe and what it does) tell them they will be
doing an experiment. In this experiment students are grouped with one other student. In their
group one student will place both hands palms facing each other (but not touching each other)
with the thumbs up. This student will then turn the left hand so that the thumb is facing down.
Then this student takes the right hand, moves it on the left size of the left hand and moves the
thumb of the right hand facing down. So, now both palms of the hands should be facing each
other again, but with the thumbs down. This student then interlocks all of the fingers together.
Then they will pull their interlock hands up towards their body until the interlocked hands are
under the chin. The hands and the fingers now will be twisted. The second student is to then
point (not touch) one of the fingers and ask the first student to move the finger. Usually it will be
difficult and sometimes the student will move the opposite finger. (If the second student touches
the finger, that gives a signal to the brain of which finger to move). After a few tries the brain
will start working with the opposite finger.
This experiment shows that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice
versa. This usually is a fun experiment that they do with each other.
After labeling the right side of the brain I again have the students write their name on the paper
and then hand those in. I then continue with the lessons we need to do for that day in my class.
On the third day I will have the left- and right-sides of the brain papers out for students to pick
up (or you may pass them out). I then announce “Today we are going to cut out your brains.” I
usually will have a few students gasp. One student even asked if it would hurt. I did answer that
if they did it correctly, that it shouldn’t hurt.
With my document camera I will show my students how to cut out around the brain (I tell them it
doesn’t have to be perfect). I then indicate to have them cut only on the dashed lines of the
triangles. The instructions say to cut the solid lines, however this is a bit confusing as most
instructions (for other cutouts) tell people to cut on the dashed lines (it still will work). I then
give scissors and give them a little time to cut out both sides of the brain. Some students will
accidentally cut out the whole triangle. It still is possible to work with it that way, but remind
them several times to only cut the dashed lines.
After both sides are cut out I then use my document camera to show them how to tape the brain
together. I show them about taking the cut side of the triangle and moving it on top of the paper
to the solid line and then taping it down. I also indicate that the printed side should be curving
outwards and the non-printed side should be curving inwards. I will do that for both of the sides
of the brain. The trickiest part is putting the two hemispheres together. I have to definitely show
them how to do this with my document camera. I have had students put the two Temporal Lobes
together and tape them. I indicate to my students that the dark line going down the brain should
be matched up with the other dark line. I also tell them that the lines that separate the lobes and
the cortexes should be going on top of the brain. This usually helps with the students putting the
hemispheres together correctly. I then put the brain on top of my head indicating that the Frontal
Lobe should be in the front and the Occipital Lobe should be in the back the Temporal Lobes
being over the ears. I then hand out the tape dispensers and walk around to help students out.
Several students will sport their new “brain.” In my school we have a no-hat rule, so I tell them
that outside of my class the only time they can wear the hat is when they are going home. Since I
don’t grade the brains a lot of them will throw away, which is fine. Some students will keep them
and I will see them at the end of the day when they are leaving.
After learning about the different lobes of the brain I will usually start class off by asking about
the different lobes. I will start with a different lobe for every class and ask the students what the
lobe is that I am pointing at on my head. I will say something like “What is this part of your
brain called?” and then “What does it take care of?” Doing this every day at the beginning of
class helps to solidify in the students long-term memory the different parts of the brain and how
they work.
Neurons:
The day after we put the paper brains together and after we do our little “Brain Training” as
mentioned in the paragraph above, I introduce students to neurons. I usually just tell them that
we are going to be watching some videos.
I show the following videos in this class:
Mind and Brain
http://youtu.be/Yl7AYJQRGjU
Neural Pathways
http://youtu.be/GUolIKxuRVc
I will then ask students the following questions:


What are cells in the brain called?
What do neurons do?
I then will usually draw a neuron on the board and talk about how the more we use our neurons,
the stronger they get.
The Learning Brain
https://youtu.be/_M21zvMcgLU
I will ask my students: “What are the seven things we need to do to take care of our brains?” I
usually will get the answers in different order, but I will list them up on the board in the order
students list them. Here are the items:






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Plenty of water
Plenty of sleep (I usually will tell them as teenagers they should have between 8-10 hours
of sleep)
o Also, this is a good TED talk about why we need sleep, I don’t usually show
students this video, but I will talk about it.
Challenging your brain
Balanced diet
Exercise
Brain Breaks
Avoid learning new things when stressed or upset
After this day of training, I will start to incorporate these items into my daily routine (see the
routine at the end of this document).
Memory:
I will start this day off with the “Daily Routine” (however only using Lobes, Neurons, and the
Learning Brain).
Before showing the following video, I do explain to my students that it is a little long, and there
will be a lot of information, but they will not have to remember everything.
How we make memories:
https://youtu.be/bSycdIx-C48
I then ask my students what the three memories are. I will list them up on the board as well.
1. Sensory Memory (lasts 3-4 seconds)
2. Working Memory (aka Short-Term Memory) (lasts 30 seconds)
3. Long-Term Memory
I will then ask them how we get information from our Sensory Memory to our Working Memory
(Answer: Pay Attention). Then I ask my students how we get information from our Working
Memory to our Long-Term Memory. Answers:



Repetition
o I will usually explain that this needs to be daily repetition not just repeating
something over and over again right before a test.
Acronyms
o I usually will use the example of PEMDAS. I will ask my students what it is and
what the letters mean. I ask them if they had to repeat this information over and
over again to remember it. They usually will tell me the silly words they will use
to remember PEMDAS.
o I will also use the ROY G. BIV from the video.
Method of Loci (NOT the brother of Thor)
I then show them the following two videos to explain the Method of Loci:
Memory Technique (Part 1):
https://youtu.be/X-xl7_hdWZo
Memory Technique (Part 2):
https://youtu.be/X-xl7_hdWZo
I will then show the following video to help students learn a little about how to use the Method
of Loci:
Improve your memory in two minutes:
https://youtu.be/ic4HxQ0UZK4
Even after a few weeks I will go back and ask students randomly (as a class) where the remote,
keys, glasses, phone, or pen are. Some won’t remember, but many of them will. I will ask them if
they had repeated the information over and over again in their heads. Usually they will not have
done this, but they will have remembered the locations.
Mindset:
Start of day: Daily Routine (up through the Memory part).
I will then show my students the following video:
The Power of belief -- mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach
https://youtu.be/pN34FNbOKXc
I then will ask my students what the two mindsets are (Growth and Fixed). Then I ask which one
we want to have (Growth). Most of the time I will go through some of the information that was
presented in the video (i.e. students completing puzzles and being told “You must be smart” or
“You must have tried hard”, taking the students to a harder puzzle, and then going back to the
original puzzles, then having students lying about their scores).
I then ask them HOW we develop a Growth Mindset (one was mentioned in the video, and the
others I have come up with).
1. Using the “magic work” YET, and the “magic phrase” for now
a. I explain to student that I call them “magic” because they can physically change
your brain. Saying “I can’t do that, yet” will physically make a different pathway
in the neurons in your brain than just “I can’t do that.” In fact, I tell students that
when we say “I’m not good at math” our brains will create a pathway that will
make us not good at math. So because of what we say to ourselves make our brain
work that way.
2. Having a positive, open mind.
a. Understanding that we are going to fail, but that does not make us failures. I talk
to them about failing at things. I also tell them that if they are not failing, they are
not learning. There are times throughout the year that I will talk to the class or
individual about how they failed at something, but then they asked for help and
then they were able to succeed.
3. Learning about the brain.
a. Understanding the brain is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
I tell them of studies that have evaluated just the weight of brains. Those that have
learned more have heavier brains than those that don’t. I do have to explain to
them that he brain is NOT a muscle, but it acts like one. I tell them how a muscle
is broken apart when we exercise, but then it will grow stronger as we let the
muscle heal itself back.
Self-Discipline:
On this day I will start off with the Daily Routine (up through the Mindset part).
I will then talk to them briefly about a book that I read that explains what we need to be
successful. I usually don’t tell them the book title (although, I would if they asked). However, for
you, the book is called “How Children Succeed” by Paul Tough. This book is so good, I listened
to it three times (I will probably put it on my list for this summer again).
I tell them there are three things we all need to have to be successful. I then show them the
following TED talk:
Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow!
https://youtu.be/M0yhHKWUa0g
Students should be able to say the first thing we need to have is: Self-Discipline. I will then ask
them, what “Self-Discipline” means. There may be a student or two who caught it during the
video, but if not, I will tell them, “Self-Discipline” means: Delaying Gratification
We will then discuss shortly what it means to delay gratification. I usually will tell them about a
few examples from my life or at least how I COULD delay gratification (even though I don’t
always).
Conscientiousness:
Start of day: Daily Routine (up through Self-Discipline)
I will then show them the following video to help them know what the second item is that we
need to be successful:
Conscientious People Earn More and Save More for Retirement
https://youtu.be/oE8HM0rl-zI
Usually this is a difficult word for people to pronounce when they first encounter it. People also
tend to think it means when we are awake (however, that is conscious). It will take several times
for students to learn how to pronounce the word correctly, but they will eventually get it.
After watching this video I will ask students what characteristics conscientious people have. I
will list their answers up on the board. I have made the following list myself:
 Better relationships
I will list any that students didn’t get. I make a point that conscientious people don’t have ALL
of these characteristics at the same time. I could be that most conscientious people don’t have
ALL of these characteristics ever. However, it is good to note that we can develop these
characteristics throughout our lives.
Usually I will summarize conscientiousness as: “Doing hard and boring things without external
rewards.” I talk about people like Michael Jordan who are will do boring practices over and over
again so they can get better. I will also share some personal experiences about how I feel I am
conscientious, however that I lack in some of the characteristics listed.
Grit:
Start off with the Daily Routine (down to the Conscientious part).
I will then show them the following video:
Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit
http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit?language=en
I can then ask them what the third thing is that we need to have to be successful (Grit). I
sometimes will talk about the thing Ms. Duckworth talked about (spelling bee, WestPoint, etc. –
sometimes students don’t know what these are). I will ask them what Grit means (sometimes
students will pay attention). Grit is “Passion and perseverance for long-term goals.”
I sometimes will talk about the movie “True Grit.” I will tell them that I haven’t seen the movie,
but I will tell them basically what it is about. I will tie that into Grit to explain that the girl in the
movie kept on working on what she wanted to get done even though bad things were happening
to her. I will quickly tell them about this article about Georg Washing and Grit
(http://community.mindsetworks.com/blog-page/home-blogs/entry/effort-grit-or-insanity). I talk
to them about how George Washington didn’t win every battle. He sometimes quit a battle.
However, he was gritty in getting the overall freedom that we have today in our country.
Learning:
Start off with the Daily Routine (down to the Grit part).
I sometimes will start off the class asking about the telephone game and what it is. (The
telephone game is where someone whispers something in the next person’s ear once and then
second person then has to whisper the same thing in the next person’s ear. Usually what was said
by the first person is totally distorted by the end of the game).
I sometimes will also talk about the 10,000 hour study and basically what people have assumed
from the study (i.e. it takes 10,000 to learn something).
I will then show the following video (it is 20 minutes long, but I will tell my students that he will
be singing a song for part of it):
The first 20 hours -- how to learn anything | Josh Kaufman | TEDxCSU
https://youtu.be/5MgBikgcWnY
I will then ask students how many hours it actually takes to learn something (20 hours). This is
going to take us from the “I suck and I know it” to “I’m pretty good at this.” I tell them at 20
hours no one will be the “expert,” but they will be reasonably good at it. I then will ask them
what the four things are that we need to do to learn (according to the video).
1. Deconstruct the skill
a. This means to break down the skill into simpler parts
b. I usually will tell students that we as teachers have mostly done this for them with
our lessons and activities
2. Learn just enough to self-correct
a. I will then tell them that the basic form of self-correction is knowing we made a
mistake
b. Then we use 3-5 resources until we can do it ourselves (self-correct)
3. Remove the practice barriers
a. This is where I can tie in the memory information. I talk about what we are
supposed to be learning should be in our working memory (we get it there by
paying attention). This is called being “focused” on what we are learning.
4. Deliberate practice for at least 20 hours
a. I ask them what the word “Deliberate” means (that you are doing it on purpose)
b. I will then ask them how we know we are being deliberate
i. We can be physically or mentally exhausted
ii. We are seeking for constructive criticism of what we need to work on
iii. We work on where we are terrible (I will tell them about this article:
http://community.mindsetworks.com/blog-page/home-blogs/entry/growthmindset-and-testing-what-we-can-learn-from-the-hunger-games)
iv. Repeat, repeat, repeat
v. We are trying to improve our performance (these five come from the book
“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink)
Addition (for foreign language classes):
In my Spanish classes I will add the following video about learning languages:
Hacking language learning: Benny Lewis at TEDxWarsaw
https://youtu.be/0x2_kWRB8-A
I will then ask them what we need to have to learn a language (motivation). I then ask what we
need to learn a language (use it). I will then ask what are the four ways to use a language
(reading, writing, listening, speaking). I will then ask what one method we can use to learn a
language (spaced repetition).
Daily Routine:
1. What is this part of our brain (I will point to one of my frontal lobe)?
a. What does it take care of (logic, creativity, decisions, personality, motor skills)
2. What is this part of our brain (I will point to my parietal lobe)?
a. What does it take care of (sense of touch and language)
3. What is this part of our brain (I will point to my occipital lobe)?
a. What does it take care of (eyesight)
4. What is this part of our brain (I will point to my temporal lobe)?
a. What does it take care of (hearing, smelling, speech)
5. Cells in a brain are called: (neurons)
a. What do neurons do? (connect to other neurons)
6. What are the seven things we need to do to take care of our brains?
a. Balanced diet
b. Brain breaks
c. Plenty of water
d. Plenty of sleep (8-10 hours)
e. Challenging your brain
f. Exercise
g. Learn things when we are not upset or stressed
7. What is our first memory? (sensory)
a. How long does it last? (3-4 seconds)
8. What is our second memory? (working)
a. How long does it last? (30 seconds)
b. How many things can it hold? (5-9 items)
9. How do we get information from our sensory memory to our working memory?
a. Pay attention
10. What is our third memory? (long-term)
a. How do we get information from our working memory to our long-term memory?
i. Repetition
ii. Acronyms
iii. Method of Loci
11. What are the two mindsets? (Fixed and Growth)
a. Which one do we want to have? (Growth)
b. How do we develop a growth mindset?
i. Magic word “Yet,” magic phrase “For now”
ii. Having a positive, open mind
1. Understanding we are going to fail, but that doesn’t make us
failures
iii. Learning about the brain
1. Understanding the brain is like a muscle, the more we use it, the
stronger it gets
12. What is the first thing we need to have to be successful? (Self-discipline)
a. What does that mean? (delaying gratification)
13. What is the second thing we need to have to be successful? (Conscientiousness)
a. What does that mean? (doing hard and boring things without external reward)
14. What is the third thing we need to have to be successful? (Grit)
a. What does that mean? (passion and perseverance for long-term goals)
15. What is the first thing we need to do to learn? (De-construct the skill)
a. What does that mean? (break it down to simple parts)
16. What is the second thing we need to do to learn? (Learn just enough to self-correct)
a. What is the basic form of self-correction? (Knowing we made a mistake)
b. Then we use? (3-5 resources)
c. Until we can? (Self-correct or do it ourselves)
17. What is the third thing we need to do to learn? (Remove the practice barriers)
a. What does that mean? (Placing what we are trying to learn in our working
memory—focus on what we are wanting to learn)
18. What is the fourth thing we need to do to learn? (Deliberate practice for at least 20 hours)
a. What does the word “deliberate” mean? (On purpose)
b. How do we know we are being deliberate?
i. It can be mentally or physically exhausting
ii. Repeat, repeat, repeat
iii. We are trying to improve our performance
iv. We are asking people what we need to work on
v. We work on those things
19. (For language classes):
a. What do we need to learn a language? (motivation)
b. What do we need to do to learn a language? (use it)
i. What are the four ways of using a language? (reading, writing, listening,
speaking)
c. What is one method that we can use to learn a language (spaced repetition)