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Creating Brain-Friendly Learning Environments

We’ve seen that educators must routinely—even daily—differentiate quality learning opportunities in order to meet diverse student needs and preferences and to enable students to succeed in core instruction. Understanding specifically how to structure differentiated instruction in a way that will increase the chances of student success, however, demands that educators have some basic grounding in learners’ biological and psychological needs. While a number of factors shape the brain’s ability to survive and thrive, none are more critical than the classroom climate and environment. Beyond its power to influence the development of a learner’s brain, classroom environment can also play a role in students’ overall physical and emotional well-being. As we see in this chapter, multiple factors influence the classroom environment and climate—everything from body language to room décor affects learning.

Few teachers entered the field in order to spend more time thinking about brain science, but the more educators know and understand about how the brain operates, the more sensitive they can be to their students’ needs and the better able they’ll be to optimize learners’ success. Fortunately, a lot of information is available on the subject of the learning environment, and more research emerges daily with implications for classroom practice. Although neuroscience will never tell us how to teach, this ever-growing bank of data on neuroeducation leaves little doubt about the influence of neuroscientific principles on educational practices. John Geake (2009), a professor and cofounder of the Oxford Cognitive Neuroscience Education Forum, reports, “Relevant and useful professional and classroom applications of educational neuroscience will increasingly become available as we gradually come to understand more about brain function through neuroscience research which answers educational questions about learning, memory, motivation and so on” (p. 10). The best practices educators can employ to leverage what neuroscience teaches us about the effect of environment on learning involve creating a classroom environment that supports trial and error, encourages risk taking, promotes collaboration, and includes meaningful, relevant, and engaging instruction. By understanding the fundamental elements of a brain-friendly classroom we outline in this chapter, educators can be better prepared to incorporate those elements into their own classroom environment and, in doing so, remove some of the most persistent stumbling blocks students encounter as they work to achieve learning goals.

In this chapter, we’ll explore the many ways educators can create and maintain a classroom climate and environment that contribute to the optimal intellectual, emotional, and physical development of their students. From controlling stressors to creating structure, enabling a more social classroom experience, and engaging students more actively in their own learning experience and achievement, the ideas and techniques we outline in this chapter offer educators multiple opportunities to build an environment that promotes and supports student achievement.

Maintaining a Safe and Secure Climate for Learning

Creating a supportive classroom environment can maximize student engagement and create conditions for success, and it represents one of the powerful strategies educators use in delivering daily differentiated instruction. Although most brains operate in similar ways, each brain is uniquely based on the individual’s genetics and environmental experiences (Shaw et al., 2006). As a result, we all have different ways in which we process information and demonstrate competence. At the same time, we each react differently to environmental stressors such as isolation, bullying, and aggressive behaviors. In the classroom, events that go unnoticed by one student may dramatically interfere with another student’s ability to listen or participate in class.

Teachers intuitively know these differences exist, yet still may offer a one-size-fits-all curriculum. As teachers grow in experience and gain insight and expertise, however, their repertoire of instructional strategies and their understanding of how and where to use them evolve. The strategy of differentiated instruction is predicated on this understanding of each student’s unique nature and needs. Neuroscience has much to tell us about creating a classroom environment that feels safe and supportive for all student brains along with a classroom climate that promotes the kind of physical and emotional nourishment that contributes to both a healthy mind and a healthy body. Because every student in the classroom comes with his or her own set of learning needs and preferences, educators can draw on the variety of techniques we outline here to create a brain-friendly environment that will help all students achieve their learning goals.

The Adolescent Brain

When puberty hits, we can expect the unexpected. According to Jay Giedd et al. (1999), the young adolescent’s ability to judge, plan, and use insight has not yet developed. Giedd et al. (1999) suggest that people can learn good judgment, but we do not have the necessary brain hardware to make those judgments until we’re fully mature—in our early twenties. However, Giedd et al.’s (1999) research shows that the frontal lobe (the thinking and problem-solving area of the brain) continues to grow, change, and develop during childhood until 10.2 years for girls and 12.1 years for boys. Changes occur during the teen years as well. Therefore, adolescence is a second chance to develop behavioral regulation and logical decision making. This is good news! There is hope for teenagers who seem irrational or overemotional, as the decision-making areas of the brain continue to develop into their twenties. This means educators have time to influence students and help them learn to manage emotions and develop rational decision making. Teens need guidance while this brain development takes place. They are a work in progress as they learn strategies to manage emotions, self-regulate, make decisions, and develop empathy (Goleman, 2006b).

Adolescent Developmental Tasks

Not only are adolescents entering a new stage of life and brain maturation, but they are dealing with a whole new set of developmental tasks. These tasks mostly focus on becoming aware of themselves and their relationships to others. Several issues they grapple with are (Sheppard & Stratton, 1993):

Developing a personal identity

Respecting and accepting differences

Appreciating diverse cultures

Creating peer recognition and acceptance

Being adaptable and flexible in new situations

Respecting personal and family relationships

Wrestling with moral dilemmas

Managing emotions

Dealing with challenges

Evolving self-confidence

Managing loss (death, divorce, separation, and aging)

Coping with body changes

As educators, we should be aware of adolescents’ quests, struggles, and insecurities. We are not just preparing these students for a test or college but for life, and their social-emotional needs are paramount to their development and success in school. Sometimes it is not only the parent who sees all of the issues. Through strong teacher-student partnerships, teachers can address the whole student in his or her education. Empathy, sensitivity, and open communication while allowing and guiding choices are necessary for teens to be successful. (See more about developing strong teacher-student partnerships on page 39.)

The Role of Stress in Brain Development

Perhaps the most potent factor shaping brain development in any environment is stress. The brain is a survival organ, and stress is one of the brain’s survival responses to real or perceived environmental threats. Stress is a normal element of life, and brains can grow and even thrive on appropriate stress levels. Excessive stress, however, can create dramatic physical and emotional responses that can interfere with our ability to think and interact appropriately.

When we experience a real or perceived danger or other stressful situation, our brain’s default system for emergencies kicks into high gear. Our amygdala (the emotional sentinel embedded deep in the limbic area on each side of the brain) goes on high alert. It begins scanning to identify the threat and then to decide whether to fight or flee, a reflexive automatic response that temporarily bypasses our executive, or reflective, brain functions (Posner & Rothbart, 2007; Zull, 2002). In the classroom, a student’s brain may go into survival mode—or reflexive action—as a result of being ridiculed, humiliated, or bullied or in response to a fear of failure, confusion, or a task that is too far outside his or her knowledge or skill capabilities. Beyond matching challenges to student skill levels, educators also must monitor for signs of multiple other stress inducers, such as isolation from peers, unclear expectations, and lack of both physical and emotional support structures. These kinds of stress-inducing events can deeply influence a student’s opinion about school. Physical and emotional support structures may include different types of seating for comfort and variety—bean bag chairs, mats on the floor, or different height and work surfaces to appeal to certain tasks. Additionally, when classrooms have rules, routines, and expectations, students’ anxiety and stress will lessen.

Our attention guides us to interpret sound, movement, color, and pain, in a state referred to as stimulus-driven attention. When goals drive our attention, rather than environmental stimuli, our brain engages with activities that appear meaningful and interesting. Once an immediate threat has passed, our brain is able to return to the goal-driven attention of higher-level thinking. In that state, the brain can ignore stimuli and put all its energy into the task at hand (Medina, 2008). That’s not to say that students learn best in a total stress-free environment. Without any pressure to learn, students have little motivation to do the hard work necessary to achieve learning goals. That’s why educators must work toward creating a classroom environment marked by appropriate stress levels, which neuroscientist Antonio Damasio (2003) calls maximal cognitive efficiency and describes as occurring when challenge meets skill.

As you can see, high alert is not an optimal condition for classroom learning. Students thrive when they have both a high motivation to succeed and appropriate levels of stress. In an environment of excessive stress levels, student performance and engagement suffer (Goleman, 2006c). Therefore, controlling the level of stress within the classroom matters deeply in maximizing student learning.

Environmental Stressors

By controlling the types and levels of environmental stressors, educators can create a brain-friendly environment that promotes optimal learning conditions and eliminates the anticipatory anxiety students suffer when they are in constant fear of unexpected and upsetting events. A brain-friendly classroom, therefore, is one governed by clear, logical, and well-explained routines. A lack of clear and reliable routines can be one of the greatest sources of stress in any classroom. Without clear direction, consistent practices, well-defined learning goals, and established criteria for gauging learning progress, students can feel lost, unnerved, and powerless to play a determining role in their own academic success.

Rather than condemning students to a classroom experience filled with stress and anticipatory anxiety, educators who supply clarity, structure, and ample emotional and physical support in the classroom create a climate of relaxed alertness that can aid, rather than inhibit, student learning. The following list offers three practical guidelines for building a classroom environment that encourages student learning and academic success—not rules, so much as healthy habits that help teachers and students work together effectively.

1. Develop norms or expectations for classroom behaviors: Students can contribute their own ideas to this list, but here are some critical expectations for every classroom (see also Gibbs, 2006).

One person speaks at a time (whether in large or small groups).

Everyone listens respectfully.

The class can fix and correct mistakes.

Do not use put-downs.

Students have a right to pass when called on (if students feel pressured or go blank in their thinking).

Show appreciation for fellow students.

2. Build a community: Students must know one another and respect the differences, strengths, and needs of fellow students. Teachers need to stress the idea that students are to learn together and help each other. That understanding sets students on the path of collaboration. In a differentiated classroom, students will work in partnerships and in groups of all sizes. Those collaborative alliances give students an opportunity to better know their classmates and to share ideas and opinions in the relative safety of a few individuals, rather than in front of the entire class where students can feel more vulnerable to ridicule (Gregory & Kaufeldt, 2012). Furthermore, group interactions in a learning community may actually promote brain health. Edward Hallowell (2011) suggests we have a biological need to interact with others, and if that need too often goes unfulfilled, we actually lose brain cells. Hallowell’s findings also support Maslow’s (1968) and Glasser’s (1998) basic needs theories of belonging and being included.

3. Establish classroom organization and management strategies: Clear classroom routines and procedures reduce anticipatory anxiety and save time and disruption in the classroom. Any confusion in this area will result in a lot of off-task behavior among students. Educators, therefore, should establish procedures that address:

What students are to do when they come to class

How teachers or students will distribute materials

Where students are to hand in assignments

What students are to do when they finish a task (such as sponge activities to absorb time in a productive way or anchor activities to extend learning)

What students are to do when they don’t know what to do

How students get help if they need it

How students should form groups

How the class maintains a tidy and orderly classroom

How students are to work with others

Besides teaching these guidelines, posting or displaying them in the classroom so students can refer to them while working provides support for successful interactions and creates autonomy and efficacy.

Healthy Brains and Bodies

Of course, the physical environment isn’t the only factor that influences student learning. Students also require adequate physical movement and nutrition in order to remain alert and on task throughout the day. Fortunately, educators also have some influence over these elements of a safe and supportive classroom environment.

When students sit all day, they deplete the flow of blood to their brain. Without adequate blood flow, the brain doesn’t receive the levels of oxygen and glucose necessary to support its operation at levels of high efficiency. That’s why it’s so important that students have an opportunity to get up and move throughout the day. Physical activity helps wake up the learner. The importance of physical activity in brain health goes beyond its role in improving blood flow. University of Illinois studies show that regular exercise can increase the basal ganglia and hippocampus in a child’s brain (Reynolds, 2010), changes which improve attention, memory, and cortical functions. (The basal ganglia is found at the base of the forebrain, and its main role is to monitor and regulate activities in the premotor and motor cortexes to facilitate seamless voluntary movements. The hippocampus, a small seahorse-shaped organ in the temporal region of the brain, is part of the limbic system and thus helps regulate emotions. It is also responsible for creating long-term memory during rapid eye movement [REM] sleep and is instrumental in spatial navigation.) Furthermore, twenty minutes of exercise will increase blood calcium, which stimulates the brain’s release of dopamine (the pleasure neurotransmitter). An associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, John Ratey (2008), suggests that even mild exercise releases norepinephrine and serotonin, two neurotransmitters that help regulate energy and emotions. Serotonin also supports self-esteem and learning. These neurotransmitters also benefit students with attention deficit disorder.

Yet, there is even more evidence suggesting that exercise promotes brain health. In Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, John Ratey (2008) describes a critical biological link among emotions, thought, and movement. This brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, is a protein that works like a master molecule to promote growth in dendritic cells—cells that play an important role in the immune system. The BDNF, or Miracle-Gro for the brain as Ratey (2008) puts it, increases voltage in the electromagnetic charges of the brain’s neurons, thus improving the signal strength. Additionally, it helps increase the brain’s levels of serotonin. Educators can help students increase their levels of this so-called fertilizer by ensuring that classroom routines incorporate ample opportunities for physical activity. Here are just some of the ways teachers can get their students up and moving.

Get students up out of their seats frequently to talk to a partner, pass out materials, or hand in work.

Ask students to physically move to a new work area, such as a new group, workstation, or study center.

Take stretch breaks, perhaps set to music to up the energy level.

Music can play an important role in nourishing student brains through movement and exercise. Because music can be so engaging, setting activity times to music can create a physical, mental, and emotional break for students. Music creates a sense of fun and spirit, even in learning tasks. These are just some of the ways that physical activity can nourish student brains and benefit their learning processes.

Of course, students also require whole-body nourishment. You can’t learn if you’re hungry, and many students come to school hungry. Even with free and reduced-cost breakfasts and lunches, many students still lack adequate nutrition. While educators can’t ensure that students get to school on time to take advantage of a free breakfast or that they have adequate food at home, they can provide nutritional boosts to students throughout the day. In fact, frequent minimeals are preferable to fewer, heavier meals, in order to keep students’ glucose levels up (Riby, Law, McLaughlin, & Murray, 2011). Sharing this information with adolescents empowers them to be self-sufficient moderators of their own glucose levels. Thus, they can carry nutritious snacks to keep them alert and learning. Teachers might also keep some nutritious snacks (if schools permit) to help students who get into a slump. Complex carbohydrates and proteins, like granola bars or string cheese, are better choices for these snacks, since they take longer to digest and don’t cause the spike and crash of simple sugars and starchy foods (like soda, potato chips, or candy).

Finally, educators can teach students the need for good nutrition and model good nutritional choices by emphasizing the need to drink plenty of water during the day. Water is part of the body’s nutritional arsenal for maintaining attention and alertness. The body is 75 percent water, so it requires frequent hydration. By the time we feel thirsty, we’re already beginning to be dehydrated. Therefore, students should have access to water bottles or fountains as needed. In addition to giving students adequate amounts of water during the day, teachers must also offer frequent bathroom breaks.

Again, educators have an important role to play in nourishing students’ minds and bodies. These are just some of the ways that educators can help accomplish that goal.

Mindfulness

In addition to challenging lessons, group work, physical activity, and adequate nourishment, students also need quiet time to process information and reflect on tasks. In The Hurried Child, David Elkind (2007), an American child psychologist and longtime professor at Tufts University, writes about children who have their every waking minute filled with activity. Thus, they have little of the respite time necessary for metacognition, an activity that allows them to consolidate their thinking and develop the awareness of their own identity and thought patterns. This is similar for adolescents as well. Tim Burns (1991), a teacher, trainer, and adolescent counselor from Santa Fe, New Mexico, suggests:

If we expect our children to make the transition to the highest level or intelligence, their environment and their role models must view “down time” or quiet time as a positive experience and a welcome respite from the world’s increasing deluge of sensory stimulation. (p. 73)

Even without a full schedule, a student’s brain is constantly busy, processing data and responding to external stimuli—even a teacher’s eye-rolling or sigh of exasperation can trigger the student’s brain to send out distress signals and derail learning. Managing emotions and self-regulation, therefore, are key skills for success in school and life. Daniel Goleman (2006b), in his significant book Emotional Intelligence, suggests five components necessary for successful living.

1. Having emotional awareness

2. Managing one’s emotions

3. Self-regulating and self-motivating

4. Showing empathy

5. Using appropriate social skills

How can educators help students develop and foster these characteristics as habits? One way is by teaching students techniques for developing mindfulness—a term with multiple definitions but that we use to describe the state of purposely paying attention to one’s thoughts and feelings. Students of all ages, from elementary to high school, can benefit from mindfulness training. By incorporating some short, easy-to-do mindfulness exercises into daily classroom routines, teachers can help students learn to be more aware of—and, thus, able to control—their thoughts and actions. Not only does mindfulness training help students manage their emotions, but it also can help improve their attention and develop their abilities of concentration, conflict resolution, and empathy for others—all of which offer huge payoffs for school and life. Practicing mindfulness can help build a calm atmosphere in the classroom and improve the overall classroom environment.

Teaching mindfulness doesn’t require complicated strategies. A very basic mindfulness strategy, for example, is simply teaching students to quiet themselves and take some deep breaths. Teachers also can encourage students to eliminate the distracting noise of external stimuli by taking a short walk or focusing on a short period of creative exploration, such as drawing using noise-canceling headphones, journal reflections, visualizations, meditation, or simply taking a short time-out to regroup thinking before moving to another learning exercise or activity. See also the Hawn Foundation (http://thehawnfoundation.org/mindup) for more on mindfulness and mindful awareness training.

In the 21st century, we are bombarded with stimuli that fight for our attention. Helping students learn to use the quiet, reflective time mindfulness affords can teach them to be more in the moment, rather than obsessing about past events or future worries. At the same time, mindfulness goes a long way to quiet student spirits and, in the process, increase their ability to focus their attention on the task at hand.

Providing Relevant, Meaningful, and Engaging Instruction

Learning new information can be a stressful experience for students and, therefore, needs special attention from educators as they attempt to build a brain-friendly classroom. The more relevant, meaningful, and engaging the learning experience, the more effective it will be for students in the classroom.

One way to make learning more engaging is to make it more accessible, something educators can accomplish by helping students anchor new ideas and understandings to familiar concepts. The brain connects new information to existing information by looking for similarities in patterns and schemas, a process Ratey (2008) refers to as chaining, and which pediatrician and author Mel Levine (1993) describes as horizontal threading. In other words, the brain can’t connect new information unless there is something with which to hook it. For this reason, preassessing is an important tool for educators to use before teaching a new topic. If students have little or no prior knowledge or skills associated with new topics, teachers need to know so they can provide the important backfill of information necessary to help students make connections and understand. By giving students advance organizers and pointing out connections, teachers can help develop the schemas and patterns necessary to help students feel less intimidated or overwhelmed by new learning. First introduced by David Ausubel in 1968, advance organizers, sometimes called a hook or anticipatory set, are tools teachers use to introduce the lesson’s content before starting a new topic. They also are helpful in gathering preassessment information. (See chapter 5, page 133, for examples of advance organizers.)

Educators also can help students find meaning in new material by engaging a number of their senses in the learning experience. Of the five acute senses—hearing, vision, touch, scent, and taste—educators often only engage the first two in the classroom. Vision is a great attention-getter and is far more powerful than hearing, as students often tune out the teacher’s voice (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2001). Nevertheless, most classroom teachers try to gain and keep their students’ attention through teacher talk. Richard Mayer (2010), a psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, indicates that students learn better from multisensory teaching than from learning that engages only one sensory modality.

Mayer is not alone in these findings. James Medina (2008), developmental molecular biologist and affiliate professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, shows that memory is more accurate and retained longer when learning is multisensory. According to his studies, classrooms that provide sensory-enriched environments contribute to increased dendritic growth. When students engage in multiple rehearsals and practice using their brain’s visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways, they actually strengthen the connections between the brain’s dendritic cells and increase the efficiency of recall and use of information (Medina, 2008).

Learning also becomes more familiar and engaging when it has relevance. Students respond better to real-world situations, examples, and artifacts. Students don’t always find reading information in a textbook interesting and stimulating. Here are some other simple techniques to make learning more relevant for students.

Offering students the opportunity to use manipulatives, such as to develop mathematics and science concepts, and virtual reality technology to experience a new topic, location, or concept

Using field trips and guest speakers to get students out into the world and to bring the world into the classroom

In essence, the brain strives to make sense of the world and seeks to understand. The brain has a natural innate seeking system, an emotional system that causes us to be curious and explore to find what we need (Panksepp, 1998). Rita Smilkstein (2003) suggests that learning is an innate human need that drives us all to be curious and seek out information about our world. As we have seen, humans also respond to novelty, interest, and experiences, and these types of stimulation contribute to the growth of the brain’s dendrites (Diamond & Hopson, 1998). Dendrites are branch-like extensions in a brain cell that receive messages from the axon of another neuron. As students learn, dendrites connect to create a larger network. Multiple rehearsals and practice using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways strengthen these connections and cause myelination—a thickening of the connections that increases the efficiency of recall and ease of use (Medina, 2008). By providing a strong foundation of a new concept or skill, we are creating new dendrites—or pathways—to higher levels of learning. Helping students see relevance, usefulness, and the real-world applications of what they are learning increases engagement and offers purpose for the brain—and, thus, is fundamental to creating a brain-friendly learning environment.

Giving Students More Ownership of Their Learning

As the examples we’ve explored in this chapter indicate, activity and participation, rather than just passive participation in the educational experience, encourage student learning. One powerful technique for actively engaging students in the learning experience is by giving them more ownership over it. The work of theorists John Dewey (1938), Jean Piaget (1997), and Lev Vygotsky (1978), fundamentally the fathers of student-focused learning, enlightens us on how children learn best. As they identify, student-centered responsibility is an approach to curriculum planning that takes into account students’ interests, learning preferences, and abilities. It is rooted in the constructive principles of learning whereby students take ownership and have choices about what, how, and why they are learning. This approach infuses the learning process with problem solving, creative thinking, and critical thinking as it develops students’ metacognitive skills.

Much research and writing have focused on the idea of giving students more responsibility over the content and pace of their learning. J. Scott Armstrong (2012) claims, “Traditional education ignores or suppresses learner responsibility” (p. 2). Self-determination theory also supports why this type of learning works (Deci & Ryan, 2002). This theory suggests that learning is always self-directed or self-determined. If students are allowed to control their learning, it becomes their reward.

Student-centered learning offers numerous benefits. It allows students to study what they are curious about and to achieve curriculum goals. It also enables students to use a variety of strategies to suit their learning preferences and satisfy their social needs for communication, collaboration, and peer support. Student-centered learning also contributes to a supportive and nourishing classroom environment by:

Promoting motivation and attention

Fostering peer communication

Reducing behavior issues

Building teacher-student and student-student relationships

Developing student responsibility for learning

Improving thinking and problem-solving skills

If students can see themselves in the curriculum, recognize its relevance to their lives, and feel like they have some input into what and how they will learn, they generally feel less stressed and more committed, thus freeing the brain to be alert and engaged. In chapter 4 (page 79), we’ll discuss supporting student-centered learning in a powerful core curriculum.

Promoting a Growth Mindset

In her popular book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck (2006) shares her theory of mindset. People have one of two mental predispositions toward intelligence: either a fixed or a growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that they are either intelligent or not, and this condition predicts potential. Those with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can increase over time as the brain changes and grows (through the process of neuroplasticity). This brain plasticity, and its role in the continued growth of the brain’s dendrites and neural connections, is responsible for learning even into old age. A growth mindset—among both teachers and students—plays a pivotal role in promoting student success, as it helps educators build an intellectually and emotionally nourishing classroom environment (Dweck, 2006).

Mindsets can influence how teachers and students approach school and learning. A shared belief among students and teachers in students’ ability to succeed makes a significant difference in student achievement. That’s why educators need to share information with students of all ages about the ability of the brain to change and grow over time with new experiences and practice. Students feel encouraged when educators stress that, although they may not grasp a new concept or skill immediately, they can rehearse that idea or skill over time until they achieve or perfect it. That mastery offers multiple rewards. Through perseverance and determination, the brain produces its own incentive with a dopamine release as students get closer to their goal and anticipate achievement.

Dweck (2006) describes a New York experiment where teachers told one group of students that they were smart; rather than bestowing this label on another group of students, educators instead complimented those students on their effort during a task. When given future opportunities, the first group of students didn’t engage in challenging tasks, as they didn’t want to risk their smart status. They often gave up easily, reasoning that if you have to work too hard, you aren’t clever. They were often defensive, blamed others, and cheated to do well. In contrast, the group of students who teachers praised for their efforts enjoyed challenge and continued to choose challenging tasks in the future. They appeared to be more resilient and were possibility thinkers who demonstrated perseverance and grit.

As these studies show, students benefit when educators promote a growth mindset. By encouraging students to believe that they can learn and master new learning, skills, and challenges, teachers prepare them for the task of succeeding in an ever-changing world. Emily Diehl (Mindset Works, 2002), a Mindset Works trainer, suggests these great feedback prompts to promote a growth mindset. (Visit Mindset Works, www.mindsetworks.com/free-resources, for more resources. Visit go.solution-tree.com/RTIatWork to access materials related to this book.)

When a student is struggling despite a strong effort:

“If this was easy then you wouldn’t be learning anything new!”

“You can do this! Let’s break this down into smaller chunks.”

“Look how much progress you have made!”

When a student is struggling and needs help:

“What parts of this were hard for you? Show or tell me …”

“Let’s do one together. Describe your process out loud so I know you’re thinking.”

“Let me show you another way to try. Maybe this will help you solve it.”

When a student is making progress:

“You are using the strategies we discussed. Keep it up!”

“You have really stuck with this and persevered!”

“Your hard work is really evident!”

When a student succeeds with strong effort:

“All that hard work and effort paid off!”

“What strategies did you use that contributed to your success?”

“Congratulations! I am very proud of you for not giving up!”

When a student succeeds easily without effort:

“You’re ready for something more challenging!”

“You really have that down. Let’s find something that will challenge you a bit more.”

“What skill would you like to work on next?”

Infusing the educational process with this kind of positive energy enables students to embrace the idea that they don’t have to know everything, they simply must be willing—even eager—to learn. That’s why the growth mindset plays such a central role in creating a learning environment that stimulates and engages learners, rather than overwhelms them.

Supporting the Social Brain

Jaak Panksepp (1998)—psychologist, psychobiologist, neuroscientist, and the Baily Endowed Chair of Animal Well-Being Science at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine—reminds us that humans need to connect, cooperate, and collaborate. Humans have a contact urge (Gopnik, Meltzoff, & Kuhl, 1999); we need both independent time and the company of others (Covey, 1989). We also need social interaction time to develop normal neurocognitive functions. Neuroscientists have discovered, for example, mirror neurons that are responsible for being able to replicate the brain state of others. As you watch someone else interact, express ideas, and otherwise engage in social exchanges, these mirror neurons enable you to pattern yourself after that person and his or her actions (Freedman, 2007). In essence, when creating a classroom environment designed to support and promote student learning, educators can accommodate students’ social brain by encouraging healthy student relationships, cultural responsiveness, and social skills.

Socialization is an important aspect of any student’s learning process and a key element of the best practices for creating a brain-friendly classroom. Still, opportunities for social development can be easy for educators to overlook. During adolescence is the key time to develop social skills and networks as the brain is undergoing reorganization that is amenable to changes (Blakemore, Burnett, & Dahl, 2010). As a result, educators must be alert to how students perform both at play and in classwork. While students often learn information by listening to lectures, watching DVDs, or working on a computer, educators fail to promote student social development when they forget to provide the kind of student follow-up discussion that is essential for developing both vocabulary and social skills.

As we addressed earlier in this chapter, emotional intelligence is key for success in life (Goleman, 2006b). Students need to be emotionally self-aware and self-managing, and they need to be able to self-motivate and self-regulate. The student’s need for social and emotional intelligence extends well beyond the classroom; empathy and social skills are crucial in getting along in business, industry, and the world at large. So, let’s take some time now to explore ideas and techniques for incorporating support for the social brain into the secondary classroom environment.

Developing Strong Teacher-Student Relationships

As we have noted, the brain is a social organ, and humans have an innate need to connect (Gopnik et al., 1999). The most meaningful demonstration of this connection comes through positive relationships, and the importance of that connection is evident in the influence of the teacher-student relationship on student learning. Studies show that improving teacher-student relationships can increase student achievement; when those relationships are good, students want to be at school and do better academically, and they foster resiliency (Battistich, Schaps, & Wilson, 2004; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Hamre & Pianta, 2001). High school students with intense discipline problems show less objectionable behavior when they feel that their teachers care about them and that they can trust them (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). Teachers who develop positive relationships with students report that attendance is better and that students are more self-directed, cooperative, and motivated (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Klem & Connell, 2004).

We also know that when students feel less lonely and isolated, their academic achievement improves. Teachers who use student-directed learning have more positive relationships and greater student engagement (Daniels & Perry, 2003; Perry & Weinstein, 1998). Hattie (2009) also places positive relationships high on the list of impactful strategies for student learning, with a 0.72 effect size on learning growth.

In contrast, students who have a history of poor relationships with teachers in their elementary years (from kindergarten days through eighth grade) will carry such negativity to secondary school and often show poor academic achievement and more behavior problems than those with positive relationships. This lag in achievement is often greater for boys than girls (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Finally, other research indicates that students with closer relationships and fewer conflicts with their teachers demonstrate better social skills by middle school, thus increasing their social skills in secondary school (Berry & O’Connor, 2010).

Positive teacher-student relationships are evident in multiple ways. Here are just some indicators of these relationships.

Teachers enjoy and find pleasure in teaching, and students know this.

Teachers act in a respectful and responsive way.

Teachers willingly give help and assistance to students.

Teachers help students develop metacognitive skills.

Teachers rarely show aggravation or disdain toward students.

Teachers know details about students’ lives and show an interest.

There are many ways educators can promote and maintain these strong relationships with their students. Some practices and techniques include the following.

Making the effort to know students beyond their academic ability: By discovering what they can about students’ interests, hobbies, and dreams, teachers can build stronger connections with their students and develop a deeper understanding of what motivates them. Teachers can use surveys and exit tickets to help gather information about the students’ interests, hobbies, and activities outside of school (Croninger & Lee, 2001). (We talk more about using exit tickets in chapter 3, page 72.) Some teachers make it a point to use all their students’ names on the first day of school, astonishing their students and strengthening their relationship with them.

Arranging to have one-on-one time with students who are especially shy or challenging: One-on-one interactions can help teachers understand more reserved students and identify what types of activities might help build connections with them. Research shows that such exchanges can help students see educators as people who care about them (Pianta, 1999; Rudasill et al., 2014).

Remembering the message that body language sends: People communicate through expressions and actions as well as with words. As we have seen earlier in this chapter, head-shaking and eye-rolling can send negative messages that alienate students (Pianta & Hamre, 2001; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002).

Communicating frequently that all students can do well: Teachers who consistently let their students know that they want all of them to succeed create a positive warm climate in the classroom and develop a supportive community of learners. This kind of ongoing assurance also fosters positive peer relationships among students (Charney, 2002; Donohue, Perry, & Weinstein, 2003).

Promoting Cultural Responsivity

Culture is the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that society uses to understand our world and one another. Cultural responsivity is the ability to relate respectfully to—and learn from—people from your own and other cultures. Effective educators are committed to ensuring that all students can be successful and reach their potential, and they model their own cultural responsivity to English learners, immigrant students, and minorities by demonstrating an interest in and learning about these students’ lives, families, and cultures. A classroom environment that teaches and promotes cultural responsivity can have a great impact on students leaving home for a school where they don’t necessarily feel they fit. It also helps all students gain an increased understanding of other cultures, even as it helps them learn to eliminate cultural barriers as they collaborate effectively on shared tasks—important skills in today’s global economic and social environment.

If teachers believe certain students are not as capable and will not succeed, they are more likely to use basic teacher direction methods, such as lecture and question and answer, which have a low impact on student success (Gay, 2002). On the whole, teachers ask these students fewer and lower-level questions and don’t provide sufficient wait time for them to formulate an answer (Irvine & Armento, 2001). Furthermore, as Dweck (2006) tells us, teachers often have a fixed mindset when it comes to the potential of different culture groups. A growth mindset on the part of teachers makes them more positive toward students and encourages them to hold higher expectations for all students. There are many benefits to being culturally responsive in schools and classrooms. Such an environment increases students’ comfort level, knowledge growth, and the freedom with which they explore new ideas. In addition, teachers who promote cultural responsivity find that they are better able to reach diverse learners, discover their students’ passions, and select a greater variety of appropriate resources for learning. We cannot overstress the importance of this area of learning. Even students who have no ethnic diversity in their current classroom can expect to learn—and work—with individuals of other cultures at various times throughout their lives. The more adept they become at demonstrating cultural responsivity, the more successfully they will collaborate in diverse groups later in life.

Educators have multiple tools and tactics available to them for developing a classroom environment of cultural responsivity. They can begin this effort by developing student awareness of their own and other cultures and ethnicities and by teaching students to appreciate the value of diversity in classrooms. Other methods for building cultural responsivity include:

Encouraging students to become more cognizant of other cultures’ values

Discouraging students from imposing their own cultural values on others

Examining cultural biases

Even everyday classroom interactions offer opportunities for students to learn cultural responsivity. As teachers become more familiar with their students’ cultural influences through conversations and their own reading and research, they can try to incorporate some multicultural ideas, practices, and traditions into their classroom teaching content and practices. Students and teachers alike must also be prepared to have patience as they continue to build their knowledge base of—and responsiveness to—other cultures. There are many resources available to educators working to build their knowledge of students’ culture (see, for example, Black, 2006; Brown, 2003; Ford, 2005; Gay, 2002; Montgomery, 2000). Teachers can also attend community cultural celebrations and occasions, inquire at local cultural organizations, and share and discuss cultural materials and information in collaborative teams and other professional groups.

As we continue on in the 21st century, we all can expect to learn, work, and live in culturally diverse groups at some period in our lives. In keeping with this reality, educators can’t limit their focus to the late–19th century concerns of reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic. The three Rs of most concern in education today are relationships, responsibility, and respect. Without these understandings, little other learning may take place in the brain. In fact, our soul and spirit are hungry for more than just survival skills and a keen ability to remain on high alert. To feed the curiosity, interest, and engagement that drive learners today, educators must engage in the critical work of building a positive classroom community of learners.

Building Students’ Social Skills

Learning and demonstrating social skills is yet another essential element of a positive and nourishing learning environment. When students receive training in social skills, they reap the benefits of that training well into their adult lives. Many adults lose their jobs not because they lack appropriate job-specific knowledge or training, but because they can’t collaborate effectively with other employees. Adolescents are not necessarily any better at social skills than elementary students. That’s why social skills are such an important part of any secondary student’s toolkit for future success (Goleman, 2006b). Many middle and high school teachers feel they don’t have time to teach social skills with all the content they have to cover, but if they don’t, who will? Many families focus on teaching these skills in their home, but others neglect such teaching entirely. While some students may demonstrate a command of such social amenities like saying “please,” “thank you,” “pardon me,” “pleased to meet you,” and so on, many students lack training in these and other important social basics. Explicitly teaching social skills, therefore, is paramount to building a community of learners, as well as for preparing students for personal and professional success throughout life. Examples of essential social skills include:

Listening to others

Taking turns

Encouraging others

Using positive statements

Using quiet voices

Participating equally

Staying on task

Asking for help

Using polite language

In the next section of this chapter, we discuss cooperative group learning (CGL), and these basic social skills are fundamental to this process. Students who learn to check for understanding, ask for clarification, follow directions, disagree agreeably, resolve conflicts, accept differences, and encourage one another become better able to participate effectively in collaborative groups.

Teaching social skills isn’t like teaching “hard” skills such as reading or mathematics, where little is open to interpretation and students have direct and immediate opportunities to understand the practical application of what they’re learning. To successfully teach social skills, therefore, teachers must be certain to cover the following aspects.

Why the skill is necessary: As is often the case, examples of successes and problems associated with social skills offer more powerful learning opportunities than do lectures. Often, a teachable moment for a social skill occurs while students are working together. In those situations, educators can take time to examine the situation with students, talk about exactly what has happened, and ask the students to identify what social skill or action could solve the problems present in that experience.

What the skill looks, sounds, and feels like: Educators can also model social skills or illustrate them through role-playing a story or watching a video or YouTube clip. Students can also create a T-chart with what the skill looks like and sounds like or a Y-chart to also identify what it feels like (Hill & Hancock, 1993). By helping students expand their understanding of how they demonstrate and respond to specific social skills, teachers build students’ self-awareness as well as their empathy for others’ feelings. Teachers can work with students to build charts that describe how people demonstrate specific social skills and the feelings those skills elicit (Hill & Hancock, 1993). Figure 2.1 illustrates such a chart for attentive listening. By encouraging students to contribute ideas for the chart, teachers can ensure that the language of this teaching tool is appropriate.

Figure 2.1: Attentive listening Y-chart.

How to practice demonstrating skill mastery: Students can show that they understand a skill through multiple means—by drawing it, role-playing a situation in which the skill is used appropriately, role-playing to demonstrate the skill in action, or writing about themselves or others using this skill in real-life situations. When guiding students through practice, teachers need to select a suitable social skill to fit the situation at hand. At first, students may feel awkward with the use of social skills and even become a little exaggerated in their use. As students practice the skills over time, however, they become more relaxed and appropriate in their use. Teachers in PLCs can assign a skill of the month to make sure students get lots of exposure and practice in using individual social skills.

As you can see, supporting the social brain offers students important tools they will leverage in every aspect of life in—and beyond—school. Of course, one of the most challenging arenas for maintaining strong social skills is in group work. School offers an important opportunity to practice the social skills required for group collaboration, as we outline in the next section of this chapter.

Utilizing Cooperative Group Learning

Cooperative group learning is the key strategy for the differentiated classroom that uses heterogeneous grouping to promote success for all students. Although grouping students showed a low effect size (0.18) in Hattie’s (2009) meta-analysis, especially for ability grouping, heterogeneous grouping is more beneficial for all students’ ability levels (Lou et al., 1996). Cooperative group learning has also been one of the most researched strategies for educators since the 1980s. CGL not only increases student achievement but also supports the development of the 21st century skills of communication and collaboration.

When educators implement CGL carefully and thoughtfully, they can expect students to experience the following benefits (Johnson & Johnson, 2009; Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1998).

Greater self-esteem among students

Higher achievement

Better retention of material

Increased social support

Improved collaborative skills

More positive attitudes toward school and teachers

Higher levels of reasoning

In addition to these benefits, CGL also contributes to creating a safe and supportive classroom climate, and it provides students with opportunities to discover and develop their own learning interests and preferences. CGL contributes to vocabulary and concept development as well, since students develop higher-order thinking by using vocabulary in the context of discussion and collaboration. The dialogue of group work contributes to this development in ways the monologue of a teacher lecture cannot. Hattie’s (2009) research suggests a 0.82 effect size boost in learning growth from the dialogue of group work.

For all these reasons and more, teachers are wise to consciously and consistently teach students CGL skills. Yet, in too many classrooms, true cooperative group learning is not routine. If students can’t work together successfully with appropriate social skills, group work will fail most times. Teachers of such classes are prone to abandon group work, saying their students simply can’t handle it.

Cooperative group learning is simple in concept, but its implementation can be complicated. Like anything else that is worthwhile, teaching CGL effectively requires careful planning, an anticipation of issues, and persistence. Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) suggest that students may need twenty-four practice trials in order to master a new skill or concept. Teachers should, perhaps, expect the same number of attempts as they learn to implement a new classroom practice or strategy. During this time, educators can leverage their own collaborative skills by discussing their practices, trials, and errors with supportive colleagues who will listen to the glitches that develop and offer their own problem-solving ideas. Now, let’s examine some of the most successful best practices for implementing CGL in the classroom and for overcoming some of the most common problems educators encounter as they learn to leverage these powerful CGL strategies.

Flexible Groupings

Flexible grouping is an integral part of the brain-friendly classroom, in which teachers group students according to their needs, readiness, and interests. Such groupings can encompass any number of students, as is illustrated in the TIPS (total class, independent students, partners, and small groups) chart in table 2.1. Educators can use the descriptions of group organization and functions in this chart to consider types and uses of grouping in the classroom for variety and purpose.

Teachers can use a variety of these flexible groupings throughout the day to offer students a change of venue and varied opportunities to interact with their classmates. Teachers can base them on student needs and readiness levels. Similarly, students can work in learning centers or stations (see chapter 5, page 125) based on need or heterogeneously to promote the cross-pollination of ideas. Heterogeneous groups are best for fostering student achievement. In readiness-level groups, students don’t experience the diversity of thinking that occurs in heterogeneous groups. Homogenous groups often lack the periodic sparks of inspiration necessary to keep the group going. Lou et al. (1996) caution us that only average or grade-level students do slightly better in homogenous groups. The struggling learners in homogenous groups still struggle, and the more able students may be competitive rather than collaborative. Teachers can embed communication and collaboration skills into instruction while helping students reach targeted standards in all subject areas, thus allowing students to work in collaborative heterogeneous groups of any size. This type of group work models how the real world of business, industry, families, and organizations operates.

Table 2.1: TIPS for Grouping