![Best Practices at Tier 1 [Secondary] - Gayle Gregory](/cover_679455.jpg "Best Practices at Tier 1 [Secondary] - Gayle Gregory")
What must I do when I am not learning?
4. What can I do to extend my learning?
Having students answer these questions can help them develop what Hattie (2009) identifies as the most powerful leverage of learning at our disposal—self-grading. Students can successfully self-grade (become assessment-capable learners) when they:
Students cannot master these outcomes through passive observation. When students develop the ability to self-grade, the impact rate is 1.44—the highest impact rate Hattie (2009) reports in his initial study. Beyond offering self-assessments of their performance, students also benefit from playing an active role in the creation and implementation of strategies to improve their performance—practices that we will describe in detail throughout this book. Unless teachers can see students successfully demonstrate what they taught, then they have no evidence that learning has taken place. Furthermore, teachers cannot observe this when students are passive participants in the learning process. Learning requires teachers working with their students and students working with each other to transform instruction into application and action.
In this chapter, we’ve explored the big picture of good teaching and how the PLC process is essential to an effective core instructional program. We’ve also taken a brief look at some of the previous attempts to improve core instruction and why those efforts failed. While all of these powerful ideas are worthy of deep and ongoing discussion, this book isn’t just a collection of ideas—or guiding principles and general concepts. Instead, it offers specific recommendations and proven tools to achieve these outcomes. In the next chapter, we do just that, as we dig deeper into the process of creating a brain-friendly classroom environment and explaining how that environment contributes to the successful implementation of best practices at Tier 1.
Taking the Discussion Further
Following are some of the important ideas from this chapter that are worthy of further reflection and discussion. Educators in a PLC may want to read through this chapter with their collaborative teams and discuss each section, recording the issues related to each piece of information and considering classroom implications for students. Collaborative teams can reflect on the prompts to deepen understanding and set subsequent goals for improvement.
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
