Motivating teenagers

Why are teenagers so unmotivated all the time? What activities can we do to engange them in class? New discoveries in neuroscience can provide us with a biological explanation for this.
Brain function is different in adolescence than in adulthood (25 years). The Prefrontal cortex continues to mature into the 20s, making decision-making generally more effortful and difficult. Adolescents operate more from the reflexive, instinctive, amygdalar part of brain, leading to impulsivity.
They also have less activity in the nucleus accumbens (a region of the frontal cortex) which leads to motivational deficit. This means that adolescents are drawn to high-excitement and low-effort experiences, or both. Long-term planning suffers and risk-taking or "laziness" are very common.

Teenagers can be very demanding and critical but once they are motivated they can show a lot of creativity and imagination in class so the question is how we can motivate them and get the most of each of them....
Below you will find some activities that really worked in my class and I hope they will be useful and enganging for your students.

Warming up - First Impressions are really important to get students in the perfect mood to motivate them. The beginning of the class is a key moment to engage your group of teens in the lesson.

• Cues! It's students' time to be detectives! Hide in the class five cues  that will help them find out what the lesson will be about. To make this activity more engaging and fun write the cues in QR code! What I always use is the QR Code Generator: www.goqr.me to create the cues, I paste the cues on the classroom walls and then they  have to use their cell phones to decipher the codes. They have to install a programme to read the codes, it's free and easy to download. 
• Put a complex picture on the board related to the lesson, get them into groups to discuss what they think the lesson is going to be about and play some music in the background. When the music stops they share their ideas with the whole class.
• Jigsaw Puzzle: if your students have computers you can give them a jigsaw puzzle to introduce a new unit. Here's the webpage I use to create my puzzles.: http://www.jigsawplanet.com
• Pass the bomb: Get a ball and play some music, when the music stops, the student with the ball answers a question from the previous class. This is a great idea for revision that can be used at the beginning of the class or at the end as a round up.

Lesson Ideas

• Google Earth Tour: For this activity you will need computers and the google earth programme installed in the computers.  If you are dealing with places, countries, cities, etc. you can get learners in pairs to carry out an expedition somewhere they would like to go. Then, they report back what they have investigated about the place they visited. 
• Speed dating: If you want to practise speaking  you can sit your students in two rows of chairs facing each other. Call out the first theme and give students two minutes to talk about the topic. When the time is over one side of the class remains seated while the other side moves to the next chair. 
• Connecting chain: This activity is used to revise / practise linking words. The teacher makes a statement and adds a linking word, then throws the ball to a student who has to finish and end the statement with a connective word and so on....
• Survivors: Tell your students that they are flying as passengers on a jumbo jet over the Pacific. By chance a war takes place during their flight forcing the captain to land close to a small island. Passangers learn that they are about to become the last remaining survivors on the planet. The job of each group is to decide what sort of society they can create on the island. *Questions that may guide them through the task: what needs to be arranged / done immediately? How will tasks be arranged? How will decisions be made? Who will be the leader? What will they eat? How? How will children be looked after? How will family life be sorted? What happens to rule breakers? Stand back and let your students debate.

Rounding up

• Box and Cox: This activity is an unthreatening way of assessing to what extent learners have understood what you have taught. Ask students to write down a question that relate to something they do not understand. Make sure these are anonymous and ask them to put these into a box. You can quickly go through any questions and clarify issues to the class that they may not have understood.
• Don't mention it! Students draw from a bag/box a word they have learnt in class. They have to attempt to describe that word without using the word itself. 
• Spot the mistake: Get students in pairs. The teacher writes a sentence, question, with a grammar mistake on the board and students must find it and correct it. You can also write grammaticaly correct statements and students decide if the sentence is right or wrong.
• Mind maps: I am a fan of mind maps as they are an excellent tool to revise concepts and consolidate topics. The use of mindmaps can be used at the end term or the end of a unit, Ask learners for key ideas from the last lesson/current unit/s and tell them they have to create a mind map. Then, they share them with the rest of the class.
• Who wants to be a millionaire? Prepare 10 questions for revision . Pick one learner to be the contestant and one to be the host, Like the television show,give learners three ‘lifelines’, phone a friend (ask someone in class) or askt he audience (everyone in the class writes an answer on a blank sheet of pape and holds it up). Swap the contestant and host.

It is a fact that motivating teens can be a really difficult task to achieve but it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences you may ever had. These were just some ideas that you can implement in class , try them out and see what happenes. I will be posting more activities soon. Stay tuned!

The Anti Bullying Class

This is a topic so relevant in today's world. Last year, one of my students was bullied outside the classroom and it was quite difficult to detect it until she came to me and talked about her problem. Detecting bullies is not that easy because most of them don't act uopn their victims in front of adults.

Children and teenagers tend to become cruel sometimes and it is part of their growing. However, when teasing becomes repetitive and it is made on purpose to hurt a child that is called bullying. 

It is essential to take this issue seriously and do something about it. Not only teachers and the school community should be involved but also parents and the government too. Developing kindness and empathy in our children is essential if we want to make a substantial change to stop bullying in class.

Some Ideas to prevent bullying

• With teenagers you can explain what bullying is and prepare some questions for discussion to raise awareness of such an important issue.

How can bullying harm the school community, even for students who are not directly mistreated? What beliefs or assumptions will students have if they see that neither adults nor peers do anything to prevent or stop bullying?What are some reasons why students might not want to report bullying? Do students in this school generally support fellow students who are bullied? If not, what could we be doing better as a community to increase our support? What are some things we can do to safely support a peer who is being bullied? What do you think a mistreated student would want his/her classmates to do? 

Source: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/student_engagers/bullying_student_engager.shtml

• Help children to solve problems through dialogue instead of fighting. Role playing can be a good starting point. Below you will find some scenarios to role play ....

Source: http://www.eycb.coe.int/compasito/chapter_4/pdf/4_8.pdf

• Encourage students to tell an adult when they see someone who is being bullied. It is vital to get support. Explain the difference between "telling" and "tattling".                       Telling is necessary so as to protect someone from being hurt and tattling is wanting to get someone in trouble but nobody is hurt or in danger.

Telling or Tattling?

1. In the back row of class, Billy makes a face at the teacher when her back is turned to the board.
On the playground, Roger is pulling other kids' hats off and throwing them over the fence.
2. In the cafeteria, Sarah does not drink all of her milk and throws it away.
3. After school, Sam tells a younger student that he is going to beat him up if he does not give him a candy bar.
4. On the bus, Torre is kicking the back of the bus seat that Susie is sitting in and it is annoying.
5. At home, Mark lets the dog outside without a leash on.
6. After school Mary decides to make macaroni and cheese on the stove even though Mom has told her not to use the stove when she is gone.
7. In the neighborhood, Cal decides he can ride his bike in the street when his parents are not home.
8. At the restaurant, Billy blows air through the straw into his cup and it foams over.
9. On Facebook, Kayla is getting hurtful postings calling her names.                                                                                                                                                                                                           Source:  http://www.togetheragainstbullying.org/the-difference-between-telling-and-tattling    

• Prepare with your class a contract in which it is clearly stated that bullies are not allowed in the classroom.

• Engage your students in activities to develop empathy, compassion  and kindness. Children need to know that their feelings are important but so are the needs and feelings of others. 
• Tell them stories that have positive values behind and talk about them.

Recommended reading to teach kids about empathy

• It's OK to be different by Todd Parr
• My brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete
• Don't call me special by Pat Thomas
• The thankful Book by Todd Parr
• Star of the week by Barney Saltzberg
• Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Making friends is an art by Julia Cook
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Ages 8-12)

More classroom ideas

http://www.thebullyprojectmural.com/index.html#p/how-to-add-to-mural

If you have any other idea please comment below so we get nurtured and enrich each other. Have a beautiful day!
Paula.

The Mindful teacher

A mindful teacher in the classroom is essential if you want a class which flows naturally without disruptive behaviour and lack of attention.
Humans are not born with completely developed brains and nervous systems. Neuroscience tells us that children as well as teens cannot regulate themselves till they are in their 20s. Their pre frontal cortex complete developing by more or less the age of 21 so their ability to downshift and regulate their emotions is incomplete until their adults.

Current scientific findings are clear that in order to regulate emotions, human beings are dependent on mature brains to initially assist in the microregulation of their physical and emotional world. Ideally, this interactive regulation transitions back and forth over the childhood and adolescence until the person is largely selfregulation. However, at stressful times, it is necessary and appropriate to seek interactive regulation from stable others. - Arlene Montgomery, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

This is the reason why the role of an adult is so important in youth. The care-giver acts as the ventral vagal (soothing) system until their  nervous system can begin to regulate itself.

So the questions is, when we enter the class, are we present, attuned, and empathic? Or are we feeling sad, stressed out, tired, dissociated or anxious? what are we unconsciously transmitting to our students? Pupils  literally respond to the state of our system.

• Emotions are constantly being transmitted to each other. The teacher's internal state is going to be a determinate factor on weather students will be able to learn or not. 
• Mirror neurons: Human beings imitate other people's behaviours as a way to communicate with one another. 

The following characteristics of a mindful teacher will help educators get the best from their students.

• PRESENCE; A mindful teacher is totally enganged in what is happening at the moment. Children and teenagers notice unconsciously when the teacher is not in the "here and now".
• STABILITY AND SOLIDITY is this idea that the adult is transparent, empty, stable and grounded. Be soft and flexible but at the same time unshakable. You can show these qualities through your gestures and posture. The weight of your body ground completely through the feet while having the head and spine naturally lengthening upward. Take the class as your spacial territory and imagine your awareness covering the entire room inviting students to join your class. Embody solidity and show it. 
• SPEECH. Pay attention to the quality of your voice. Intonation , rhythm and stress change as you become more present. Speaking with awareness creates a relaxed power. 
• AUTHENTICITY: Being authentic is finding your own style and voice. Don't try to be somebody else, humans can easily sense when you are lying , just be you!

Taking these aspects into account will help you cope with a disregulated class and catch your students' attention. The role of the teacher, as I mentioned before,  becomes fundamental as it is mainly a model for self regulation and self control. 

Music in the classroom

Why music in class?

Integrating music in the classroom can enhance our students' learning experiences in many different ways. The brain learns in patters and music is delivered in patterns too, that is why it is much easier to remeber the ABC in a song than if it is spoken.

Music helps us to coordinate the rhythm of the heart, our breathing, and our brain waves. It contributes to our body  and mind relaxation opening the door for learning.

Music is a powerful tool that can create a warm and exciting environmet in class and can change negative emotions.

The use of music in my class

We can use music for different purposes and at different moments. Here you have some songs I usually use in my classes.... bear in mind that from time to time it will be advisable to change the songs so as not to bore your students!

Opening ritual: when students enter my class they listen to some uplifting songs to get energized like "Eye of the tiger", then we do some brain gym activities to prepare our brains for learning.   

Concentration time: For reading or other activities that require concentration I play some Baroque music, Chopin, Celtic music, new age, etc. Avoid music with lyrics, the ideal is to play instrumental songs.

Closing ritual: Finally, when the class ends I usually play some stimulating songs again like "We are the champions" "I am a believer" "Let the river run" while they put their things away and get ready to go home.

Remember that your class should be like an electrocardiagram, it should have moments of instruction and moments of relax and you can accompany those moments with the appropriate music and rhythm.

In the following links you will find the access to the playlists I use in class with my students. 

Opening Ritual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgYpI5KqTNI&list=PL85DE272028F261E3

Concentration Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeyQ9Rk9Zvk&list=PLYunnD_nqmi1wDBSm0KZsUStgDLAm0eo2

Closing Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaKDOYTZbJg&list=PLYunnD_nqmi2Buqwo0rdIxCihyFKcGGr3

What is essential to the brain for a successful learning?

What are the essential facts we should take into account for a successful learning experience?  What does the brain need to learn successfully? The following truths can help teachers to have an idea of what is necessary to take the most out of our students and develop all their potential.

First of all, let us consider how we can nourish our brains. In order to function properly, our brain needs OXYGEN. Breathing, meditating and doing physical exercise promote brain oxygenation. Breathing exercises help us develop self control which is essential for our students. Being able to control one's impulses at a young age could play into later academic success and social skills.  

Another important aspect to bear in mind is that our brain is made up mainly of WATER, so drinking a good amount of filtered water every single day is indispensable for a good brain functioning. Dehydration can seriously impair learning and affect concentration and memory.

DIET. The brain needs a balanced diet to obtain energy. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins must be present in our meals everyday. Nuts and seeds are good sources of vitamin E which is good for brain cognitive functions as well as almonds which improve memory and lower cholesterol levels. 
                                                        

SLEEPING helps to reinforce what we learnt the previous day. What's more, having a nap inmediatley after learning a task seems to improve performance on the task. Lack of sleep can seriously affect cognitive functions.

EMOTIONS often involve memory and memories often involve emotions. POSITIVE EMOTIONS are better remembered than neutral events  so it is essential for our students to associate any piece of learning with a "feeling good" emotion in order to have them stored in the long term memory. 

CONTEXT is of a great importance to help the brain get the most optimal state for learning. The classroom should have elements that make the student feel safe and relaxed. Incorporating soft music, plants, and images can provide the appropriate atmosphere for learning.

All in all, these are some of the main facts I take into account when I teach. Taking advantage of the new discoveries in neuroscience can be of a great help if we want our students to achieve their full potential. 

Have a nice week!

Emotions and the brain in the learning process

There's no doubt that there is a strong connection between emotions and the brain. A student who is relaxed and happy is better prepared for the learning process. 
It is well known that when students are engaged and motivated their affective filter lowers to let information flow without any constraints.


The lymbic systen (temporal lobes, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus) gives emotion to the information coming in and those pieces of info which are associated with a positive emotion are stored in the long term memory. 

To help our students to be successful learners it is really important to ....

1. Provide a positive atmosphere: Teachers should be able to promote a classroom atmosphere where the student feels safe and confident. It is important for the teacher to be friendly and loving, tell students her expectations and let them talk about their expectations too. When our students know what we expect from them their anxiety lowers and we set the appropriate atmosphere for a successful learning.

2. Make the information they are learning relevant. The lesson should be interestting and motivating. Teachers should ask their students what they are interested about and include their interests in the lesson plan. Students are engaged when they are taught what they want and need to learn. 

3.Let them be more independent. When we give our students more independence they will naturally feel more motivated. When appropriate, create situations where students can control aspects of classroom learning  so that they can practise freedom of choice and objective-setting with peers.
Another point to consider is that, instead of giving students the answers of everything, help them to make predictions. Give them the opportunity to think and reflect, prepare them to be "critical thinkers" The brain actually learns based on a system of predictions and feedback as neuroplasticity strengthens neural networks used to make correct predictions and it corrects memory networks used to make incorrect predictions. (This is why timely corrective feedback is important so those faulty circuits can be replaced with accurate information.) http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-teaching/201005/want-children-pay-attention-make-their-brains-curious

All in all, emotions and the brain are intrinsically connected in all aspects of life, positive emotions will prepare the brain for a successful learning. Conversely, prolonged emotional distress can cripple our ability to learn. There are some tips that, we as teachers, should take into account to make the learning experience a memorable one. First of all, a postitive classroom atmosphere will make students feel safe and lower their anxiety, the information provided by the teacher should be relevant for them so try to include in the syllabus their interests and what they want to learn. Finally, helping them to be more independent learners will increase their motivation and incentive to learn, but most important of all, it will preare them for life.