Kaleidoscope for Schools

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Schools

Kaleidoscope Education provides professional development that builds capacity for educators to create learning communities that are informed by the burgeoning body of research into neuroscience and the learning process.

Workshop #1: Changing perspectives on learning – an introduction to brain compatible learning

Workshop #2: Changing perspectives on classroom management – managing behaviour or managing learning?

Workshop #3: Mind your Brain – certified presenter for Focus Education’s 3 day train the trainer program for educators.

Workshop #4: Literacy practices in brain-friendly classrooms - Teaching the brain to read.

Workshop #5: The brain in question - Fostering a culture of questioning and thinking

An introduction to brain-compatible learning.

In looking beyond the rhetoric of student-centred, hands-on, multi-sensory learning to discover WHY these approaches are successful, this workshop will generate interest in the potential of brain-compatible learning practices as the core of curricula initiatives and explore the role of cognitive neuroscience in creating dynamic learning environments and motivated, engaged, self-directed learners.

Content: Workshop #1

Four Worlds Model – seeing the unique value in each student.
An Animated Tour of the Human Brain – new perspectives on learning (graphics courtesy of Focus Education)
Neurons and Dendrites – understanding how learning alters the architecture of the brain.
Building Motivation And Confidence To Optimise The Conditions For Learning
Emotional drivers of learning.
Stress and Boredom – How do these factors impact learning? How can they be minimised in the classroom?
Brain Care For Optimal Social, Emotional And Academic Competence – The role of nutrition, hydration, sleep and exercise.
Information Processing Model – understanding how the brain processes information and creates memories

Managing behaviour or managing learning?

Based on John Joseph’s Emotional Rooms Model, this workshop explores changing perspectives on thinking, feeling and behaviour and the critical interplay between these elements. It provides a framework upon which schools and teachers can formulate strategies to meet the changing needs of students, schools and communities: strategies that help reconnect disengaged students with learning.

Content: Workshop #2

Focus Education’s Emotional Rooms Model – A metaphor for understanding the abstract concept of emotions.
Red Room – Recognising the physical symptoms of stress or anger and strategies for managing these attitudes and concepts – how thoughts and emotions influence attitudes and behaviour.
The Concept Model – Using questioning frameworks to grow healthy concepts.
Nurturing curiosity, creativity and wonder.
Introducing the Chatz – Helping students recognise and manage their own self-talk.
Mind Your Brain – A program developed by Focus Education to empower students to control their emotions and behaviour.
Behaviour Rubrics – Negotiating rubrics for monitoring behaviour.
Discipline with Dignity – Respecting students with non-punitive strategies.
Practical Application – Planning lessons using the Emotional Rooms Model.

Thank you for your informative and well-presented session. I found it the most relevant and helpful of the conference.
Eloise Jansen van Vuuren
Delegate, WACOT Beginning and Returning Teachers Conference, May 2009.

Penny is a certified presenter for Focus Education’s 3 day Mind Your Brain course. Focus Education’s PowerPoint slides, including remarkable brain animations, are complemented by a comprehensive teacher resource book.

Content: Workshop #3

            Section 1:        Anatomy of the brain – Neuroscience for beginners
            Section 2:        Neurons – Tiny cells that learn
            Section 3:        Information processing – Understanding learning and memory
            Section 4:        Learning styles – Assessing talents and strengths
            Section 5:        Brain care – Grow a healthy brain!
            Section 6:        The emotional rooms – Enjoying life’s challenges

Teaching the brain to read

“Reading is very likely the one area of the school curriculum where neuroscience has made its greatest impact” (David Sousa, 2005). This workshop examines the complex neural processes involved in the acquisition of reading skills and explores a repertoire of brain-compatible strategies for teaching reading and literacy skills.

Content:

The brain systems involved in the reading process.

Differences between proficient and novice readers.

What neural imaging tells us about the nature of struggling readers.

How the brain processes information.

How memories are formed and why multiple and diverse strategies are critical.

The role of emotions in the learning process.

Phonics vs whole language – reviewing the debate in the light of the findings of cognitive neuroscience.

More than decoding.

Learning to read; reading to learn – brain-compatible strategies to engage readers across the developmental spectrum.

Fostering a culture of questioning and thinking.

“Questioning is to thinking as yeast is to bread making.” (Jamie McKenzie, 2004) This workshop explores the benefits of fostering a culture of questioning and thinking, along with strategies for developing such a culture.

Content:

The role of questioning in teaching, learning and thinking.
Moving beyond who, what, where, when – extending children’s thinking beyond the literal.
Teaching by asking rather than telling.
Essential questions – What are they? Why are they important? What is their role in the different phases of schooling?
Other question types – open and closed questions; hypothetical questions; probing questions; divergent questions; subsidiary questions.
Fostering curiosity, creativity and wonder.
Creating a classroom environment that values students’ questions.
Strategies for developing, in students, the capacity to formulate effective questions.
Developing a questioning toolbox.
Assessing students’ questioning skills.

An interesting and motivating workshop. Your knowledge of the topic is profound.
Patricia Foo Li Hong
Delegate, Singapore workshop, 2011

Penny did a wonderful job. She has motivated me to make a fresh start and take a new outlook towards my teaching. Well done Penny. Keep up the good work.
Delegate, Singapore workshop, 2011