The Marshalltown Education Association is sponsoring a legislative forum with legislators Mark Smith, Steve Sodders, Mary Masher and Sharon Steckman this comin g Sunday. These Iowa legislators are active on education issues and will answer your questions and share the view of the legislature on education issues.  Marshalltown invites you to share your views with these influential legislators.  Plan on attending: 

What:   MEA Legislative Forum

Where:  Marshalltown High School Library

When:  Sunday, March 17^th

Time:  3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Who can attend

1. Exercise - Your brain slows down when you sit still.  Because human brains were "forged in the furnace of physical activity," you must exercise if you want to use your entire IQ. How are you assuring you and your students continue to explore and move?       
2. Survival - Your brain is an evolutionary triumph.  Brainpower allows us to survive and thrive.  Our brain's memory is the informational "database" and we use our mental "software" to improvise and solve problems.  We do our best with encouragement from others; we "under-perform" when someone threatens us.   How do you use positive and meaningful feedback for your students and their learning?   
3. Wiring - Brains are wired individually.  Your specific brain structure depends on your culture and other external inputs. The brain of a musician has different wiring than that of a mathematician.  Since each brain is individual, educational programs should be customizable.  In what ways do you personalize the learning for your students?  
4.  Attention - If it's not intriguing, our brain isn't interested.  When our emotions are tied to the situations, we learn more and remember longer.  Emotions cement our memories.  Present your information in 10-minute chunks and use emotional "hooks" to assure your students will remember.  How do you assure your information isn't "dull"?  People cannot give full attention to dull information.  What do you do to make it interesting and tie to their emotions? 
5. Short-term Memory - It's the case for connection!  Immediate information is stored in your short-term or "working" memory.  You must repeat it and link it to something familiar to remember it. Sounds and images will enhance short-term memory.  Your students will forget 90% of what they learned in your classroom in a month if you don't give them continued opportunities to interact with the learning.  Connections!  Connections!  Connections!  How do you assure your students interact multiple times with what you want them to take away from your class - all the time making connections?
6. Long-term Memory - It's the case for repetition!  "Consolidation" of information is key.  If you want your students to remember something "forever," be deliberate.  Help your students by spacing out multiple learning and study sessions.  1) Get them to think about the new information within the first hour after they have learned it.  2) Get them to immediately talk about what they just learned with as much detail as possible.  3) Make sure they know the importance of sleep in retaining and information and "rehearse" that new learning the next morning.  What role might great questions play in helping kid "rehearse" the new learning you just taught them?
7. Sleep - Snooze or lose!  Your brain works all night - or at least about 80% of the time you are asleep - organizing information it encountered during the day.  Brains also tend to slow down in the afternoon; a nap can work wonders, turbo-charging your brain for six hours.  When we don't get enough sleep - even one hour less than our normal sleep time, our attention is deprived; our memory and mood are "shortened" and our logical reasoning and math knowledge suffers.  Are you getting the sleep you need to be your best?   
8. Stress - Chronic tension makes it harder to learn.  A little bit of stress is good for learning; a lot of stress, chronic stress, limits brain function and can lead to "learned helplessness" where students give up hope and no longer engage their brains to solve problems.  The greater and longer the stress, the worse the ability to work with numbers and language and the more difficult it is to concentrate, remember, and solve problems. How do you make sure your students have just enough stress to learn but not so much that they are overwhelmed and feel "no chance" in achieving the learning?  
9. Sensory Integration - For best results, use all your senses.  For enhanced learning, be sure to bring all the senses into play.  Add pictures to text.  Add "actions" to steps in problem solving. The more inputs, the better your students will learn and recall information.  Are your students seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, and feeling when they are learning in your classroom?
10. Vision - The eyes have it!  The brain prioritizes the sense of sight. Make sure your students are seeing the content to be learned - in print, in action, with pictures!  What are you doing to assure that your students "see" the learning?
11. Gender - Yes, your sex affects your brain.  There are differences in the brains for each gender.  There are also differences in the brain of each individual.  What steps do you take to assure you understand the brain of each of your students?
12. Exploration - a sense of wonder promotes learning!  Our brains are always busy gaining data and concepts to help us navigate our world.  We can learn forever!  What are you doing in your classroom to create a sense of wonder for learning?  Great questions can be a perfect start! 

The author, John J. Medina, directs the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University and teaches in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. 

Your life experiences shape your brain, and a neuroscientist can distinguish your brain from that of a concert pianist by watching your brain's reactions to a piece of music.  Unbelievable!  And very true!

No two brains are the same!  And the more you use it, the more the brain's performance improves.

Did you know that . . .

• Between 3 and 6 months after conception, the human brain contains the most brain cells (neurons!) it will ever have.  However, the number of synapses, those brain-cell connections, increase with age and experiences.
• It's no wonder our teenagers seem "illogical," since it is in later adolescence that they develop logical thinking and impulse control.  
• To protect your brain as you age, focus on diet, exercise, and sleep.  If your food choices are good for your heart, they are good for your brain.  Low-calorie, low-fat diet prevents high cholesterol and obesity - and the onset of Alzheimer's dementia, and other diseases that impact the brain.  And exercise boosts the growth of capillaries, the vessels that carry nutrients to the brain.  And sleep!  Yes, high-achievers in school and at work tend to get more sleep than their less successful counterparts.  Memory "consolidation" takes place when you sleep and is important to new learning.
• If you raise your awareness of your senses, you will improve your memory.
• If you retain a short-term or working memory for enough time, it will become your long-term memory.  Strengthen both by exercising the brain.  Do puzzles!  Set up "protocols" for your learning - read it, reflect on it, recite it, review it.  (This is why letting students talk with others about their new learning is so important for "cementing" the new learning!)
• Technology has its good points and bad points for the brain.  Video games can help develop "highly specific real-world skills" and improve "eye-hand coordination" and sharpen "visual attention."  On the flip side, they can become habit-forming, which is not good for the brain.  Restak suggests that we limit our exposure to two or three hours a week and never longer than one hour at a time.
• We get our aha's in learning when there is a push from the right side of the brain into the left hemisphere.  Many of our new ideas start as images so visualization is important.   
• Multi-tasking is a barrier to optimal brain function.  So are interruptions, and e-mails are one of the worst.  If you check them often while working on challenging work, it will take you an extra 15 minutes to get back on track each time you "leave" to check those emails.  
• While "fluid intelligence" - the speed of processing and memory - declines with age, "crystallized intelligence - accumulated expertise and wisdom - do not!

The author, Richard Restak, is a clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University.  

• Teaching for Understanding - Curriculum Strand:
  What do all students need to learn, know, and be able to do?  How do we in our building/grade level connect our teaching with the students' learning expectations identified in the Core?
• Assessment for Learning - Assessment Strand: 
  How do we know that students have learned?  How do we use assessments to assess and diagnose our students' progress in learning?  How do we adjust our instruction based on the results of the formative assessments?
• Teaching for Learner Differences - Instruction Strand:
  How do we plan and deliver instruction so that we meet the needs of all learners in our classroom?  How do we respond if students struggle or don't learn and how do we respond when students have already learned?

Cost:

• $90 if ISEA or Iowa ASCD member
• $150 for non-members
• If a school sends 4 or more teachers to the conference, the administrator comes free!
• Includes opportunities for follow-up webinars and tweet chats as well as Grade 4 and Grade 5 website of resources

Registration - Use One of the Following Methods:

• Register online with a credit card.
• Iowa ASCD members and non-members of either organization may register here.
• ISEA members should contact Lou Howell at L1313@mchsi.com for special code to register on Iowa ASCD website. 
• Mail a check/purchase order with date/name of conference and names of participants with grade level/role identified to Bridget A. Arrasmith, Drake University School of Education, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA  50311
• E-mail a purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu. 
• FAX purchase order with name/date of conference names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at 515.271.2233.  

Location:  AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center, 3712 Cedar Heights Drive, Cedar Falls, IA  50613 

Dates:

• April 25, 2013 (8:00 - 4:00)  Grade 4: Impacting Learning in My Fourth-Grade Classroom
• April 26, 2013 (8:00 - 4:00)  Grade 5:  Impacting Learning in My Fifth-Grade Classroom

Download flyer on the Iowa ASCD website! 

Purpose:

• To expand the knowledge base of educators and others interested in competency-based education 
• To build the capacity of educators and others to transform the current system of education in Iowa to a system focused on personalized learning for each and every student

Featured Speakers:

Join us for learning and conversations with national leaders like Rose Colby, author of Off the Clock and a national consultant on competency-based education; Kathleen McCaskey and Barb Bray, consultants on personalized learning; Michael Soguero, Director of Professional Development at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center; and Tom Vander Ark (pending), author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning Is Changing the World and founder of GettingSmart.com.

And there will be several Iowans joining the conversation and sharing their expertise:  Dr. Jason Glass, Director of the Iowa Department of Education, CBE Task Force members Jeff Herzberg of Prairie Lakes AEA and Bridget Wagoner of Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District; and Representatives Tyler Olson, Renee Schulte (pending), and Cindy Winkler.

And Andrea Stewart, teacher in the Muscatine Community School district, will be one of several, sharing how it is delivered in the classroom.   

Sessions will include among others:

• Define:  What is a competency?
• Design:  How do we design and assess competencies?
• Deliver:  What does it look like in my classroom?  

Mark your calendars now!   June 26 an 27!  Register for the Conference on the Iowa ASCD web site.  The fee is $250 for Iowa ASCD members and $295 for non-members. You may also  . . .  

• Mail a check/purchase order with date/name of conference and names of participants to Bridget A. Arrasmith, Drake University School of Education, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA  50311.
• E-mail a purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants to Bridget A. Arrasmith at bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu. 
• FAX purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at 515.271.2233.   

Watch for all the tweets on competency-based education. Lots to learn and lots to share! 

• What you eat, and how and when, directly affect your ability to think clearly and creatively.  Therefore, start each day with a nourishing breakfast.
• Take short breaks throughout the day to make the most of your mental acuity.
• Sleep - get plenty of it and to improve it, avoid the unhealthy snacks.  Milk and fruit will promote drowsiness.
•   If you are wanting to motivate people, be a coach or consultant, not a "boss."
• For intelligence, genes count most (48%) followed by prenatal care (20%).  Environmental effects and "chance" account for the remainder.  (And, yes, Mom, your talking patterns can influence your child's intelligence.)
• "Because I told you so" is not the solution parents or teachers should use with kids.  "Raging hormones" and the slow development of the brain's decision-making sector in teenagers require that we help them attain self-control with encouragement, praise, discipline, structure, and logical consequences.
• Female "talkers" tend to excel more than male "doers" in school.  Both genders perform poorly on timed math tests, which should be avoided unless speed is an essential criteria.  Males often do better on math tests in the morning and verbal tests in the afternoon.
• Take vitamins at meal times and minerals between meals.  Avoid caffeinated drinks when you take vitamins as they inhibit absorption.  
• Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and sugars impact your mood.  Have a snack right before you want a boost, like before making a speech.  Eat complex carbs (e.g., cereals, grains, vegetables, fruits) for morning and afternoon snacks.  Eat protein followed by complex carbs for lunch.  Are you seeing that complex carbs are the core for a healthy diet?
• A nap can recharge you.  The best time to nap is 12 hours after the midpoint of your previous night's sleep.   
• Memory - the learning that sticks, and varies by age.  Eight-year-old kids remember on average one "bit of information" out of every 100 they receive.  To learn efficiently, take a break after an hour of studying.  Do something unrelated to learning and then "hit the books" again.  We memorize best right after we get up, just before we go to bed, and at our day's midpoint.
• Three strategies for remembering:  1) intend - this means you want to remember; 2) file - mentally organize the information, such as using visual reminders; 3) rehearse - go over the information again and again.
• Normal pace for reading is 200 to 300 words per minute.  Don't get "conned" into speed reading as you will miss conceptual understanding.   
• Empowerment - never make assumptions about the motivation of adults or kids.  Ask them, instead.  Be more consultant and less boss.
• Your expectations color your performance and what you can achieve.  Think negatively and you are bound to fail.  Think positively to get closer to attaining your goals.
• Light - yes, it can have an effect on your mood and your production.  Choose full-spectrum lightbulbs.