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TEACHERS.NET GAZETTE
MARCH 2001
Volume 2 Number 3

COVER STORY
Teachers.Net celebrates 5 years this month! Read about how teachers across the planet have visited and contributed to shape this most dynamic of collaborative educator projects!
COLUMNS
Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong
Promoting Learning by Marv Marshall
Alfie Kohn Article
4 Blocks by Cheryl Sigmon
School Psychologist by Beth Bruno
Jan Fisher Column
BCL Classroom by Kim Tracy
ARTICLES
Reform Demands on Educators
Bullies: Advice for Teachers
Around the Block With...
Are Black Children Treated Differently?
The Cherub
Brain Awareness Week
Celebrating Dr. Seuss
The Issue of Violence in Our Schools
Rethinking How We Raise Teenagers
Contextual Clarity Before Curricular Concept
Early Mainstreaming for Visually Impaired
How Do You Stop a Bully?
Technology Integration
Is Distance Learning For You?
Short Fiction Paradigm Shift
The Unsinkable Sub
Things I Learned From My Daughter
Preventing Rules From Falling Apart
REGULAR FEATURES
Web News & Events
Upcoming Ed Conferences
Letters to the Editor
New in the Lesson Bank
Humor from the Classroom
Help Wanted - Teaching Jobs
Gazette Back Issues
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Brain Awareness Week, March 12-18, 2001
by Kim Tracy

Over the last ten years we have seen an increase in neuroscience findings in regards to how the brain learns best. Skeptics warn educators to not make generalizations over recent findings, yet educators scurry to place meaning behind the findings and using strategies to help improve learning. There are many conferences throughout the year to help educators relate neuroscience and education. Each year, Brain Awareness Week, organized by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, helps promote public awareness of the latest brain research and what we have to look forward to in the future. Many hospitals and health service groups plan activities to aid in helping community members understand the latest findings on brain related diseases and disorders.

Brain Awareness Week is celebrated in schools to help guide educators and parents in the best strategies for learning and in promoting healthy environments to protect ourselves from brain damage accidents, such as bike riding without a helmet or headbutting soccer balls. There are many activities that schools can do to help promote Brain Awareness Week.

Invite a doctor or neuroscientist to the classroom to help the students understand what actually is rolling around inside their skulls. Many students do not fully grasp the understanding that their entire body relies on the brain. A doctor or neuroscientist can help students understand exactly what the brain is for and how it helps them learn.

Invite a nutritionist to explain why our bodies and brain need healthy foods and how that helps in the learning process. We often tell students to eat healthy, but never explain how it helps them to learn as well, or how some foods might affect their ADD or other chemical imbalances.

Conduct a poster contest on bike safety rules and helmet usage. Have someone from the local bike shop to do a safety lesson with students.

Ask the PE teacher to show students alternative ways to play soccer without using their heads to block.

There are numerous websites available to help educators promote Brain Awareness in students:

Brainy Kids for fun activities, lab activities and lesson plans

Make a neuron or model of a brain using lesson plans from Fun Brain games that play tricks on your brain or on you! Brain Worksheets, Puzzle, Coloring Sheets and More Brain Songs such as, "Twinkle, Twinkle Brain of Mine" or "I've Been Working On My Neurons" Send a Brain Awareness Week email postcard Print out Brain Awareness Week bookmarks Find out the latest brain research and how it relates to the classroom by subscribing to the FREE Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter Stay abreast of the latest brain research by subscribing to Learning Brain newsletter for just $1.00 a month Visit Brain Pop with your class! A great site that combines science, health, and technology to help educate our students. Some areas of this site should not be viewed by younger students. Visit the Think Tank at the National Zoo. Think Tank is an interactive site that allows the viewers to probe into how animals think. Never heard of Brain Awareness Week before? Be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s Brain Awareness Week March 11-17, 2002. Be sure to order buttons, design flyers, or any other Brain Awareness activity to help students, parents and the community understand the importance of all the latest neuroscience developments and how it relates to our everyday lives and our learning environments.

Numerous conferences are offered throughout the year on Neuroscience and Education:

3-Day Fragile Brain Program

  • Learning with a different brain in mind
  • How to identify and reach 27 kinds of special learners
  • From abuse, A.D.D. and autism to trauma and violence

    HOUSTON, TX     March 29 - 31, 2001
    CHICAGO, IL     June 21 - 23, 2001
    BOSTON          March 22 - 24, 2001
    SAN FRANCISCO   Oct. 18 - 20, 2001

6-Day Workshops - Teaching with the Brain in Mind
    SAN DIEGO     July 9 - 14,  2001
    SAN ANTONIO   June 4 - 9, 2001,
                  June 11 - 16, 2001
    CHICAGO       June 25 - 30, 2001
    BOSTON        July 16 - 21, 2001
    ATLANTA       July 30  August 4, 2001

Learning and The Brain
    WASHINGTON, DC      May 2-4, 2001

Brain Expo

    SAN ANTONIO      July 25-28, 2001
Read The Gazette’s monthly column on Brain Compatible Learning or view the Brain Compatible Learning strategies chat for strategies to use in the classroom. For further information contact Kim Tracy at kimtracy@teachers.net.

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