Boys and Girls Learn Differently

More than anything, I found the whole basis for this book to be incredibly interesting. There is not enough research on gender in the classroom and more of it could enable teachers to reach all students in a maximize learning environment. What struck me as odd was the fact that there are schools separating their math classes by gender, but no other subjects follow this model. I wonder what it is about math that makes the results distinct enough to make this executive decision where as other subjects prove too ambiguous. I also wonder if separating boys and girls in the math class would even matter if a heterogenous classroom employed skills that seem to improve scores for both (such as kinesthetic motion coupled with increased time on learning multiplication facts). I hope to look into this more when I have free time and I'm glad that this group was able to call my attention to it!

Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching

This presentation was great. Being able to learn in small groups seems to be what works best for this class, and I know I enjoy it more than lecture. Team 1 did an awesome job of creating engaging activities while modeling the process of joining them under an overarching theme. For me, the most meaningful part of the presentation was the station that focused on student ownership of the classroom. I really like the idea of having students write a meaningful quote and designating a wall of the room simply for that sense of ownership and motivation. It's definitely a strategy I plan on using in the field!

A Whole New Mind

All of the activities incorporated into each mini-presentation really enforced all the information that was being distributed. I especially liked the section about happiness and the health benefits of it. The most intimidating bit of information was the part about computer processing. Humans will never be faster than machines and they will only sharpen their precision with time. However, no computer will ever be able to replace such things as empathy, sympathy and play. Computers can out do us in many things, but humanity will never be one of those.

Awesome presentation.