A heartfelt hello during these unsettled and unpredictable times! The end to the pandemic is not happening soon and you may be preparing to teach in flipped, blended, and online classes or using a combination of these approaches. The use of virtual classrooms, once the exception, is now becoming the norm. The following news from BrainWise updates what we are doing to help you teach the 10 Wise Ways during these times.
Instructors are teaching lessons online using Zoom and other teaching platforms. Past newsletters have provided electronic worksheets, practice activities for all age groups, and testimonials from a range of BrainWise instructors (follow the links to BW Newsletter issues 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53.)
If you own a BrainWise curriculum, you have free access to the online worksheets. Please request access to these worksheets by contacting us at: info@brainwise-plc.org.
BrainWise graduate Tiffany Tate Aragon (1999, Sheridan High School, CO), an Digital Marketing expert and Vice President of Web Welder, is building a BrainWise Learning Management System (LMS.) Tiffany has come full circle. She not only is teaching the 10 Wise Ways to her young children; she is also our web master and champion to teach BrainWise to mothers.
The LMS will allow BrainWise to offer an online course successfully tested with teens (see pictures.) Instructors will be able to administer, document, track and report on each student’s progress. The methodology identifies learning gaps and where the student needs more help.
A range of technological options is now available and Web Welder will build an LMS to host the BrainWise course, integrating some unique concepts to help students achieve mastery in the 10 Wise Ways. We hope to have the program available by early 2021. In the meantime, instructors are teaching Zoom classes and using BrainWise electronic worksheets.
Additionally, Lisa Sabey and her film company Parents-to Parents, are creating a series of short educational animations depicting the 10 Wise Ways. The shorts will reinforce the 10 Wise Ways for students familiar with BrainWise and introduce the program to those who are new to BrainWise.
As a side note, you may be interested in research conducted by MIT that compiled data from 6.9 million video-watching sessions of students, as well as interviews with teaching staff. The research found that maximum student engagement (100% completed) occurred with videos that were six minutes or shorter.
In the BrainWise Zone, the last section of the BrainWise curriculum, emphasizes the importance of reinforcement and includes examples of using animations and movies featuring characters using, or not using, thinking skills. On the Internet and on YouTube are resources where you can find a trove of age appropriate animations and videos. The forthcoming BrainWise LMS will also have a clearing house of vetted examples you can use.
BrainWise Builds Trusting Relationships. Sergeant Letricia Brown and her team of police officers faced a challenge. In 2019, they were asked to relaunch the Greater Houston Police Department’s Police Activities League (PAL) and build trusting relationships between youth, law enforcement, and the community. She said, “We did not have much direction. We had nothing.” That […]
The previous BrainWise newsletter discussed research that showed the importance of human interaction and its benefits for improved mental health and longevity. Increasingly, youth and young adults are using chatbots to fulfill this role. But how can instructors integrate Machine Learning (ML) into teaching the 10 Wise Ways and what is the future use of […]
Loneliness. “Join or Die” is the title of a new documentary about Dr. Robert Putnam’s extensive research on loneliness (https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=4oDVf8sOG9w.) The Harvard political scientist wrote Bowling Alone in 2000 and presented data showing the transformation of Americans from being social joiners to becoming isolated individuals. He warned of the negative consequences of this shift, […]