Teaching Strategies

Why I Love Biases

There are thousands of articles posted online for just one purpose. They want you to have fewer biases. However, you likely ignored those. This month, you will widen your understanding of biases and move forward in life instead of feeling “less than.”

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:

Let’s begin with a simple statement-question. Linda is 31 years old, single, bright, and very outspoken. She majored in philosophy. In college, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and social justice issues. Which is more probable? Is it a) Linda is a bank teller, or b) Linda is a bank teller and is active in women’s rights? Stay with this next segment; the answer to this question is at the end of this newsletter.

What is a bias?

A bias is a preconceived inclination of the mind or heart. A bias can go either way; it can be favorable or unfavorable. It influences choices. In other words, biases can be a good thing, neutral, or a terrible thing. There are over 188 labeled and documented biases.

Next, why do we have biases? To survive in today’s world, your brain must navigate and solve multiple issues, take on formidable barriers, and do it under time limits with internal, social, or leadership pressure. A bias takes you from a thought to a conclusion in a split second. That’s a great strategy when chased by a hungry predator a millennium ago. However, today, we need better quality thinking when people’s lives are at stake.

What types of factors increase biases? There are four (4) major bias generators:

  1. too much information coming at us daily with too little processing time
  2. lack of context, clear meaning, and coherence
  3. social influences from family, peers, and media
  4. the need for quick decisions with an overloaded error-bound memory

What’s an example of negative bias? A very common one is the blind spot bias. This is the inability to notice and reveal your own weaknesses because you feel you would already know about them (Pronin, Lin, & Ross, 2002). Any time you catch yourself denying that you have a bias, pause. That defense just might be your worst bias of all.

What’s an example of a positive bias? You might favor one type of teaching, learning, or memory tool over all others. But if your choice is one the most reliable, highest impact, and inclusive, it’s an excellent bias to have. My early career focused on accelerated learning. My bias was/is that kids can all become much more competent, savvy, and confident learners. It might not be true, but I choose to stay with that bias.

What are examples of bias at school?

When students are different from the teacher, the risk for bias increases. Different may mean skin color, ethnicity, religion, or physical attributes. As you might guess, a common bias is the “stereotype bias.” Teachers are more likely to perceive that their class is too difficult for students of color compared to white students (Cherng, 2017). As a result, they dumb it down, and then students get bored with easy material. Finally, students end up with lower scores from an easy curriculum. That’s a problem.

Bandwagon bias: We join what many others are doing. (“Ten other schools are doing this in our state; let’s do it!”)

Confirmation bias: This is the tendency to see anything that confirms what you already believe in. (“Yes! This example confirms exactly what I was saying earlier.”)

Familiarity bias: If you have already heard of an idea before, it is easier to choose or dismiss it quickly.

Stereotype bias: This is judging others by the gender, social, or ethnic group they are in (“That kid’s like the rest of those ________________. Not a drop of motivation.”)

How do I recognize a negative bias?

Our brain is often guilty of the following: 1) generalizations, 2) a ‘lack of time’ bias, 3) fatigue bias, “I’m too tired to do the work to get better. I’d rather conserve energy.”

You might hear comments like these at school:

“Yeah, nobody will get those kids to grade level.” “It’s pretty much impossible to discipline those kids with all their issues at home.” “It’s all changed; the kids don’t come from around here. The parents don’t believe in their kids. None of them even care about graduating.”

Practical Applications

We all have biases; there are countless types of them. Biases usually happen because of a perceived lack of time. This is more about your awareness. Nobody is trying to ‘fix you’. We are all broken in one way or another. The core message is that, first, all biases are not bad. And second, our biases can be shifted. Shifting biases shows maturity, caring about doing the right thing, and taking a personal path to thrive. High school students need teachers to have higher expectations about their future success. Once that happens, they are far more likely to graduate from college. Here is the two-step process.

Part 1: The first step is a 30-day goal to raise awareness. Remember, we are all biased, just in different ways. Notice biases shared by others on TV, on the Internet, or in conversations. Notice your own biases. By tracking your biases, you will notice them more easily and raise your awareness. Mark on a calendar or notepad when you notice a bias. Each time you catch a bias, make a mark. More marks are better. Tally up your weekly total and share it with the team.

Part 2: Next step is for day 31-60, shifting biases to a positive action. You can do this in many ways. 1) Recognize your stereotypic response and replace it with a better, fresh response. 2) Briefly adopt the perspective of another; try it out; maybe it fits you, too. 3) Contact the person you had the stereotypical response with and learn a new perspective. 4) Retrieve counterexamples from different sources or experiences to learn from. Once you have started this process, here’s what you can do in your class.

Notice that Part 2 (above) can only work if your new habit includes noticing, shifting, and rewarding yourself for gaining awareness of biases.

3 Ways Your Upbeat Biases Can Help Student Success

  • Role model high expectations. Raise the bar on your own life (new habits, new roles, expertise started). Share your weekly ups, downs, and successes w/ your kids. They will cheer for you!
  • Be explicit. Say to your students, “Yes, you can absolutely become anyone or do anything you want in life. I believe in you 100%.” Hope is critical.
  • Engage more challenging coursework with a) grade level or above curriculum and b) college-prep programs that support higher expectations.

How to Maintain Positive Biases

It is simple: add hope to the process. Hope is positive expectancy. It improves brain chemicals and increases mood and persistence, boosting results (Wexler, 2020). Hope studies predict increases in adolescent well-being (Murphy, 2023). Even if you do everything else right, if the student doesn’t think you believe in him/her, you’ll lose ground. Most of our kids have had enough negatives. They need real hope; be the one who shows it.

Benefits of Positive Biases

Shifting to a positive bias makes your job more fun; you’ll enjoy work more. Students appreciate getting hope built and encouragement from you. The school culture begins to take on a more positive feel; everyone loves it more. Over the long haul, student scores go up, and attendance and graduation increase.

READY FOR RESULTS? That’s it for this month; it’s closing time. Now for my biggest fear. Maybe you still use the ‘time bias.’ Many will read this newsletter and then respond, “I’m just too busy; I’ve got no time for those changes to help me and my students soar like eagles.” If you feel that way, I am sorry; I have failed you. Biases are shortcuts to save time. Now, take time to research other perspectives.

You see, life goes by so fast that many would say, “Live in the moment, smell the roses, life is short.” And they’re right. Life is about savoring the smell of the flowers, eating a great meal, and enjoying hugs from friends and family.

But most everything in life worth having over a lifetime also requires the ‘the long game.’ At school, it includes building relationships and fostering cognitive capacity. At home, the list includes maintaining relationships, appreciating the daily blessings, and saving for retirement. Choose right now; what have you decided on – long or short? Then begin, right now…

Eric Jensen
CEO, Jensen Learning
Brain-Based Education

the student’s identity

Make it a Habit to Stay Current with Relevant Science

I have argued for years that if you learn how to run your own brain, life will be much better! This post is about learning to not just survive, but to thrive. Let’s investigate a small, but powerful tool.

This tool can raise the effectiveness of almost anything you request of another by 10-50%, it’s free, and it takes less than 10 seconds. What is it? Keep reading…

The Research

One of many ‘drivers’ of behavior (there are over a dozen) is our identity. You could fill in many blanks to complete the sentence, “I am an educator, a mom, partner, caregiver, dad, coach, etc.” Self-identity is ultimately linked to our affiliations, behaviors, thoughts, and our life trajectories.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) appears to be the primary brain area for self-referencing (you thinking about you). And different regions of the prefrontal cortex (dorsal, medial, and ventral) have different roles. Some engage emotion, while others link to the identity of others and even to the past, present, or future (Stendardi, Biscotto, Bertossi & Ciaramelli, 2021).

Others might ask us, “Where do you want to be in 5, 10, or 20 years?” A better question is, “What roles do you want to fill in 5, 10, or 20 years?” Your identity will often tell you what you’ll be doing.

Let’s say you identify as an environmentalist. This identity may reinforce the thoughts and behaviors about protecting the environment and/or reducing damaging policies. But it also fosters actions and influences who we affiliate with (Oliver, et al. (2022). But identity is delicate.

For example, let’s say another person appears to align with your values as an environmentalist. However, their actions show they are just trying to boost their own achievement, power, or status by playing the ‘environmental’ card. You find the duality of their identity and their actions appalling. This may, in turn, weaken your alliance with the identity of being an environmentalist (Sanderson, et al., 2019).

Our brain is constantly noticing and updating our identity. Both your students and fellow staff are continually managing their self-concepts, trying to assume or affirm their most precious personal identities.

Now it’s time to answer the question posed in the opening paragraph. What is a small, but powerful tool that can raise the effectiveness of a request by another by 10-50%?

The answer is… refer to the student’s identity, not the action.

Here is an illustration. A student is asked, “Can you promise me that you won’t cheat?” (This question refers to an action.) Alternatively, the teacher says, “I know you’re an honest person, not a cheater, right?” (This question addresses an identity.)

When you engage the identity of honesty, the students were less likely to cheat (Bryan, Adams & Monin 2013). Importantly, an additional study done seven years later replicated the results (Guo, et al., 2020).

In addition, when people can do something that matches their identity and their ability to complete a task (i.e., competence) successfully, they are more likely to succeed.

Let’s say you are asking your students to complete a task. You have two options. One, you simply ask them to do the task. The other option is to remind them of their identity and reaffirm their competency. Evidence tells us that the second option will get the teacher better results (Nickerson & Rogers, 2010).

Next, you’ll learn how this process can be used to activate socially and behaviorally relevant tasks.

Applications

Here we introduce ways to take your understanding of identity and apply it to your workplace (or to home).

I have a daily workout schedule. Some days, I just don’t feel like doing it. But I always pause and ask myself, “Are you a healthy person who works out daily or not?” Just by doing that one sentence of self-talk, I get back on board and head to the gym. I want to be that person, so I take action.

How to Shape Your Student’s Identity

  1. Ask them to take roles with a team that can positively influence their own behavior. Have them choose to be a team leader, an environmental protection agent (keeping noise levels down), or a social activist (getting up to walk or march to music as an energizer.)
  1. Use the identity you want them to have and call others by that name. “Wow, I saw in your last assignment that you really are becoming a ‘writer.’ How does that feel?”
  1. Before a quiz or test, ask your class an identity question. “How many have ever seen another person steal something or cheat? We might say that they were not honest. Before we begin the test, my question for you is, ‘How many would consider themselves to be an honest person?'” Hands go up. “That’s important because if you are an honest person, you would never consider cheating.”

If you are a parent, you can see this could be used with your son or daughter. They might occasionally cheat, so now ask the question. “If one cheats, does that make them a cheater?” Or “Do you want to be an honest and trustworthy person? If so, does that mean you cheat or that you don’t cheat?” You get the idea that identity matters a lot to others.

How to ask for Assistance or a Favor
You could say to a younger student, “Could you kindly give me a hand with this?” But there’s a better way. Use identity as a driver. Say to a student, “You’ve been a good helper this month; could you give me a hand with this?” The student activates the “helper” identity and is more willing to go ahead and help.

To use competence as a driver with secondary students, say, “Hey, I was wondering about our clean-up process and thought of you. Why’s that? Over the last month, you have shown you’re a good problem-solver (identity). I could use a problem-solver like you on this task; can you give me a hand?” Now, follow that with, “Just so I get a sneak preview into your problem-solving brain, tell me how you might make this happen or pull it off?” Notice your approach is 1) activate a positive identity and 2) allow them to show the identity in motion with their plan. Kids love that!

Let’s summarize. Identify your students (friends, family, or colleagues) with positive attributes. You’re a ‘helper,’ ‘you’re kind,’ ‘you are a friend-maker,’ ‘you’re an honest person,’ etc. Do that MORE than “Thanks for the help.” Engage the identity, and you’ll see more of the identities you want to see, followed by the behavior you want to see.

Eric Jensen
CEO, Jensen Learning
Brain-Based Education

CITATIONS
Bryan, CJ, Adams, G & Monin, B (2013) When Cheating Would Make You a Cheater: Implicating the Self Prevents Unethical Behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 142, 1001-1005.
Guo W, Liu H, Yang J, Mo Y, Zhong C, Yamada Y. (2020). Stage 2 Registered Report: How subtle linguistic cues prevent unethical behaviors. F1000, Res. 9:996.
Nickerson DW & Rogers T. (2010). Do you have a voting plan? Implementation intentions, voter turnout, and organic plan making. Psychol Sci. 21:194–199.
Oliver TH, Doherty B, Dornelles A, Gilbert N, Greenwell MP, Harrison LJ, Jones IM, Lewis AC, Moller SJ, Pilley VJ, Tovey P & Weinstein N. (2022). A safe and just operating space for human identity: a systems perspective. Lancet Planet Health. 6(11):e919-e927.
Sanderson R, Prentice M, Wolf L, Weinstein N, Kasser T & Crompton T. (2019). Strangers in a strange land: relations between perceptions of others’ values and both civic engagement and cultural estrangement. Front Psychol. 10: 559.
Stendardi D, Biscotto F, Bertossi E & Ciaramelli E. (2021). Present and future self in memory: the role of vmPFC in the self-reference effect. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 16(12):1205-1213.
Teaching strategy

Are You Afraid to Use This with Your Students?

I must admit my huge bias up front. I have been writing about, training, and pushing this type of learning for decades. I am biased that kids can learn, remember, think, and achieve much more in less time than we believe.

Unfortunately, the “bar” has been set low for so long that some educators have started to believe student proficiency is a fool’s game. That’s a lie some tell themselves. Lean in and lock in. You’re about to learn how to do what seems impossible.

Did you ever wonder if kids could possibly learn more in the same length of time? Ever wonder if we could make them “smarter” than before? If you’ve had those thoughts, keep reading. This type of learning is known as “Accelerated Learning.” It is a method of practice that helps the learner to encode, recall, and then USE information or skills more efficiently and in less time than traditional methods.

The Research

Let’s begin with the mystery. We’re discovering that there are some gaps in the experience many kids have at school – too much of this and not enough of that. Over time, that adds up. Today we know accelerated learning demonstrates the powerful interaction among the emotions, mind, and body.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll define accelerated learning as “a method of study that helps the learner to encode, recall, and then USE information (or skills) more easily, efficiently, and quicker than traditional methods.”

What makes it work well? First, it’s almost a “master’s soup” of processes that have been slowly teased out and come to the forefront for instruction. From my point of view, accelerated learning techniques also reduce the friction that’s present in many classrooms. The friction includes sloppy transitions, stressed students or teachers, fuzzy and unclear content, lack of buy-in, and lack of learn-to-learn skills (memory, attention, organizing, retrieval, etc.)

Let’s check out the ingredients.

Accelerated learning uses music, which can be used to encode learning with emotions (Sala & Gobet, 2020; Vilhunen, Chiu, Salmela-Aro, Lavonen & Juuti, 2022). It naturally emphasizes the power of high expectations (Andrews & Gutwein, 2017; Trinidad, 2019) throughout the semester or year. It uses priming, which we know works well (Dobbins, Schnyer, Verfaellie & Schacter, 2004).

Another feature is the use of nonverbals which eases the feel of direct instruction. It can become a back-and-forth dance when both parties are in concert communicating (Carney, Cuddy & Yap, 2015). It uses the body to learn, including movement, energizers (Erwin, Fedewa, Beighle & Ahn, 2012) and gesturing – known to add clarity and long-term memory (Cook, Friedman, Duggan, Cui & Popescu, 2017) when used in the classroom.

Practical Applications

Before you begin using this methodology, know what you’re up against. Be honest with yourself. If you struggle with bringing energy to your workplace daily, start asking new questions. Find a way to get your “mojo” back. Also, go after reducing friction in the classroom. Raise your energy, remove any unnecessary time-wasters, and reduce stress for both you and your students. Why?

In one study, experimenters used induced money worries before a test. The stress forced a drop in cognitive function in those in the study. The drop was comparable to a massive 13-point dip in IQ. Yes, stress impairs clear thinking. The same is true for your students. Use de-stressors daily in class (press & release, slow nasal breathing, tense and release shoulders, etc.). Until you regulate student stress (and your own), your chances for success are low. When stressed, students and educators are in just a survival mentality. I have invested two decades in learning to manage my own stress better. To give you some ideas on stress management, get my complimentary PDF: “15 Ways to Destress” at: jensenlearning.com/equity-resources/ .

Lower the stress in your personal life, reduce the relevance of the situation, or gain control over yourself or the event. Here are some suggestions: Take an action (do something!) or write it down for later • Redirect Your Attention / Move On • Burn off Energy (play / work out) • Reframe experiences as excitement • Mindfulness / Meditation / Self-talk • Talk it over with a Friend / Hugs  Slow nose breathing.

And now, academically…

1. Remember, DNA is not destiny. Build student assets via cognitive skills that have a huge impact on student learning. Where should you focus? Academic vocabulary is a great start. Using graphic organizers can have a strong impact on learning. Finally, teaching short-term and working memory is critical. Yes, I know the research on it, but here’s a real-world example.

Years ago, I ran a contest on our website looking for “extreme schools.” The winner was a small school in central Florida, which ranked 1,501 out of 1,503 schools in the state. That’s extremely bad. I provided this FL school with a free in-person, full-day PD. I focused on accelerated learning tools; memory, relevancy, and movement. The staff locked in and raised student scores at their school from the bottom one percentile in the state to the fiftieth percentile (the middle of the state) in just two years. That’s ridiculously good! Want to find out how to teach working memory skills for free? Go to: Jensenlearning.com/workingmemory.

2. Harder makes you smarter. Grow brains daily. Here are three quick ways: use grade-level curriculum (never dumb it down), increase difficulty with daily rigor, use layering, and teach problem-solving. Use affirmations and encouragement to let students know they can succeed. Examples would be to say, “You got this!” or “You did something like this before and did well.” or “I know you; you’ll figure this out. If not, raise your hand for an assist.” I use priming often to “set the table” for learning, as well as connecting their past to their present.

Can you make kids smarter? Over three years, an experimental (and randomized) group of high school students increased their IQ 10-15 points over the control group (Stankov & Lee, 2020). That’s unheard of; how did it happen? They were taught impossibly hard problem-solving for one hour each week. Yes, brains can change (if you really want it). Make your class safe, and help your kids feel supported. Then, your class motto could be, “Harder makes us smarter.”

3. Raise your expectations. You’ve heard this for years, but here’s a different spin. Your expectations are only predictions. But our predictions are only based on our past experiences and biases. You can only predict in kids what you have either seen before or can do yourself. You’re not a fortune-teller. Here are three ways to raise expectations.

First, raise expectations for yourself. Start a new path this year (better eating, less stress, or more movement). Create a tracking system for your own progress and share it weekly with your kids. They can help you celebrate your journey.

In your students, stop looking for potential; they’ve all got it! Many kids show zero potential in school, yet they are late bloomers. Assume the best anyways! Be explicit. Say to your students, “You can absolutely become anybody or do anything you want in life. I believe in you 100%.”

Influence the students before and during the learning. I have been a big fan of using slower music to calm students down and faster music to rev up their brains. I’ve used instrumentals for the background when they’re thinking or writing. I’ve used pop songs to connect learners to a topic or situation. I’ve used music for affirmations to remind students of who they are and can be. Using music is like having a second asset in the room. After decades of using music in my classes and trainings, I wouldn’t teach without it.

4. Re-think relationships. Here’s what matters most for kids.

The most critical things kids care about are getting the “right” answers from their teacher when they internally ask some important Qs. Here are the questions kids care about: “Is my teacher an ally?” (or an adversary?), “Does my teacher truly believe that I can succeed in class?”, “Will I be respected?”, “Is my voice heard and the class relevant to me?”, “Do I belong in an academically challenging, diverse class?”, “Am I safe?”In my own life, when certain teachers connected with me by answering those Qs, I became unstoppable in class. That type of connection matters (a lot).

Here’s all you need to know about relationships. Be kind, be supportive, and get the Qs above answered ASAP. The longer you wait, the worse your students will do. Help students feel supported, capable, respected, and safe in the first week of the year (or semester). Start early, and you’ll accelerate the learning.

5. Movement, gesturing, and energizers matter. I have advocated for years about the power of movement in learning. I have written about it extensively, and the evidence continually confirms the role of movement. I use gesturing for math and learning sentence structure. I am well known for movement and fun in my trainings.

My understanding of the brain is that we all have our rhythms of higher and lower energy. Strong teachers help the class “get in synch” over time. Kids can move their faces and hands for fine-motor movements (hands, facial expressions, and energy) every 5-10 minutes. Plus, they need to move their body for gross motor movement every 15-20’ with walks, marching/ jumping steps, dancing, and Follow the Leader activities.

Energizers will raise blood circulation in the body and brain and increase noradrenaline production, which fosters long-term memory and narrowed focus. Movement also fosters dopamine levels (which support effort, working memory, and good mood.) Energizers can raise serotonin when they are rhythmic and slower. In short, you get “upgraded brains” in your class with increased energy. Happy bodies can lead to happy brains.

Just for you… Will this work for you? I don’t know you, so I cannot answer that question. My guess, if you really want to accelerate learning, you’ll find a way. What I can reveal is that in my early thirties, I co-founded an academic accelerated enrichment program that has been held in 14 countries with over 75,000 graduates. We were featured on CNN, Good Morning America, and in 200 newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal. Yes, I do know how to do what works. Do you think I am an exception? Actually, there are thousands of teachers that are exceptions.

Don’t try to be like me; be a better version of you. Find a mentor to believe in who you are and who will challenge you. Your biggest challenge? Your brain may say, “This looks like hard work. I just don’t have the time.” That’s junk mail; your brain is always looking to conserve energy. Delete the pessimism and charge ahead. Success does take hard work. But once you put in the work, it’s just another habit that you do automatically. Be in charge of your own brain. I have faith in you; you, too, can do this.

CITATIONS
Andrews, D., and Gutwein, M. (2017). “‘Maybe that concept is still with us’: Adolescents’ racialized and classed perceptions of teachers’ expectations.” Multicultural Perspectives, 19(1), 5-15.
Carney DR, Cuddy AJ, Yap AJ. (2015). Review and Summary of Research on the Embodied Effects of Expansive (vs. Contractive) Nonverbal Displays. Psychol Sci. 26(5):657-63.
Cook SW, Friedman HS, Duggan KA, Cui J, Popescu V. Hand Gesture and Mathematics Learning: Lessons From an Avatar. Cogn Sci. 2017 Mar;41(2):518-535.
Dobbins, I. G., Schnyer, D. M., Verfaellie, M. & Schacter, D. L. (2004), Cortical activity reductions during repetition priming can result from rapid response learning. Nature, 428,316-9.
Erwin, H, Fedewa, A, Beighle, A & Ahn, S. (2012): A Quantitative Review of Physical Activity, Health, and Learning Outcomes Associated With Classroom-Based Physical Activity Interventions, Journal of Applied School Psychology, 28, 14-36
Sala G, Gobet F. Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis. Mem Cognit. 2020 Nov;48(8):1429-1441.
Stankov L, Lee J. (2020). We Can Boost IQ: Revisiting Kvashchev’s Experiment. J Intell. 8(4):41.
Trinidad, J. E. (2019). Collective expectations protecting and preventing academic achievement. Education & Urban Society, 51(9), 1147–1171.
Vilhunen E, Chiu MH, Salmela-Aro K, Lavonen J, Juuti K. Epistemic Emotions and Observations Are Intertwined in Scientific Sensemaking: A Study among Upper Secondary Physics Students. Int J Sci Math Educ. 2022 Sep 5:1-22.
teaching Brain

Workplace Readiness: Fill These 4 Buckets

It’s no secret – being an educator is HARD work. For some, it may be physically exhausting, emotionally draining, and socially lonely. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The work you are doing every day is too meaningful for it to be dragging you down.

This newsletter is for YOU – keep taking care of yourself. You may want to take this issue extra seriously. Why? You might be like many who find their stress levels going up, and within months you’re “running on empty.” Start the healthy habits now while you can, so they will be in place when your “vitality buckets” start feeling dangerously empty.

You simply can’t be at your best for students until YOU are at your best, too. We’ll keep it simple and very practical… because you’re worth it. Your first step to self-care begins here!

The Research

Maybe you “felt it” in yourself, and know others who have “felt it,” too. The “it” is burnout. Whether you have found yourself saying goodbye to colleagues who’ve left the profession, teacher burnout is a prevalent issue in education.

Unfortunately, the evidence does NOT suggest the alarming rate of burnout equates to teachers simply being tired. It is something much more devastating than that.

A huge contributor to teacher burnout is chronic stress. Some studies report that as many as 93% of teachers are experiencing HIGH levels of stress (Herman, Hickmon-Rosa, & Reinke, 2018). With stats that high, you might wonder why teacher attrition rate isn’t higher than the documented 8% (Carver-Thomas, & Darling-Hammond, 2017).

Teacher depression, anxiety, and low job satisfaction are real issues teachers face today. These factors are strongly connected to workload, student behavior, and employment conditions (Ferguson, Frost, & Hall, 2012). These symptoms are not minor; they have serious health consequences.

If you find yourself getting angry, discouraged, or depressed for more than a week, get professional help. See a counselor or doctor. Why? The longer you are in any metabolic state (like depression), the more permanent it begins to feel and the harder it gets to change. Only a tiny portion of those who get prescriptions for a long-standing depression ever get any relief (Bschor & Kilarski, 2016).

With all the potential stressors that teachers face, it is easy to get discouraged and feel like “it’s just not worth it.” So, what can you do? We have tools for you. Let’s begin with clarifying what you’re up against.

Three Types of Stress
First, there are three types of stress: healthyacute, and chronic. Each type triggers the release of the same chemicals (cortisol, noradrenaline, adrenaline, etc.). What changes with each type is the intensityduration, and impact. Be careful about how you label or refer to your stress experience. Some stress is healthy, but all stress impacts your body.

Healthy stress (eustress) is a brief, moderately uncomfortable experience lasting seconds or minutes. Visualize the bell-shaped curve – that’s how your body experiences this event. Your day might have many of these moments, like when you are rushing to get everyone ready and out the door in the morning, you go for a jog, you’re stuck in traffic, or you have a meeting with a parent. These short bouts of stress are often a result of a deliberate choice but are rarely toxic for your body. Instead, think of these bouts as getting ‘inoculated’ because they strengthen your resiliency.

Acute stress can only be good for the body and the brain if it results from a purposeful choice you make. Examples of chosen acute stress include skydiving, watching a horror film, rollercoasters, getting a flu shot, or taking an upcoming exam. Acute stress is typically brief yet strong. However, because you chose it, it can foster resilience via inoculation.

But when acute stress is NOT chosen, but rather imposed, the effects can be brutal.

Acute stress that is imposed disrupts the mind-body homeostasis. Examples include trauma, loss of family or friends, violence, a weather disaster, bodily injury, disease, etc. Inflammation is introduced to the body, which increase the demand on the immune system. The brain or body rarely has the resources to stay strong, and it typically takes time and resources to heal.

The third stress type is Chronic stress. This stress response can begin slowly and build over time, eventually exceeding 50% or more of your body’s normal cortisol levels. Then it stays elevated for months or even years. Eventually, the body becomes less sensitive to cortisol present in the body and is unable to regulate the inflammation. This eventually leads to a breakdown of the immune system (Bisht, Sharma, & Tremblay, 2018). Into your classroom walks a student with some virus, and you could catch it in a heartbeat.

Chronic stress can be relatively mild (triggered by financial strain, lack of restorative sleep, social isolation, poor relationships, etc.), or more severe (abuse, being a long-term caregiver, discrimination, violence, etc.). As you might guess, both mild and severe forms of stress are toxic, with serious health risks, including constant fatigue, heart disease, anxiety, reduced brain cell production, decreased short-term and working memory, and more (Godoy, Rossignoli, Delfino-Pereira, Garcia-Cairasco, & de Lima Umeoka, 2018).

Both acute and chronic stress can elevate cortisol levels enough to shift the body from homeostasis to allostasis, a new adjusted set point. In other words, your body has a new ‘norm’ default to become either more hyper-vigilant (edgy) or hypo-responsive (laid back and unengaged.)

Both chronic and imposed acute stress states are unhealthy, and the body’s constant efforts to restore your health are costly. Over time, these two impair your body’s capacity to fight inflammation, damage your health and can lead to physical and mental illness (Cohen et al., 2012).

Remember, when you get stressed, grumpy, or sick, those around you whom you care about (family, students, and friends) will often suffer, too.

How Chronic Stress Impacts You and Your Students
Here are some of the evidence-based implications of chronic stress:

  • Chronically stressed teachers tend to have the poorest student outcomes, such as lower grades and frequent behavior problems.
  • Chronically stressed teachers have higher rates of sickness, absenteeism, and accelerated aging signals.
  • Chronically stressed teachers impact student achievement for months. For example, teachers’ depressive symptoms in the winter negatively predicted students’ spring mathematics achievement.
  • Students with weaker math achievement made greater gains in higher-quality classrooms with less depressed teachers.

In short, when you are stressed, your students and you BOTH lose (McLean & Connor, 2015). You don’t want any of that for you or your students. Elevated levels of cortisol are toxic. Please, please make this important. It is your life we are talking about (Anagnostis, Athyros, Tziomalos, Karagiannis, & Mikhailidis, 2009). You became a teacher to help students learn and to do meaningful work that fills your buckets, not drains them.

So, how did you get to this place where your “calling” to be a teacher (meant to fill your buckets) feels more like a “job” that is draining your buckets?

Where Does Stress Come From?
Before any finger-pointing, let’s delve into the biology and psychology of stress and where it starts. Your health and career depend on this.

Stress is generated in your brain as a response to a perception of a loss of control of an adverse person, event, or situation. That’s why we all have different responses to the same potential stressor. People are different, and everyone experiences stress differently. But what actually CAUSES the stress?

Your brain has two “filters” over which you have some control. The two are 1) the perception of relevancy of the situation/event and 2) your sense of control over the situation/event (coping tools).

You could become so cold-hearted that you make everything irrelevant to you. Or, you could develop such extensive time-off resources (key contacts, valet, a private jet to fly you to the Bahamas, a masseuse, etc.) that you can handle most stressors pretty well. In short, relevance and perceived control are the two biggest “brain filters” that determine whether or not you’ll feel stressed.

This means that thinking your students, the principal, or your students’ parents are stressing you out is misplaced blame. They don’t stress you out. Your students do not have superpowers to do that. You stress you out (Godoy, Rossignoli, Delfino-Pereira, Garcia-Cairasco, & de Lima Umeoka, 2018).

Here is the good news – you are in charge of the stress you feel. Yes, once you truly understand this about your stress levels, you’ll feel a superpower level of control over your emotional wellbeing. Not sure how to exercise those superpowers? Keep reading for simple strategies you can start using today to reduce your stress.

Practical Applications

Do you remember how excited, nervous, and downright giddy you were to start your first year of teaching? You were ready to conquer the educational world and change the lives of countless students. Hopefully, that feeling returns as you greet a new group of students every year.

Your MIND: Clear it
Teachers today need greater emotional resilience and self-regulation to manage the potential stressors of being an educator. Learn to empty or redirect your brain’s inbox of “junk mail.” May we suggest tools for sharpening your self-regulation skills?

This is where mindfulness can help. Mindfulness is about using meta-awareness to bring out the quality of your daily experiences. It is a flexible yet focused awareness of what is usually passing through your mind. Try using an app to learn more about how to implement mindfulness (Waking Up by Sam Harris is my favorite).

How does mindfulness relate to coping with chronic stress?

Evidence tells us that mindfulness is a strong tool that can mitigate stress and the unhealthy eating habits that accompany some people’s stressful experiences. In some ways, stress-related eating is mind-less-ness (Katterman, Kleinman, Hood, Nackers, & Corsica, 2014). Mindfulness-based strategies have been successfully incorporated into weight loss and weight management interventions (O’Reilly, Cook, Spruijt‐Metz, & Black, 2014). Over time, mindfulness will help you disconnect easier from the mindless eating that hurts your body.

Your BRAIN: Nourish it
What do your eating habits have to do with your brain, or how you manage your stress levels as a teacher? What you eat affects your brain and stress levels (Marx, Moseley, Berk, & Jacka, 2017). There are many theories about why you may eat more when you are stressed.

One theory is that your body needs more nutrients to triage and repair the damage (Ames, 2006). Another says that you eat to lower your stress levels (Adam & Epel, 2007; Newman, O’Connor & Conner, 2007). This asserts people may eat more unhealthy foods such as carbs and sugars as a reward food.

To protect yourself from the potential stressors of teaching, fuel your body with foods that will boost your energy, mood, and overall health. The general guideline is to consume more natural foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains) and less high-sugar, high-carb, processed foods such as candy, soda, chips, desserts, alcohol, white bread, potatoes, and rice, etc. (Beilharz, Maniam, & Morris, 2015). If it is in a bag or box, read the ingredients and eat them less often. Eat healthy plant fats such as avocado and nuts (cashew, macadamia, coconut).

Change what you eat, and you change both your body and mind. To do this, pick one micro 60-second or less habit. For example, limit yourself to only one drink (soft drink, beer, or wine) a day. After a month, limit yourself to one a week. Or another example, you can limit yourself to one sweet item a day. Then after a month, limit yourself to just one a week. You can make the changes that will change your life. Start today.

Your BODY: Move it Daily
If you leave school in a foul mood or frequently wonder if being a teacher is of any worth, do a short walk each day for a couple of weeks and see if things change. Physical activity is linked to greater levels of happiness and self-worth (Reddon, Meyre, & Cairney, 2017). People self-report being in a better mood after engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity (Wen et al., 2018).

Start a morning walk/jog program with peers at your school to keep you motivated and accountable. Use it as an opportunity to start your day off right and build connections with students. Volunteer as an assistant coach to one of the sports teams at your middle or high school and then join in the workouts.

Your HEART: Fill it with Gratitude
The key to managing your stress levels is to fill your emotional reserves with enough positive deposits to handle the withdrawals that can accompany this challenging yet meaningful work.

Making gratitude a life habit is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Gratitude is an orientation of noticing and appreciating the positive things in the world (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010). Gratitude is connected to a wide array of benefits-improved relationships, physical health, self-esteem, high levels of work satisfaction, lower levels of stress and depression, and more (Rusk, Vella-Brodrick, & Waters, 2016).

Keep a paper in the same place on your desk to write just two phrases every day. As you enter your classroom every morning, jot down a few words that express one thing you are looking forward to that day. As you leave each day, write one thing you are grateful for that happened that day. It’s a simple yet powerful way to put a few drops back into your bucket as you begin and end each day.

Teaching can be invigorating, soul-filling, and a profession full of meaningful connections. It all comes down to the habits you form in caring for yourself. If you are serious about reducing your stress this school year, consider upgrading these four areas of your general well-being. Right now, choose to make one small change to how you care for your mind, brain, body, or heart. You are worth it!

__________________________
Book to Check Out: The Burnout Cure: Learning to Love Teaching Again (Chase Mielke). It is full of evidence-based, practical tools to help you stay at your best. As a bonus, you’ll find tons of resources and lessons to use with your students to help them thrive. Definitely worth a read!

Eric Jensen
CEO, Jensen Learning
Brain-Based Education

CITATIONS
Adam, T. C., & Epel, E. S. (2007). Stress, eating and the reward system. Physiology & behavior91(4), 449-458.
Ames, B. N. (2006). Low micronutrient intake may accelerate the degenerative diseases of aging through allocation of scarce micronutrients by triage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences103(47), 17589-17594.
Anagnostis, P., Athyros, V. G., Tziomalos, K., Karagiannis, A., & Mikhailidis, D. P. (2009). The pathogenetic role of cortisol in the metabolic syndrome: a hypothesis. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism94(8), 2692-2701.
Beilharz, J., Maniam, J., & Morris, M. (2015). Diet-Induced Cognitive Deficits: The Role of Fat and Sugar, Potential Mechanisms and Nutritional Interventions. Nutrients, 7(8), 6719-6738.
Bisht, K., Sharma, K., & Tremblay, M. È. (2018). Chronic stress as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease: Roles of microglia-mediated synaptic remodeling, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Neurobiology of stress9, 9-21.
Bschor, T., & Kilarski, L. L. (2016). Are antidepressants effective? A debate on their efficacy for the treatment of major depression in adults. Expert review of neurotherapeutics16(4), 367-374.
Carver-Thomas, D., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., Doyle, W. J., Miller, G. E., Frank, E., Rabin, B. S., & Turner, R. B. (2012). Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences109(16), 5995-5999.
Ferguson, K., Frost, L., & Hall, D. (2012). Predicting teacher anxiety, depression, and job satisfaction. Journal of teaching and learning8(1).
Godoy, L. D., Rossignoli, M. T., Delfino-Pereira, P., Garcia-Cairasco, N., & de Lima Umeoka, E. H. (2018). A Comprehensive Overview on Stress Neurobiology: Basic Concepts and Clinical Implications. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience12, 127.
Herman, K. C., Hickmon-Rosa, J. E., & Reinke, W. M. (2018). Empirically derived profiles of teacher stress, burnout, self-efficacy, and coping and associated student outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions20(2), 90-100.
Katterman, S. N., Kleinman, B. M., Hood, M. M., Nackers, L. M., & Corsica, J. A. (2014). Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: a systematic review. Eating behaviors15(2), 197-204.
McLean, L., & Connor, C. M. (2015). Depressive symptoms in third‐grade teachers: Relations to classroom quality and student achievement. Child development86(3), 945-954.
Marx, W., Moseley, G., Berk, M., & Jacka, F. (2017). Nutritional psychiatry: the present state of the evidence. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society76(4), 427-436.
Newman, E., O’Connor, D. B., & Conner, M. (2007). Daily hassles and eating behaviour: the role of cortisol reactivity status. Psychoneuroendocrinology32(2), 125-132.
O’Reilly, G. A., Cook, L., Spruijt‐Metz, D., & Black, D. S. (2014). Mindfulness‐based interventions for obesity‐related eating behaviours: a literature review. Obesity reviews15(6), 453-461.
Reddon, H., Meyre, D., & Cairney, J. (2017). Physical Activity and Global Self-worth in a Longitudinal Study of Children. Medicine and science in sports and exercise49(8), 1606-1613.
Rusk, R. D., Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & Waters, L. (2016). Gratitude or gratefulness? A conceptual review and proposal of the system of appreciative functioning. Journal of Happiness Studies17(5), 2191-2212.
Schnaider‐Levi, L., Mitnik, I., Zafrani, K., Goldman, Z., & Lev‐Ari, S. (2017). Inquiry‐Based Stress Reduction Meditation Technique for Teacher Burnout: A Qualitative Study. Mind, Brain, and Education11(2), 75-84.
Wen, C. K. F., Liao, Y., Maher, J. P., Huh, J., Belcher, B. R., Dzubur, E., & Dunton, G. F. (2018). Relationships among affective states, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in children: Moderation by perceived stress. Health Psychology37(10), 904.
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical psychology review30(7), 890-905.
teaching ethics

Is it Ethical to Use this Teaching Tool?

Over the years, I have uncovered dozens (may even hundreds) of effective teaching strategies. But does this one cross your ethical boundaries? It’s highly effective, free, and, yes, fully legal. In fact, you may already be using it without knowing it. But what if it is so controversial that you’d never admit using it to others?

The Research

Let’s begin with the mystery: what is the free, powerful, and “under the radar” tool that some consider unethical? It’s the placebo effect. The word placebo is Latin, meaning “I shall please” (as in offering a positive thing to another). Before the last few decades, placebos were studied from the point of view of a ‘trick’ or even a ‘sham.’ But today we know placebos demonstrate the powerful interaction between the mind and the body.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll define placebo effects as “changes specifically attributable to the placebo expectations, neurobiological and psychological mechanisms” (Evers, et al. 2018). In a word, a placebo “biases” the brain to make a change.

Have you ever taken a drug that you were hoping would be effective? Your beliefs and biases actually can influence the results of that drug. Want proof? In antidepressant clinical trials, the natural history of the disease (an entirely predictable remission) accounts for 24% of the overall effect, the real placebo effect was 51%, and the drug effect for only 25% (Kirsch & Sapirstein, 1998).

Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti is a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Turin Medical School. He is also a highly influential researcher in placebo effects. Recently, he was asked whether placebo research is fueling pseudo-science quackery. After all, placebos can partner with a marginal intervention and co-opt (as in over-represent) its results. Benedetti affirms the answer to that question with a robust “Yes!” What does this have to do with you? Keep reading.

As evidence, Dr. Benedetti showed that placebos could work as well as morphine on many types of inflammation (Benedetti, Pollo & Colloca, 2007). Benedetti gave Parkinson’s patients a placebo, which correlated with a reduction in patients’ muscle rigidity — they moved more easily. No drugs needed.

Placebo research today is widespread. It embraces a complex field of study from psychology to psychophysiology, from pharmacology to neurophysiology, and from cellular/molecular analysis to modern neuroimaging techniques. What neuroscientists have learned is that placebos are not ‘sham’ inert substances. Instead, they are combined with a series of processes (words, displays, rituals, symbols, etc.) which, in turn, can influence the subject’s brain.

Yes, the placebo effect can be pretty powerful. So much so that it is used as the standard comparison for whether a new drug is effective or not. In a new drug trial, if the placebo outperforms the drug, the drug is unlikely to get approved. But could the placebo process apply in a classroom?

Using placebos at school creates a very big and controversial problem for those (like me) who constantly search for and share “evidence-based” tools for learning. “How so?” you ask. Let’s put this in an educational context. As a hypothetical example, let’s say that a classroom intervention has a marginal but positive effect (maybe a 0.2 effect size) on student learning.

Using the additional “placebo effect” with a new classroom strategy can easily “bump up” its effectiveness from a 0.2 marginal effect to a moderate 0.5 effect size. As you may know, a 0.5 works out to a full year of expected learning. While that sounds good, there’s a problem. What’s the real effect of that intervention? Is it the number printed in a book or the effect you or I can get by adding the placebo effect to a substandard strategy? Let’s solve the puzzle.

What factors maximize the placebo effect?
When any approach is used with a student, be it sham or real, it is primarily impacted by context. Maximize the context and you get a stronger impact. Any of these tools below will boost the impact of an intervention you use (Benedetti, 2008). For example, when a placebo experiment is done well, there’s a set of psychosocial stimuli present in which you:

  1. Confirm (never assume) by what you do, say, or show that you are an authority figure (class positioning at work, dress, posture, voice, actions, etc.).
  2. Orchestrate the location of the intervention (in your classroom, does it look professional, and is it a safe place or not?)
  3. Engage a relationship of trust with the student (“I know you can do this, and I’ve got your back 100%.”)
  4. Evoke a memory of a successful prior experience to raise confidence. “Share with a neighbor a time when you had a successful new learning.”
  5. Mention social confirmation used and you mention that others have also benefitted from this same intervention. “In my class last year, 90% of the students…”
  6. Use proven, professional tools (e.g. a digital device, lighting changes, thermometer, flashlight, projector, a commonly accepted food or drink, or a stylus). Maybe you post up positive results of current students on the wall.
  7. Expect positive future responses. Say, “The results may mean this may be advantageous and quite helpful for you.” Or, an affirmation is given. “In fact, an improvement will likely happen quite soon.”

While everything in the list above sounds like it is pretty basic, and you could find studies to back them individually in a classroom, there is a problem. Teachers use hundreds of strategies, and some are marginally ineffective. What I am saying is that you can take a marginal strategy and “juice it up” using the context tools from the placebo effect.

And that likely happens (unknowingly) every day in countless classrooms. Depending on whether the placebo effect is added, an average intervention might work really well. By the way, a terrible strategy is still a terrible one, with or without a placebo effect.

Each of the items above matters because context matters most with the placebo effect. Students’ expectations, memories, and where the intervention is done matter. But so does the trusted relationship between the student and teacher (Rossettini, Carlino & Testa, 2018). Let’s take a moment to investigate how just one area can support the placebo learning effect.

Let’s focus on the use of eye contact. Start with a soft, warm gaze. Then follow with your ability to empathize emotionally, sharing the other person’s emotional feelings (“I feel what you feel.”) When you identify with what a student is going through, you infer the mental state of that other person (“I understand what you feel.”), and you connect in another way. These connections can raise the trust levels via oxytocin influence (Ellenbogen, 2018).

Placebos can be an exhausting research model, so let me summarize the results for you. The aggregate of all seven “placebo factors” on the list above is also what you might see in a highly effective teacher. And no one is calling it the placebo effect. According to the research, all highly effective teachers are “juicing up” the value of their strategies with active placebos. And most don’t know it.

The Evidence the 7 Factors Work
Contextual effects (i.e., placebo response) refers to all behavioral changes resulting from administering a purposeful inactive treatment. This meta-research included 186 trials (16,655 subjects). The study examined the average proportion of the overall treatment effect attributable to contextual effects.

In these randomized clinical trials, compared to a control group, the overall treatment effect (i.e., the post-treatment effect in the intervention group) can be regarded as the true effect of the intervention plus the impact of contextual effects.

On average, 54% of the overall treatment effect was attributable to contextual (placebo) effects. Translated, over half of the results among thousands of studies were placebo effects. Their contextual effects were higher for trials with blinded outcome assessors (others did the assessing) and concealed allocation of interventions (Hafliðadóttir et al., 2021).

As we explore all available, quality evidence, it indicates that the placebo effect (and response) is a genuine psychobiological event, and it’s attributable to the overall context for learning (Finniss, Kaptchuk, Miller & Benedetti, 2010).

Let’s review. Staying with the definition of a placebo, its administration is never attributable solely to an inert substance alone (a sugar pill or saline solution) or an action that replaces the real drug or intervention. The placebo engages the human to human therapeutic properties within sensory and social stimuli that says to the subject, “This is beneficial.” The true effect occurs because of the psychosocial context surrounding the inert, pseudo intervention, and the subject. Placebos are much more than a sugar pill.

Practical Applications

Here are two examples of how teachers may have already used this process with students.

First, I recall a highly successful math teacher who used Orange Crush Soda as a reward in his high school class. He touted the drink’s “magical powers” (with a wink), and the kids worked really, really hard to earn a can. By the way, his class scores were through the roof! Placebo effect? Absolutely.

Here’s a strategy I used. “Hey kids, today we are going to do a simple experiment. Some of my colleagues have also found this a great way to focus the brain and remember your learning.”

“First, let’s all stand up. Now, let’s jog in place for 15 seconds. Ready, set, go! Pause… Next, we’ll nose breathe only and slowly inhale and exhale for 15 more seconds. Ready, set, breathe slowly. This oxygen juices up the brain to boost your learning. Finally, have a seat, please. You now have just three minutes to complete our daily retrieval practice.”

“Wait a minute,” you say. “That’s science, not a placebo!” Yes, this quick stress and de-stress activity with a calm-down nasal breathing tool sounds like you could actually call it scientific. But I have never seen peer-reviewed, quality studies that validate that exact process. The ingredients do seem genuine to me. I believe in the science behind this strategy. So, am I using a placebo?

Yes, I am. There you have it; I am guilty. But is it a sham? No, I have never seen this 30″ sequence disproved, and I never falsely quoted that it was hard science. And educators would be crazy to avoid the placebo effect. Though in today’s social media world, you might want to call it “mindset preparation” or “thoughtful teaching.” Time for a few more examples.

Here are three simple “placebo” tools that enhance your effects:

1. Credibility is critical. Students who perceive you are knowledgeable, sharp, and “with it” believe in what you say and that the strategy you suggest will work. Share with your students when you learn new things. Demonstrate to your kids your own passion and energy for ongoing learning; that role models to your students that you have enthusiasm for learning. Also, you can show evidence that what you do works. How? A 5th-grade teacher in a high-poverty elementary school would post up college banners to inspire students. Sounds like a decent idea. But wait… He juiced up the impact by putting the students’ names from his past 5th-grade class who attended that particular university. That’s a powerful credibility statement to his kids! Now they believe that what he says and what he does as a teacher might help them go to college, too. It’s also a placebo effect.

2. Meet and greet students each day. This act engages plenty of mechanisms in the student’s brain responsible for expectations, trust, and hope. This is a great moment to demonstrate or show empathy and compassion. For example, if a student is having a tough day, you might say, “I am so sorry that happened to you. It’s painful to hear that.” or, “I get it. I’ve felt something like that before.” Both of these emotional responses can contribute to the success of your intervention. This suggests that regardless of the intervention’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness, you may trigger favorable placebo responses of trust in students (Benedetti, 2008).

3. Use leading affirmations. There is also compelling evidence that different sentences such as “This may work.” or “Rest assured, this does work.” may lead to higher academic outcomes (Benedetti, 2002). In short, your students are susceptible to subtle cues from a trusted educator (making a specific teaching strategy work better.) Surprisingly, even when students find out that you were bluffing about the intervention working, many subjects will still gain benefits (Schafer, Colloca & Wager, 2015).

That’s it for this month; it’s closing time. Now for my biggest fear. Maybe you still use the ‘time bias.’ Many will read this newsletter and then respond, “I’m just too busy; I’ve got no time for those changes to help me and my students soar like eagles.” If you feel that way, I am sorry; I have failed you. I failed to activate your choice of playing the ‘long game.’ Biases are shortcuts to save time and are often about the ‘short game.’

You see, life goes by so fast that many would say, “Live in the moment, smell the roses, life is short.” And they’re right. Life is about savoring the smell of the flowers, eating a great meal, and enjoying hugs from friends and family.

But most everything in life worth having over a lifetime also requires the ‘the long game.’ At school, it includes building relationships and fostering cognitive capacity. At home, the list includes maintaining relationships, appreciating the daily blessings, and saving for retirement. Choose right now; what have you decided on – long or short? Then begin, right now.

Eric Jensen
CEO, Jensen Learning
Brain-Based Education

Teaching strategy

Hook in Students with a 100 yr. Old Strategy

It was one of my most depressing moments ever as a teacher. I’m in front of the room, my mouth was moving, but every student was frozen as if their brain was on screen saver. Maybe you also have memories of sharing content with your class, but your students just stare back at you. Glazed eyes, nothing’s happening, they are zoned out. This has happened to the best of us, at least once.

I will give you a simple tool you can use to ensure this never happens to you again.

Research

Ask your students if they would like the thrill and kudos that come with discovering one of the great elements of all time on the periodic table. Hands go up. First, take a deep breath… and exhale slowly.

Oxygen was actually discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in 1772. But he rarely got much credit for the discovery.

Why?

A little over a year later, in 1774, Joseph Priestley not only made the same discovery, but his work was published first. Now it takes just a bit of imagination to turn this into the question, “Why did one inventor become famous and the other not?”

Was it because Priestley turned in his homework (publication) on time? Maybe, but that’s also a cool connection to modern-day school.
Stories like the one above can hook in your students’ brains.

Most ALL successful television shows have a story (crime shows, drama, and even sports). Your brain system ensures you are a story-maker. It is our stories and narratives that guide our lives. Where did this all start?

There is evidence of storytelling by our ancestors dating back thousands of years (Coe, Aiken, & Palmer (2006). More recently, science has unraveled the how and why we have a ‘storytelling’ brain. (Martinez-Conde et al., 2019). Your brain seems to be designed to create a story or reason for the ‘why and how’ something happens. “Why did you do that?” Or, “Tell me what happened.”

This system is comprised of the activity in your verbal/language hemisphere (usually the left side) and the seamless activation of memories that support the narrative (temporal lobes). Let’s say something bad happens. You’ve heard another say, “That must have happened for a reason.” We humans are constantly trying make sense of our world which is often random, chaotic, and certainly not fair. We do this by making up reasons to explain things. We are driven to weave narratives.

Now we turn to, “What’s the way to hook in students with a 100 yr. old strategy?” Movies! From silent films to home movies, all moviemakers say, “I just want a good story.” A crime report by a local police department becomes fodder for a 20/20 segment on TV. A novel set of superheroes has just the right STORY, and it becomes the Marvel Comics movie sensation.

Many people go helpless and say, “I can’t tell stories. Some can do it, and others can’t.” Listen, this is all about mindset. (Have we heard that before?) Stop focusing on what you can’t do. Begin with simple tools you can use at work starting tomorrow.

Classroom Applications

Stories are a great way to engage students of all ages. Improve all your stories with simple tools. There are five easy-to-use tools listed below. Just pick one, try it out, tweak it. After a week or two, you’ll be ready to use a second idea.

1. First, begin with the most dramatic and suspenseful opening you can. Recall my opening in this newsletter: “It was one of my most depressing moments ever as a teacher.”? Sounds like the middle of the story, which it is. Typically, I would fill in the other story parts later for the audience.

Good stories engage from the start. One of the key ingredients to use is to engage emotions with both highs and lows (Green, Chatham & Sestir, 2012). I can promise you’ll have fewer disconnected students with a dramatic opening.

2. What else can you use in your class? Remember to use props. Get yourself a ‘prop box’ and make it up to be a bit mysterious. Fill it with hats and random objects that you and your students can use imaginatively. Get prop materials from recycling centers or your own closets. A prop gives you an animated part of the story to talk about.

What’s the easiest close-by prop? A book. When you start ‘telling’ your story, it’s OK to have the book nearby to look at if you forget a part. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You are a student again!

Props are a great hook that anyone can use! Many have found that covering up the prop box creates curiosity and keeps the students hooked in. I have done this dozens of times, especially when using a real brain as a prop.

3. Another story starter? Using real life events, conversations, or high lights / low lights with a student, colleague, or friend are great ways to start. Leave out the names or any clues that give away the identity of the character. You might open your story with, “My heart sank, I dropped my jaw, frozen in place. One of my good friends just told me something really crazy. But first, here’s how it started…”

4. Learn from others. Read stories widely. Pick up as many different world folktales, fables, myths, and legends as you can.

Watch good storytellers and take mental notes about how they do it. Every storyteller is different, and you can learn something from them all.

Here’s an example from a history or math book. In math, the story of how the value of Pi was discovered is straight out of a CSI forensics playbook. The Pi formula may have been devised around 250 BC by the Greek mathematician Archimedes. Then, around 150 AD, Greek-Roman scientist Ptolemy gave a more accurate value for π (Pi). More than 100 years later, the Wei Kingdom mathematician Liu Hui created an algorithm to obtain a value of π of 3.1416, which was the best estimate of Pi for the next 800 years.

There is a great detective story in the sequence in the discovery and value of Pi. It is just waiting for a math teacher to create the learning hooks. The story can include science, math, and biology. There’s a great story here if you wanted to tell it with props, world maps and even end with a real pie to be shared after the math seatwork is done!

5. Build your confidence by reading your student’s picture books or chapter books with an interesting voice. Stop to ask questions. Make the book reading interactive. It will help you create a shared event with a story. Pick stories with small numbers of characters and repeating events, as these are easiest to remember. Having said that, pick any story you like — no, that you love! If it captivates you, it will captivate your students, too.

In summary, keep your stories short and simple. Engage the emotions. Use props often. Write the stories down in a notebook. Writing helps you remember a story, and it models the same to the children. My favorite resource is: Imperative Narratives (Mike Tveten).

That’s it for this month; it’s closing time. Now for my biggest fear. Maybe you still use the ‘time bias.’ Many will read this and then respond with, “I’m just too busy; I’ve got no time for these changes or strategies to help me and my students soar like eagles.” If you feel that way, I am sorry; I have failed you. I failed to activate your choice of playing the ‘long game.’ Biases are shortcuts to save time and are often about the ‘short game.’

You see, life goes by so fast that many would say, “Live in the moment, smell the roses, life is short.” And they’re right. Life is about savoring the smell of the flowers, eating a great meal, and enjoying hugs from friends and family.

But most everything in life that’s worth having over a lifetime also requires the ‘the long game.’ At school, it includes building relationships and fostering cognitive capacity. At home, the list includes maintaining relationships, appreciating the daily blessings, and saving for retirement. Choose right now; what have you decided on… long or short? Then begin… right now.

CITATIONS
Coe, K., N.E. Aiken, and C.T. Palmer. (2006) Once Upon a Time: Ancestors and the Evolutionary Significance of Stories. Anthropol. Forum. 16, 21–40.
Green, M. C., Chatham, C., & Sestir, M. A. (2012). Emotion and transportation into fact and fiction. Scientific Study of Literature, 2(1), 37–59.
Hammack, PL & Toolis, E. (2014). Narrative and the social construction of adulthood. New Dir. Child Adolesc Dev.145, 43-56.
Martinez-Conde S, Alexander RG, Blum D, Britton N, Lipska BK, Quirk GJ, Swiss JI, Willems RM, Macknik SL. (2019). The Storytelling Brain: How Neuroscience Stories Help Bridge the Gap between Research and Society. J Neurosci. 39, 8285-8290.
McAdams DP, Bauer JJ, Sakaeda AR, Anyidoho NA, Machado MA, Magrino-Failla K, White KW, Pals JL. (2006). Continuity and change in the life story: a longitudinal study of autobiographical memories in emerging adulthood. J Pers. 74(5):1371-400

Does Your Brain’s Inner Chatter Matter?

Having the ‘voice’ in your head is nearly universal. Maybe you just said to yourself, “What voice?” Yes, you have that voice. For some it is a never-ending inferno of misery and for others, it’s a daily friend and valued conscience. A quality inner voice can be a valuable asset in your life. It is literally the difference between the slippery path downhill or a solid, joyful life. Interested in knowing how to get the voice on your side? If so, maybe this month you’re willing to take a moment to find out how to run your own brain a bit better.

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