The Owner’s Manual to the Brain

K. KeenerBronx Community High School

Some Basic Systems of the Brain

Brain Stem (Blue)Automatic Heartbeat, reflexes, etc.

Cerebellum (Green)Motor SkillsBalance

Limbic System (Red)Emotions

Cerebral CortexK.’s favorite

part of the brain

Identity LanguageSelf-ReflectionLEARNING!

Reticular Articulating System

An area of the brain in charge of regulating electricity

It keeps energy flowing through all parts of the brain

A River with a ValveI think of the RAS

as a river with a valve.

When you are alert and learning, energy is flowing in all directions.

The ValveWhen you

get overly emotional, your RAS turns all your energy to your limbic system and brain stem

Why does it shift the energy to the lower brain?

Well, it is helpful for all of your energy to be focused on your reflexes when you are scared

If you were chased by a bear, all of your energy should be in your lower brain.

When you are chased by a bear, it is not important for you to speak or to learn

What happens with the RAS in a classroom?

If you are feeling good, you aren’t tired, you are confident… then the RAS is humming along and you can learn in your cortex

When is the RAS a problem in the classroom?When you feel

emotional, your brain literally cannot learn, your cortex is not receiving any flows of energy from the RAS

So, how can we get the RAS flowing again so that

we can learn?Two ways:

Language! When you use language to describe how you feel, like in your pre-affective check-in, you open the valve a little to your cortex functioning. Ask yourself how are you feeling?

Deep-belly breathing: Breathing from your belly sends a signal to your RAS that you are not being chased by a bear, which opens the valve to the cortex A TON!

Let’s ReviewWhat is the limbic system?What is the cortex?What is the RAS?How does the RAS stop us from

learning?How can we get the RAS to let us

learn?

Returning to the Action Research Project that you have all been a part of…

This project changed my teaching because…It allowed me to notice how each of

you are feeling without putting you on the defensive

AND…

I noticed three things…Some students are able when they come in

and they are feeling unhappy or rating themselves low (like a 1) are able to turn it around by doing the classwork. The classwork itself might help them to get the RAS to open up the cortex!

Some students come in unhappy or rating themselves low (like a 1), but are not able get involved in the class activities and learn.

Some students always come in feeling good and leaving feeling good no matter what.

What did you notice?Look back at your pre-affective and post-

affective check-ins over the last 2 benchmarks….

Has this experience of the affective check-ins taught you anything ?

Do you think that you might do anything differently based on your observations of your affective check-ins?

Did you think this research project was valuable on a scale of 1-4 (4 being life-changing, 1 being a waste of time)