The Teenage Brain



 

 

Knowing that teens lack adult reasoning capacity will make me more understanding of their impulsive actions as a teacher.  I now have the understanding that teens are unable to fully reason the consequences of their actions since their frontal lobe, which is responsible for reasoning, sound judgment and problem solving, is not mature until the age 20 to 25.

 

I also have taken away the knowledge that teenagers react more with their emotions since they are acting from their amygdala most of the time.  I know that they will misinterpret my actions as a teacher and there may come times that I have to explain my reasoning to them so that they fully understand my intentions.

Lesson 6 - Music and Math

In this lesson I learned how important the skill of estimation is.  I never realized that it had found that the ability to estimate lead to higher test scores.  Another thing that I found very interesting about this video was how you should point out everyday how math can be used.  You can play games that involve counting and math, you can have children estimate the number of objects, and you can call attention when math is used without the child even knowing it.  Math is everywhere and when you teach that to children I feel like they will not ask themselves "Why do I even need math?" in the future.

 

 

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In this video I found the information about the Mozart Effect to be very interesting.  I have heard about this study in the past however never took the time to research it.  I was amazed to find that the effect only lasted for 15 minutes.  I also found the information about listening to upbeat happy music before taking a test can actually improve your test score if taken immediately after listening to the music.  I can use this information in my classroom by trying different techniques before taking tests.  I can compare the test scores of those tests without music before the test to those after listening to the upbeat music to find what works for my classroom.

Reading and Language

After watching the videos on language and reading the information I learned will impact me as a teacher because I will be able to have clear milestones for my students.  I also have a better understanding of dyslexia and the challenges that students may have.

Another aspect of the videos that will impact me as a teacher is the knowledge that when I am speaking to my students and interacting with them no matter if it is educationally or playfully I am contributing to their language and reading development.  I can better their skills by using more complex language, answering their questions when asked and asking my own to help develop their skills, and as I already knew reading to my students is also a huge contributor to their skills.