Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Technology

I really enjoyed this presentation; it was by far my favorite presentation seen so far. I thought they started off the presentation with good energy and caught my attention by placing an agenda on the board. I particularly liked that because I appreciate when people help my brain focus on each activity by clearly organizing the information in a way I can follow. I thought the backburner activity was ingenious because it helped relieve stress, but it also encouraged us to see other’s perspectives since we learned what was stressing them. I would definitely use that activity in my class because it helps students in a variety of ways. Another aspect of the presentation that I felt worked well was using the animal references when discussing the parts of the brain; though after awhile I got confused as to what was what. Overall, I thought this presentation was great and introduced a dry topic in an exciting and interesting way.

The problems I had with the presentation were the amount of information given to us in such a short period of time and the use of the jigsaw. When Cassie described the different parts of the brain we had the note taking sheet to help us, but I think I would have rather had a sheet with notes already on it. Since, she was giving us so much information I had a hard time following her and taking notes. Another problem I had was the jigsaw; at this point if I never see another jigsaw it would be soon. Both groups that have presented have done one and I feel that there is too much information given to us for us to accurately present the information to other people.

I liked the handouts, especially the one about the different types of learners, but I really wanted to know about the other types of learners. I know there are definitely more then three types of learners and felt that the others were just ignored. On one handout was suggestions on how to encourage movement in the classroom, but I wished that the presenters discussed more how to efficiently teach a lesson and incorporate the amount of movement the book suggests.

At the end of the day I was really impressed with the presentation and commend the group on tackling such a dreadfully boring book. Your presentation was really fun and it demonstrated the personality you will have in your own classrooms. Good Job!