Ever since I was 18 years old, I heard about this magical place from my sister-in-law. She would tell me stories about her childhood, the places she would go, and the boy she used to love. All of these stories were mixed with her wonderful cooking and I quickly became entrenched in Peruvian culture. When the opportunity to lead a workshop arose in Lima, I was so excited to live my life-long dream to visit this magical country. What surprised me is that I felt like I was returning home instead of visiting for the first time. This speaks to how open-minded this culture is to foreigners and as a society in general. I bring this up, because we’ve just discussed how culture frames everything that we think, believe, and do in our lives. Now, we are transitioning towards how cultures program our brain. I’m not going to lie, this next part of the book makes me feel like a numpty. Zaretta Hammond begins the chapter by stating, “If we want to use culturally responsive teaching to support the cognitive development of dependent learners, we have to know how the brain uses culture to make sense of the world. When we know this, we can easily piggyback on the brain’s natural systems to activate its unique ability to grow itself.” I don’t know about you, but this sounds really beyond my pay grade, but I’m going to do my best. What are the parts of the brain?The one thing that helped me to understand this process is that Hammond describes the “physical structures of the brain as hardware” and “culture as the software”. Now, she is speaking in terms that are relatable. To help us understand our hardware, Hammond unpacks the three layers of the brain and the first layer is the oldest. Interesting. Let’s get into these layers and see what you think about all of this neuroscience. The first brain layer is our reptilian region or the lizard brain, because it’s made up of the two parts of a reptile’s brain: the brainstem and cerebellum. Apparently, this part of your brain does not think, but only reacts. The entire purpose of our reptilian region is to keep us alive. It regulations our breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, digestion, blood pressure and balance. Don’t ask why, but the picture in my mind is of Taylor Swift's bodyguards. I don’t see them personally, just a group of faceless men that must need to circle her at every given moment. They are constantly following her around to ensure that no harm happens to her when she is singing on stage or hanging out with that football player. For all the Swifties out there, you’re welcome for the plug for your queen. For those who can’t connect, you need to watch more YouTube and Tik Tok videos. In all seriousness, if we are using a computer hardware metaphor, this sounds like a cooling system to make sure we don’t physically or emotionally overheat. The second layer of the brain is the limbic region. Apparently, this region is only found in mammals. Yay for us. We made the club. I think this must be my favorite part of the brain, because it combines our emotions, behavior, and cognition to create memories and experiences. This helps us to be more prepared for future encounters that are similar in nature. In the limbic region, there are three parts that are important that Hammond refers to as the watcher, guard dog, and wikipedia. The Watcher (Reticular Activating System)
The Guard Dog (Amygdala)
The Wikipedia pages (Hippocampus)
When you put all of these parts together, it reminds me of an operating system of a computer that continually checks for viruses and any other threats to the system. The third layer is the neocortex region. This is where our executive functioning skills lie, such as planning, conceptual thinking, organization, and self-management. Per Hammond, this is where our “imagination lives.” Isn’t that just so beautiful? I think of every creative person that has shared their interpretation of the world through their choice of medium: visual arts, performing arts, coding, writing reports, sewing, furniture upcycling, and so much more. I’m on Canva everyday creating something, so my neocortex must be on overload. When I connect to the hardware metaphor, it reminds me of Windows Explorer with all of the folders that create organization for easy retrieval of the information. I’m always using it to find files and continue expanding on my ideas. Why does this all matter?When you think about our brains, we have to go to the neuron level. We have to look at all the layers of the brain work and how it impacts learning within a classroom. I know I’m not doing Hammond’s work justice, but she speaks to learning and the impact of complex information processing. Hammond states, “When the brain is learning something new it clusters neurons together to create a neural pathway, similar to a pathway in a forest. Neural pathways are important because when we go back and forth along this pathway when thinking or problem solving, it helps drive new learning deeper into long-term memory until it becomes automatic or deeply understood.” Basically, the neural pathways are important because it creates a track in our brain to tell us that this information is important and these are the ways to use it. We need these neural pathways to be revisited or the information will be erased. Hammond continues,”When we don’t practice or use new dendrites (the neural pathways) shortly after a learning episode, our brain prunes them by starving them and then reabsorbing them. It assumes you didn’t revisit the activity that grew the dendrites that information wasn’t important to keep.” This reminds me of things I’ve learned in the past that children need exposure within 24-48 hours to an idea or it’s lost forever. I’ve also heard that we need to revisit an idea 4-5 times before it permanently stays in our working memory. This makes sense based on what Hammond has proposed based on neural activity. How is the brain connected to culture?Be mindful of microaggressions. They are subtle everyday verbal and nonverbal slights, snubs, or insults which communicate hospital, derogatory, or negative messages to people of color based solely on their marginalized group membership. This reminds me of many films I’ve seen where someone walks into a shop or restaurant and they are not being served, while others enter freely.
Hammond warns, “ familiarize yourself with common actions or conditions that make students feel unsafe, even if they cannot articulate the sense of threat. Your definition of what feets threatening or welcoming may be different from the students’ definition.” This really resonated with me, because we don’t know the experiences different children have had while living in the world. We need to have honest conversations, so we don’t make these big mistakes. Cultural connections. Learning is more effective when we use “common cultural learning aids ---stories, music, and repetition.” This makes sense, because these are the things that we remember when engaging with our friends and family. Prior Knowledge connections. According to Hammond, “What we already know is organized according to our cultural experiences, values, and concepts.” Isn’t that beautiful? I want this to be my success criteria for when I’m teaching something new. Challenge thinking. Our brain growth is parked when we are learning something new. This thing has to be complex, open-ended, and a puzzle. We all yearn to solve these puzzles, because they stretch us beyond where we are to become independent thinkers. We all deserve this opportunity. I don't know about you, but my thinking has been challenged. This is the second time I have reviewed these ideas and it’s finally making sense. I strongly urge you to get a copy of this book, so you can make your own meaning of this section. This is foundational to everything else, so you need to know it well.
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