C137 (Book Club): Growing Brain Power, Yes Please! (pg 122-151)

​This is the final week of our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain:  Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. 

We will explore how to build more intellective capacity with Zaretta Hammond.  At my age, I feel like this capacity is waning, so I hope to pick up some tips!

​The chapter begins with a quote by Benjamin R. Barber, a political theorist. He states, “I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don’t.  I divide the world into learners and non-learners.”  

​As I read this quote, I thought about how many people view success in life based on financial status, fame, and acquisition of stuff.  The more that they have, the more successful that they feel.

​We don’t often think of the person that has repeatedly failed as a winner.  Yet, the experiences and understanding they have gained by losing is probably worth more than all of the accolades from their peers. 

I connect this to success in school. The accolades that schools often seek from learners are grades.  If they fail, it means the school was a failure too.  Since many schools are funded by the government or private investors, it’s difficult to justify that failure is a good thing.  

If we look at every success story of every genius that walked the earth, they often talk about all of the failures they had.  These experiences spurred them on to finding the correct solution or inventing a tool that would better mankind.  Embracing failure is vital in this process. This is what independent learners do. 

​Building Intellective Capacity

​In chapters 8 and 9, there are numerous strategies that Hammond provides, but I want to give you the chance to pick and choose the ones that best fit your context.  I am going to lean into the ones that most resonate with me.  I hope that is okay.  Many of these ideas are multi-step and I want to honor our time together. 

​To build intellective capacity within our learners, Hammond suggests these four steps. 

• ​Ignite:  getting the brain’s attention
• ​Chunk:  making information digestible  ​​
• Chew:  actively processing new information
• ​​Review:  having a chance to apply new learning. 

Ignite
How do we ignite the brain to wake up and pay attention?  I’ve been asking myself this for years, because what worked five years ago doesn’t work on learners today. We have to continuously modify the ways that we provoke and wake up the imagination and connections of our learners.  This is why relationships matter so much.  We already know how they learn best, because they have already shared their ideas and methodologies.  This is now in response to their learning preferences.  

Ignite the brain

• Call and response:  the teacher calls out and the learners respond.  This is a way that learners know they must listen for the next steps.

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• Music:  a burst of music can announce that a transition is well underway.  Once the music stops, we must be reset for a new learning experience. 

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• Provocations:  this can come in the form of an image, sort video clip, piece of art, objects, etc.  These objects and words help to ignite the discussion as learners are trying to connect to prior learning experiences. 

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• Talk:  a brief chance to answer a question to get the mind activated and ready to think. 

The rest of the process is quite clear and short in the book.  I relate it to my thinkchat lesson cycle, which is a similar scaffold for learning. 

Pose a question:  I present an open-ended question about what we are exploring and ask learners to share their unique perspectives about how it might look and feel and their implications. 

• Example:  Why do people revolt?

Warm-Up Activity:  I might present a provocation of objects, imagery, video, music, etc. for learners to discuss or solve a problem. They are engaging in talking through the ideas and how it connects to the question initially posed.  

• Example:  What are the commonalities of all revolutions? I might present pictures with descriptions of each revolution at the learners' reading levels.

During the pose a question and warm-up activity, I am listening to learner responses and jotting down notes of misconceptions, amazing connections, and ideas I want to highlight to extend the thinking. 

New Information:  This is the only time I will speak to the class directly.  I present my findings and the new information as a way of possible exploration.  I don’t call out misconceptions directly, unless it is blatantly wrong.  In other cases, I will say, “I heard many groups say this, I wonder what my alternative viewpoints are.  Here are some suggestions.”  This usually helps them to recalibrate that they might not be on the right track. 

I will present a short new idea or concept at this time for only 10-15 minutes.  I want it to be sizable information that they can apply to their prior thinking.  

• Example:  I heard many interesting commonalities between different types of revolutions.  Some of you compared the French and American revolutions, which I found interesting.  While others examined political movements as a revolution, like the Worldwide Women’s March in Jan 2017 and the Racial Justice marches around the world in 2020.  Something to consider is that all revolutions begin when a large group of unheard citizens revolt against the current regime.  Sometimes these revolutions make lasting change, while others do not.  The key is that people took a risk, usually with their lives, to stand up against injustice.  Here are other examples…

Play with Ideas:  This is the longest section in the lesson cycle.  It’s where learners get to play with their new ideas and how they connect with their prior learning. 

• Example:  What is an issue that is close to your heart that you want to raise awareness?  Consider all the different ways that people have revolted in the past.  What will you do in the present?  

Reflect:  Have learners reflect on their process. 
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• Example:  What are some new ideas that came about with this exploration?  What were some experiences that helped you to grow? 

I really appreciate this approach to exploration, because it’s mostly driven by the learner.  They are able to incorporate their unique perspectives while learning about others.  It requires an open mindset that must be first established for it to flourish on its own. 

​Summing it Up

​There are many strategies from page 114-151 that you can explore to deepen your practice to become more culturally responsive.  I know what you are thinking…Lu, you’ve just stopped once it’s gotten good.  I know, but I always want to honor your ability to apply it to yourself.  It’s just too much to cover in these sessions. 

As I reflect on my experience with this analysis, I just want to thank Zaretta Hammond for being brave to bring this book to the forefront of the discussion.  I live in a country where people are being canceled for expressing their opinions that do not align with the vast majority.  This book goes against that status quo.  It says there is a problem, without casting blame on certain populations. 

We can all do better to make every learner feel like they belong in our classroom.  It’s an opportunity to create a space where learners can be their authentic selves.  I can’t wait to return to the classroom next year to apply these concepts to my practice.  I hope you will too.