Learning and the Brain #latb52

February 21, 2019 Leave a comment Go to comments

Learning and the Brain Conference in February in San Francisco California

“Into the Magic Shop” by James Doty, MD

  • To learn, you have to attend and be present.
  • Relax with a body survey, breathe, meditate
  • We all want to feel Powerful, Heard, Important and Loved
  • One Simple Act can change the world

Dachner Keltner, keltner@berkley.edu

  • GreaterGood.berkeley.edu
  • Human Goodness & Science & Practice of Cultivating Compassion
  • “Humanity” by Jonathon Glover
    • Sympathy breakthrough.  75% of soldiers refuse to shoot at enemy
    • Compassion – Feeling of concern and care for others
  • Thomas Huxley says goodness is a social contract
  • Activity- Compassion in the Voice – without using words – sound out feelings – contentment, interest, love sympathy.
  • Om Mani Padme Hum – Bhutan – soothing chant
  • “Dancing in the Streets” by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • Test of Touch, One person closes their eyes, the other shows feeling by touching the the eye closer guesses the answers
  • “Self-Compassion” by Neff
  • Science of Happiness Podcast
  • Many books:  “The Power Paradox”  and “Compassion Instinct”

Kelly McConigal – “Make Stress Your Friend”  Ted Talk

  • Compassion is:
    • Awareness & Recognized of suffering
    • Feeling of concern of connection
    • Desire to relieve the suffering
    • Belief that you can make a difference
    • Respond to be present or take action
    • Warm glow, satisfiction
  • Fostering Compassion – are you receiving compassion, witnessing compassion, compassion self efficacy, compassion satisfaction, self compassion.

Michelle Borba – Unselfie and other books

  • “The Altruistic Personality” by Samuel Oliner
  • Communalities for Altruism
    • Model of kindness and social responsibility
    • Expected to be kind
    • Opportunities to do good.
  • Empathy can be cultivated:  ABC’s of goodness
    • Affect (feel)
    • Behavior (do)
    • Cognitive (Understand)
  • Was it helpful or hurtful?  How can you make it helpful?
  • 9 Empathy Competencies:
    • Emotional Literacy – look into their eyes
    • Moral Identity – helpful or hurtful?
    • Perspective Taking – How would you feel if it happens to you?
    • Moral Imagination – Books/Film
    • Self Regulation – coping skills
    • Practice Kindness
    • Collaboration – we world not me world
    • Moral Courage
    • Altruistic leadership
  • “Happiness Hypothesis” by Haidt
    • Irene Sandler – German nurse who saved 20 jewish children
  • Show Goodness examples a board listing all good things on campus
  • Empathy stands for
    • Expect
    • Model
    • Praise
    • Active
    • Together
    • Habit
    • You

John Medina

  • Newest book: “Attack of the Teenage Brain”
  • The Interpersonal reactivity Index measures empathic concern, personal distress, perspective taking or fantasy scale.
  • Empathic Training
    • Promotes cognitive flexibility
    • Boosts problem-solving abilities
    • Increases reading comprehension
    • Increases math comprehension
  • Dr. Keith Devlin researched narrative skills.  If a student can retell a story or make up a story with multiple perspectives then they develop a facility for thinking mathematically because it shows another perspective.
  • Executive Function
    • Mike Posner- an overarching term describing neurologically based skills involving cognitive control and emotional self regulation.
    • Dr. Philip Zelazo believe if you improve EF you improve empathy.
    • Lizard brain develops around 10-12 yo- fighting, fleeing, feeding & mating
    • Human brain develops around 25 – all that makes us uniquely mature including the ability to control the lizard
  • Nora Ephron “When your children are teenagers, it is important to have a dog in the house so someone is happy to see you.”
  • “Willpower” by Roy Baumeister showed that People with High EF scores:  less moody, better anger management, more creative, better short term memory, commit less crime, less prone to substance abuse, set clear goals, work better in teams, better at long range planning, has a better BS meter, more productive, function better in crisis, tend not to cram.
  • Self control is a better predictor of grades than test scores
  • Aerobic exercise, NOT Strengthening helps your brain – 15 minutes can move grade up ¼ grade
  • Durlak et all Spelled out SAFE for training about Empathy:
    • Sequenced
    • Active – role playing/role-reversal
    • Focus – pro social, regular/priority
    • Explicit – empathy, no general terms, be specific

Ana Homayoun “Social Media Wellness” @AnaHomayoun

  • Students do not have the skills to be organized online. They need more executive function skills.
  • Most of the apps/websites that students used 8 years ago are gone today.  Today it is Tik Tok, Music.ly, SnapChat Streak and charms, Discord, After School, Yubo, Instagram has group chats
  • 1998 – don’t get in strangers cars or meet people from the internet.
  • Today – use the internet to summon people to: pick up groceries, run errands, stay at their place, get in their car.
  • “It’s Complicated” by Danah Boyd
  • Do you want to get 7-10 hours a week back?    We need to teach students this. They are sucked into the social media vortex.
  • Hot or Not website- easy to use, easy to upload contact
  • New Social Media has Public Profiles, Private commentary, ephemeral and anonymous interactions, video and livestream, virtual reality.

Digital experiences affect sleep duration and sleep quality.

Five Ways social media affects our youngest generations:

  1. Altered expectations
  2. Mixed messages
  3. Information Overload – netflix binging  – similar to ice cream binging
  4. On all the time mentality
  5. All about the likes personal values development

 

Using the three Ss to help teens cultivate compassion and empathy

  1. Healthy Socialization –
    1. Identify – what is energizing and what is draining?
    2. Reflect: Figure out your why. Why are you posting?
    3. Decide: I can opt in or opt out. I can filter in, and filter out.
  2. Effective Self-regulation
    1. Identify: How long is my homework “really” taking?
    2. Reflect: What would I do with an extra 7-10 hours of free time per week?
      1. Create opportunities in the classrooms to build these skills… think of it like a muscle.
      2. Use productivity apps to build self-awareness and compartmentalization (forest, Flipd, moment)
      3. Build digital detox opportunities daily/weekly
    3. Decide: I can compartmentalize my time so I get my work done faster and have more free time.
  3. Overall safety
    1. Identify: What feels safe and unsafe online? What is appropriate and inappropriate?
    2. Reflect: Where can I turn (or my students turn) when something doesn’t go as planned?
    3. Decide:What is our school mission statement around how we maintain social emotional and physical safety?

Social, Emotional, and Physical – social manipulations on Popular Apps, location sharing on apps – live 360, Yubo, snapmaps, Shame, stigma, and safety, parents are responsible for what kids do on their phone.

Does every teen have a team?  People they go to when something bad happens.

Sleep, stress-management, addressing problematic overused, addiction

Nothing good happens at a sleep over after 10 pm with a bunch of phones.  

Tip: You need to curate your feeds or how you use your social accounts.  Students need the awareness that they have choices.

John Medina says it takes up to 20 minutes to refocus after task – switching.

What are our schools social emotional social media policies?  Have community council talk about new apps what policies do we need?

HELP KIDS TAKE OFF PUSH NOTIFICATIONS!!!

Sent out a letter every year to parents, to state that your behaviour affects your students school experience.  Make your parents be on your team.

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Shame Nation: Having Teens Choose Kindness in the age of Trolling by Sue Scheff

Cyber-Menors:

    1. Online Behavior- conduct, content and caring, rethinking how we share online
      1. “I can’t believe they posted that”  Mean Memes.
        1. Two words changed Sue’s life “google yourself”  Do you know what google is saying about you? Trolls can ruin your life.
        2. Influence of Google
          1. Google is not a god
          2. Google is a machine
          3. Google is unforgiving
          4. Google can dictate the direction of your career, job and life both financially and literally.  
        3. Online reputation is an extension of your online behavior which is a reflection of your offline character.  Website called Reputation Defender.
      2. How to improve our online behavior:
        1. Conduct – self-awareness, check-in with yourself,
          1. Never put a temporary emotion on a permanent internet
          2. Think twice, post once
          3. Is it a tool or a weapon? Help, heal, hurt harm
        2. Content: Will it embarrass you or someone else?
          1. Tweet regrets or post remorse
          2. Know your emojis
        3. Caring: respect, care enough about yourself to know when to click-out.
          1. WHEN IN DOUBT, CLICK – OUT.
    2. Digital Resilience – prepare for ugly-side, report, online is not reality, use critical thinking, help teens unplug
      1. 5 ways to build Digital Resilience
        1. Prepare them for the ugly-side of social media – online hate, cyberbullying, sexting scandals, revenge porn, ugly poll contests, sextortion, online predators.  It is not the apps, it is HUMAN behavior.
        2. Show how to report abuse – who to tell and when?
        3. Online is not always reality – understanding online deception:
          1. Filtered selfies
          2. Social media envy
          3. Catfishing – people disguising their identities
          4. Think of instagram as a movie preview, it is all the best parts or not even what the movie was about.
        4. Critical thinking –
          1. CRAP Detection:
            1. Currency- how recent or up to date is the information?
            2. REliability – is it content opinion based or balanced? Does it provide reference or sources for data?
            3. Authority: Who is the author or source and are they reputable?
            4. Point of View: Does the post have an agenda or are they trying to sell something?
          2. Consequences of what they post: 70% of business use social media to screen candidates before hiring.  75% of colleges preview applicants online behavior before accepting them.
        5. Encourage off line socializing. – socializing in real life develops empathy for others.  Ways to cut screen time:
          1. Create device free time.
          2. Mealtime is for eating and engaging not emails
          3. Set boundaries for cell phones

 

  • Limit notifications on your gadgets

 

        1. It can wait don’t text and drive.
  2. Being Upstanders – this actives our empathy. Don’t perpetuate hate, reach out to people struggling , reflect on your own behavior
    1. Don’t perpetuate Hate
      1. Report & flag abusive content
      2. Don’t forward or retweet cruel content
      3. Liking a harmful post is a equal to endorsing it.
      4. Don’t engage in cyber-combat
        1. ENERGIZING HATE GIVES IT LIFE OR CREDENCE.
    2. Reach Out to Someone Struggling Online
      1. Private message them
      2. Send a text
      3. Write an email
      4. Call them, leave a message
      5. Let them know they’re not alone
      6. follow @SupportiveDude He is an anti-troll.
    3. Who is the Digital You?
      1. What does your online reflection say aobut you?
      2. Look at your posts from the 20 yo, 40 yo, 60 yo   – 20/40/60 challenge
      3. You are what you post
      4. Words and tone matter
      5. Be interested others
      6. Kindness is contagious – it starts with us

5 ways to rethink your online sharing habits:

  1. Is it necessary?
    1. Social sharing for your platform or oversharing for your ego?
    2. Avoid sharing in haste.
  2. Emotional sharing: Having a bad day?
    1. Social media should not be used as a diary.
    2. Avoid using cyber friends and cyber therapist.
  3. Inappropriate Sharing
  4. Constructive Sharing
  5. Know your audience

When in doubt, click out.

Watch the Amanda Todd Video

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Paula Prentis @YSSconnect/ Instagram @yourslefseries

www.yourselfseries.com

We created a team  – introduce yourself and find a captain and a scorekeeper

You are a brain architect

Met Katie from Missoula, MT, originally from Joliet Illinois

How does the self evolve?

  1. Experience
  2. Nature – genetics
  3. Nurture – attachment theory – We develop defense mechanisms to defend against the self and others

Fundamental Human Needs – Sense of Self  we need safety and security needs with food, water, shelter, love, belonging, nurturing, and success in work, love, play and spirit

Early attachment predicts drop out rates.

Behavior is often a system of the thoughts and feelings we have about who we are.  We never asked about the A we always ask about the F.

All behavior is motivated.  A strong sense of self + motivation = positive behavior

When we don’t feel good about who we are, we make bad choices.

We have a human need and motivation to belong, we seek connections.  If accepted, we embrace who we are we make more connections. We develop a strong sense of self. We choose positive behaviors.  If rejected, we protect who we are. We push people away. We develop a weak sense of self. We choose poor behaviors.

Punishment reinforces negative self-concepts at a cellular level.  We are reinforcing the negative sense of self.

How have i connected with my students today?  How have i contributed to possible disconnection?

Teens use distraction, suppression, reappraisal.

Steps to emotion regulation:

  1. Recognize that an emotion is happening – awareness, mirroring  -”it looks to me like you are feeling really frustrated right now, what might help?”
  2. Label the emotion
  3. Find the source of the emotion
  4. Use strategies to manage the situation

Do you hear me?  Do you see me? Does what I say mean everything to you?

Connect using Validation – there is a difference between self and concept. The math problem is the source of the problem.  The student is not the source of the problem.

We are instriscial

  1. Connect with Kindness
  2. Connect with Icebreakers – how do you make them smile?
  3. Connect with Choice – perceived control is a good thing
  4. Connect with Dopamine
  5. Help them make their own connections

“Brain development requires social relationships, emotional experiences and cognitive opportunities”

“Reach before you teach” – book that is free for all educators.

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Jeff Swiers – The Power of Academic of Conversations for Agency, Voice, Identity, & Equity

Jeffsziers.org  jeffswiers.org/february16

  1. Building Ideas Mindset –
    1. What new ideas can I start building today?
    2. What ideas am I building this week and how do these tasks and texts help?
  2. Academic Conversation Skills
  3. Structured Interaction Activities – gives time to think and talk
  4. LEFT

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What activities increase gratitude?

Gratitude Journal Prompt – reflect on events in your life. Large or small .  think over this past week and write a journal entry about what you are grateful for.  

Developing brain systems are vulnerable to negative experiences but highly changeable with positive experiences.

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The power of growing, gratitude, forgiveness, and resilience in education by Janeen Antonelli, Jesse Fuller, and Dr. Joelle Hood

From Jim Doty’s book

  • Compassion
  • Dignity
  • Equanimity
  • Gratitude
  • Humility
  • Integrity
  • Justice
  • Kindness
  • Love

“We cultivate the climate. When a flower doesn’t bloom you fix the environment in which ist grows, not the flower.”

We are the decisive element”  I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.  It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my mood that makes the weather.  As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” –Haim Ginott

The teacher is the loudest curriculum in the room.

 

Velcro for the negative and Teflon for the positive.  – we have to switch this.

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Jamil Zaki – Building Empathy in a fractured world

  • Survival of the kindest
  • Empathy is a key a driver of human kindness.
  • The modern world makes empathy more challenging
  • What is empathy?  – Adam Smith – the father of modern capitalism. “Theory of Moral Sentiments” the fellow feeling was described as a crowd watching a tightrope walker
  • Empathy benefits to self:
    • Reduced depression
    • Social connection
    • Improved adolescent adjustment
    • Professional and organizational success
  • Empathy benefits to others:
    • Patients of empathic doctors
    • Employees of empathic managers
    • Empathic Partners
    • Generosity towards strangers
    • Greater open-mindedness
    • Interest in sustainability
  • Empathy’s primordial soup – has similarity, familiarity, visibility, accountability.
  • Modern barriers to empathy – we are alone in a crowd.  More people are living in cities but are living by themselves.  We don’t have to go to church, shopping, bowling alley for essentials. It is harder to have empathy with statistics.  If we see a face or hear a voice, we are more empathetic.
  • Meditation on Gratitude to gain empathy
  • Zaki believes you can change your level of empathy.
  • How to we motivate people to use empathy.  
    • Conformity  – when shown that others are empathic, individuals choose to act more empathic.  VR to show what it is like to be homeless.
    • Visibility –
    • Mindsets – When people believe empathy is a skill and not a trait, they are more likely to be open to race and political difference.

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Dr. Paul Bloom – “The Case Against Empathy”

  • Empathy means concerns, compassion, kindness, love and morality.  But others say- the capacity to judge what others are thinking and feeling. (Cognitive Empathy)
  • Empathy can be used for good or for bad.
  • The more empathy you feel for someone the more likely you will be kind to them.
  • Evil is nothing more and nothing less at empathy reduction.
  • Why do you give empathy this power?
  • Empathy gives a spotlight to certain things which gives a bias to certain things
  • One reason for atrocity is empathy. We make it US vs. THEM
  • Isn’t empathy essential for some relationships?  Are you best when you are empathetic?
  • The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
  • Don’t enwrap yourself in the suffering, just help them.  Buddhist teaching.
  • Sentimental compassion can burn you out.  Just be a good person.

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The Power of Mindfulness by Shauna Shapiro

  • Mindfulness = see clearly.  We want to see clearly so we can respond effectively
  • Health benefits – stronger immune system, decreases stress, helps innovation, creativity, productivity, memory, focus & Attention, academic performance and test scores, reduces burnout, increases emotion regulation, increases positive emotions and strengthens relationships.
  • Meditation – increases ethical decision making, reduces cultural bias, and strengthens compassion.
  • Model of Mindfulness
    • Intention  – Why? The compass of our heart. This is the direction.  The most important thing is to remember the most important thing. Be clear about your intention.
    • Attention – bringing our attention to the present. The mind wanders 47% of the time.  (Harvard)
      • “What you practice grows stronger”
      • If I judge during meditation, then i am practicing judging.
    • Attitude – we need the right attitude
      • What we permit, we promote.
      • Our brain on shame is completely shut down.
      • The opposite is the attitude of kindness
  • The power of practice – the discovery of neuroplasticity shows us that we can change our brain.  What you practice grows stronger. We all have the capacity to change. We can rewire our brain to be happier.  There is a happiness set point in our brain.
  • Drshaunashapiro.com

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“The good news about bad behavior” by Katherine Reynolds Lewis

  • Why won’t kids do what you want?
  • 1 in 2 kids have mood behavioral disorder by 18 – national institutes of mental health
    • 32% have anxiety
    • 19% have behavioral disorder (ADHD, ODD)
    • 14% have mood disorder (depression, bipolar)
    • 11% have substance use order
  • You can’t over-diagnose dead bodies – Dennis Embry PAXIS
  • What helps kids self-regulate
    • Connection – when kids had moms near them during an MRI, the brains presented with less agitation. As a TEACHER, remember to be present with the students, especially when they are stressed.  Adult’s presence – eliminated anxiety symptoms, Physical touch showed a level of self-regulation. Empathy – limit social isolation, modeling – how do i model stress?
      • Classroom meetings, playing games, inside jokes, creating traditions, eye contact and shaking hands, connect before you correct.
    • Communication – ways to communicate that will building their self-regulation. Challenge their problem solving skills.  Help the students meet the needs of the situation. They need to be self disciplined, not complaint.
      • See, Hear, Do,  Feel Chart
      • Things to do:
        • Encouragement and positive language – don’t say “no running”, say “please walk”
        • Giving them information
        • Asking questions
        • Planning and thinking ahead
        • Signs and notes
    • Capability building
      • Classroom jobs (linked to happiness)
      • Anchor positive traits
      • “Try three before me”
      • Ask for help
      • Teach emotional awareness, role play
      • Offer self-regulation tools

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Teens & Mindful Self-Compassion by Karen Bluth, PhD

  • We are raised to be compassionate about others, but we are not raised to be self-compassionate to ourselves.
  • Situation where a friend was in need:  When Brittany thought FVS was just now where she should be.
  • Situation when I was really down: when juan told me that food was wasted from last Thursday.  I was frustrated. I felt like it was my fault. I wanted to cry. I felt like I can’t do my job.
  • Self compassion:  Treating yourself the way you would treat other friends when they are coming through
    • Mindfulness vs. over-identification or catastrophizing
    • Common humanity (understanding that whatever we are experiencing is part of being human) vs. isolation
    • Self-kindness vs. self-criticism
  • Self Touch – touching heart with one hand, touching heart with two hands, touching heart and belly, two hands on belly, hugging yourself, touching check, Fist in front of heart with other hand.
  • Use self – talk as though you are speaking to a friend.

 

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