Think Big, Start Small: How to Differentiate Instruction in a Brain-Friendly Classroom (Strategies to Engage, Explore, and Extend the Curriculum)

You no longer have to be a neuroscientist to understand how your students absorb knowledge. This easy-to-comprehend guide pares down the vast field of neuroscience and covers the brain basics that affect your classroom the most--attention, memory, emotions, and stress. With a variety of simple brain-compatible strategies, you'll see a measurable difference in your differentiated classrooms. In Think Big, Start Small , the authors submit that while differentiation is the core of the art and science of teaching, a teacher may not be effective in the classroom without a basic understanding of how the human brain grows, develops, and learns. This easy-to-comprehend guide pares down the vast field of neuroscience and covers the brain basics that affect your classroom the most. These brain basics will serve as a solid foundation for designing your classroom environments, curricula, and instructional strategies. Ultimately, you'll learn to examine and consider learning preferences and the thoughts and behaviors of your students to create a classroom that enhances learning. Benefits * Provides neuroscience research on learning, attention, memory, emotions, and stress * Explores how these layered factors manifest in the classroom * Shows how to create a safe and secure brain-friendly environment that maximizes student learning * Offers low-prep and high-yield strategies for assessing student knowledge, interests, and preferences * Illuminates how simple changes in the presentation of your information can engage students more quickly Differentiation is the core of the art and science of teaching. However even masters of this art may not be effective in the classroom if they don't have a basic understanding of how the human brain griows, develops, and learns: To successfully implement differentiation strategies, educators must design and orchestrate a brain compatible environment. Think Big, Start Small pares down the vast field of enuroscience and provides educators with the brain basic needed to create a classroom that enhances learning Using educational neuroscience to differentiate instruction Creating a brain-compatible environment Engaging, exciting, and energizing the learner Exploring the learning Extending and expanding learning for every student Evaluating the learning Think big, start small.