Becoming a "Wiz" at Brain-Based Teaching: How to Make Every Year Your Best Year

By Marilee Sprenger

Book Overview

"This is an exceptional book--well-researched, highly practical and very in touch with the everyday needs of today′s teacher. In the glut of teaching books out on the market, this one really stands out."

Eric Jensen
Author of Teaching With the Brain in Mind

"The reader-friendly flow of this book is in the top 1% of all similar texts that I have read. It provides solid background information with appropriate vignettes to facilitate the personalization of the material--it was a delight to read "

Shawn Van Etten, Ph.D., Director of Institutional Research
Herkimer County Community College
Herkimer, NY

Practical strategies to integrate brain-based learning into your classroom as easily as clicking your heels

Through the clever analogy of The Wizard of Oz, Marilee Sprenger provides invaluable information about cognitive research and shares simple tactics for implementing these ideas in the classroom. Learn proven tools for coping with "the Lion′s stress, the Tin Woodsman′s need for emotional intelligence, and the Scarecrow′s desire for higher level thinking."

This user-friendly guide effectively discusses expert findings about brain growth, structure, and functions to help teachers and administrators foster a love of learning in all students. By creating an enriched, brain-compatible environment as outlined in this book, educators can effectively counter such existing negative influences as stress, sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and a genetic predisposition to disorders in order to cultivate successful lifelong learning.

Key features include:

Straightforward discussion about memory pathways, learning styles, and multiple intelligences Extensive examples from real school situations where brain research has been applied Tactics for immediately putting brain-based information to work in the classroom Concrete techniques for using music, teams, rapport building, and brain-state changes to stimulate student learning

About the Author:

Marilee Sprenger has translated and applied brain-based research for the past thirteen years, and specializes in staff development training. As a classroom teacher, educational consultant, and adjunct professor at Aurora University, Sprenger has successfully integrated the most current brain research into all levels of education. She is a frequent speaker at national and state conferences and offers seminars internationally. A member of the American Academy of Neurology, she is the author of Learning and Memory: The Brain in Action, and co-author of Powerfully Simple Techniques and The Parent Connection.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761978615
• ISBN13: 9780761978619
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Corwin
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 7.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

An outstanding resource no teacher's college or reference library should be without.

Teachers will find this revised and expanded second edition of a best-selling guide is packed with tips on the latest research on learning, memory and the brain - and uses these insights to change approaches to classroom teaching. From helping readers translate theory into practice to brain-compatible classroom management strategies and emotional skills development for different grade levels, BECOMING A 'WIZ' AT BRAIN-BASED TEACHING: HOW TO MAKE EVERY YEAR YOUR BEST YEAR is an outstanding resource no teacher's college or reference library should be without.

Valuable to all teachers

This slender book is packed with insight into brain research and how to use it to make learning easier and a more pleasant experience for the students and teacher. Sprenger covers safety issues, learning styles and how to change your teaching address them, the effects of stress and how to lesson it, physical needs of the brain, the different kinds of intelligence, and much more. The information is more accessible because much of it is presented as stories from the author's own classrooms and life.

Informative introduction to the field

The book is easy and interesting to read. So much current and practical material has been incorporated into this slim book, cleverly organized around the analogies of The Wizard of Oz. Marilee, as an experienced teacher who reads extensively, has the gift to select the essentials to provide an over-all introduction to "brain-based teaching". The Table of Contents will give a good idea of the scope of coverage: structure of the brain, dealing with stress, emotional growth, developmental cognitive skills, 5 kinds of memories, 8 intelligences, use of music, brain states, brain food, sleep, exercise, learning environment, learning styles, brain-based asesssment... Once the appetite is aroused by the introduction here, readers can move on to Eric Jensen's books, esp. "Brain-based Learning", "Different Brains, Different Learners". Jensen's recent books all have much better visual format, more sketches and pictures. (The "marshmallow experiments" on impulse control quoted by Goleman is also quoted here (p. 49). Various authors, e.g. John Gottman, have actually challenged the conclusions.)