Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom Teacher: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom Tea

by Judy Willis

Drawing on her neurology expertise and classroom experience, author Judy Willis examined decades of learning-centered brain research to determine what information was most valid and relevant for educators. The result is a comprehensive and accessible guide for improving student learning based on the best the research world has to offer.

Willis takes a reader-friendly approach to neuroscience, describing how the brain processes, stores, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416603700
• ISBN13: 9781416603702
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: ASCD
• Length: 125 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Treasure-packed remarkable resource

Reading a book on pedagogy written by a neurologist sounds like as much fun as reading a standardized test manual, but Dr Judy Willis's Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning truly surprised me. Willis has written an excellent book for helping teachers understand how to teach in ways that engage students' brains and lead to deeper learning. The short text is easy to understand, yet filled with valuable information for teachers. Teachers must constantly make decisions about which teaching method to use at any given point. Complicating the decision-making, however, is the plethora of methods from which teachers may choose, and the fact that proponents of so many different methods claim to have scientific research to support their ideas. Nevertheless, the task of choosing might be a little easier after reading Willis's book. While many texts focus on advising teachers how to implement a specific teaching strategy, Willis focuses on helping teachers understand how the human brain works and how teachers can use that knowledge to choose strategies that tap into the brain's normal processes. In just over 100 pages, Willis deals with a wide range of educational issues. For example, she describes how the brain stores information and develops networking connections between related data. This, she writes, can help teachers understand why students sometimes have difficulty learning vocabulary. Unless a student is shown the relationships between existing knowledge and the new vocabulary, the student's brain stores the new information in isolation. Storing information in isolation then makes it more difficult for the brain to retrieve the information later. Conversely, if the student understands the connections between previous knowledge and new knowledge, the brain literally networks the information, which makes it easier for the brain to retrieve the information in the future. Willis describes how teachers can use graphic organizers, visualization, and role-play to help students make those cognitive connections. An entire chapter is dedicated to understand how stress affects the brain and how schools and families can work together to reduce stress on students and help students handle the stress they do feel. Another chapter is dedicated to discussing many good assessment techniques. In this context, rather than merely describing how to write rubrics, Willis describes how rubrics help students' brains develop. Of course, in describing so many neurological functions, it is necessary for Willis to use intimidating terms, such as dendrites, occipital lobes, and prefrontal cortex. Willis does a remarkable job, however, explaining such terms. And in case the reader forgets what a term means mid-book, the book includes a handy glossary. I found Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning to be a surprisingly understandable, yet treasure-packed resource. And its readability and short length mean one can easily read

You knew that it was true, but this book explains why

I am so excited to finally be able to see what is going on inside my teenage student's brains. As teachers, we are aware that presentation is a key element of what we do to engage our students. How did we get that usually reluctant student to answer a question; what made the class get so excited about our lesson today. Dr. Willis presents some very practical yet eye-opening details on how to engage students before you have even begun your lesson. As often as I am reminded of how short the typical adolescent attention span is, Dr. Willis offers us a scientific explanation for why it is true. I find myself excited at the prospect that I can hack (a la computer hacking) my classroom presentation to achieve success in the classroom in a more consistent way. Judy has changed my teaching forever. Thanks Judy!

Hope is on every page

This book also helped me find the missing pieces of the puzzle. I don't usually read my mom's books but I read this one. It is interesting and fun to read.

Bought it for reference- Read it FROM COVER TO COVER

I bought this book because I know there is a great deal of information out there claiming to be "brain-based" research or teaching strategies and I wanted to know what to believe. When I saw that the author was both a neurologist and a classroom teacher I hoped that the book would show me which research was valid and important. I was more than satisfied Do you know that feeling of trying to find a piece of the puzzle, when you are working with a child? If you could just find that last piece everything would come together and that child would be successful? Well, this book gives you the strategies to find that last piece. I thought I would use the book as a reference, but when I started reading Willis's book her writing style was so easy to connect with that I read the book cover to cover. It is the kind of book that you read, then are able to use the strategies presented. Then you continue on and practice new techniques. You might reread a chapter because you know that you are learning something valuable for children. It also confirmed that many things that I am presently doing are right on track. You know this author is writing for the purpose of truly helping children because you can feel her excitement when discussing brain based science strategies. Now that I know more about how the brain processes information, I feel more able to explain my teaching strategies to others. When I started teaching over twenty years ago I didn't think that words like "amygdala" and "reticular activating system" would be part of my vocabulary. Willis's book demonstrated the importance of teaching in sync with how these parts of the brain work. I know the educators who design curriculum and tests will read this book and realize that we can do more to motivate students and help them connect with the knowledge we can offer them. I see how these strategies also help to get student's attention and keep their focus. I highly recommend Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning for teachers, special education specialists, speech therapists, administrators, and resource specialists in all grades elementary through high school. The research is current and well presented and the strategies are coherently connected to the research. The "Gray Matter" sections go into interesting details about the structure and function of the parts of the brain involved in learning and the Glossary is comprehensive. This book really helped me find the missing pieces of the puzzle. That's what teaching is all about. Judy Gamboa Resource Teacher Marana School District Learning Disability Association of Arizona- Board Member-2006

Surprise Your Brain: Buy this book!

Dr. Willis is a unique blend of common sense, humor and brains. Judy is a rarity being both a "brain" doctor, and a classroom teacher. She cares about her students, and works tirelessly with her students and on-going research. This book gives you interesting medical facts, then applies it directly to classroom strategies. I've always taught using a multi-sensory approach, but now I know why I do it! This book will back up what you know--and what you do in the classroom. I've had a lot of fun "surprising" the brains of my students using Judy's ideas. Now I have this book, my own neurologist/teacher in my backpack of tricks. PS I love the glossary! Joan P. Brown