Redesign My Brain

Redesign My Brain poster

A must watch for educators on ABC television at the moment is a new documentary series called Redesign My Brain. Hosted by Todd Sampson from the Gruen Transfer series, he undergoes a series of challenges to change his brain. The first episode last week was on memory and thinking skills while this week was all about creativity. While we may not all be scientists, the show holds a number of important lessons for all educators no matter what subject they teach.

One of the key ideas to come out of the first episode was the incredible ability of the brain to improve itself given the appropriate training. Over the course of a month, Sampson was able to significantly improve his memory, thinking speed and peripheral vision. Apart from a few specialised computer programs, this improvement mainly came about through the act of repetition and daily practice, such as juggling. In the end, he demonstrated the power of simply practicing these skills by memorising a complete deck of cards at the World Memory Championships.

While those of you who have seen or read about brain plasticity (see Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself and Barbara Young’s The Woman Who Changed Her Brain) may not be surprised at such results, it is a good reminder of the power of this still largely mysterious human muscle. Moreover, it shows that whatever the age or profession that such transformations are possible.

Specifically though for educators, it is a reminder of the power of encouraging students to practice, practice, practice. This idea, as well as the general area of brain plasticity, was taught to me by my former head of department Brendan Sullivan. For a staff meeting one day he got us all to read an article from an American journal about labelling students as smart. I read the article a little begrudgingly, I generally didn’t like department meetings and extra reading didn’t seem like a good addition, but the information was eye opening. In particular, the notion that labelling a student clever can actually be dangerous to their education came as a surprise. However, the research showed that the label of clever or smart can lead to students avoiding challenges to avoid appearing to be dumb. Moreover, by encouraging students to try hard and persist in the face of adversity lead to improved results. The take home message was to never call students smart in class and it is something I have worked very hard at not doing ever since.

Later that year Brendan also introduced the department to the concept of growth mindset. Based on the work of Carol Dweck, it examined how different students approach challenging class work. The research suggested people can have either a fixed or growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset tend to avoid challenges, give up easily, see effort as wasted, ignore negative feedback and are threatened by the success of others. If this sounds like your top and bottom performing students then you are probably on the right track because this is the sort of thinking schools encourage. That is, by focusing on assessment and labelling students with grades, we subconsciously train kids to have a fixed mindset about the various subjects they do. For instance, I often avoid doing musical related tasks in class because I was ‘bad’ at music at school. Instead, I tend to avoid anything musical and don’t see much point in trying to learn a musical instrument. On the other hand, I was ‘good’ at maths at school so I don’t mind helping out in this area. Consequently, many students come into the classroom with fixed mindsets about their abilities in that subject. Are we then surprised that despite coming up with creative and interesting tasks they just don’t engage?

Dweck also identifies the growth mindset. People with this mindset will embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as worthwhile, learn from criticism and find inspiration in the success of others. For instance, if I read a book and don’t quite get the meaning or the ideas then I will reread or do research until I do. I clearly have a growth mindset when it comes to English – luckily I am an English teacher! However, I have also tried to apply this to my other areas of interest such as rock climbing. I am not ashamed to admit I have only completed 1 climb so far in the year and a half I have been climbing but that doesn’t upset me. I know that every time I go out to a rock face that I am getting better. Moreover, I know that when I regularly practice in the climbing gyms and do my core exercises at home my climbing gets even better.

The problem is how to get students to think like this. Clearly it is not something they naturally do because we encourage them to do otherwise with our grading and reporting. To counter this I decided to teach my students this year about fixed and growth mindsets. This wasn’t content in any of the curricula I used or mandated by the schools but it was something I felt was important. Thus, I gave each student a diagram of the two mindsets and asked them, “Who here is good at English?” This allowed me to straight away get out my mantra of practice, practice, practice. Hence, I set the ground work early in all my classes: no one is good at English in my class but we can all work hard. Importantly, I make a point of recognising those who do work hard and seek help to improve. This can be as simple as noting publicly someone using a planner to improve a piece of writing or seeking help to understand something better. These are not big in themselves but they reinforce the idea that it is the effort and practice that count not some innate ability.

Finally, this idea led me to utilise what is known as Good Learning Behaviours (GLBs for short). This came from the PEEL research (http://www.peelweb.org/index.cfm?resource=good%20behaviours) and when used in conjunction with growth mindsets helps promote a great classroom environment. Importantly, it encourages students to take ownership of their own learning and seeks ways to improve. Thus, I also teach my classes GLBs at the beginning of every year. I take it a step further by giving each student the GLBs list and making them stick it in their record book so they can reference it easily in any class. And yes, once again I can praise students for seeking help and planning rather than simply being clever.

In conclusion, Redesign My Brain may not be ground breaking in the research uncovered or the ideas presented but it is a good reminder of the power of our own brains. Moreover, it highlights how much power we have to improve our own skills through practice and a growth mindset. I better stop typing now so I can do my juggling practice – never too old to learn some new tricks.