What if we designed classrooms around how the brain learns best; not just standards, pacing guides, or coverage goals? As schools shift toward inclusive education, teachers need approaches that reach a wide range of learners without lowering expectations. One practical way to do that is to combine brain-based learning principles with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and microlearning. Together, they strengthen Tier 1 instruction, reduce cognitive overload, and build the self-regulation students need to become successful, independent learners.

Susan Fitzell’s School House Model provides a visual framework for aligning instruction with student needs. This model reminds us that academic instruction, represented by the “Functions” or nuts and bolts (the curriculum), must be supported by two critical structures. The foundation is based on building a strong community, connection, and cooperation. Above this foundation is the “Framework,” which must be based on current brain and educational research and an understanding of how students learn. MTSS and microlearning work together to support this comprehensive, whole-house approach—from foundation to function.

Brain-Based Meets Tier-Based

MTSS is a multi-tiered system that incorporates Response to Intervention (RTI), with a core goal of failure prevention. The foundational element, Tier One, demands the use of best practice, research-based teaching methods, including differentiated instruction, for all students (80–90% of the population),,. Implementing brain-friendly strategies in Tier 1 benefits all learners, ensuring instruction aligns with how the brain naturally processes and retains information.

A traditional reading lesson might involve extended reading and a standard writing prompt. However, a brain-friendly approach leverages microlearning techniques to maintain engagement and retention:

• Color-coding vocabulary to support memory encoding: Color is a powerful memory tool, helping students retain information better than black and white text. Using color to categorize or highlight text makes the information unique, aiding visual recall,. Color-coding the parts of speech, for example, assigns nouns a unique color (like red, relating to a stop sign) and verbs a movement color (like green, relating to ‘go’).

• Paired think-alouds to encourage interpersonal interaction and verbal rehearsal: Verbalizing concepts is crucial for learning, as students often discover gaps in their understanding when they attempt to explain information to others. Strategies like Think-Pair-Share or Thinking Aloud Paired Problem Solving (TAPPS) engage students in active rehearsal.

• Chunked instruction, where students process one paragraph at a time using graphic organizers: The brain’s capacity for holding new information in short-term memory is limited to roughly three to four chunks at a time. Breaking down content into smaller, manageable pieces prevents cognitive overload. Using graphic organizers, flowcharts, or mind maps during this process visually categorizes material and helps students see patterns and relationships, supporting deeper understanding.

• Doodling key ideas as a form of nonlinguistic representation: Nonlinguistic representation, such as drawing or visualizing concepts, is a research-supported strategy that requires students to process content in new ways. This “production effect”—speaking or drawing during recall—further strengthens the encoding and memory consolidation process.

All these methods employ differentiation (Differentiated Instruction or DI) that is “good for all” students and “critical for different learners”, making instruction effective for everyone in the general classroom environment.

Self-Regulation: The Secret Weapon

The goal of instruction is to move students from being struggling learners to being successful learners by fostering self-regulation. Self-regulated learning is the most important characteristic of expert learners. These learners implement a plan that includes setting clear performance and process goals, employing clear strategies (including time management), controlling their motivation, and monitoring their own progress.

Microlearning supports these metacognitive habits. For instance, perceptive students often procrastinate, seeking information until the last minute. Teachers can mitigate this by breaking assignments down into small chunks with specific due dates, teaching students organizational strategies and self-monitoring skills. When students practice strategies frequently for short amounts of time, it is more effective than overwhelming the brain with too much at once, accelerating the learning process.

Beyond Remediation

Too often, struggling students are pulled out, slowed down, or given “easier” material, creating lower expectations that diminish their chance to achieve their greatest potential. But what if the problem isn’t the student—it’s the size of the instructional bite?

Instead of relying solely on remediation after failure, MTSS encourages adapting Tier 1 instruction to prevent failure from the outset. By intentionally structuring lessons using small, brain-aligned chunks—such as the Chunking Lesson Plans™ approach,—teachers ensure that instruction matches the capacity of the brain to learn and process new concepts effectively. This way, students who might otherwise be labeled “at risk” or “learning disabled” can remain in the rigorous general classroom environment, benefiting from high expectations and specialized instructional support embedded seamlessly into the daily lesson.

FAQ

1. How does microlearning support MTSS, especially Tier 1?
Microlearning fits Tier 1 because it makes strong, research-based instruction easier for all learners to process and retain. Instead of long, overloaded lessons, teachers deliver content in smaller chunks with frequent practice, which aligns with working memory limits and reduces cognitive overload. This improves engagement and retention for the 80–90% served in Tier 1, and it helps prevent failure before students need more intensive tiers.

2. What brain-based strategies in the article are most useful for differentiated instruction in a general classroom?
The article highlights four practical strategies that scale well in Tier 1 while still meeting diverse needs: color-coding vocabulary or parts of speech to strengthen encoding and recall; paired think-alouds like Think-Pair-Share or TAPPS to build rehearsal and reveal misunderstandings; chunked instruction using graphic organizers to manage working memory limits; and doodling or drawing key ideas as nonlinguistic representation to deepen processing and improve recall.

Why does “chunking” matter from a brain-based learning perspective?
Because working memory can hold only a small number of new “chunks” at once, long passages or multi-step directions can overload students, especially those who struggle. Chunking instruction into smaller parts, like one paragraph at a time, helps students process information without the system collapsing under cognitive load. Pairing chunking with visual tools like graphic organizers helps students see patterns and relationships, which supports deeper understanding.

How do think-aloud strategies improve learning and assessment at the same time?
When students verbalize their thinking, they rehearse the content, which strengthens learning. At the same time, explaining ideas out loud often exposes gaps in understanding that silent work can hide. Structures like Think-Pair-Share or TAPPS create a routine for interpersonal interaction, immediate feedback, and active processing, which supports both comprehension and retention.

How does this approach shift MTSS away from remediation and toward prevention?
Instead of pulling students out, lowering expectations, or giving “easier” work after failure, the article argues for improving Tier 1 instruction so more students succeed in the rigorous general classroom. By designing lessons around small, brain-aligned instructional “bites,” and embedding supportive strategies as part of everyday teaching, students who might otherwise be labeled “at risk” can keep up with higher expectations while receiving targeted support inside the core environment.

Bibliography

Burnett, S. (n.d.). The A-Z of Differentiated Instruction.

Cowan, N. (2010). The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? Current Directions in Psychological Science a Journal of the American Psychological Society, 19(1), 51–57. http://doi.org/10.1177/0963721409359277

Fitzell, S. G. (n.d.). 360 Inservice, slide 3.

Fitzell, S. G. (n.d.). 360 Inservice, slide 165.

Fitzell, S. G. (2011). RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers. London: Sage Publications.

Fitzell, S. G. (2017). Special Needs in the General Classroom: 500+ Teaching Strategies for Differentiating Instruction (3rd ed.). Manchester: Cogent Catalyst Publications.

Marzano Debra J. Pollock, Jane E., R. J. P., Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.Wong, B. (2010). Points of view: Color coding. Nature Methods, 7(8), 573–573. http://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0810-573.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Building Brain-Friendly Classrooms with MTSS and Microlearning appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Shift the Mindset, Shift the Outcomes: Why What We Believe About Students Matters Most

When we believe students are capable, they start to believe it too. But when they are told, directly or indirectly, that they are “not honors-level material,” something inside them dims. As educators, we have incredible power to influence student outcomes. It begins with one critical factor: Their teachers’ mindset about student potential.

That mindset is visible in the choices we make every day. How we group students, how we respond to struggle, and how we define success. If our expectations are low or narrow, we unintentionally reinforce the very barriers we say we are trying to break.

It is time to shift the script.

Labels May Limit More Than They Help

In my years as a teacher, consultant, and parent, I have seen the limiting impact of labels. I have also seen what happens when we refuse to let those labels define a student’s future.

This is an issue close to my heart. My son was diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder and a form of dyslexia when he was in elementary school. Despite his intelligence and work ethic, he was told that he did not belong in honors classes. One teacher even warned us that if he kept pushing himself too hard to succeed, he might “end up in a mental institution.”

Yes, you read that right.

But instead of accepting those limitations, we equipped him with strategies. The visual tools, academic coaching, and metacognitive supports that I taught educators, I also taught him. My husband and I refused to lower the bar. We guided him through the process of learning how he learns. He did not just survive the system. He earned a scholarship and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. Today, he is a successful design engineer.

My son is not an exception. He is an example of what is possible when belief is paired with the right support.

Personalized Learning Opens Doors

Too often, traditional systems create invisible barriers. When we implement personalized learning, rooted in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and neuroscience-informed strategies, we remove those barriers.

Personalized learning shifts our focus from trying to fix students to finding out how they learn best. Then we give them access to meaningful learning experiences without sacrificing content.

It is not about giving easier work. It is about providing the right supports so each student can learn in a way that honors their pace, preferences, and strengths.

Strategic Supports Change Outcomes

When struggling learners are offered clear goals, visual tools, scaffolding, and self-regulation strategies, their confidence and competence grow together.

These supports might look like:

• Color-coded notes to aid memory
• Graphic organizers that help structure complex ideas
• Seating choice or movement breaks to support focus
• Opportunities to express learning in multiple ways

This is not special treatment. This is what equity looks like in action.

From Deficit to Strength: Change the Language

We must be intentional about the language we use. Calling students “low” or “behind” does not just describe their current performance. It implies a fixed ability. Instead, let us use language that communicates growth, effort, and opportunity. When we shift from a deficit mindset to a strength-based perspective, we begin to see what students can do, not just what they struggle with.

Mindset about student potential is not a soft skill. It is foundational. When students are held to high expectations, supported by inclusive practices, and surrounded by the belief that they can reach their highest potential, they often exceed beyond what anyone thought possible.

When we as educators stop asking, “Is this student capable?” and start asking, “How can I help this student access their potential?” the outcomes shift dramatically.

Ready to Lead a Mindset Shift?

🧠 Bring this mindset shift to your school or district.
📘 Buy my book, Special Needs in the General Classroom, and lead a staff book study this fall.
🎤 Book a keynote to kick off your next professional learning day with purpose.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Why Your Mindset About Student Potential Might Be Holding Them Back appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

When students in your classroom are not progressing at the same rate or better as their peers, supplement their learning with researched based strategies that increase achievement. These are also Tier Two interventions for Response to Intervention.

How to Respond to Students’ Needs While Making Progress Together

When students in your classroom are not progressing at the same rate or better as their peers, supplement their learning with research-based strategies that increase achievement. These are also Tier Two interventions for Response to Intervention (RTI).

Use classroom adaptations that do not reduce content, yet make the curriculum more accessible using readability tools and scaffolds:

• Ensure instructional materials are accessible using readability tools and adjust where appropriate.
• Ask students to repeat instructions to ensure understanding.
• Use books on tape to allow students who benefit from extended time or auditory supports to keep up with the reading.
• Provide an outline or a copy of notes and teach students how to make notes memorable rather than taking class time to engage students in the mechanical act of copying.
• Encourage the use of word-processing software with auditory feedback so students can use higher-level cognitive skills without being hindered by writing difficulties.
• Use proofing aids: proofreader buddy, spell checker, a grammar checker.
• Use tools that support visual organization and reduce cognitive load: graph paper, vertical lines, darkened horizontal lines.

Streamline Instructions for Clarity and Equitable Access

Look for confusing directions in handouts, tests, and especially project descriptions. Even if unclear aspects are discussed in class, some students will miss the clarification. Provide the opportunity for success by ensuring the written instructions are very clear.

• Look for confusing directions in ready-made handouts.
• On worksheets, put each specific instruction with the activity being instructed.
• Do not put all the instructions for one worksheet at the top of the page with two or three activities below it when each activity requires a different instruction.
• Use simple terminology in the instructions. Words with double meanings cause confusion. Some students will struggle to demonstrate their understanding because they did not understand the language in the instructions.
• Break instructions down into bullets. Paragraph form invites the student to miss instructions.
• Provide examples whenever possible.
• When assigning projects, use exemplars to clarify expectations and reduce ambiguity. How often do we, as adults, need to see examples of resumes, letters, finished décor, constructed furniture, etc., before we can do it ourselves? Yet we routinely require students to create results from purely verbal instructions.

The Power of Explicit Expectations

My perspective on expectations shifted when I began tutoring students using another teacher’s assignment materials. I found myself asking the same questions my students had. What exactly does the teacher want here? Is this a formal paragraph, or a list? Do they want a citation? It was a humbling reminder: when instructions are unclear, students are left guessing. Now, I consistently double-check my own assignments—not just for content accuracy, but for clarity of expectations.

Pattern Recognition Strengthens Memory and Deepens Conceptual Understanding

One of the most underutilized learning tools is pattern recognition. Students remember information more effectively when it’s grouped and connected in meaningful ways. Use storytelling instead of lectures. Integrate timelines, cause-and-effect diagrams, or sequencing activities that help students visualize relationships. These aren’t just supports—they are tools that strengthen conceptual understanding and transfer learning into long-term memory.

Amplify Feedback with Audio Coaching

One of the most innovative ways to provide feedback is through audio recordings. This approach allows students to hear your thinking in real time and review your comments multiple times. Simply have students submit a flash drive (or use a shared cloud folder) with their drafts. As you review, record audio notes about content, grammar, or revision strategies, then return the audio files along with the written work. Students experience your feedback as a conversation, not just a critique—an approach that builds trust and fosters growth.

Conclusion: Progress Without Compromise

The myth that we must choose between supporting struggling learners and maintaining high expectations is outdated—and harmful. With strategic, accessible adaptations, we can make space for every learner to grow. Responding to student needs doesn’t mean slowing down the entire class. It means ensuring that each student has what they need to keep moving forward.

The challenge isn’t whether we should adapt; it’s whether we’re willing to believe that all students are capable of success when instruction aligns with how they learn best. We don’t need to lower the bar. We just need to build better ladders.

📣 Call to Action

If this article resonates with your classroom experience, don’t wait for a formal IEP meeting or benchmark report to guide your next steps. Choose one adaptation or strategy to implement this week—just one. Then observe what changes: in engagement, in comprehension, in confidence. And when it works (because it will), share it. With a colleague. On your school’s PD day. In the break room. This is how we scale transformation: one student, one strategy, one shift at a time. Let’s move forward—together.

Ready to make your classroom a space where every student can thrive?

👉 Try one new strategy from this post in your next lesson.

👉 Share your results or insights in the comments—what worked? What did you adapt?

👉 Want more strategies that help struggling learners succeed? [Subscribe here] or [download your free Differentiation Toolkit] to get started.

Let’s keep building a classroom where all learners move forward—together.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Meeting Student Needs and Moving Forward: Strategies That Work appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

What is Reciprocal Teaching?

Reciprocal teaching is a fantastic way to improve reading comprehension. This strategy involves discussion and the use of specific reading techniques: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting.

Why Reciprocal Teaching Works

Research shows that reciprocal teaching significantly enhances student comprehension skills. Students who use this method become more independent readers. They are better at summarizing, predicting, and thinking critically. They also tend to have fewer behavior problems.

How to Use Reciprocal Teaching

One of the best ways to use reciprocal teaching is to practice a questioning strategy in which the reader reads the text, processes the meaning, and makes connections to prior knowledge. Then they generate a question about the text. Here’s how it works:

1. Read the text.
2. Process its meaning.
3. Connect it to prior knowledge.
4. Generate a question about the text.

Learning Objectives of the Questioning Strategy

• Identify different types of questions for the lesson.
• Formulate various focused questions.
• Practice reading comprehension strategies in cooperative groups.
• Synthesize information to respond to a variety of questions.
• Interpret text and demonstrate higher-level thinking skills by creating various types of questions.
• Enhance comprehension through questioning.
• Apply questioning strategies across many subjects.

Recent Research on Dyslexia and Reading Comprehension

Since 2016, new studies have shed light on the benefits of reciprocal teaching, especially for students with dyslexia. Research shows that structured questioning techniques can significantly help dyslexic students improve their reading comprehension. These strategies encourage active engagement with the text. This is crucial for overcoming the challenges posed by dyslexia.

In summary, reciprocal teaching is a powerful tool for enhancing reading skills. By incorporating this strategy into your teaching methodology, you can help students with reading challenges become more proficient and confident readers.

If you enjoyed this article, you might find the following interesting:

Making Reading Easier: Dyslexia and Neurodiversity Solutions

Mind Mapping: An Effective Strategy for Differently Wired Brains

Susan in the Media

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Effective Strategies for Dyslexic Readers: Unlocking Comprehension with Reciprocal Teaching appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

As educators, we’re always looking for ways to make our classrooms more effective learning environments. Research in neuroscience has provided us with valuable insights into how the brain learns best. Here are some practical, brain-friendly learning strategies you can implement right away.

Creating the Optimal Physical Environment

Lighting Matters

The right lighting can make a significant difference in your classroom. When possible, dim the lights or incorporate blue, green, or pink lighting. Full-spectrum lighting has shown particularly positive results in enhancing student focus and learning (Cooper, 1999).

Music as a Learning Tool

Classical music can be a powerful ally in the classroom. Choose pieces with less than 60 beats per minute to help students relax and learn more effectively. Research by Jausovec and colleagues (2006) demonstrates that this type of music helps create optimal brain conditions for learning.

Stay Hydrated

Make sure your students have access to water throughout the day. The brain needs proper hydration to function well – aim for at least 40 ounces of water daily for each student.

Visual Learning Strategies

Color-Coding for Success

• Use different colors to categorize information
• Highlight important text in distinct colors
• Alternate bullet point colors on your digital screens and boards
• Add colored borders around important information
• Frame spelling words with borders to emphasize their shape

Visual Aids and Organization

Don’t hesitate to use simple stick figures or clip art to illustrate concepts. Graphic organizers are excellent tools for helping students group and classify information.

Creating an Emotionally Supportive Environment

Reduce Competitive Stress

Research shows that students learn better when they’re not competing for grades. Create a collaborative rather than competitive atmosphere (Oei et al., 2006; Vedhara et al., 2000).

Emotional Expression

Make time for students to express their feelings and listen to others. This emotional awareness contributes to a more positive learning environment.

Active Learning Approaches

Movement Breaks

Incorporate regular stretch breaks and movement activities. These aren’t just breaks from learning – they actually stimulate the brain.

The Power of Choice

Give students options in their learning activities (Kohn, 1993). This autonomy increases engagement and motivation.

Partner Learning

Use the “Power of Two” – pair students for activities. This “pulse learning” approach can enhance understanding through collaboration.

Making Learning Meaningful

Real-World Connections

Always try to connect learning to real-world experiences. When students see how lessons relate to their lives, they’re more likely to engage and remember.

Student-Set Deadlines

Let students have input in setting their own deadlines. This builds time management skills and ownership of learning.

Storytelling and Organization

Use stories to teach concepts, and help students organize information through graphic organizers. These techniques make information more memorable and easier to process.

Remember, these learning strategies aren’t just nice-to-have additions to your teaching – they’re brain-based approaches supported by research. By implementing even a few of these ideas, you can create a more effective learning environment for all your students.

Adapted from from Special Needs in the General Classroom, 3rd Edition

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Brain-Based Teaching: Easy Learning Strategies for Your Classroom appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

My Journey with Dyslexia

Reading has always been a challenge for me. I can read, but I’m a very slow reader. When my son’s eye doctor diagnosed him with dyslexia*, I decided to get an eye exam for myself and his sister, too. During my exam, the doctor said, “Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You are also dyslexic!” This was my first diagnosis under the neurodivergence umbrella.

Struggling with Edits

Fast-forward a few years. I was working on my book, “RTI for Secondary Teachers,” and received the copy edits from my editor at Corwin. The recommended changes were in Times New Roman, 12-point font. I was in a hotel all week, presenting daily and editing from my room. At home, I have a big-screen monitor and a standing workstation, and I rarely sit at the computer.

I was afraid to change the font to sans serif because I thought it might mess up the formatting. So, I spent over three hours trying to edit the first chapter. The serifs seemed to float together on the page. I would read and re-read, but I just couldn’t focus.

A Simple Solution

Finally, I called my business manager, who has seen me present hundreds of times. He asked, “Can’t you set up a standing station to work and change the font?” I looked around the room and realized that putting my carry-on luggage on the desk would be just the right height for me to work while standing. Then, hoping not to ruin the formatting, I changed the font to Century Gothic and increased the size to 14 points.

I couldn’t believe the difference! For years, I had been telling teachers to do this, but had never actually compared the difference myself. I rarely work in Times New Roman. With the new font, I was able to focus for hours. The font no longer ran together, and I got the job done in the evenings after working all day. When I finished the chapter, I changed the font back to Times New Roman. My editor never complained, and I completed a project that had seemed almost impossible at the start.

Easy-to-Read Guidelines

The International Association of Library Associations and Institutions guidelines for easy-to-read materials highlight the importance of making reading materials accessible to everyone. In most developed countries, 25 percent of adults do not reach the expected reading skill and fluency level after nine years of formal education.

“Easy-to-read” materials can include materials that have been visually reformatted, revised for easier content, or both. Readers with dyslexia and other reading difficulties can greatly benefit from simple changes to font type and size. Dyslexia affects 5-10 percent of the population and makes it hard to decode and spell words, even though understanding is not an issue.

Recommended Fonts and Sizes

Converting reading materials to a sans-serif font and increasing the size can make a big difference for those who struggle with reading. Recommended fonts for dyslexic readers include Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri (now the default font in Microsoft), and Open Sans. Font size should be 12-14 points or the equivalent. There is also a font created specifically for dyslexics: The Dyslexie Font.

Additional Tips for Better Readability

Other changes, such as printing assignments on matte paper (without glare) and using a solid background, can make a big difference for students with dyslexia and other reading issues. Making materials clear and readable can also benefit students with attention disorders like ADHD and students with autism. A student with ADHD might abandon their reading assignment if it’s too difficult, but if it’s formatted for easy reading, there’s one less distraction.

Simple Changes, Big Impact

Anyone can make these small changes with just a few clicks. I’ve seen for myself what a difference a simple font change can make, and I believe it can help struggling or slow or dyslexic readers.

*Person-first language is used in this article because that is the expected professional language in K-12 schools.

The post Making Reading Easier: Dyslexia and Neurodiversity Solutions appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

I started using mind mapping after reading I Can See You Naked: A Fearless Guide to Making Great Presentations by Ron Hoff (1988). My first presentation was drawn out like a colorful board game with a route to follow, arrows, and picture images of what I was going to do.

I remember thinking how much easier it was to use than index cards with a text script written on them. It was also much less restricting. I did not feel tied to reading the cards. Rather, I looked at the picture and went from memory. It saved me from the plight of many presenters: that of being tied to a script.

The technique worked so well for me that I started expanding the idea into my teaching efforts. As I read selections from English texts to my students, I drew the events out on paper in a map and graphic format. I would often interject silly ditties and exclamations of passion into the effort to make what I was reading to them stick out in their memory.

Given that my students were at the ‘cool’ age of ‘teen,’ they would often look at me and say, “You are crazy!” My pat answer was always, “Yes, I am, but you’ll remember this because of it.” Moreover, they did.

Students learn and remember graphic organizers better if they create them out of their own mental images and patterns. As a parent who has spent my children’s lifetimes trying to teach them how to learn, I was very excited when I walked into my daughter Shivahn’s college apartment and found mind maps, mnemonics, color, etc. all over one of her walls.

Now, it’s not unusual to find mandalas on her door or on her walls or flashcards scattered about, but this was a huge mind map made from recycled 8.5 X 11-inch pieces of paper. I had no idea what it all meant, but I do know it helped her to get an A in the course. My daughter co-wrote a book with me, Umm…Studying? What’s That?, so it’s reassuring to know that she didn’t ‘just’ write the book but also used the strategies and shared them with her peers.

Research Background for Mind Maps, Etc.

Many experts agree that developing cognitive maps and using advanced organizers increases critical thinking skills.

Long-term memory files information in the brain through patterns, procedures, categories, pairs, and rules. A mind map uses at least three of these five ways to store information, therefore helping the brain remember information better.

A classic mind map begins with a word, phrase, or idea typically placed in the center of a piece of paper. As the author of the mind map expands upon the word or phrase in the middle, the mind map expands to include various ideas that come to mind when considering that central prompt.

Graphic organizers enable the brain to categorize information. A mind map is a non-linguistic representation method of organizing information that enables students to file the information away in long-term memory in multiple modes or memory packets.

The post Mind Mapping: An Effective Strategy for Differently Wired Brains appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

1. Give youth a vocabulary for their emotions – Use our Moodz poster to help kids identify their emotions and name their feelings. Students may not have the words for what they are feeling, but they may recognize the emotion in the expression on a child’s face. Ask children to point to the face on the poster that best expresses their own feelings and then teaches them the label for that feeling.

2. Use picture books as a tool for exploring emotions – Choose books that illustrate the facial expressions of the characters in the story. For older students, choose picture books with themes appropriate to young, as well as adult, readers. Read the book to students, noting facial expressions, emotions, conflicts, actions, and reactions to the characters and outcomes. Then, teach students the vocabulary for the characters’ emotions.

3. Play emotional charades! – Write many different emotions down on slips of paper and put them in a bag or hat. Have students take turns picking an emotion to portray and acting out that feeling, without speaking, in front of the class. The rest of the class must then guess which emotion is being portrayed.

4. Tell them what they are feeling. It is very important to acknowledge a youth’s feelings and give them a vocabulary for those feelings. This technique is just as valid for secondary students as young children. Help students connect how they are feeling, and consequently behaving, with labels for their emotions. For example, when students are angry because they are not getting their way, say, “I can see that you are feeling frustrated right now.” Avoid using derivatives of the word angry. Angry is overused. By labeling their emotions for them, teachers and parents can help youth learn to accurately label their emotions themselves.

5. Role-play with students – Using situations that occur in the classroom, have two students at a time role-play how they would act in a situation in front of the class. For example, have one student act as a bully while student acts as the victim. After each role-play scenario, have the whole class talk about how they might feel if they found themselves in a similar situation.

6. Teach students to be aware of their body language and the message it portrays. After students role-play a scenario, ask the audience to discuss what emotions and messages the actors’ body language portrayed. Most young people are completely unaware of what kind of message their body language is projecting By pointing it out and labeling the emotion that it portrays, students can become more aware and more in control of their body language and will learn more about labeling emotions in the process.

7. Help students understand that anger is a secondary emotion – Before a person feels angry, they experience another, often unnoticed, primary emotion, such as sadness, jealousy, surprise, or embarrassment. When a student says they are angry, help them to identify and label the primary emotion behind that anger to better understand and deal with their emotions.

8. Teach empathy – When students are involved in a conflict, help them to understand how the other person feels. Ask them how they would feel if they were in the other’s shoes. By helping students to identify and understand not only their own emotions but also the emotions of others, teachers and parents can help young people to more successfully label and understand emotions in general.

9. Help students connect their emotions and their body language – Ask them to recall a situation that made them feel happy, sad, angry or any other emotion. Have students draw a picture of a facial expression to match the given emotion and then share the pictures with the class. Seeing how students’ pictures differ will help to determine how each student views each emotion.

10. To help students better understand their anger, ask students to write a short story – complete with illustrations – that describes a situation that made them “angry” without using the words “anger,” “angry,” “mad,” etc. This will help students determine the emotions that cause anger. Students may use the Moodz poster as an “emotion vocabulary list.”

11. Help students understand various emotions by asking them to write an acrostic poem in which each letter of an emotion’s name would represent a reason for feeling that way. For example, G in guilt could start the phrase “Gave away my friend’s secret.”

12. To help students understand situations that cause them to experience a specific emotion, ask students to think about which emotions they most commonly feel and what makes them feel that way. If students realize that the same situation always makes them feel sad or hurt, they will likely avoid that situation or learn a new way to deal with it. This will help students develop better ways to deal with conflicts and emotions.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post 12 Ways to Teach Kids to Recognize and Label Their Emotions appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

How A Speech and Language Pathologist Changed My Son’s Life

Speech and language pathologists (SLPs) are especially effective when they collaborate with the classroom teacher and team up to maximize their effectiveness, and you can hear me talk much more about how to do that in a new podcast with Char Boshart. If you’ve spent time on my site or in my programs, you know how highly I regard SLPs and their work in the classroom. As a teacher, I believe an SLP can change your life. If you try this, you and your student’s lives will never be the same. You’ll look at language differently — and language is everything.

The way that an SLP approaches teaching language is very different from most classroom teacher’s approach but, with a little planning, both approaches are complementary. An SLP tends to be much more technical, helping students learn and reinforce language skills, while an English/ELA teacher will focus more on ideas, the bigger picture, and how these relate to the curriculum. Working together helps the SLP hone specific skills that are more relevant to the curriculum when working with students who require one-on-one sessions.

I’ve seen so many benefits of having an SLP in the classroom. It reduces the stigma of being pulled out of the classroom for one-on-one teaching. It can increase individualized instruction and reduce transition time for the student between the classroom and the SLP’s room. It also helps to build stronger peer relationships with the students when the SLP works with the students along with their peers. And it helps to contextualize learning, so the student better understands the concepts being taught. As a co-teacher and as a co-teaching coach, I saw real success in the classroom with this approach.

Char’s podcast allowed me to share my own personal story of how a speech and language pathologist helped my son. And I got to speak at length about the many ways SLPs and classroom teachers can work together, and the benefits of doing so.

There’s a lot more to the art of building a solid co-teaching relationship between SLPs and classroom teachers. I go into detail on this, and the clear benefits of such a relationship, in Char’s podcast. 

Char Boshart is an SLP specializing in myofunctional therapy, articulation therapy and language therapy. She hosts The Speech Link podcast, and she has two websites: speechdynamics.com, which has excellent resources on speech therapy, and myswallowworks.com, an online myofunctional evaluation and therapy program. 

At just under an hour in length, this podcast episode is perfect for listening during your commute. Check it out here.

Bring Susan to your campus!

The post How A Speech and Language Pathologist Changed My Son’s Life appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

So, What’s the Benefit of Using Speech-to-Text?

When most of us think about the skill of writing, we consider writing conventions such as punctuation, spelling, grammar, and other things that make writing consistent and easy to read. We think about sentence structure and paragraph formation. We think about organization. However, a piece of writing can have absolutely perfect writing convention and still be uninteresting, unimportant, lacking passion, and devoid of analysis or reflection.

Throughout History, So Many Brilliant Ideas were Lost Because…

Before technology was an option for putting words to print for people who struggled with writing convention, only those who were able to do both the convention and the creation became authors. While some may believe that is only just, the bigger picture is that many brilliant minds, amazing storytellers, and passionate visionaries were never able to put their ideas into print.

Speech-to-text has changed that reality for those who struggle to put words on paper. Today, doctors, lawyers, business men and women, and authors are using voice to text. After speech-to-text captures their stories, their ideas, or their message, proofreaders and copy editors turn their words into a respectable and publishable document.

By the Way, I’m Talking to You Right Now

As a matter of fact, the words you are reading at this very moment are being spoken into a software program called Dragon Naturally Speaking.

I no longer write the first draft of my books in the traditional manner. Nor do I type them in the initial stages of development. I speak my books and articles into Dragon Naturally Speaking to create the first draft.

I wrote my first book using the traditional means; I typed my thoughts. For me, it was time-intensive, grueling, and exhausting. I found that I often wrote less because the task was so exhausting. When I started to use speech-to-text, I was energized, focused on the messages that I wanted to convey, and able to easily access my research while ‘speaking’ the book. I never want to go back to the old way. Editing and rewriting is still grueling for me, but I get my thoughts out first and that makes a world of difference in my ability to express my ideas.

Why Can’t Students (or Adults) Use Speech-to-Text, or a Scribe (Wordsmith Author Consultants)

So, considering our students and those who struggle to get their ideas out, why can’t someone who hasn’t been assigned a scribe in their Individual Education Plan,  or the permission to use speech-to-text and speak their initial writing?

I realize that the need to go from thought directly to paper may be required for your state test, so I’d never suggest that teachers do one without the other. I believe, however, that there are places where it would be beneficial, and appropriate, to allow students to get their thoughts out via speech.

Doing so frees up working memory to focus totally on the goal of the task rather than on grammar, spelling, and paragraph structure. Students speak their high-level thinking and then review the written document to focus on proofreading, editing and rewriting.

21st Century Skills

In this digital age, is it not only appropriate, but possibly necessary to teach students how to use these tools to maximize their literary potential.

With several dictation apps available today on most devices, one can write an email, send a text, search the web, or create a note with only their voice.

For example, on an Android or iPad device, instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and then say what you want to say while your device listens. Like a voiceover app, these apps are also a great tool to use for students with vision deficiencies.

Speech-to-Text can be Life Changing for People – Youth and Adults

I have students who are finally able to speak their email to communicate with people they care about, or speak the answers to questions on a test. This, to me, is one of the most amazing tools that can open up the world for so many students.

What do you think about Speech-to-Text?

Have you tried it with your students? Do you talk into your phone to respond to text messages or email? Do you talk to SIRI or Google Voice?

Download and learn to use speech-to-text technology to improve and increase your writing success! – Free!

The post Speech to Text: What’s the Benefit for Writers Whether Students or Adults? appeared first on Susan Fitzell.