Dopamine + Noradrenaline + Activated frontal lobe = Better memory and learning

How can you accomplish this activation of the frontal lobe and release of dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain? Here are some ideas:

Use positive self talk. Don’t go into a subject or class thinking it’s too challenging and expecting to fail. No matter how valid or realistic negative thoughts may seem, they aren’t going to help you pass a class.

Avoid using the words “hard” or “difficult” when describing your class and assignments. If you classify something as being tough, you will believe your classification and won’t have an easy time learning.

Break information into small steps. This makes the information look easier and less overwhelming.

From Memorization and Test-Taking Strategies

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A mandala is a geometric or pictorial design often enclosed in a circle.  Coloring one can help to calm the mind and kindle creativity.

How they work:

• Coloring from the center to the edge broadens attention
• Coloring from the edge to the center focuses attention
• Relaxes the body
• Activates the right brain
• Visual prompt/structural map for writing feelings in a poem, song or composition

A good source for mandalas can be found at http://www.mandali.com

Mandalas can also be a useful tool in the classroom to help calm a rowdy, inattentive class, or help students focus before a test.

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Have you ever taught a student who could memorize their spelling words for a test, but couldn’t spell the same words correctly while writing an essay?  Or seen a student searching fervently for an answer, only to forget the question you asked? Both of these students were experiencing a problem with their working memory, or the place in the brain where connections between short-term and long-term memory are made. If a student’s working memory becomes too full, it lets go of earlier information to process incoming information.  This is what happened to the student searching for an answer, taking in lots of information in his or her search, and then forgetting the question. Understanding active working memory is very important when working with struggling learners and students with learning disabilities. Learning to differentiate our instruction so our teaching techniques support working memory and our interventions are appropriate is critical when considering RTI responses. Active working memory accomplishes four tasks:

1. Provides a “mind space” to combine or develop ideas
2. Holds together the parts of a task while doing it
3. Provides a “meeting place” for short-term and long-term memory to “network”
4. Offers a place for multiple immediate plans and intentions

Working memory is where all the parts of a process are held together. When you’re planning a vacation, working memory is where the reminders to rent a car, make flight reservations, and find a hotel are all kept. Working memory is where everything goes before it gets moved to long-term memory.  It’s what you’re using right now as you read and process this information.

When working with students, especially those with a learning disability or who are simply struggling in a particular subject area, it is also important to understand how stress affects working memory. When the brain is stressed – when it’s in ‘fight or flight’ mode – chemicals are released in the brain that alert the body to get ready to defend itself.

Unfortunately however, the brain doesn’t know the difference between a piece of paper with a test on it and a charging tiger. When the brain feels threatened, it reacts by releasing the ‘fight or flight’ chemicals. Those chemicals shut down working memory, and the information we were working with is gone. One of these ‘fight or flight’ chemicals, cortisol, can seriously impact working memory. It shuts down memory and can even permanently impair memory over time.

Experts believe that too much stress is harmful to our memory because it can cause too much cortisol to be released into our system. When we have students who have demonstrated that they know information but can’t remember it on a test, it’s likely that their active working memory has shut down. Once we understand how working memory works, and how a stressful situation, such as taking a test, can impair that memory, we can take steps to help students’ working memories perform better.

For example, while we would not want students to use a calculator during a test to see if they have memorized their multiplications tables, a calculator would be appropriate to use during an algebra test.  This is because when solving a higher-level process, a calculator allows students to think at that higher level more successfully since their working memory is not busy trying to remember that 5 X 9 = 45.

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• Provide a comfortable place in which to work without distractions
• If possible, use full-spectrum lighting
• Calm the homework beast with music at 60 beats/minute or less
  • Helps with attention issues and sensory processing
  • Supports organized body movement
  • Assists in actively engaging the learner
  • Increases the brain’s alpha and beta waves, which are associated with a quiet, alert state, ready for learning
  • Helps to provide structure for organized thinking, ex. writing reports or papers or doing activities that involve planning

Music suggestions:

• Native American Flute
• Peruvian Mantra
• Mozart for Learning (Caution: Some Classical is too rambunctious. The key is 60 beats per minute or less.)
• Enya
• Typically, music without words (which may be distracting)

You can easily determine the beat of the music using the second hand of your watch or clock.

Excerpted from “Please Help Me With My Homework- Strategies for Parents and Caregivers” by Susan Fitzell

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