Category Archives: L&B Blog

I wrote two weeks ago about our first 2020 education conference: Educating Anxious Brains, in San Francisco — February 14-16.

As you saw in that post, educators have lots to concern us: trauma & stress, and their effects on minds and brains. (Dan Siegel will have lots to say on these topics.)

Happily, the conference will get beyond the problems to practical, research-based solutions.

Below, I’ve described just a few of the speakers who will offer wisdom, practical guidance, and humor.

Creating Calm and Mindful Schools

Jessica Minahan has guidance (and practical strategies) for reducing anxiety and improving behavior in the classroom. (Her first book, The Behavior Code, helps us decipher patterns in students’ actions, and so choose the optimal approach for helping redirect behavior.)

To think about behavior from the students‘ point of view, you can hear Janine Halloran. Her perspectives, and age-appropriate workbooks, help students develop the coping skills and social skills essential for school.

Christopher Willard has been a frequent presenter at our conferences. If you worry about anxiety in schools, you’ll love hearing his approach to mindfulness as a way to rewire stressed brains.

Speaking of rewiring stressed brains: you can also meet Sará King — a yoga instructor with a degree in neuroscience from UCLA.

Connecting with Students (Especially Teenagers!)

Have you got a stressed-out teen in your classroom? In your house? Christine Carter — author of The New Adolescence — will offer perspectives on structure, autonomy, distractions, and (my favorite) “strategic slacking.”

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, one of the founding voices of the Mind/Brain/Education perspective, will talk about “embodied brains”: in particular, the effect of social environment on neural and cognitive development. (You can read my recent interview with her here.)

You’ve heard a lot about “positive greetings at the door,” and the effects they can have on shaping classroom culture. If you’d like to meet a key researcher in this field, come hear Clayton Cook talk about creating positive relationships.

If I know Lori Desaultels, she’ll be talking from her heart about combining regulation and connection to improve student well-being. (Check here to see what I mean about “talking from the heart…”)

I wish I could introduce you to all the speakers we’ve got coming. Happily, you can do that yourself. Register ASAP. (No, seriously, it’s going to sell out…)

Interested in our May 2020 education conference, Schooling the Self? I’ll be introducing that conference soon…

At this time of year, we can easily get distracted by things.

If I have the right stuff — not the John Glenn kind of “right stuff,” but the right objects — then I’ll feel better about my life and world.

Of course, that just ain’t so. (Perhaps you didn’t need psychology research to confirm that belief.)

So: what does lead to happiness?

Martin Seligman has devoted decades of research to answering that question. And, in this substantive and thoughtful video, he walks you through his answers.

This information is about the best present I can think of for anyone.

The first of our 2020 education conferences focuses on Educating Anxious Brains.

We’ll gather in San Francisco, February 14-16, for a weekend of powerful, practical, and informative workshops.

Our goal: we want to help teachers, administrators, and parents create calm, connected, mindful, and trauma-informed schools.

We’ve got quite the lineup of speakers…

Anxious Brains: Helping Kids Thrive in a Stressful World

We live in a time of daunting social and cultural stress–and our kids are right here with us. How can parents and teachers help?

Dr. Madeline Levine will have practical suggestions on guiding children to succeed in an unpredictable world. And, she can do so while keeping a sense of humor.

To learn more about the simple “power of showing up,” come hear Dr. Dan Siegel. He’ll remind us that parental presence can change so much–including how our children’s brains get wired.

Dr. Suniya Luthar looks at the particular challenges of risk-taking in high-pressure schools. How can we help students be resilient when their environment includes so many challenges and setbacks? Her first answer to those questions: authentic connections.

Traumatized Brains: Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools

When life experience takes students past anxiety into trauma, what can parents and schools do to help?

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris–the surgeon general of California–will talk about her research into the toxic effect of stress: the damage it does to the very cells of our brains. And, she’ll offer guidance on how we can best help. (Click here for our review of her amazing book The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversities.)

Founder of and Senior Fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy, Dr. Bruce Perry will bring his decades of experience to help us understand the effect of trauma on brains, and on neural development. He will help us see how deeper understanding can lead to deeper healing, as we educate, protect, nurture, and enrich the lives of these children.

I’ll be introducing more speakers for our 2020 Education Conferences in upcoming posts.

Unsurprisingly, given this list of speakers, our February conference is likely to sell out. If you’re interested, you should register as soon as possible!

In my last post, I wrote about a teaching strategy called “concreteness fading.”

If we start with concrete examples, and gradually transition to abstract formulas, we help our students understand and transfer math knowledge.

I think this technique includes an under-appreciated strength: its name clearly describes what the method advocates.

Here’s my point:

The Problem with Catchy Brands

If I, as a researcher or teacher, come up with a cool new teaching idea, I want people to adopt it. Obviously.

And so I’m tempted to come up with an upbeat, catchy name for it. For the sake of example, let’s say I devise a method of “awesome teaching.”

This brand name has the advantage of zany enthusiasm.

But, it distracts from a conversation about the merits of the method. Now, anyone who articulates doubts about my method seems to argue against being awesome. Which is to say: they seem like a bad person.

This problem came home to me recently when I talked at a (great) school about working memory and its limitations. A teacher, reasonably enough, noted that my argument contradicted some segments of an instructional methodology championed in her district.

Here’s the catch: that method’s name included the word “authentic” in it.

As a result, I found myself–bizarrely–arguing against “authenticity.”

Of course, I’m NOT opposed to being authentic. I am, however, opposed to using teaching methods that overwhelm working memory capacity–even if those methods are branded “authentic.”

So, in that case, the word “authentic” simply made it harder to have a sensible, research-based conversation about the teaching methods involved. I felt I had to repeat, over and over, “I’m not against being authentic, I’m against this particular thing that calls itself ‘authentic.’ ”

To be clear: “authentic” isn’t the only problem phrase–not by a long shot.

For instance, there’s a splendid strategy for giving feedback: one that I regularly encourage.

Alas, it calls itself “wise feedback.” Now, anyone who doubts the method seem to oppose being wise while giving feedback. That’s an unhelpful burden for those of us who want to rely on research.

Back to “Concreteness Fading”

At this point you’ll understand why I like the phrase “concreteness fading.”

Unlike other branding phrases (“student-centered,” anyone?), it’s not trying to sway you with its upbeat perkiness. It’s not a brand.

Instead, the label “concreteness fading” describes–literally, if a bit awkwardly–the method itself.

Step 1: Start concrete.

Step 2: Shift from concrete to abstract. (And, because abstract things are less concrete than concrete things, let’s us the verb “fade” to describe that shift.)

Other methods include this strength.

“Retrieval practice” means “practice by retrieving, not by reviewing.” The name is a literal description.

Lots of people doubt the usefulness of “project-based learning,” especially for novice learners. But, the name itself has the benefit of direct clarity. Those who doubt PBL can argue against it without constantly saying “I’m not against X, I’m against this thing called ‘X’.”

Let me conclude with a plea to people who name teaching methods: the more direct and literal your brand, the more honestly teachers and researchers can discuss it.

And, if the method itself has merit, then that honesty will work in your favor.