One-Day PD Seminars Menu

program

You will examine how the brain learns and the practical strategies that correlate with this research to improve students’ joyful and successful learning. Seminar leader Dr. Willis will guide you on an interactive exploration of what the most recent neuroscience and cognitive science research reveals about attention, emotion, memory and executive functions. You will learn how the brain’s response to stressors, including boredom and frustration, can reduce memory and result in the involuntary reactive behaviors of “act out” and “zone out.” Additional neuro-logical classroom strategies will be described and applied in this interactive workshop to reverse negativity, build growth mindsets and perseverance, promote accurate long-term memory and transfer of learning to novel applications. You will come away with an enhanced understanding of how the principles of neuroscience relate to education as you acquire a rich toolkit of strategies readily applicable to your school, classroom or clinical practice.

 

The workshop runs from 8:15am - 2:30pm.



Download Seminar Brochure (pdf)
 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At this seminar, you will learn information about:

  • Employing brain-friendly strategies to advance student achievement and the skill sets for 21st Century success
  • Examining ways to maximize and maintain student attention and focus
  • Improving student participation by reducing stress and promoting confi dence and resilience
  • Increasing construction of working and long-term memories through the use of patterning, mental manipulation and metacognition
  • Using advances in neuroscience research to ignite student motivation and promote growth mindsets
  • Applying the compelling video game model of individual achievable challenge levels and the recognition of incremental progress to increase student eff ort and perseverance


WHO SHOULD ATTEND
 

This seminar will be applicable for all professionals in education, including teachers PreK through graduate school, administrators, policy makers, curriculum designers, professional development coordinators, school consultants, teacher educators, psychologists, tutors and graduate students.


WORKSHOP LEADER
 

willisJudy A. Willis, MD, MEd, is on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, and is an authority on brain research regarding learning and the brain. She practiced neurology for 15 years before returning to university to obtain her teaching credentials. Dr. Willis subsequently taught both in elementary and middle schools for 10 years. With her unique background as both a neurologist and a classroom teacher, she publishes in several education journals and is the author of six books including The Neuroscience of Learning (2014), Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning (2006) and How Your Child Learns Best (2008).