When Brain-based Learning Strategies Don't Work

I’d like to believe that folks think of me as expert in brain-based learning strategies. And certainly I’m passionately interested in the subject. Teach it, read about it, study it, talk about it to anybody who’ll listen to me.

It’s my thing. I believe in it. It works! It helps kids learn! And it’s easy for parents and teachers.

But brain-based learning strategies don’t work all the time—even for me!

Bottom line: You can’t learn something if you aren’t interested. And you aren’t interested unless there’s an emotional connection to whatever you feel you must learn.

Go back to yesterday’s post where I admitted that I’m really bad at math. And there’s certainly an emotional connection there. My father hated math. I loved my father. So I hated math too. Made me feel closer to him.  And now I can’t even balance my checkbook without a struggle.

Explains why some really smart kids don’t do very well in school. And why some not-so-smart kids end up doing great.  

So discover what your kids love and connect it to learning. She loves ice skating and hates reading? Get her books about ice skating.

Want to discover more about motivation and learning? Register now for tonight’s free TeleChat, “All about Reading.”  It’s at 6 pm mountain time. I’ll be talking about how to motivate kids to read.

And I’ll also be showing you a neat Brain Gym exercise you can do to improve reading skills—you can even use it yourself.  You’ll get handouts and templates you can duplicate to use in your classroom or at home.

It’s all free. Go to www.brain-based-learning.com/registerreadingtelechat.htm to register. Send the link to a friend, a teacher, or a parent—anybody who wants to help kids read. Remind them that enrollment is limited so they need to register right away.