Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice Kindle Edition

I am trying to come up with words to describe the profound impact of this book. I just can't do it justice. The authors of this book have Masters and EdS degree programs (BrainSMART) on brain-based teaching, learning, and leadership. As a graduate I can attest to the effectiveness of their training. I have found it difficult to fully articulate what I do (learned from BrainSMART) to achieve the results I get. But this book...it captures what I do and adds even more wonderful ideas. I just bought two extra copies to share around my school.The big ideas it covers are: neurocognitive plasticity, learning potential, the modifiability of intelligence, the role of the body-brain system in learning, and the need for explicit instruction on metacognition. The authors don't just tell you what you should do...they tell you the brain research behind every component!I honestly believe this should be required reading for every educator. Thank you Dr. Wilson and Conyers for this amazing resource!

An interesting and applicable text for educators. Less a "how-to" and more along the lines of educational theory and best practices.There are a few "paradigm shift" concepts in this book. This is NOT the neuroscience and developmental child psychology of my undergraduate years, thank goodness. I have long had a pet interest in neuroplasticty. Wilson cites all types of studies about the brain's malleability in terms of learning and knowledge acquisition. Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. You just have to be more patient.Wilson also provides a terrific rumination of the history of and the current thinking about this very interesting topic. I was also quite taken by the chapter entitled "Recognizing Human Potential," but cautious about taking this wholesale, as it does seem to assign a great deal of responsibility to classroom teachers for a number of things over which they may have little control. GIven the current climate of "blame the teacher, rather than the administrators/system," I hesitate to buy into this too much without some serious conversation with fellow educators, particularly those in a public setting.Wilson is a clear and concise writer, and the book is written in a breezy conversational style accessible to anyone with an interest in educational philosophy.

This book is written for “teachers, teacher educators, professional developers, and policymakers” (pg. 3). This book serves to provide educators with ideas and strategies for effective teaching. The authors outline 5 main ideas that can be applied to your classroom: understanding brain plasticity, every child having the potential to improve their academic performance, the malleability of intelligence, the role of the body and the brain in learning, and the need for explicitly teaching metacognitive skills to students. This book clearly informs the reader of each of the five “big ideas” and provides research to support each idea.Wilson and Conyers state that everything in the book can be applied to teachers as well as students. The importance of clearing up misconceptions about intelligence is not only essential for educators, but for students to understand as well. For example, the first big idea is brain plasticity. An entire chapter is devoted to a discussion on how the brain changes in physical structure due to learning new things. It was previously thought that the brain stopped developing at age 12, but research shows this is not true at all. Not only does learning change the physical structure of the brain constantly throughout our lives, but also the ways in which students view the world around them. Another chapter discusses metacognitive skills. Explicitly teaching students how to take total control of their learning with the use of metacognitive strategies will not only provide them with a platform for developing critical thinking skills, but also will teach them the fundamentals of becoming a life long learner and society contributor.The book brings many other educational professionals, writers, and organizations to attention as well, for the support of ideas. With support from research of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, Vygotsky, Piaget, and many others, this book provides substantial support of educational psychology research. This book is an excellent informational tool for educational professionals. The reading is light and informative, and often very interesting. After reading this book I have gained a broader mindset of how to teach students explicit strategies for metacognitive skills, cleared up some misconceptions about the brain and education, and have formed thoughts on ways to better interact with colleagues to better support my own teaching methods. I would recommend the ideas of this book be an essential core of every educational professional’s classroom.

Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers shed light on education that I have never seen before, "Five Big Ideas for effective teaching" brings the audience front and center on some interesting and insightful topics for today's education system. Wilson and Conyers starts the book of by presenting some of the challenges that teachers and students are faced with. Some of these challenges can be seen in the classroom, but others are home challenges that many teachers will never see. The five big ideas that are mentioned in this book were not even ideas that I would have though of when starting my education journey, but the in depth explanations that Wilson and Conyers expresses especially on neuroplasticity allows the reader to get a grasp on how the classroom has changed since they were a student, and how it continues to change with more technology and information is presented. The theory that students can become smarter as the year goes by compared to the students that walked into the classroom at the beginning of the year is expressed though out this book in multiple ways. Both authors are certified in their fields and offer great insight to the topic. I also found it very helpful that they incorporated Common Core standards through out the book to give ideas and examples of how to incorporate them into the class/lesson. All in all a wonderful book that takes the reader through a journey of educational growth.

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