StudySkills Search
Susan Kruger Winter, M.Ed.
Previously, I wrote about How to Help Your Students Manage Anxiety. If you haven’t read that article yet, I suggest you start with it, here. It explains what causes anxiety, which is key to understanding how to manage it. Today, I want to share some strategies for building an “anxiety-free” environment in your classroom. Obviously,…
The key to helping students manage anxiety is to understand what’s happening in their brain. “Emotions are the on/off switch to learning,” says Priscilla Vail, author of Smart Kids with School Problems. You and I both know this is true. We know from our own experience that it’s pretty hard to learn geometry theorems when…
“Students Greatest Need Is Executive Function!” This year, in the SOAR® Learning Laboratories, we challenged ourselves to discover “What do students in special education need the most?” We interviewed special education educators from across the country, expecting to make a “top ten” list we could narrow down to the “top three things” students need. However, we were stunned when one response came…
The Motivation Circuit Video Transcription “Motivation” is the term we use to describe a power surge from the emotional region of the brain. When the emotional region of your brain is happy, comfortable, and engaged, it makes a lot of brain chemicals. This provides a hefty power boost the rest of the brain, making learning…
The Learning Circuit Video Transcription Learning is nothing more than your brain creating new wires. How does this work? Every time you learn something new, your brain powers a connection from something you already understand. When this happens, the neuron wires in your brain –the information you already understand– create new wires to capture the…
Brain-First Learning for an AI World Tier 3 Interventions RTI Tier 3 Interventions: Step Back Before Going Forward When the wrong gap is being targeted, “more intensity” isn’t the answer. Tier 3 is where we stop escalating and start digging deeper — finding the exact place the learning circuit breaks down. She averaged 11% on…
Brain-First Learning for an AI World Tier 2 Interventions RTI Tier 2 Interventions: Elements of Effective Intervention Lessons When Tier 1 builds the foundation, Tier 2 builds the bridge. The pattern is hard to predict… You’ve tried slowing things down. You’ve tried different programs. You’ve tried more repetition, different modalities, fresh starts. Some of it…
Brain-First Learning for an AI World TIER 1 INTERVENTIONS RTI Tier 1 Interventions: Avoid Differentiation at the Wrong Layer Teach What’s Universal, Honor What’s Individual The Brain Circuit™ — how every brain connects new information to what it already knows. This universal layer of learning is what Tier 1 instruction serves. “Executive function is EVERYTHING.…
Whether you teach students who are heading off to college in a few months or in five years, there are a few study skills that can dramatically improve their odds of success. How do I know? I’ve lived this story. If you have not heard it before, the short version of my story is that…
Summer vacation is coming—for some of us it’s already here—and that means it’s time to tackle Summer Brain Drain again. How do we keep our kids’ brains active for the three months that they’re out of school? How can we make the gap between school years an advantage, and not just dead space? Most parents…
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