Teacher Monitor Strategies

Students learn best when they can relate a new learning concept to a prior lesson or personal experience. People use knowledge they have previously gained to help them understand new things. Teachers can also help students approach new concepts by relating them to a subject matter that the class finds interesting. Relating new concepts to something students like gives students a reason for learning the new material. Students are actively engaged in the learning process daily and it is proven that “the more time spent reviewing and practicing, the greater the retention and ability to put that learning practice at a later time,” (Borich, pg. 227). So when students are introduced to new concepts that relate to a previously learned skill, not only are the students gaining new knowledge but they are practicing a concept they already know. “Brain-based education emphasizes how the brain learns naturally and is based on what we currently know about the actual structure and function of the human brain at varying developmental stages,” (Hardiman, 2001).

One of the key principles of brain-based learning is that what students are learning must be meaningful for them to want to commit something to memory. If the students see what is being taught as something he has no interest in or cannot to relate to, they will not have a reason to want to learn the information. When students’ interest is peaked, it causes challenges that “stimulate a student's mind to the desired state of alertness,” (Hardiman, 2001). When students are alert they are more ready to learn. Knowledge background is another important key principle for brain-based learning. For example, a student would use their knowledge of the process or subtraction when being introduced to the concept of division. Students would not be able to understand how to divide numbers if they had not learned how to subtract them first. Determining how to learn something is another principle of brain-based learning....