Becoming a "Wiz" at Brain-Based Teaching: How to Make Every Year Your Best Year

Best-selling author Marilee Sprenger offers new and veteran teachers this revised and updated edition of her guide to translating the latest research on learning, memory, and the brain into effective classroom practice. Using Dorothy, Toto, and all the familiar and funny characters from the "wizdom" of Oz, the author provides in-depth but accessible coverage of learning theory, multiple intelligences, resilience theory, emotional intelligence, and classroom management strategies to help teachers master the complexities of teaching all the young brains in their classrooms. The revised edition features many new sidebars, illustrations, and graphic organizers to help readers understand complex concepts and translate theory into actual classroom practice.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction 1. The Journey: The Brain Goes to School The Questions and the Research Connecting the Information 2. Building the Yellow Brick Road: Understanding How the Brain Develops and Functions Basic Brain Structure The Building Blocks The Yellow Brick Road Is Paved With Messengers We′re Off to Be the Wizard 3. No Place Like Home An Emotional Learning Environment What Are Enriched Environments? Can We Provide an Enriched Environment in the Classroom? An Environment Where Assessment Is Enrichment Brain-Based Assessment Home Sweet Home 4. If I Only Had the Nerve: Dealing With Stress The Sympathetic Nervous System Looking for Balance: The Parasympathetic Nervous System Giving Them Courage 5. If I Only Had a Heart: Emotional Growth Heartbreak: The Lack of Social and Emotional Stimulation Creating Heart: A Look at Emotional Intelligence Heart-to-Heart Straight From the Heart: Social and Emotional Intelligence Strategies You Gotta Have Heart, But What About Guts? Heartbeat 6. If I Only Had a Brain: From Sensory Input to Higher Levels of Thinking Cognitive Skills Promoting Cognitive Growth The Eight Intelligences Brains, Bloom, Intelligence, and Style Learning Profiles 7. If I Only Had a Memory: Improving Memory to Raise Student Achievement Memory Development Memory Principles Explicit and Implicit Memory Memory Lanes = Memory Systems Metacognition Step by Step; System by System Kansas Is Right Down Memory Lane 8. The Wicked Witch: What Is She So Upset About? Calming and Controlling the Classroom My Theory of Negative Replacement Emotions, Attention, and Learning Brain States Music Managing Movement The Wicked Witch Is Dead 9. Dorothy: Every Brain Is Unique The Care and Feeding of Dorothy?s Brain Sleep and the Brain Exercise Unique Brains, Unique Learners Making a Difference 10. Leaving the Land of Oz: With Courage, Passion, and Brains Glossary of Terms References and Supplementary Reading Index

About the Author :
Marilee Sprenger is an adjunct professor at Aurora University, where she teaches graduate courses on brain-based teaching, learning and memory, and differentiation. A creative and compassionate educator, she began her career teaching prekindergarten and kindergarten. She has also taught at the elementary, middle, and high school level. As an independent consultant, her passion is brain-based teaching and best practices using brain research and differentiation. She also consults in the areas of learning styles, using music in the classroom, teaming, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, and memory. As an educational consultant with Two Rivers Professional Development Center, she worked for the Illinois Regional Offices of Education in the area of staff development associated with learning standards and testing. She speaks internationally, and her interactive and engaging style allows participants to make connections with their classrooms and their students. She is affiliated with the American Academy of Neurology and is constantly updated on current research. Sprenger is the author of several books, including Memory 101 for Educators and Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching, Second Edition, published by Corwin Press. She has contributed to textbooks, and her articles have appeared in publications such as Educational Leadership and the ASCD Brain-based Education/Learning Styles Networker. Her dedication to education has won her many awards, but she cherishes most the wonderful students and teachers whose lives have touched hers.

Review :
"I′m impressed with the latest edition. For students thinking of becoming teachers in my educational psychology classes, there is a much more definitive teaching identified for ′brain-based learning,′ and an increase in the application of the neuro-scientific approach for the learners to reflect and apply at increased grade levels." "Marilee Sprenger makes the neuroscience content more accessible to ′newbies.′ Students have often told me that the first edition of her book is easy to read." "The book has plenty of practical, easy-to-employ, and effective ideas supported by research, and the sections are simple, yet powerful. The Wizdom sections really focus on some major ideas." "An outstanding resource no teachers college or reference library should be without."