We hope you enjoy this blog by Eva Dwight, Gurian Summer Training Institute Coordinator, classroom teacher and school counselor for more than 20 years, and one of the featured speakers at the Gurian Summer Training Institute, June 22-23.  Her workshop on taking classroom management to the next level with the brain in mind will be very powerful.  Here’s more from Eva.

The toughest class I ever taught had 30 boys and 5 girls. Seventh grade English for 55 minutes and then 25 minutes of Homeroom—I had a headache every morning just thinking about that hour and a half, which was going to take every ounce of patience I had to keep all those boys focused and learning!

What is it about boys that makes teaching in a traditional classroom hard? While many of them have learned to be “good students” who can sit still for long periods of time, follow directions and complete lots of reading and writing assignments, a lot of boys turn into wiggle warts after 15 minutes of sitting still. They want to get up and move around, or they turn learning tools into objects flying through space, or they just drift off into la-la land and miss half the lesson. Their lack of engagement leads to a learning deficit, which has long-term ramifications for their life success.

In fact:

*Boys receive two-thirds of the D’s and F’s in our schools but less than 40 percent of the A’s.

*Boys are twice as likely as girls to be labeled ‘emotionally disturbed’ and twice as likely to be diagnosed with a behavioral or learning disorder.

*Boys are four times as likely as girls to be suspended or expelled from early childhood and K-12 learning environments.

*The latest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) study shows boys behind girls in most developmental, behavioral, academic, and social markers in all industrialized countries.

This is not to imply, of course, that girls don’t struggle in school. Plenty of them do, just for different reasons. Because girls tend to be highly verbal and excel in word-oriented tasks at school, adults overlook the need to strengthen their visual/spatial/mechanical skills. Consequently, they‘re more likely to struggle in upper level math, science and STEM classes.

Also, girls’ brain chemistry tends to make them (in general) more likely to be compliant with teacher directions, and it’s easy to assume that students who are sitting quietly and appear to be working understand the material. By the time test grades come back and it’s obvious that several girls didn’t understand, many teachers feel compelled to just press on because they’re under such pressure to cover a certain amount of material each semester.

Fortunately, Dr. Michael Gurian provides important answers to the question of how to keep boys AND girls engaged in the learning process. His research on the structural and chemical differences between boys’ and girls’ brains yields strategies for classroom management that  account for boys’ and girls’ different learning needs, social interaction patterns, and emotional processing. Schools that implement Gurian Institute programs see increased levels of engagement, higher achievement, and decreased problems for all students!  As a Gurian Certified trainer who has provided professional development in many schools, I have seen this first hand.

At the Gurian Summer Institute in June, I’ll be facilitating a breakout session on how to use brain research to improve classroom management. We’ll discuss and practice a number of strategies, including:

• incorporating movement into daily lessons

Movement helps to increase focus because it sends more blood and oxygen to the brain, and it gives students practice using visual/spatial skills. This can be as simple as having them turn to a partner, provide the answer to a question, and then give each other a “high five.” Or, teachers can ask students to use their bodies to represent a concept: spell a word with each student making their body look like a different letter; demonstrate a particular type of atom showing protons, neutrons and electrons; etc.

• using pictures and symbols instead of words

In that same vein, ask students to use pictures and symbols, instead of words, to represent concepts. Or have them build a model of something they’re studying. Boys tend to need more visual/spatial stimulation than we realize; allowing them to demonstrate knowledge by accessing their strengths can be a great starting place before asking them to provide a verbal explanation. Girls tend to be stronger in their immediate, targeted verbal skills and often requiring them to express their learning through nonverbal means can strengthen their visual/spatial skills.

• creating opportunities for competition in the classroom

Competition helps to engage boys whose testosterone naturally pushes many of them toward moving up in the social hierarchy by winning a game. The physical movement and mental challenge required to win will ramp up their interest, engagement, and learning. Girls (and boys) who might not be quite as naturally inclined toward competing can benefit from participating in competitive activities, as they learn to be more assertive and practice leadership skills that will serve them well both in school and in the world of work.

These three strategies represent just a tip of the iceberg when we look at how to use brain science to improve classroom management. Understanding of the male and female brain can help teachers meet students where they are and turn what could be a classroom management nightmare into a lesson plan that meets the needs of diverse boys and girls.

If you’re an educator, I encourage you to look at your school’s performance data.  Notice where boys and girls are having trouble, and then pursue brain research training that will help you and your fellow teachers change that trajectory. The Summer Institute is a great place to help you start to make the shift toward classroom management and teaching strategies that result in boys and girls who love to learn and experience the kind of success in school that will point them toward greater success in life!