Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Learning Begins: The Science of Attention and Working Memory for the Classroom Teacher: The Science of Working Memory and Attention for the Classroom Teacher (A Teacher’s Guide to the Learning Brain)

Learning Begins, written by a teacher for teachers, translates current brain research into practical classroom strategies. Because students learn with their brains, it simply makes sense for teachers to explore educational psychology and neuroscience. And yet, information in these fields can be daunting and contradictory. Worse still, few researchers can clearly explain the specific classroom uses of their remarkable discoveries. Learning Begins both explains this research and makes it useful for teachers and administrators. Part I investigates the science of working memory: a cognitive capacity essential to all school work. When teachers recognize the many classroom perils that can overwhelm working memory, they can use research-aligned strategies to protect it, and thereby promote student learning. Part II reveals the complexities of student attention. By understanding the three neural sub-processes that create attention, teachers can structure their classrooms and their lessons to help students focus on and understand new material. Written in a lively and approachable voice, based on years of classroom experience and a decade of scientific study, Learning Begins makes educational psychology and neuroscience clear and useful in schools and classrooms. Review This book examines the fascinating, complicated, and useful topic of brain science..... This is no dry scholarly assessment. Rather, Watson uses scientific research, scenarios, and a healthy dose of humor...to explore a topic that all learners struggle with from time to time.... The book...encourage[s] you to think differently about your students and classroom and offers strategies for short- and long-term success without coming across as didactic.--Independent School Blending his deep knowledge of students and teachers and a sense of humor regarding both, Andrew Watson presents important insights for teachers across the educational spectrum. Importantly, Learning Begins provides teachers with research-based strategies and concrete examples that can be implemented immediately. This book is an important read for creating enduring learning experiences for students, a goal that all of us as teachers hold dear.--Michael Wirtz, Headmaster, Hackley School (Tarrytown, NY) Educators will find the information about the workings of the brain contained in Learning Begins extremely valuable. Watson presents complex and highly relevant theory in an engaging memorable manner and links that theory very effectively to relevant examples and practical suggestions. A highly skilled educator himself, Watson knows his audience and writes in a pitch perfect tone for that audience.--John C. Warren, Head of School, St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA) In a conversational style replete with teacher humor worthy of any faculty room, Learning Begins is a thoughtfully constructed and immediately useable teacher's manual to working memory and attention. As with his in-person workshops, Andrew's abundant, accessible, and fun descriptions of the neuroscience at play in the learning spaces throughout a school are relevant for any educator seeking to improve their craft.--Matt Young, Dean of Curriculum and Innovation, The African Leadership Academy (Johannesburg, South Africa) Learning Begins acknowledges what anecdotal experience suggests--that memory and attention are multi-faceted. Accordingly, as we design individual learning activities within broader lesson plans, we need to be mindful of how complex the process of learning really is. Watson's scholarship also appeals on a level of personal respect for teachers. This valuable book not only offers insights that apply across the disciplines--from English to Math to Art to Science to History--but to the wide range of classes we teach within those fields. As a teacher I have enjoyed professional development seminars led by Andrew Watson and as a colleague I've seen my own students of teaching benefit from his eloquent expr