Comment on Sirtimothy's post: "Wayne and the Brain"

Hi Sir Timothy

This is a great post! You've covered so much already, I am not sure there is much left to say! But since we are all starting to agree that teaching is a profession and an intellectual pursuit, and teaching students is as important as teaching subjects, I will focus on Wayne's students' behavior and look for possible solutions to improve their learning conditions.

Wayne needs to worry about his students who are distracted and tired. Maslow's pyramid of need (Churchill, Chapter 3, p78) suggests that if the basics human needs are not met, the highest levels of need can not be attained. Therefore, lack of sleep and constant tiredness will interfere with development and learning. The reason for this condition could very well be drugs or alcohol abuse, as Wayne suggested. As a future high school teacher, I feel concerned about the subject. How do drugs and alcohol interfere with adolescents' development and learning and what is our role and responsibilities toward keeping our students safe and out of dangerous behavior? The short term consequences of excessive drinking like hangover, headaches, nauseas will make a day at school and learning very difficult, but alcohol have also long term effect on the developing brain as it may affect areas undergoing dramatic changes during teenage year like the frontal lobe and the hippocampus which are associated with reasoning, learning and memory formation (Gogtay et al, 2004). Schools are provided with a large range of resources on alcohol and drug awareness to support the implementation of drug and alcohol education (see:school drug and alcool education ) and teachers are responsible for keeping themselves and their students aware of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. Discussing the problem and the attitude to adopt with the school counselor and the principal is also the teacher's responsibility if he suspects that a student is putting himself in danger.

A second group of students is showing signs of anxiety. Anxiety is often exacerbated in adolescents due to a myriad of pressures: social, physical, increased performance at school, exams and focus on career choices. These topics should be discussed in class and students will benefit from group work and peer learning as shown from Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (Wells, 1999). Anxiety could also be the result of too challenging work. Vygotsky points out the importance for students to learn within their zone of proximal development (ZPD, see Churchill, Chapter 3, p77). If the challenge is too low, the students are bored, but if the challenge is too high, it would result in anxiety and lost of engagement. Differentiating learning experiences and proposing choices of tasks will help to keep students within their ZPD (Churchill, Chapter 7, p 208).

Wayne should always remember that “the adolescent brain is a work in progress” and that nurturing this development is as important as their academic achievement (Churchill, Chapter 3, p88).


Reference: 

Gogtay et al, (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science of the USA 101(21):8174-8179.

Churchill et al, (2011) Teaching, making a difference. Chapter 3 and 7.

Wells et al. (1999) Dialogic inquiry: Toward a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge University Press, New York. 

School drug and alcool education: http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/school_theme_pages/drugs

Wayne and the Brain:  http://sirtimothy.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/wayne-and-the-brain/