Resources

Books, Websites & YouTube Channels

Conscious Discipline - 7 Basic Skills for Brain Smart Classroom Management by Becky Bailey offers brain compatible strategies. This is especially good for elementary school teachers. It is set up so that you learn one strategy and the brain facts and principles that support it, practice it for a month, then read the next chapter and start working on a new skill. It takes some self-discipline to do this but it's definitely worth it.

Understanding By Design by Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins is the "go to" resource when embarking on examining the backward design model of curriculum and unit design. It just all makes so much sense!

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith is an incredible, inspiring story of an amazing 5th grade teacher in California. He thinks outside the box and goes is totally committed to the kids in Room 56. A truly inspirational person and a great read.

Teaching With The Brain In Mind by Eric Jensen is a great place to start for anyone interested in delving into the principles of brain compatible learning. This is where I started my journey and I refer to it often. A great resource fore any teacher to have in their library.

Teaching Smarter with the Brain In Focus by Sarah Armstrong is another great resource for those interested in brain compatible learning strategies. It's offers very practical strategies accompanied by the science that backs them up. I particularly liked the section on visual memory and developing questions. It helped further my understanding in these areas.

Arts With The Brain In Mind by Eric Jensen specifically addresses teaching kinesthetic, visual and performing arts the way the brain learns best. My favorite quote from the book - "As we begin the new millennium, one of the questions will be "What can't technology do? " Computers will amass, modify, and manipulate data like never before. Revolutionary software programs will calculate, sort, summarize, write, edit, translate, compose, and present knowledge in unimaginable new ways. But what makes us most human is what will be the most desirable commodity. That's the ability to thoughtfully regulate, express, and channel emotions into arts such as music, performances, movement, painting, and design. Art will increase, not decrease in value. ~Eric Jensen

Super Teaching by Eric Jensen offers a balance between brain based principles and strategies. Lots of great strategies and a great place to start if looking for a book on brain compatible teaching.

Brain Compatible Strategies by Eric Jensen offers lots and lots of strategies to use when teaching and applying brain compatible learning principles. Very practical ready to apply strategies.

Tools of Engagement by Eric Jensen is all about state management. A must for teachers interested in managing context and states instead of managing behavior. It helped me further my understanding of states and state management.

The Motivated Student - Unlocking the Enthusiasm for Learning by Bob Sullo is a great book to help you further understand the effects of coercion and external rewards, the power of internal motivation, components of behavior and much more. Each chapter contains an introduction, a look at a teacher and current practices (including observations, an interview with students and the teacher), an author commentary, and strategies to help the reader get started practicing the specific strategy. I've read it twice...

Brain Rules - 12 Principles For Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home & School by John Medina is a must read for everyone. Medina uses stories and anecdotes to help the reader understand how the brain works and what we can do to use this knowledge in the various parts of our lives.

Spark - The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey and Eric Hagerman should be required reading for all teachers. Ratey brings all the research together in one place to teach us the connections between mind and body and how we can use this knowledge.