The following topics are available for keynotes, workshops, and seminars. All presentations are tailored to the needs of the audience. Contact Marilee for information on other presentations!
Every Student Has a Story: Social Emotional Learning and the Brain
It is our responsibility everyday to help students learn. All learning is emotional, and every student comes to us with a story, their story. If they come with positive stories, we help reinforce them. But if they come having had mulitple Adverse Childhood Experiences, we must help rewrite their stories. Research shows us that positive childhood experiences can counter-balance the negative ones. By applying what we know about brain research, through the strategies we use we can activate brain areas that help us reach our goals of building relationships, teaching empathy, helping students learn how to control their impulses and lower their stress, work well with others, and make responsible decisions. Take home dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels and improve outcomes for all students.
The 25 Essential Words Your Students Must Master to Be Successful in School, Career, and Life
ANALYZE, INFER, POINT OF VIEW…Researchers estimate 85% of achievement tests are based on the vocabulary of the standards. Students from poverty, ELL students, and other at-risk students are particularly in need of learning these words in ways that meet their specific learning needs. Learn the 25 ESSENTIAL words found in the Standards and on Assessments, and learn to teach them in ways to make them part of ALL of your students’ long-term memories and an automatic part of your students’ vocabulary. This workshop is designed to teach the vocabulary words through many differentiated, brain-compatible strategies. Word maps, foldables, jingles, and movement will help teachers leave with strategies and designs they have made to take back to the classroom.
Wiring the Brain for Reading
Current research on how the brain learns to read points to exciting opportunities for helping educators increase student achievement. In this dynamic workshop, based on educational neuroscience, scientifically based research and personal research and work with students from pre-kindergarten to high school, Marilee Sprenger makes reading research meaningful and then personally models practical principles for effective instruction. Reading is a very rich, complex, and cognitive act. The brain is hardwired for spoken language but not for reading. Yet reading skills serve as the primary foundation of all school-based learning. Teachers are always searching for strategies that will unlock the door to content-area learning for their students.
Brain Compatible Teaching: What Educators Need to Know about Brain Research
The more we understand about the brain, the better we'll be able to educate it. By following the brain-based teaching principles we can create an enriched, brain-compatible environment and effectively counter such existing negative influences as stress, sleep deprivation, and poor nutrition. Reflect upon the myths and mysteries of the brain, classroom environmental considerations, and the role of emotions in learning.
The Developing Brain: Ages 3 to 8
The brain is the only organ that is shaped through its interactions with the environment. Learn how the brain develops from age 3 through age 8 and what developmentally appropriate activities enhance its growth. Consider best practice as you learn about ages and stages in the areas of reading, language, cognition, emotion, and physical development. These are the years in which you can really make a difference!
The Digital Brain
How is technology affecting the structure, function, and development of the brain? In this presentation discover both the wonderful changes the brain is experiencing and some of the concerns about social isolation, internet addiction, and Attention Deficit Disorder. There is a “digital divide” between students who were weaned on technology and students and teachers who are trying to catch up and keep up with the latest developments. Learn how to bridge the gap and manage the techno-brain.
To Differentiate or not to Differentiate: Overcoming the Challenges
Meeting student needs and meeting state standards leads us to the importance of differentiation. Look at the obstacles and the opportunities for differentiating instruction with the brain in mind. Increase interest, attention, and memory with simple strategies.
Differentiation is the “I” in RTI
When the brain feels threatened, its high cognitive functioning comes to a screeching halt! Students who benefit most from the RTI pyramid are those students who are threatened by their struggle with reading, math, or with behavior. Differentiation helps students learn in ways that work for them; RTI’s effectiveness depends on this happening. In this presentation, learn how best to implement Differentiation and RTI in a brain-compatible manner.
Memory: The Long and the Short of It!
Short term memory is where information quickly fades away forever. Learn to understand how to help students take in information and change short term memory into permanent memory. Their overflowing brains require help in processing, reinforcing and retaining. Acquire strategies to increase working memory, build background knowledge to insure successful connections in the memory systems of the brain, and make your content stick!
Every Student Has a Story: Social Emotional Learning and the Brain
It is our responsibility everyday to help students learn. All learning is emotional, and every student comes to us with a story, their story. If they come with positive stories, we help reinforce them. But if they come having had mulitple Adverse Childhood Experiences, we must help rewrite their stories. Research shows us that positive childhood experiences can counter-balance the negative ones. By applying what we know about brain research, through the strategies we use we can activate brain areas that help us reach our goals of building relationships, teaching empathy, helping students learn how to control their impulses and lower their stress, work well with others, and make responsible decisions. Take home dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels and improve outcomes for all students.
The 25 Essential Words Your Students Must Master to Be Successful in School, Career, and Life
ANALYZE, INFER, POINT OF VIEW…Researchers estimate 85% of achievement tests are based on the vocabulary of the standards. Students from poverty, ELL students, and other at-risk students are particularly in need of learning these words in ways that meet their specific learning needs. Learn the 25 ESSENTIAL words found in the Standards and on Assessments, and learn to teach them in ways to make them part of ALL of your students’ long-term memories and an automatic part of your students’ vocabulary. This workshop is designed to teach the vocabulary words through many differentiated, brain-compatible strategies. Word maps, foldables, jingles, and movement will help teachers leave with strategies and designs they have made to take back to the classroom.
Wiring the Brain for Reading
Current research on how the brain learns to read points to exciting opportunities for helping educators increase student achievement. In this dynamic workshop, based on educational neuroscience, scientifically based research and personal research and work with students from pre-kindergarten to high school, Marilee Sprenger makes reading research meaningful and then personally models practical principles for effective instruction. Reading is a very rich, complex, and cognitive act. The brain is hardwired for spoken language but not for reading. Yet reading skills serve as the primary foundation of all school-based learning. Teachers are always searching for strategies that will unlock the door to content-area learning for their students.
Brain Compatible Teaching: What Educators Need to Know about Brain Research
The more we understand about the brain, the better we'll be able to educate it. By following the brain-based teaching principles we can create an enriched, brain-compatible environment and effectively counter such existing negative influences as stress, sleep deprivation, and poor nutrition. Reflect upon the myths and mysteries of the brain, classroom environmental considerations, and the role of emotions in learning.
The Developing Brain: Ages 3 to 8
The brain is the only organ that is shaped through its interactions with the environment. Learn how the brain develops from age 3 through age 8 and what developmentally appropriate activities enhance its growth. Consider best practice as you learn about ages and stages in the areas of reading, language, cognition, emotion, and physical development. These are the years in which you can really make a difference!
The Digital Brain
How is technology affecting the structure, function, and development of the brain? In this presentation discover both the wonderful changes the brain is experiencing and some of the concerns about social isolation, internet addiction, and Attention Deficit Disorder. There is a “digital divide” between students who were weaned on technology and students and teachers who are trying to catch up and keep up with the latest developments. Learn how to bridge the gap and manage the techno-brain.
To Differentiate or not to Differentiate: Overcoming the Challenges
Meeting student needs and meeting state standards leads us to the importance of differentiation. Look at the obstacles and the opportunities for differentiating instruction with the brain in mind. Increase interest, attention, and memory with simple strategies.
Differentiation is the “I” in RTI
When the brain feels threatened, its high cognitive functioning comes to a screeching halt! Students who benefit most from the RTI pyramid are those students who are threatened by their struggle with reading, math, or with behavior. Differentiation helps students learn in ways that work for them; RTI’s effectiveness depends on this happening. In this presentation, learn how best to implement Differentiation and RTI in a brain-compatible manner.
Memory: The Long and the Short of It!
Short term memory is where information quickly fades away forever. Learn to understand how to help students take in information and change short term memory into permanent memory. Their overflowing brains require help in processing, reinforcing and retaining. Acquire strategies to increase working memory, build background knowledge to insure successful connections in the memory systems of the brain, and make your content stick!