We don’t blame lettuces for not growing well. We look at the conditions they are growing in. We question whether they have the right nutrients, the right amount of water, light, and heat.

But when students are having trouble we too easily allocate all the responsibility to them: they must not be smart enough, or not trying hard enough, not motivated or not serious.

We hear a lot about the plasticity of the brain. But if we want the brain to be able to change, to learn new things, then we need to create conditions for “relaxed alertness,” for students and teachers alike to avoid the numbed space of freeze, and the frenetic space of flight and fight, and find the middle-ground, the “sweet spot” where learning is possible.

How safe are the conditions in your learning space? How do you help students to create the conditions in which they can learn? What changes can you make to support each student to find the sweet spot where they can feel safe enough to learn?    

 

(“Relaxed alertness” is used by Renate and Geoffrey Caine in many publications including: (2005) 12 Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action: The Fieldbook for Making Connections, Teaching, and the Human Brain, California: Corwin Press. “Sweet spot” is used by Louis Cozolino in many publications including: (2013) The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom. New York: W.W. Norton.)

Photo Credit: Pxhere