Brain Reflection

What? I learned so much about the brain. The jigsaw activity helped a whole lot. I especially like that we used the jigsaw activity because we learned about it in Social Studies Methods, but being able to experience it first-hand makes it easier to use the strategy in the classroom. I learned that the frontal lobe controls emotions and judgement, as well as personality and facial movements. The parietal lobe controls movement, orientation, recognition and perception of stimuli. The occipital lobe is associated with visual processing (occipital is an eye-related word), and the temporal lobe has to do with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech. The cerebellum controls regulation and coordination of movement, posture, and balance. So, if someone were to damage their cerebellum, they may have a hard time balancing or sitting up straight. The amygdala is associated with memory, emotion and fear. The hippocampus is necessary to convert short-term memory into long-term memory storage.
So What? It is important to know the parts of the brain because it is your brain! It is the most magnificent organ in the body that controls everything you do and makes up who you are. In the classroom, it is important to recognize that there are students whose brains may operate differently than others' brains, and it's good to know that a student who had damage done to their frontal lobe may have mood swings or act differently than they did prior to the injury. It is also good to have this knowledge because students can come up to you and ask you about why things work the way they do in the brain. You could give them a sentence or two of an explanation, and tell them to do some research on the rest of the information and present it to the class because it would be a neat thing to find out. I think that by doing this, the student would get very interested and be driven to do research about the brain.
Now What? Even though I got so much more out of the lesson than this, I can use the jigsaw strategy in my classroom now that I have experienced it first-hand. I understand the strategy much more now and I see how effective it is when it is put to use. My students will really be able to benefit from it, and I can apply it to any subject. Now that I have learned about the different parts of the brain and what they do for the human body, I will be able to become more familiar with its functions. If I am teaching the students how to memorize, like teaching the different strategies to use while studying, I can emphasize that they need to store it in their temporal lobes. I always feel it's important to review different studying techniques with the students, and during this, I can incorporate what I know about the brain.