Using Brain-based Learning to Help Struggling Online High School English Students
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Dondlinger, Daniel J.
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University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
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It is
important for all teachers to have a basic understanding how learning occurs. Teachers who
understand how students’ brains constantly gather data and process it can plan their lessons to
accommodate the processing needs of their students. Perhaps the greatest take away for teachers
from Brain-Based Learning is that our student’s brains can and do change. Once a teacher
accepts this premise, the student learning potential is nearly unlimited. The question of helping
our struggling English Language Arts students learn changes from “If they can learn this
content?” to “How can they learn this content best?” The idea of planning for and
accommodating student brains relates to classroom climate. We see that classroom climate is one
major portion of a successful classroom.
As a part of classroom climate, the teacher establishes that every student is unique and
has a unique brain. Within those unique brains reside a diversity of experiences, academic and
otherwise. The students need their teacher to understand this. The only true way for a teacher to
learn about his or her students is to develop relationships with them. We see that the student
teacher relationship is one of the most influential factors in student success. The online teacher
has some challenges, such as lack of physical proximity and difficulty of communication;
however, the online teacher can develop relationships with his or her students through
synchronous sessions, telephone calls, texting, and instant messaging. Relationships allows
teachers to work on general schooling skills.