Brain Engagement

Day 3

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. Colossians 2:8 (NLT)

School was easy for me (besides higher math). I took notes, reviewed them, took the test and moved on. None of my teachers required me to push much harder than that and I became comfortable applying myself in a minimal capacity.

Then I began my last two years of college. Working on my elementary education degree, I had this one teacher who finally called me out. She taught elementary math and when we sat for our first test, I earned a whopping 50%. After class, she pulled me to the side. “Christy, you are intelligent and you will make a great teacher, but you have to put forth the effort to actually study, or you will fail my class.”

I opened my book the next day, alone in my room, and read the next chapter. In the past, that had been enough, but now I sat there completely perplexed. How had I made it that far in my academic career and never learned to truly study? What did it look like to fully engage my brain in such a way that I truly learned the material?

Many of our students are in similar situations. They’ve learned how to cruise through school, make As and Bs, and never fully engage their brains. Too often we are limited by the wide range of ability levels in our classroom and we teach to the middle, allowing our higher students a free pass on brain power. How do we engage every brain in the room while we teach?

As we have learned already, creating interest and opportunities for active participation are a huge piece of this puzzle. In addition, we must create opportunities for students to “step up to the challenge”. Pose questions that require deep thinking, problem solving, action steps. An example would be teaching a lesson on the environment. Allow the students to think of ways that they could improve the environment. Then ask them to think about their home, school, and classroom. What areas do they see that could use improvement? Now ask the students to create a system that would make that improvement a possibility. Have the students make an entire program or system with advertisements, solutions, and hands-on actions to implement in their home or school to present to the class.

Notice the way these steps scaffolded the topic and eventually placed the onus back on the students. Scaffolding is critical for brain engagement. Think about prior knowledge, then add the next piece to that knowledge. Keep adding and connecting to the original knowledge, but each level gets a little harder, deeper, and requires higher levels of thought. With everything we teach, our goal should be to scaffold the material such a way that every student could teach the content to another person confidently.

Think about ways to fully engage the brains in your classroom. What would it take to require these kids to put forth the maximum effort on a daily basis?

Do the Heart Work

1.      Which of your students are only putting forth minimal effort?

2.      Did you ever have a teacher who fully engaged your brain in their classroom? Think about what they did to make that happen.

3.      Spiritually, is your brain fully engaged with God? Or are you doing just enough to ease by?

Digging Deeper

Read Nehemiah 1:3-11 (NLT)

They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.

“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’

“The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

              Nehemiah doesn’t just hear about the news, he is emotionally overwhelmed. He can’t sit back and wait on someone else to help his people, he feels the need to engage fully and be the person who goes to help his brothers. He was engaged. He was committed. And he planned to go and make a difference. How did being an active participant change Nehemiah's ministry?

If You Get Spare Time 

              What strong emotions get your heart riled up and ready for action? Is it injustice? Certain large issues? Actions or inactions? What makes you step up, fully engage your brain, and dive in feet first? 

              Spend some time thinking or journaling about the answer to those questions. How can you fully engage your brain in your classroom? In your family? In your walk with Christ?