GOING DEEPER WITH THE TEACHING PYRAMID:

TEACHING WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND

Laura Fish M.S., L.M.F.TWestEd Center for Child & Family

Studies1

SETTING THE EXPECTATIONS

We Are Safe & Healthy Make a comfortable

space for yourself Take breaks as needed

We Are Respectful Be an attentive listener Resist side

conversations Value everyone’s ideas Cell phones off

We Are Friendly & Kind Step up/Step back Stay on topic Support your team

Teaching Pyramid

High-Quality Supportive Environments

Nurturing and Responsive Relationships

Targeted Social- Emotional Supports

Intensive Individualiz

ed Interventio

nsPREVENTIONChildren at-

risk

INTERVENTIONChildren with persistent challenges

High-Quality Early Education

Targeted Social Skills Curricula

Positive Behavior Support

Effective Work Force

PROMOTIONAll

children

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OUR PLAN FOR THE DAY

Go deeper with the understanding of the Teaching Pyramid practices by connecting them to brain development

Develop a working knowledge of the circuitry of the brain and how to promote integration

Learn strategies taken from Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson’s book The Whole Brain Child to supplement Teaching Pyramid practices

Highlight the importance of Executive Function skills as tantamount to school readiness

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UPSTAIRS BRAINSelf-understandingLogicDecision MakingImpulse ControlBody and Emotion regulation(Executive function skills)

DOWNSTAIRS BRAINFight flight or freezeAttachmentMemoryEmotional Reactivity“Gut” reactionsMotor RegulationBalanceHeart Rate/BreathingMotivationBlood PressureBody Temperature

FOREBRAINCortex

“Executive Center”

LimbicBRAIN

“Emotional Center”

HINDBRAINCerebellum &

Brainstem“Alarm Center”

HIERARCHY OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

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BRAIN INTEGRATION Adults can directly influence the

growth of children’s brains Experience creates connections

Nature needs nurture: genetics predicts maturity, experience impacts development

Looking at challenging behavior as dis-integration

Attuned, caring, and nurturing relationships are the foundation for brain development

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Young children’s close relationships with preschool teachers and caregivers

are also important to their development of school readiness. A

number of studies have found that the warmth and security of the preschool child’s relationship with a preschool teacher are predictive of the child’s subsequent classroom performance,

attentional skills, and social competence in the kindergarten and

primary grade classroom.

California Preschool Learning Foundations pg. 32 (2008)

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ATTUNEMENT: STRATEGIES #1-5

“Tuning in” to the child’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors and considering these from the child’s perspective: verbal and non-verbal behavior

The child feels “felt”: belonging and significance AND engaged in thinking more deeply about play

Try using a variety of attunement strategies to engage :1. Reflection2. Narration3. Open-ended questions4. Emotional Literacy: validating feelings5. Positive, descriptive, acknowledgement

(PDA) and PDA Plus

BUILDING THE INTERNAL NARRATIVE Through nurturing and responsive interactions with

attuned adults, children start to build an “internal narrative,” or story, about themselves Thought is language turned inward (Vygotsky) Conscious control of thoughts, actions, and emotions starts

with self-understanding Believing is behaving: cognitive dissonance

Brain development and integration Novelty, attention and emotional arousal (and aerobic

exercise!) Casting the spotlight of attention onto children’s thoughts,

feelings, and experiences helps create neuronal connections: acetylcholine strengthens, builds PFC

Neurons that fire together, wire together When you tune in, you help children pay attention to their

thoughts, feelings, and actions which builds the upstairs brain

ENTER THE WORLD OF KNOWING THE MIND

Attunement helps the child “enter the world of knowing the mind”

When I “know” me (insight), it helps me “know” you (empathy)

Two types of attunement: Intrapersonal: tuning in to

your own internal world Interpersonal: tuning in to

the internal world of another

BEING “IN RELATIONSHIP” WITH THE CHILD

Attend to children in their varied states throughout the day, not just when emotions or behavior are a challenge

To be communicating with children in these ways you need to: Be paying close attention:

verbal and non-verbal messages

Scan for what is going well Accurately receive and make

meaning of the messages: be integrated yourself

Individualize your approach 11

BEING “OUT OF RELATIONSHIP”

Adults tend to spend much of their day giving directions and corrections to children: need to spend more time with “pro-social” or attuned, interactions

When there is an imbalance, the child has less opportunity to learn about his strengths, abilities, preferences, and feelings i.e., self-understanding

Instead, they may begin to form unhealthy mental models or schemas about the world such as “I am not significant, I don’t belong”

The brain is “primed” through repeated experiences that form associations

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I’M A CHILD AND I JUST WANT TO BELONG Children’s behavior is influenced by

what they believe, or know, about themselves: believing is behaving

These beliefs are formed, in part, by the messages we give them both verbal and non-verbal

Before we ask children to change, see first what we can change in ourselves

One place to start is to “tune in” to the child’s perspective 13

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PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION Consider the concepts we have

discussed so far: Brain Integration/Flipping your lid Attunement/Developing the Internal

Narrative Being “in” or “out” of relationship with

the child: self-integration, considering child’s perspective

Capture some ideas of how you would like to implement this work with your children

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LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN• Left Brain: logical, literal, linguistic,

and linear– The letter of the law: detail

oriented. I didn’t shove her, I pushed her.

– Linear cause and effect relationships: Why?

• Right Brain: holistic, non-verbal, experiential, images, emotions, intuition, autobiographical memory– The spirit of the law: the essence of

what happened. He doesn’t want to be my friend.

– The meaning and feel of an experience/context: influenced by the body and lower brain

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

• Need left and right sides of the brain to work together: emotional flood vs. emotional desert

• The left side helps bring understanding, reasoning, and order to the images, memories and emotions of the right side

• Horizontal integration: two sides of the brain act in harmony

CONNECT AND REDIRECT: STRATEGY #6

• Connect with the right: (seeing the feeling behind the behavior)– Validating emotions– Reassuring: tone of voice, listening – Non verbal: touch, facial

expressions– Tuning in: show empathy

• Redirect with the left:– Explain– Plan– Negotiate– Reason

• Avoid “butting” and “shoulding” on them

PROBLEM-SOLVING STEPS

1. What is the problem?How do I feel?

?

2. Think, think, think of some solutions.

3. Give it a try!

4. Teacher follows up and gives PDA

RIGHT TO RIGHT CONNECTION: INTERVENTION

Tune in to the feeling behind the behavior: from the child’s perspective it’s a flood

Too much talking can disregulate a child further: drowning boy swimming lessons

The amount of time it takes to be able to engage in “redirect” is correlated to temperament and environmental circumstances

Right brain dominant, so prevention and promotion are key: Teaching Pyramid 20

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NAME IT TO TAME IT: STRATEGY #7 Help children tell their stories

to calm big emotions: the right provides the autobiographical info, the meaning, the left the details, order, reasoning

To tell a story that makes sense, the left brain must put things in order, using words and logic and thus help the strong sensations that come from the right brain to lessen

In order to consciously control our emotions, we must first understand them

USING THE LEFT TO CALM THE RIGHT Research shows that merely

assigning a name or label to what we feel calms down the activity of the emotional circuitry in the right hemisphere

The drive to make sense of what happened in the brain is so strong that children will “act out” what hasn’t been resolved

Behavior that comes “out of nowhere”

Supporting inhibition and cognitive flexibility

EMOTIONAL LITERACY: STRATEGIES #8-10

Use of Children’s Literature

Indirect Teaching: acknowledging emotions

Direct Teaching: art, music, feelings faces, games, check-in charts 23

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ROLE PLAY: HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION A four year old in your classroom wants to

play in the block area, but he sees that there are already four children’s pictures on the display for entry into that area.He comes to you, crying, shouting, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair! I want to play there.” Have one person be the teacher, one

person be the child, and a third be the observer: How can you help this child “connect then redirect” or “name it to tame it.”

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PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION Consider the concepts and

strategies we have discussed so far: Left and Right brain Horizontal Integration Connect then Redirect Name it to Tame it Problem Solving Emotional Literacy: check in charts,

books, feelings wheel, acknowledging emotions

Capture some ideas of how you would like to implement this work with your children

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UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS BRAIN Downstairs brain:

Brain stem and limbic region

Basic bodily functions, emotional reactivity, attachment, fight/flight/freeze

Upstairs brain: Cerebral cortex Decision making, planning,

self-understanding, control over emotions and body, empathy, morality, executive functioning

Analytical Response

Emotional

Response Reactive Response

Reflexive

Response

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VERTICAL INTEGRATION Building the staircase:

integrating the downstairs and upstairs brain

Upstairs regulates actions of the downstairs: helps bring focus and calm the impulses and emotional reactivity

Downstairs brings depth of experience to the upstairs: emotions, instincts, and physical sensations

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ENGAGE DON’T ENRAGE: STRATEGY #11 Lecturing, reminding or

dismissing can lead to enraging

Engage the child instead: Step one: validate their

emotions Step two: help them tell

their story Step three: encourage them

to come up with a solution or partner with them to do so

Negotiation, compromise, reasoning, problem solving

TEACHING EMOTION REGULATION: STRATEGIES#12-14

Sonia Snail (Tucker Turtle): children stop and reflect before acting

Conflict Resolution: group problem solving

Solution Kit

TUCKING TECHNIQUE (CA CSEFEL)Something happens

Stop.Think:

What Am I Feeling?

Go into your shell. Take 3 belly breaths

and think calm thoughts

Come out of shell, express

your feelings

and think of a

solution32

STEPS FOR RESOLVING CONFLICTS

2. What can we do? Think of some solutions!

3. Give it a try!1. What happened? How do I feel? & How do I

feel?

?

Stop! It looks like we have a problem…

4. Teacher follows up and gives PDA

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THE SOLUTION KIT

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Using visuals helps integrate the brain during times of strong emotional response: visual cortex activated

PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION Consider the concepts and

strategies we have discussed so far: Upstairs brain/downstairs brain Vertical Integration Engage Don’t Enrage Tucker, Conflict resolution

Capture some ideas of how you would like to implement this work with your children

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EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING Simply put, it is a set of cognitive processes

that support an individual’s capacity to engage in goal-directed or problem solving behavior

EF skills include those abilities that control behavior: Attention, impulse control, motivation, and

emotion regulation And those that guide behavior:

Planning, initiating, organizing, remembering, monitoring, reasoning, problem solving and responding flexibly

Scientists point to EF skills as the “how” of learning that support the “what” of learning

LIFE READINESS EF skills organized under three domains:

Working memory: keeping information in mind long enough to plan, initiate, organize and complete tasks

Inhibitory control (impulse control): pausing to think before acting, filtering out distractions, delaying gratification, breaking habitual behaviors and regulating emotions

Cognitive or mental flexibility: evaluating progress, shifting gears if necessary, and scanning options for how to respond both intellectually and emotionally

COMPREHENSIVE DEFINITION Taken together, EF is the

ability to plan, initiate, organize and carry out a task while filtering out distractions, controlling impulses, solving problems/shifting gears, and managing any strong emotions that might arise

These skills help children consciously control their thoughts, behaviors and emotions

NURTURING AND RESPONSIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Adults’ time and attention are very important Every child needs one

person who is crazy about them: attunement

Supportive, caring, attuned relationships with adults as well as a climate of caring that fosters peer relationships

DESIGNING SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Physical Environment Schedules & Routines Transitions Large/Small

Group Activities Rules & Expectations Observing & Positive Focus:

Attuned interactions

TEACH ME WHAT TO DO INSTEAD!Social-Emotional

Strategies Friendship Skills Emotional Literacy Emotion Regulation: Managing Strong Emotions

Problem Solving/ Conflict Resolution

PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION Consider the concepts and

strategies we have discussed so far: Executive function skills in the

classroom: how, when, and where can we teach them?

How will you know if children are developing these skills?

Capture some ideas of how you would like to implement this work with your children

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WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?1. The experiences we provide children

directly impact brain development.2. The brain can be viewed as having

distinct parts: left and right, upstairs and downstairs.

3. When different parts of the brain are connected, they are said to be integrated.

4. Teaching with the brain in mind: Teaching Pyramid strategies lead to brain integration and support EF.

5. Integration supports the development of executive functioning skills integral to school and life readiness.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

From Daniel Siegel http://wholebrainchild.com/ https://www.mindsightinstitute.com/ From Tina Bryson http://tinabryson.com/CA CSEFEL: Teaching Pyramid www.cainclusion.org

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