Those threats, according to Associate Professor of Education Dr. Colleen Hardy of Evangel University, Missouri, can be eliminated by “creating a brain-affirming climate, including personally meaningful projects that provide some choice and ensure classroom participation.”
She said intellectual threats occur when the ideas or potentials of an individual are being attacked; emotional threats involve a person’s feeling or self-esteem that is under criticism; cultural-social threats are about disrespect; and resource restriction threats which involve time and supplies.
The public schools teachers from the five junior and high schools on Saipan also learned about the importance of brain structure in relation to their responses to their students.
Hardy discussed brain-based learning which involves acknowledging the brain’s rules for meaning, learning and organized teaching.
“Learning is making connections; memory is reactivating them,” she said.
“Emotions,” she added, “are crucial to memory because they facilitate the storage and recall of information.”
The seminar held at Saipan World Resort was attended by at least 350 school principals, staff members and teachers from Hopwood Jr. High School, Chacha Oceanview Jr. High School, Marianas High School, Saipan Southern High School and Kagman High School.
Garapan Elementary School principal Yvonne Reyes, one of the facilitators of the event, said the seminar aims to strengthen the teachers’ professionalism, boost their morale and refocus their role in the classroom.
The seminar “refocused, reenergized and refreshed” the teachers’ performance and professionalism, said Kagman High School principal Alfred Ada.
He admitted that a teacher’s job is not easy as educators have to face challenges everyday.
He said the need for constant collaboration among educators, the government and the private sector is necessary to help teachers become better educators.
Ada said financial constraint should not be a hindrance to develop professionalism among teachers.
“We can always maximize all available resources and be more creative,” he added.
