This is episode #47 with Erik Francis, our first returning guest to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. Erik was just on with us for episode 41 with “How to Use Questions to Promote Cognitive Rigor, Thinking and Learning” with his book, Now That’s a Good Question and because of these strange times we are in right now, I thought it would be perfect timing to ask Erik back to share his thoughts on how to transition from teaching and learning in the classroom, to teaching and learning at home. You can watch the YouTube interview here. 

Welcome back Erik! Thank you for your willingness to do this, especially on a weekend.  Now Erik, we all could benefit from hearing your thoughts of exactly what you are doing to ensure that your girls are still learning while schools have been cancelled for longer than we could have anticipated.

Question 1: What are you doing with your girls (middle school/highschool age?) to ensure they are still learning, without stressing everyone out over there?

Question 2: I did see a great post from Learning A-Z[i] (the educational company that does the RAZ early readers). I will post a link to this article that I think is great because it covers some of the basics for learning at home. What does your day look like? How have you added in this new daily learning? And are you still keeping your usual daily routines?

Question 3: I saw you and Greg Wolcott post something on social media about websites for read a louds and activities. I pulled this resource[ii] up but wasn’t sure what it was. Can you explain how to use these resources?

Question 4: How can you tie DOK into what you are doing and make learning enjoyable instead of this “thing” we are doing now. I want to trick my kids into learning.

Question 5: What other thoughts do you have on making learning fun, knowing that my next lesson is on Brain Network Theory, where I will be going deep into the 3 networks of the brain, and why rest is so important each hour in order to learn. How are you making this whole experience fun for your girls? I can be a bit of a drill sergeant with mine, so could use some tips to lighten up a bit.

Thank you Erik for your thoughts on how to transition from teaching and learning in the classroom to teaching and learning at home. Do you have any other resources that you are working on that you want to direct people to?

Stay safe and wishing all the listeners the same. If anyone wants to reach out to Erik for anything, you can email him directly at [email protected]

REFERENCES and RESOURCES

[i] https://www.learninga-z.com/site/breakroom/school-at-home-tips

[ii]  https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1OH-_GM-eYefOa7JDNmM6wdUb9fsa1H8k8O_XgPih4m0/mobilebasic