Working+Memory+in+the+Adolescent+Brain

**Jo Miller**
Hi teammates! How are you doing on the memory stuff? Anyone have anything to share? My memory team would be?? Jo Miller, Steve Karels, Barb McGregor, LeAnn Baldwin?? Is that all? Good memory!

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= Questions to Guide Your Study- Date Edited: = Working memory is very important in language development and reading. Weak working memory may be connected to learning disabilities. Educators should learn about working memory so they can become better educators. Young adolescents can keep 7 items, plus or minus 2, in their working memory for 20-30 seconds. How important it becomes for students to rehearse the short-term knowledge so it will become long-term knowledge. Educators should become familiar with strategies that can help increase working memory in the adolescent brain. - Story Telling - Recipricol teaching (Think Pair Share) - Metaphor, Analogy, and Smile - Visuals/Graphics - Mnemonics - Hands-on/Simulation - Wait time - Rhythm, Rhyme, Rap - Chunking Educators should become familiar with environmental factors that can affect working memory. - There are many factors (Hunger, poverty, climate, prior knowledge, experiences etc.) 1. What can we do to improve working memory? 2. Why do we remember certain things and forget other things? 3. How do we get information correctly into working memory? 4. How do we move information from short-term memory into long-term memory? 5. What are the most important things to do in the classroom to help improve working memory of all students? What experiences must we provide? 6. What is the effect of drug and alcohol use on young brains?
 * ===__**WHY**__ should educators learn about working memory in the adolescent brain?===
 * // They can better understand the students they work with, thus create lessons that are authentic and meaningful. //**
 * ===__**WHAT**__ should educators know about working memory in the adolescent brain?===
 * ===What should educators __**DO**__ because of what they know about working memory in the adolescent brain?===
 * ===Below, craft a series of very specific questions (at least 5) that will guide you in exploring your topic. You may add to your list of guiding questions at any time.===

= Several resources to get you started: =

[|Adolescent Brain: Strategies and Teaching Tips] (S.P.O.T.S.)

[|Binge Drinking During Adolescence Impacts Memory Function] (Promises Treatment Centers)

[|Inside the Teenage Brain] (PBS Frontline)

Here's an interesting article to read about the impact technology is having on our students in the classroom. It appeared in the N.Y. Times today (November 21, 2011). It was posted on FLTeach by another foreign language teacher. It is an interesting article to read and supports many of the things we are learning in our professional development workshops. [|Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction]