How does your overall lesson designing and planning incorporate knowledge of the teenage brain?
My lessons are designed in a way that show my directions in a very detailed way so that my students can follow them. The brains of adolescents do not follow directions that well and need a bit of guidance. Their synapses are growing and can become weaker or stronger based upon their usage, so I must as their teacher create connections and keep creating them. This can be achieved by repeating the information in many different ways, and encouraging all different kinds of learners.
How does your overall planning for learning, designed to access memory lanes and use what you know about how adolescents learn?
My lessons try to teach using different techniques so that they can be accessed by different kinds of memory lanes. There is the basic more traditional way of teaching that can access semantic memory, and then I also like to implement things such as discussion or debate which also accesses their emotional memory. Once I access these two kinds of memory lanes, then they own the knowledge and aren't just repeating things they learned in their short-term memory.
How are students engaged in the learning?
As a history teacher, I am lucky that I have many different strategies of instruction at my disposal. I can give students group projects, reflections, simulations, or other active hands-on activities to help with their learning. When they become a part of their own learning, they will be engaged learners. I can also give them a choice in how they want to learn, which makes their learning experience much more personal.