The Teaching Brain: The Evolutionary Trait at the Heart of Education

(Hardback)

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This game-changing analysis of how the mind teaches will transform common perceptions of one of the most essential human practices (and one of the most hotly debated professions), charting a path forward for teachers, parents, and anyone seeking to better understand learning-and unlocking the teaching brain in all of us.

Reviews

"Vanessa Rodriguez has a truly original mind. Her experience, empathy, and insight have inspired and provoked me."
Deborah Meier, author of In Schools We Trust

What a fascinating idea . . . [a] challenging and inspiring work.
Deborah Meier

This book comes at an important time. As the critical issue of teacher quality gains prominence, there is an unfortunate tendency toward the simple fix: just give teachers a fixed set of skills, just get rid of the lowest-performing ones. The Teaching Brain represents an important challenge to this way of thinking and ultimately provides hope that we might build a more humane and comprehensive system of teaching and schools.
Jesse Solomon, executive director of BPE and founder of the Boston Teacher Residency

Drawing on brain science, education research, and her own experience, Vanessa Rodriguez eloquently presents a new, humanizing, and compelling take on how, why, and when teachers teach effectively. The Teaching Brain is an important book for teachers, future teachers, policy makers, and anyone who cares about children and learning.
Susan Linn, psychologist, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and author of "The Case for Make Believe"

The Teaching Brain is a significant contribution to understanding the interaction among teachers, students, the environment, and the content of learning.
Herbert Kohl, author of more than forty books, including I Wont Learn from You and 36 Children

We would never think of the bonding of a newborn with parents as a unilateral experience, yet, as so clearly illuminated in The Teaching Brain, weve been complacent in failing to identify the profound interactions between the teaching and the learning brains. As the authors identify the dynamic, interactive system created by both student and teacher, a gap is filled in the neuroscience and cognitive science of learning. This book provides valuable guidance on generating a synchronous flow in the classroom.
Judy Willis, neurologist, teacher, and author of "How Your Child Learns Best"

A thoughtful analysis of current educational paradigms. . . . Rodriguezs case for altering pedagogy to match the fluctuating dynamic forces in the classroom is both convincing and steeped in common sense.
Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Vanessa Rodriguez is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who has presented her award-winning work in educational neuroscience in the United States and abroad. After teaching history, science, and English for over a decade in New York City's public schools, she now resides in Cambridge, MA. This is her first book. Michelle Fitzpatrick, a graduate of Harvard's master's program in Mind, Brain, and Education, has co-authored over thirty non-fiction books, including "What's Eating Your Child" and the New York Times bestseller "Transition" by Chaz Bono. She lives in Dover, MA.