I spent my day with the Faculty Cohort working on understanding more about learning and the brain.  Part of the work of this experiment was developed from one of the practitioners corners from How the Brain Learnings by Dr. David Sousa.

Today there were over 45 tweets from more than 15 faculty and 7 students.

My favorite series of tweets involve faculty and students. 

Series 1 is from 8th grade French:

#20minwms@boadams1@jgough could the pilot be extended to one grade for a day? teachers can try a more integrated classroom+#of students up @TaraWestminster.

#20minwms@professeurb2 said yesterday she wished students could use phones in class but mentioned that going to lckr for them is a drag? @TaraWestminster.

This is my favorite for two reasons.  @TaraWestminster is a learner involved in Synergy 8 that @boadams1 and I facilitated first semester.  While our course is over and @TaraWestminster is now taking Writing Workshop, she is still engaged and invested in the community problem-solving issue her team addressed first semester.  These two tweets were launched at approximately 7:00 am before school.  She is invested in larger data collection for her team and advocating for @professeurb2’s wishes.  Learning continues beyond the classroom and the calendar.

Series 2 is from Calculus Concepts:

#20minwms Mram and trap better, width not always same, generic trap formula @sgough

@swgough #20minwms trapezoids rule, lrams drool. maritzas back #chewonki? @chrisreagn

#20minwms @swgough how do indefinite integrals actually calculate area under a curve? @mcaeser

This this may look like a foreign language, I know that @sgough is teaching Riemann sums and trapezoidal approximations for finding area under a curve.  Today, he is beginning to connect this idea to integrals.  @chrisreagn acknowledges that the trapezoidal approximation is more accurate than the left rectangular sum approximation while mcaeser asks how these approximations connect to the indefinite integral.  @mcaeser is asking how the theory connects to the context.  Isn’t this what we want?  We want our learners to ask us to help them get to the next level.  Outstanding!  It appears that the intended curriculum is being learned. 

Series 3 is a connect between the Faculty Cohort and @abaconmoore.

#20minwms A Stroke of Insight Jill Bolte Taylor TED talk http://bit.ly/91LkB5 human brain function @jgough

#20minwms Cohort learning: interest in stroke recovery process. Did background knowledge help recovery? @jgough

#20minwms How can we help Ss find their nirvana? How can we help them find their we inside of them and choose? See A Stroke of Insight @jgough

#20minwms Can we teach Ss to drop fear to analyze the learning experience? How important is emotional support to recovery and success? @jgough

@jgough cohort talk on stroke sounds very cool. what kind of knowledge and recovery are you discussing? brain plasticity is amazing. @abaconmoore

@abaconmoore @jgough Role R & L Hemi. in Recovery of Function, Treat of Intention in Aphasia, ABM co-authored study, could she help cohort? @centerteach

@centerteach @jgough I would love to work with the cohort and talk about these brain-based issues. That stroke paper was a fun 1 2 write. @abaconmoore

This cohort of teachers got to experience how to connect their learning to the expertise and learning of another W faculty member.  They found a purpose of social medial for learning.

As always, you call follow our tweets on Twitter.  Here is a sample of todays learning.