These are handouts for my breakout session entitled: The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students, delivered at the Adam Morgan Foundation National Conference on April 25, 2019 in St. Louis, MO.

1. The Power of the Adolescent Brain
Strategies for Teaching
Middle and High School Students
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
www.institute4learning.com
2019 Adam
Morgan
Foundation
National
Conference -
April 25, 2019

2. Agenda for Workshop
• 8 Key Facts About the Adolescent Brain
• Memories of Adolescence
• 8 Adolescent ‘’Brain Friendly’’ Practices
• 8 Adolescent ‘’Brain Hostile’’ Practices
• Mind Mapping ‘’Brain Friendly’’ Practices
• Slide and Music Closing (Adolescents and
the Human Life Cycle)

3. 8 Key Facts About Adolescent Brain
1. Gray Matter is Decreasing (Pruning)
2. White Matter is Increasing (Myelination)
3. Neurogenesis is Occurring (New Brain Cells)
4. Pruning Moves from Back to Front Over Time
5. Emotional Brain Develops Before Reasoning Brain
6. Process is Shaped by Environment (Neuroplasticity)
7. Evolutionary Advantages of Brain Changes
8. Extraordinarily Vulnerable to Environment

4. Evolutionary Advantages of Adolescent Traits
Adolescent Traits Evolutionary Advantage
Risk taking Drives them out of the parental nest and
into the world
Sensation seeking Ignites a desire to explore the world of
which they will become an integral part
Preference for being with peers Creates affiliations with the people they
will be spending most of their time with
in adulthood
Reward seeking Impels them to seek, find, and consume
survival-essential natural rewards such
as food, water, and warmth
Romantic and sexual
attraction to others
Connects them with possible mates
with the potential to procreate and pass
along genes to the next generation

5. The Risks of Adolescence
• Traffic Accidents
• Violence
• Suicide
• Alcohol Abuse
• Marijuana Abuse
• Tobacco and Nicotine Abuse
• Mental Illness
• Sleep Disorders
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Prescription Drug Abuse
• Media Addiction
• Bullying

6. In my adolescence:
__The decisions I made were not often accompanied by a great deal of thought.
__ I tended to be quite self-conscious about how I came across to others.
__ I was more idealistic than I am now.
__ I was more likely to have emotional outbursts than I am now.
__ I thought more about sex than I do now.
__ I was concerned with being a part of a social group.
__ My relationship with my parents changed significantly compared to my elementary school years.
__ I liked to spend time alone thinking, writing, listening to music, or doing other solitary things
__ I thought a lot about religious, spiritual, occult, or cosmic issues.
__ I thought more about death and dying , and/or what it means to exist, than I do now.
__ I engaged in creative activities than I don’t do so much anymore
__ I was involved with at least one radical or controversial political, social, or religious group
__ I experimented with at least one type of illegal drug, or drank alcohol more than I probably should have.
__ I was more rebellious against authority than I am now.
__ I took more physical, psychological, or emotional risks than I do now.
__ I hung out with people who I would tend to avoid now.
__ I tended to be more moody (angry, depressed, jealous, and/or envious) than I am now.
__ I was more concerned about what other people wore, looked like, said, or did than I am now.
__A big part of my life revolved around my time with my boyfriend or girlfriend or my attempts to
acquire one.
Memories of Adolescence

7. Adolescent Risk Brain Friendly Practice
Poor Decision-Making Opportunities To Choose
Identity Confusion Self-Awareness Activities
Negative Peer Influence Peer Learning Connections
Emotional Turmoil Affective Learning
Body Image Disturbances Learning through the Body
Uncritical Thinking Metacognitive Strategies
Impulsivity Expressive Arts Activities
Poor Reality Testing Real World Experiences
Adolescent Brain Friendly Practices

8. Opportunities to Choose
• Provide Homework Options
• Use Student Polling
• Allow Students to Do Their Own Projects
• Let Students Be Involved in School Policy
• Set Aside Time for a Genius Oasis
• Offer More Electives

9. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Self-Awareness Activities
• Use Self-Awareness Assessments
• Let Students Keep Personal Journals
• Connect Content to Students Personal
Lives
• Teach Mindfulness Meditation
• Have Students Create Autobiographies

10. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Peer Learning Connections
• Set Up a Peer Teaching System
• Use Collaborative Learning Projects
• Establish Peer Mentoring
• Let Peers Critique Each Other’s Work
• Create a Peer Mediation Program
• Establish Small Learning Communities

11. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Affective Learning
• Be Emotionally Supportive of Students
• Express Emotion in Your Teaching
• Use Appropriate Humor
• Engage Your Students’ Imaginations
• Teach Controversial Issues
• Help Students Understand and Self-
Regulate Their Emotions

12. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Learning Through the Body
• Provide Exercise Breaks in Class
• Integrate Role Play into the Curriculum
• Engage Students in Hands-On Activities
• Use Movement to Teach Concepts
• Incorporate Augmented and Virtual Reality
Into Learning

13. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Engage Students in Critical Thinking
– Ask open-ended questions
– Have students brainstorm ideas
– Teach students to evaluate sources
– Challenge students to take different sides

14. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Show Students How to Use Metacognitive
Tools
– Cognitive Organizers
– Think Alouds
– Heuristics
– Thinking Journals

15. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Engage Students in Critical Thinking
• Show Students How to Use Metacognitive
Tools
• Teach Goal-Setting
• Instruct Students in How Their Brains Work
• Explain the Importance of a Growth Mindset
• Provide Opportunities for Existential
Questioning

16. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Expressive Arts Activities
• Incorporate Creative Writing
• Encourage Students to Express Ideas
Visually
• Let Students Be Creative with Media
• Allow Students to Show Learning Through
Music
• Permit Students to Express Ideas Through
Drama and/or Dance

17. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Real World Experiences
• Have a Job Shadowing Day
• Create an Internship Program
• Use Community-Based and Service
Learning
• Encourage Entrepreneurial Enterprises
• Affiliate with Apprenticeship Programs
• Establish Career Academies

18. Brain Friendly Practice Brain Hostile Practice
Opportunities To Choose Pre-Set College-Bound Curriculum
Self-Awareness Activities Posting Class Grades and Test
Scores
Peer Learning Connections Ban on Social Media in Class
Affective Learning Emotionally Flat Classrooms
Learning through the Body Limited P.E., Recess, and Exercise
Breaks
Metacognitive Strategies Emphasis on Teacher Lecture,
Textbooks, Worksheets, Tests
Expressive Arts Activities Limited Art Programs, Graded Art
Courses
Real World Experiences Artificial Classroom Environment
Adolescent Brain Hostile Practices

19. Mind Mapping Adolescent ''Brain
Friendly'' Practices
Opportunities to
Choose – Become an
expert project
Self Awareness Experiences -
What would I have done? writing
project Social Connections –A day
in the life of a squad project
Affective Learning – Humor in war
project
Learning Through the Body –
Diorama project
Metacognitive Strategies –
Alternative histories project
Expressive Arts Activities- Collage
project
Real World Experiences -
Expeditionary learning project
War in
Vietnam

20. Mind Mapping Adolescent ''Brain
Friendly'' Practices
Opportunities to
Choose -
Self Awareness Experiences -
Social Connections -
Affective Learning -
Learning Through the Body -
Metacognitive Strategies -
Expressive Arts Activities-
Real World Experiences -

21. References
• Armstrong, Thomas. The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High
School Students. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2016.
• Brackett, M. A., Caruso, D. R., & Rivers, S. E. (2015, August 19). Edutopia quiz:What is your emotional
intelligence? Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/louisville-social-emotional-learning-quiz.
• Colorado Education Initiative. (2014, August). Take a break! Teacher toolbox:Physical activity breaks in
the secondary classroom. Denver, CO: Author. Retrieved from http://www.coloradoedinitiative.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/CEI-Take-a-Break-Teacher-Toolbox.pdf
• Deak, J., & Deak, T. (2013). The Owner’s Manual for Driving your Adolescent Brain.San Francisco:
Little Pickle Press.
• Gallup Youth Development Specialists. (2007). StrengthsExplorer for ages 10 to 14: From Gallup, the
creators of StrengthsFinder. Washington, DC: Gallup Press.
• Washor, E., & Mojkowski, C. (2013). Leaving to learn: How out-of-school learning increases student
engagement and reduces dropout rates. Portsmouth, NH:Heinemann.
• Willis, J. (2009/2010, December/January). How to teach students about the brain. Educational
Leadership, 67(4). Retrieved from http://www.ascd .org/publications/educational
leadership/dec09/vol67/num04/How-to-Teach-Students-About-the-Brain.aspx.
• Lucia Capacchione, The Creative Journal for Teens: Making Friends With Yourself, 2nd Edition.
Newburyport, MA: New Page Books, 2008.
• John H. Clarke, Personalized Learning: Student-Designed Pathways to High School Graduation,
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2013.
• Diana Loomans and Karen Kolberg, The Laughing Classroom: Everyone's Guide to Teaching with
Humor and Play, Novato, CA: H.J. Kramer/New World Library, 2002

22. Contact Information
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 548
Cloverdale, CA 95425
707-894-4646 phone
707-894-4474 fax
thomas@institute4learning.com
www.institute4learning.com
Twitter: @Dr_Armstrong