About Todd Finley

BRAIN BLAST: Plan Faster

Planning lessons is one of those hidden duties that can cost instructors a lot of time. Here are four suggestions for speeding up the process: Brainstorm with Paper FirstSpend 8 minutes jotting, drawing, and coming up with ideas. Think PLAYFULLY. Aim for ideas that will delight and clarify. Resist the temptation to design PowerPoint or […]

BRAIN BLAST: Strategies to Beat Writing Procrastination

1. SCHEDULE WRITING DATES Plan to write 5 days a week in the same space for the same amount of time–at least 20 minutes, but no more than 4 hours. 2. TURN OFF YOUR PHONE & GRAB COFFEE Checking social media invites stalling behavior. Pounding caffeine like a sailor promotes focus. 3. REWARD YOURSELF IN INTERVALS Use WrittenKitten.net/ to see […]

BRAIN BLAST: How To Clarify Something Complex

Our cool product of the week is Finding Home – 12 Notecards and Envelopes by Traer Scott. Each features an evocative shelter dog and how the animal found a new home.

BRAIN BLAST: How To Scaffold Complex Texts

Advertisement: Our cool product of the week is recommended by Kevin Kelly of Cool Tools and is made out of 100% recycled plastic: The Bissell Natural Sweep Dual Brush Sweeper. On hard classroom floors or short carpets, pick up Fig Newton crumbs and even spilled beads. $28 on Amazon.

Super Schools

How do we better engender a healthy, happy, and productive school environment where both teachers and students can flourish? Here are a five schools that are pointing us in the right direction: School #5 Provides A Mindful SpaceBaltimore’s Robert W. Coleman Elementary School partners with the Holistic Life Foundation to teach students mindful practices. Breathing is incorporated into […]

Brain Blast: Energizers

Advertisement: Our cool product of the week is recommended by Kevin Kelly of Cool Tools and is made out of 100% recycled plastic: the Bissell Natural Sweep Dual Brush Sweeper. On hard classroom floors or short carpets, pick up Fig Newton crumbs, and even spilled beads. $28 on Amazon.

Transmitter #53

Transmitter, from Todd’s Brain, is a weekly wrap up of research in education, brain hacks, teaching strategies, interesting statistics, Technology, social science, psychology, human interest moments, and news that impacts Teaching and learning. Because contemporary teaching encompasses many fields, so does Transmitter. Brain Hacks Avoid Gender-Related Communication Conflicts: Deborah Tannen’s Intimacy-Power Axis of Communication”Language is the […]

Transmitter #52

Transmitter, from Todd’s Brain, is a weekly wrap up of research in education, brain hacks, teaching strategies, interesting statistics, Technology, social science, psychology, human interest moments, and news that impacts Teaching and learning. Because contemporary teaching encompasses many fields, so does Transmitter. Brain Hacks Deadlines Trigger DopamineDopamine reserves can become depleted if you don’t challenge […]

Transmitter 50

Brain Hacks STUDY: An Eye Trick that Improves Creativity After instructing participants to broaden their focus of conceptual attentional scope (lift up your eyebrows and widen your eyes), subjects were administered various measures of creative problem solving and originality. The result showed that raising eyebrows and widening your eyes broadens the scope of your ideas and […]

BRAIN BLAST: How to Quickly Build Rapport with Students

All Posts by Todd Finley