School Activity Sheet Building Emotional intelligence and self-Awareness through Mindful practices (2020-2022) Ref. no. 2020-1-RO01-KA229-079848_1 (KA2 - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, KA229 - School Exchange Partnerships) The European Commission'ssupport for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Activity Title: How to Grow an Integrated Brain – Horizontal approach School: Școala Gimnazială Titu Maiorescu Iași, Romania School subject: Communication Suitable age of children: 10+ Activity objectives: - To raise awareness among pupils about the separate roles of the two brain hemispheres; - To help pupils identify/develop strategies to integrate their two hemispheres in everyday activities. Materials needed for the activity: Book: Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson, The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive; Photocopies of their descriptions on the role of each brain hemisphere and of their image depicting the two hemispheres and their separate roles (Annex 1); Blank sheets for informative posters. Activity stages: Note: Reading Dan Siegel’s book and getting familiar with the authors’ ”integrated brain” concept is very useful for conducting this activity. An integrated brain, according to the book, is a brain that activates both hemispheres at the same time, as often as possible. 1. First, show pupils the drawing (Annex 1) photocopied from the book and ask them what they think it represents. What does the drawing suggest as preferred activities for each hemisphere? 2. Hand-out the extract from the same book where the two brain hemispheres are described in more detail. Ask them whether their first deductions based only from the photos have been confirmed and what additional info have they found. 3. Ask them to include their findings in the following two-column table: What does the left brain-hemisphere do? What does the right brain-hemisphere do? - Helps with logical reasoning - Language - Etc. - Emotions - Etc. 4. You can introduce the concept of analogy based on the authors’ comparison between using only one hemisphere at a time and trying to swim with only one hand. Ask the pupils what they think is the role of an analogy (e.g. clarifying a more abstract concept by using similarities with practical aspects). Ask pupils to identify another analogy used by the authors in the same extract (Dan Siegel compares using both hemispheres at the same time with the act of floating in a canoe on a peaceful river. See also Annex 2). 5. Have pupils identify situations when they have used only one of their brain hemispheres, causing emotional chaos or rigidity. Ask them to think about better ways of dealing with similar issues next time and put them on paper. This can be done as a 10-minute assignment in the classroom or as homework/diary page. 6. At this stage, you can bring in study-cases from the book of problematic situations caused by brain `dis-integration` and read them aloud as examples. 7. Discuss together the brain integration strategies explained in the book. 8. Ask pupils to write informative posters for their classmates that include the useful info from the lesson and integration strategies (this can be done individually or in groups). 9. Display their work in the classroom, for daily review and practice (this can be done daily or weekly, by encouraging children to reflect on the highlights of the week and on how they use their brain in different situations). Evaluation criteria: The lesson is effective if during this activity: - pupils show understanding of the two brain hemispheres during discussions; - they develop/identify at least 3 daily activities/strategies in their lives which promote horizontal brain integration. Activity results: Mini-posters with brain integration strategies made by pupils and showcased in the classroom, for daily review and practice.
Annex 2 Excerpts from Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive “Imagine a peaceful river running through the countryside. That’s your river of well-being. Whenever you’re in the water, peacefully floating along in your canoe, you feel like you’re generally in a good relationship with the world around you. You have a clear understanding of yourself, other people, and your life. You can be flexible and adjust when situations change. You’re stable and at peace. Sometimes, though, as you float along, you veer too close to one of the river’s two banks. This causes different problems, depending on which bank you approach. One bank represents chaos, where you feel out of control. Instead of floating in the peaceful river, you are caught up in the pull of tumultuous rapids, and confusion and turmoil rule the day. You need to move away from the bank of chaos and get back into the gentle flow of the river. But don’t go too far, because the other bank presents its own dangers. It’s the bank of rigidity, which is the opposite of chaos. As opposed to being out of control, rigidity is when you are imposing control on everything and everyone around you. You become completely unwilling to adapt, compromise, or negotiate. Near the bank of rigidity, the water smells stagnant, and reeds and tree branches prevent your canoe from flowing in the river of well-being. So one extreme is chaos, where there’s a total lack of control. The other extreme is rigidity, where there’s too much control, leading to a lack of flexibility and adaptability. We all move back and forth between these two banks as we go through our days—especially as we’re trying to survive parenting. When we’re closest to the banks of chaos or rigidity, we’re farthest from mental and emotional health. The longer we can avoid either bank, the more time we spend enjoying the river of well-being. Much of our lives as adults can be seen as moving along these paths—sometimes in the harmony of the flow of well-being, but sometimes in chaos, in rigidity, or zigzagging back and forth between the two. Harmony emerges from integration. Chaos and rigidity arise when integration is blocked.” “That’s what integration does: it coordinates and balances the separate regions of the brain that it links together. It’s easy to see when our kids aren’t integrated—they become overwhelmed by their emotions, confused and chaotic. They can’t respond calmly and capably to the situation at hand. Tantrums, meltdowns, aggression, and most of the other challenging experiences of parenting—and life—are a result of a loss of integration, also known as dis-integration.” “Sometimes parents avoid talking about upsetting experiences, thinking that doing so will reinforce their children’s pain or make things worse. Actually, telling the story is often exactly what children need, both to make sense of the event and to move on to a place where they can feel better about what happened.” For more excerpts, visit https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/15256278-the-whole-brain-child-12-revolutionary-strategies-to-nurture-your-child