Setting the right mood and getting students' attention

  Canadian teachers Anne Forester and Margaret Reinhard, in their excellent book, The Learners' Way, talk of "creating a climate of delight" in every school classroom. They say variety, surprise, imagination and challenge are essential in creating that climate. "Surprise guests, mystery tours, field trips, spontaneous projects (old-fashioned days, pet displays, research initiated by the children) add richness to reading, writing and discussion. The production of plays and puppet shows is stimulated by the children's reading and is masterminded more and more fully by the children themselves.
  "Your classroom will rarely be totally silent. Sharing and interaction are the vital components of a climate of delight. Discoveries, new learning, the sheer joy of accomplishment demand expression."
  If that "climate of delight" sweeps over you as you enter a well-planned seminar room or classroom, it's the first step in setting the right mood for more effective learning.*

Early activity is vital
 
  The next step is activity: precisely what students or trainees are encouraged to do. The colorful setting, posters and mobiles will already have started to stimulate those who are mainly visual learners. The music will have "touched base" with the mainly auditory learners. And early activity makes the kinesthetic learners feel instantly comfortable. Interspersing all three learning styles also makes sure that all three levels of the brain are activated: our thinking brain, our feeling brain and our doing brain. But there are other good reasons for instant activity:
  Jazzercise-type exercises to music encourage an increased flow of

* Before starting any teacher-training session, co-author Vos spends at least an hour putting out props, covering the walls with colorful posters, and making sure that all audio-visual equipment is working - including the CD player for the music that will welcome the audience. Co-author Dryden always urges participants to have a brain-jogging breakfast of bananas, kiwi fruit, oranges and other fresh fruit before spending time at one of his innovation seminars. Then, at the start of a seminar, after a warm-up exercise to music, he may throw out "brain-food" bananas to those who have forgotten breakfast.

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