To Teach Facts, Start with Feelings
Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien
When you remember or think about your favorite book or
movie, what sticks in your mind that helps you to remember? A feeling, an emotion, a connection you felt
to that piece of art? The way our brains keep and store information has a great
deal to do with emotions. “Logic and
emotion are tied together to bring meaning to a set of ideas,” (Maats and O’Brien
2014).
According to Maats and O’Brien they suggest starting from
the present and working your way backward when teaching about facts in history,
ELA, etc. Tap into the student’s emotion
to help them make connections; “by making simple connections, you’re starting
your students from a place of understanding, appreciation, and curiosity,’’ (Maats
and O’Brien 20104).
It’s always important to remember when you’re teaching: what
do my students’ know, what is their background knowledge on this topic, and how
can I get them to understand and think outside the box!
Maats, H., & O'Brien, K. (n.d.). To Teach Facts, Start with Feelings. Retrieved October 31, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teach-facts-start-with-feelings-hunter-maats-katie-obrien
Awesome post! I agree about teaching facts in history from present and go backwards. Students can't relate to the past without first knowing the present. This gives them a way to visualize and make comparisons.
ReplyDeleteAs a social studies teacher, I completely agree with your post! When I'm starting a new lesson or introducing a new topic, I first relate it to something in my student's immediate life/something they can picture, hear, hold, feel, then lead into the historical topic. I agree that emotions help initiate memory and learning, even with me... I can remember things that happened long ago because of a specific emotion I felt at the time.
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