Reflections on: Zull: From Brain to Mind (Part One)

Chapter One: The Natural Journey from Brain to Mind

                The first chapter of James Zull’s book From Brain to Mind serves as an introduction, or roadmap, for the rest of the work. Zull briefly explains each of the forthcoming chapters, in a succinct and highly readable fashion.  Throughout the chapter Zull uses the metaphor of the journey as a way to describe and introduce his topic. He begins to talk about the educational process and history, citing Piaget, Dewy, and Kolb. Zull’s use of providing the journey metaphor is effective in helping the reader prepare for the upcoming chapters. By providing a history of how our knowledge of neuroscience is linked to educational practices, Zull forces the reader to examine his or her own classroom practices.

The most powerful part of the chapter for me was the “Education” section.  After reading this section, I had to pause and reflect (I’m still reflecting) on my own classroom practices and curriculum. I found myself asking, “How many Henry’s am I teaching?” or rather “Do I cater to Henry, or real world implications of my subject?”  I currently teach in a small rural district. The building is a 7-12 building and I teach 7^th and 8^th grade English primarily.  Additionally, I teach a section of AP English.  Zull’s section on Education is giving me fits and rewarding me at the same time. I feel as though we as a district provide numerous opportunities for real world learning, yet at the same time we are a district that is very focused on testing, not real world implications.     

One of the benefits of teaching in a smaller district is the ability to take field trips with our students. We recently went to Antietam Battlefield.  The trip was extremely rewarding because for many students, it was their first time going to a historical battlefield. The students were able to actually see what they have been studying in history class.  The passion of the tour guide spilled over into our students. Zull’s line “We may learn more from experiences outside of school than those inside” struck a chord with me.  As a teacher I can only impact their experiences outside of school to a point, but with trips, the impact I can have is much greater.

As far as in-school impact we can have on our students,  I believe Zull would be an advocate for authentic literacy and authentic writing.  I believe one of the issues troubling my district is the lack of authenticity in our curriculum.  Zull appears to be advocating an educational system in which students can apply the skills they are learning in the classroom to the real world. Friday is graduation in my district, and I wonder if I have taught my AP students the necessary skills to be successful college students, or did I just make it possible for them to pass the AP test?   Furthermore, are my middle school students understanding why being able to analyze and discuss a text in the form of a TDA will be beneficial to their life or is it just a way for them to show growth on the PSSA?  These questions have been racing through my head since reading the chapter.

This section made me think of a writing activity I do toward the end of the school year about professional voice. I have the students write a professional letter to their favorite author.  Because we actually mail the letters, the students take more pride in their work.  We have received many letters in return which always motivates the students further.  I think this “real writing” activity, although never tested, is more beneficial to students. They are seeing the result of a well written letter, which is similar to how Zull saw the real world benefit of his basketball court.   My students are seeing the benefit of this activity. One student in particular wrote to Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame and got a reply. He is not a strong writer by any means, but because of this real world writing activity, he has begun to see the benefits of writing as a way to effectively communicate with one another.  

Another major point of reflection occurred for me when Zull previewed the Transformation section of the book. I loved the call to action he advocates for in the section.  The call to action is  very similar to the education section in that Zull is advocating that we learn how to use education for good, which is something I try to instill in my students each year. I am relatively new at teaching (this is my third year) but I hope that in my short time, I’ve helped my students become better, deeper thinkers.  I really love teaching writing because I feel that if a student writes well and can expand on their thoughts in a coherent way, they will be able to think deeply as they grow up and become adults.   

            I am very much looking forward to continuing the book. I think his writing is very readable and I believe that his work will be very applicable to my classroom. I think it is easy to teach grammar as a way of rote memory, or drill and kill as I’ve heard it called. But instead, I find it is more beneficial for students to understand why we have grammatical rules. I feel that this book will help reinforce that feeling for me as a teacher.