How to Get a Wealthy Brain Even If You’re Not with Michael Toth

The great importance of redesigning Tier 1 instruction that ensures deeper learning for all students. The research shows huge benefits to students and their teachers including higher achievement, closure of gaps among all reporting categories of students, increased attendance, lower misbehavior, and increased teacher satisfaction and retention.

Michael was last on the podcast with me in 2022, talking about student agency.

• Is education about teaching or developing
• Developing humans is much different than teaching students
• Device centric development - similar to addiction
• Epidemic of anxiety because of screen time
• Brain matter loss around the areas of the brain necessary for deep learning and deep reading
• Legacy system (our current system) - Around control
• Something happened at the pandemic
• We put kids on computers constantly
• Maldevelopment in the brain - device parenting
• School’s optional is the other thing we taught with our response to the pandemic
• When you’re on a device, all the human side is not developing. 
• Most connected society ever and the most lonely society ever 
• Teachers have been underinvested in and have a curriculum and type that is difficult to engage kids
• How to develop character, empathy, and relationships among students and their peers. 
• How to do this at scale. 
• You can’t intervene your way to success
• Traditional classrooms remove autonomy
• Unstructured groups creates unstructured learning
• Ability-grouping is the worst
• Discussion protocols, team members, etc. 
• Productive Struggle - is a key element that leads to learning moving forward
• Toolbox of strategies given to students 
• How to get kids unstuck without giving the answer
• Power of shared background knowledge 
• Easy to conflate teaching with learning
• The Baseball Experiment
• Babies build brain cells fast, but they don’t make neural connections
• What gets exercised in a brain gets developed
• One factor and one factor only changes neocortex: wealth of the family. 
• Needs productive struggle to grow
• Rigor walk on Instructional Empowerment
• Just above ability level
• Time is an issue - how do you teach in this way in a slower path
• Kids also test better if they can critically think about the information
• The more you use AI the hippocampus shrinks
• How to be a transformative principal? Look at who’s doing the work: teacher or student?
• Library for deeper learning

About Michael Toth: 

Michael D. Toth (LinkedIn, X) is founder and CEO of Instructional Empowerment and leads IE’s Applied Research Center. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning book The Power of Student Teams with David Sousa; author of Who Moved My Standards; and co-author with Robert Marzano of The Essentials of a Standards-Driven Classroom, School Leadership for Results, and Teacher Evaluation that Makes a Difference. 

Michael is a keynote speaker at conferences and coaches and mentors superintendents on creating a bold instructional vision, designing and launching a high-functioning cabinet team, transforming Tier 1 core instruction, and leading systems-based school advancement. 

Throughout Michael’s career, he has been privileged to collaborate with some of the top researchers and thinkers in education. His past key roles include CEO of Learning Sciences International (LSI), President of the National Center for the Profession of Teaching, and University Faculty Grant Director for research and development grants.

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.