Movement & Working Memory

in the Trauma Informed ClassroomAddison Duane, presenter

Turn and talk to your table/group answering these three questions:

1. Name2. Role/connection to trauma informed work3. Which emoji best represents you and why?

Brief Introductions

● Teacher turned grad student● Grades K-6, instructional coach and new teacher mentor● PhD in EdPsych with emphasis in trauma responsive practices● Lover of books, stripes and good coffee

A little about me

What’s missing?

Rules:-a set of pictures are displayed for 7 seconds-take in as much as you can in the time frame allotted (no writing!!)-when the timer goes off, write down it what’s missing

Warm Up

If you got it right, clap twice above your head

If you couldn’t remember, clap twice in front of your body

How’d You Do?

● In less than 1 minute, we warmed up our working memory and moved our bodies just a little bit!

● That’s our goal of today’s session!

What just happened?

● Brain science background○ Executive functioning

■ Working memory ● Brain break● Classroom and school interventions

○ Get moving!○ Planning

● Wrap Up

Agenda

Confront implicit biasesbefore introducing breathing

Mindset Minute

The cognitive skills that allow us to control and regulate our attention and behavior, making cognitive tasks possible

Executive Functioning

8 key functions:1. Impulse control

1. Emotional Control

1. Flexible Thinking

1. Working Memory

1. Self-Monitoring

1. Planning and Prioritizing

1. Task Initiation

1. Organization

In the Classroom

● Trauma is “an important influence in the development of the executive function deficits” (Zou et al., 2013)

● The body experiences significant wear from repeated cycles of stress that cause the shutting off of executive functions

Executive Functioning and Trauma

Chat stations!

-playing cards, all the hearts at 1 stations, diamonds together, etc.

Question: How do executive functioning deficits present in your own world? (classroom, school, office)

Discussing Deficits

Working memory: the ability to hold and manipulate information over short periods of time

What about working memory?

● Our working memory holds units of information for roughly 15 seconds● Average adults cannot hold more than 6-7 units at a time

○ Units: ■ Individual letters or numbers

● JDIWMXL

OR

■ A string of items that are meaningful to the brain● 216-447-1466

What is it?

What is it?

Working memory

Visuo-spatial ● images● shapes● pictures ● information about locations

Verbal● Spoken language

○ numbers○ words○ sentences

Research has found that working memory is the single most important factor in determining academic success

● Study from New York:○ 216 students diagnosed with ADHD○ 76 typically developing students○ Longitudinal study from pre-k to age 8

● Results:○ Working memory was positively correlated with every single element of academic

achievement:■ Word reading, comprehension, decoding, numerical operations, and spelling

Why focus here?

Every day for two months, researchers in Japan conducted 10 minutes of working memory training with eight-year-old children. The training involved tasks such as giving a series of 4 numbers and asking the children to identify which number came second.

● IQ scores for eight-year olds increased 6% in the control group and 12% in the memory trained group, and the children with the lowest initial scores made the greatest gains.

Another Study

● Easily distracted● Frequently needing to re-read text● Difficulty following multi-step directions● Difficulty staying engaged in class● Test anxiety, especially on multiple choice tests● A need for more time and repetition● Inconsistent performance● Lack of focus and attention

Signs of Working Memory Deficits

● Easily distracted● Frequently needing to re-read text● Difficulty following multi-step directions● Difficulty staying engaged in class● Test anxiety, especially on multiple choice

tests● A need for more time and repetition● Inconsistent performance● Lack of focus and attention

Signs of Working Memory Deficits

Stop and Reflect:

Think of a student that comes to mind when reading this list. What deficits do they present?

Stretch it out

Brain Break!

We know that working memory is affected by traumatic experience and chronic stress. There is a lot we can do to support the development of this area of the brain:

1. Play memory games2. Chunk tasks3. Repeat ideas

What can we do?

We know that working memory is affected by traumatic experience and chronic stress. There is a lot we can do to support the bolstering of this area of the brain:

1. Play memory games2. Chunk tasks3. Repeat ideas

4.GET MOVING

What can we do?

Physical activity, particularly the perceptual and motor systems, play an important role in developing working memory

● Study found that students who did physical activity (muscular or aerobic) before academic tasks did significantly better than their peers

● Another study found that actions, gestures, and exercise greatly increase the size of the hippocampus

I like to move it, move it

How do you incorporate movement into your classroom?

Turn and Talk

How do you incorporate movement into your classroom?

Turn and Talk

● Stand instead● Gallery walks● Musical shares/music mingle● Sensory fidgets● Jumping jacks● Squats● Clap ● Snap● Wiggle fingers ● Yoga poses

The list goes on and on! See if your table can come up with a few more movement ideas

Movement ideas

● Talk through list of memory games to play○ Let’s decide how to add movement

Movement and Memory

● Trauma negatively affects executive functioning, especially working memory

● As educators, we MUST address working memory deficits in the classroom

● Movement is the single best intervention for improving cognitive skills (like instant recall and auditory processing...aka working memory!)

Wrap Up

Questions?

Low Working Memory rather than ADHD Symptoms Predicts Poor Academic Achievement in School-Aged Childrenby Simone, Ashley N; Marks, David J; Bédard, Anne-Claude; More...Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 02/2018, Volume 46, Issue 2

Short-term memory and working memory as indices of children's cognitive skillsby Hutton, Una M. Z; Towse, John N

Muscular and Aerobic Fitness, Working Memory, and Academic Achievement in Childrenby KAO, SHIH-CHUN; WESTFALL, DANIEL R; PARKS, ANDREW C;Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 03/2017, Volume 49, Issue 3

A working memory workout: how to expand the focus of serial attention from one to four items in 10 hours or less. Verhaeghen, P., Cerella, J., and Basak, C. (2004). J. Exp. Psychol, Learning, Memory and Cognition. 30 (6): 1322-1337.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/memory-medic/201203/training-working-memory-why-and-how

References