Nathan Wallis:
The Fascinating Brain: Kia Tikaka o Ka Roro
A gifted educator, dynamic and inspiring presenter, Nathan’s recent background has been as a lecturer at Canterbury University, a neuroscience presenter for Brainwave, and as a Child Protection trainer. He is currently Lead Trainer for the Brainwave Trust and serves on many Boards, including Brainwave and the Youth Mentoring Network.In addition to being a father with a history as a foster parent, his professional background is in child counselling, teaching and social service management. He has built up a nationwide reputation as a lively, engaging and inspirational speaker on the topic of brain development. Nathan uses humour to make this, sometimes, complex topic both easy to understand and easily related to day to day experiences.
Primary school teacher
Child counsellor
ECE teacher
University lecturer - HD, specialized in neuroscience - Brainwave Trust
"Scared kids don't do much learning" - from working with refugee children from war-torn countries
ECE is the most important part of child's life
First thousands days of development frames/builds your brain now. Brain is in data gathering mode. Intelligence is not genetic.
The number of words spoken to a child by a caregiver in the first 1000 days has an influence on brain development - kanohi ke te kanohi.
Dyadic relationships are best for babies- attach and attune to a person to learn language
Interaction and relationship - language is the most complex thing.
It was so affirming to hear Nathan Wallis speak, especially because he is an early years advocate, and believes in play to learn until the age of 7. For me, much of what he said about the first 1000 days of a child's life is so incredibly important, but why do policy makers not take notice of what he says? With the possibility of 4 year old children coming to school I know the work that I do with new entrants (and older children) is so very important. I was so proud of the way he spoke about Te Whaariki, and feel really compelled to use this document so much more, but also feel trapped by the National Standards. Even after all he said, after his keynote at the morning tea table, I overheard one teacher say to the other:
"What did you think of that? Yes its all fine, but they still have to be able to count on when they come to us"
These are the ingrained attitudes about children's learning that need to be challenged and changed.
Other key points:
There are no genes for intelligence, only genes that affect your mental state eg depression, exclusively inherited from your mother. Genes don't dictate reality.
Brain 1 - attachment
Frontal cortex
Sensory not really relevant at the moment.
Bronfenbrenner - ecosystems
Risk factors from the environment impact on ability to learn
Risk (Dysfunctional) and Resilience scale:
Risk:
Parents who have - been to prison, low schooling, don't speak language of origin, smacking, more than 5 children in family, alcohol and drug, sexual abuse, single parent
Another risk for the child is if they have had a sleep programme, or been in childcare - first year of life
Resilience:
Paid parental leave, first year of life, playing a musical instrument, speaking languages and of your first culture, relationships with extended family, tertiary qual, and tertiary qual in human development
measuring cortisol -(stress hormone) research says ece in first year affects this, increases this.
4 brains -
1 - survival - brain stem
2 - movement - reptilian brain
3 - mammal brain - limbic system/parenting brain - emotion
4 - frontal cortex - only humans have this - the ability to have empathy, understanding consequences, everything it takes to be a nice person. Interact with environment. Optional things you don't need for survival. Depends on quality of dyadic relationships in first 1000 days.
Resilience research for first borns
Adulthood (brain) - around 26
Girls - firstborn - 18, boys 22
Who was born first? First born son, then girl ideal. Second born son, is disadvantaged.
Piaget - first born girls at school are typically in concrete operational
Asking 5 year olds to do what 7 year olds do in their first year at school.
For second born boys we would be working out of their ZPD - Vygotsky.
Perrys Neurosequential Model:
Cortical
Limic
Midbrain
Brainstem
Social/emotional document - Te Whaariki
Cognitive document - NZ Curriculum
Early cognitive acquisition - disappears at around 8
Dispositional learning - attitudes and beliefs about learning
Meet the needs of the brain as it develops!
To really be using your cortex, your brainstem needs to be calm.
Mindfulness - calms brainstem
Survival is the prime director, and will win every time
The Fascinating Brain: Kia Tikaka o Ka Roro
A gifted educator, dynamic and inspiring presenter, Nathan’s recent background has been as a lecturer at Canterbury University, a neuroscience presenter for Brainwave, and as a Child Protection trainer. He is currently Lead Trainer for the Brainwave Trust and serves on many Boards, including Brainwave and the Youth Mentoring Network.In addition to being a father with a history as a foster parent, his professional background is in child counselling, teaching and social service management. He has built up a nationwide reputation as a lively, engaging and inspirational speaker on the topic of brain development. Nathan uses humour to make this, sometimes, complex topic both easy to understand and easily related to day to day experiences.
Primary school teacher
Child counsellor
ECE teacher
University lecturer - HD, specialized in neuroscience - Brainwave Trust
"Scared kids don't do much learning" - from working with refugee children from war-torn countries
ECE is the most important part of child's life
First thousands days of development frames/builds your brain now. Brain is in data gathering mode. Intelligence is not genetic.
The number of words spoken to a child by a caregiver in the first 1000 days has an influence on brain development - kanohi ke te kanohi.
Dyadic relationships are best for babies- attach and attune to a person to learn language
Interaction and relationship - language is the most complex thing.
It was so affirming to hear Nathan Wallis speak, especially because he is an early years advocate, and believes in play to learn until the age of 7. For me, much of what he said about the first 1000 days of a child's life is so incredibly important, but why do policy makers not take notice of what he says? With the possibility of 4 year old children coming to school I know the work that I do with new entrants (and older children) is so very important. I was so proud of the way he spoke about Te Whaariki, and feel really compelled to use this document so much more, but also feel trapped by the National Standards. Even after all he said, after his keynote at the morning tea table, I overheard one teacher say to the other:
"What did you think of that? Yes its all fine, but they still have to be able to count on when they come to us"
These are the ingrained attitudes about children's learning that need to be challenged and changed.
Other key points:
There are no genes for intelligence, only genes that affect your mental state eg depression, exclusively inherited from your mother. Genes don't dictate reality.
Brain 1 - attachment
Frontal cortex
Sensory not really relevant at the moment.
Bronfenbrenner - ecosystems
Risk factors from the environment impact on ability to learn
Risk (Dysfunctional) and Resilience scale:
Risk:
Parents who have - been to prison, low schooling, don't speak language of origin, smacking, more than 5 children in family, alcohol and drug, sexual abuse, single parent
Another risk for the child is if they have had a sleep programme, or been in childcare - first year of life
Resilience:
Paid parental leave, first year of life, playing a musical instrument, speaking languages and of your first culture, relationships with extended family, tertiary qual, and tertiary qual in human development
measuring cortisol -(stress hormone) research says ece in first year affects this, increases this.
4 brains -
1 - survival - brain stem
2 - movement - reptilian brain
3 - mammal brain - limbic system/parenting brain - emotion
4 - frontal cortex - only humans have this - the ability to have empathy, understanding consequences, everything it takes to be a nice person. Interact with environment. Optional things you don't need for survival. Depends on quality of dyadic relationships in first 1000 days.
Resilience research for first borns
Adulthood (brain) - around 26
Girls - firstborn - 18, boys 22
Who was born first? First born son, then girl ideal. Second born son, is disadvantaged.
Piaget - first born girls at school are typically in concrete operational
Asking 5 year olds to do what 7 year olds do in their first year at school.
For second born boys we would be working out of their ZPD - Vygotsky.
Perrys Neurosequential Model:
Cortical
Limic
Midbrain
Brainstem
Social/emotional document - Te Whaariki
Cognitive document - NZ Curriculum
Early cognitive acquisition - disappears at around 8
Dispositional learning - attitudes and beliefs about learning
Meet the needs of the brain as it develops!
To really be using your cortex, your brainstem needs to be calm.
Mindfulness - calms brainstem
Survival is the prime director, and will win every time
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