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Robert Gillan
Plenary: How we Learn
This presentation examines what
actually happens in the brain when we process new information.
It looks at the biology and neurology of learning and shows how
the brain is a pattern-making organism, ever eager to learn and
to make sense of new information.
To quote John Abbott "the brain
is always trying to make connections between existing patterns
and new patterns. The individual's brain appears to have a limitless
storage of pictures, or map-like patterns, which offers teachers
a massive resource for planting new ideas". By understanding the
physical aspect of learning we can dramatically improve our ability
both to teach and to learn.
Workshop 1: The SEAL
of Art
Since time immemorial the role
of art has been to communicate. Its aim has been to teach: indeed
it is perhaps one of the most powerful and effective vehicles
for transporting new information into our long-term memory. Many
of those techniques which we now consider to be modern or innovative
have been very much in evidence in art for a very long time.
This session shows how art communicates.
By demonstrating its methodology it shows how art is the ideal
form of whole-brain learning. It shows how the ideas to be found
in Suggestopedia, NLP and Multiple Intelligence Theory, to name
but a few, have been used by artists for centuries.
Our job as teachers is to learn
from the teaching techniques of art and so to enrich our own learning
and teaching.
Workshop 2: Dealing
with Difficult People
It is a sad but inevitable fact
that many of us have people in our lives with whom we would prefer
not to have to live or work. We describe such people as 'difficult'.
This session shows how we all
have a distinct working style and a distinct style in which we
react to other people. It is when we have to deal with people
with differing working styles and personal styles that we consider
those people to be 'difficult' &endash;at the same time, they
probably find us 'difficult'.
This workshop will show you what
the different working and personal styles are. It will teach you
a great deal about yourself and about others and will therefore
give you the confidence to deal with people in a constructive,
positive and harmonious manner.
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