Letter to Quantum Learning Network
from Quantum Educator and Teacher of the Year, Pam Pedigo

I wanted to share with you that Quantum Learning has been the single most powerful and meaningful repertoire of tools I have ever learned as an educator. Quantum Learning motivates me to give one hundred percent to every minute of my day, and to expect the same from my students. I feel I am a much more effective teacher because I now understand how the brain functions, and which strategies best utilize the brain’s potential. It is not just in the skill lessons, but how we interact with each other that makes such a difference. Because we have a deeper connection, the children allow me to take them places they have never risked to go before.

Quantum Learning is the basis of everything that takes place in my classroom. From character to content, QL is always with us. Our class begins each day by walking into a bright and affirming environment. The students receive a good morning greeting and hug from me as they walk through the door. Not only does this tradition make them feel special, but it also gives me a chance to check their emotional state for the day. Happy music and encouraging posters are the backdrop to their learning stage. Following a spirited dance around the room, our morning traditions conclude with a chant of “If I believe it, I can achieve it!!!” This is only the beginning of a day full of effective teaching and learning strategies that I use as a result of my training in Quantum Learning.

The children are better students because I understand them better. I understand them better because I am a Quantum Learning teacher.

Pam Pedigo
3rd Grade Teacher
Buena Vista Enhanced Option School
Metro Nashville Public Schools

Click here to learn more about becoming a Quantum Educator
http://www.iqln.com/Education/QLN_Education_07.asp

Three Tennessee Teachers Wake Up Students & Surprise the State

Wherever you live, you’re probably familiar with inner city schools. Schools whose students may be underachieving, failing competency exams, or living in high-crime areas. For the last two years, a trio of grade school teachers has sparked a landslide of positive changes in one of these schools as a result of Quantum Learning training they received.

What’s unfolding in the state of Tennessee is a story that will make any educational community wake up and check their own Richter scale on engaged teachers and energized students.

Teachers Thirsting for Fresh, Dynamic Ways to Energize Classrooms
For Ellie Terrell, and Pamela Pedigo, it all started with a glimpse of fellow teacher Kelli Myer’s captivating classroom. The three had in common the Quantum Learning Teacher Training experience, and a commitment to give kids what they deserve.

Ellie, Pamela, and Kelli bring excitement and fun to their 3rd grade classrooms

Quantum Learning is more than just another teaching style; it’s a whole new way of presenting material to a class. It’s a way of getting kids involved in and excited with their own learning.

“Even by third grade, some of them had been told they weren’t worth the bother, that they weren’t going to be successful,” says Kelli Myers. But Quantum Learning is “just so positive and interactive.”

And the difference is dramatic. In the Metro Nashville Public Schools, results in reading, math, science, and social studies are up dramatically. Test results – up! Motivation, self-esteem, classroom behavior – all up!

Percentage of Students Exhibiting Subject Competency
Students in these three classrooms, all from low-income, high-crime areas, had a 98% attendance rate last year.

It’s All About Expectations
So what changes have excited these teachers so much that they’ve taken to touring the state in the summers, video-taping their classrooms, and giving presentations to other schools on staff development days? The Quantum Learning method, which includes:
• Classroom management: Picture children who come in, sit right down, and are ready to learn. Imagine a classroom where the teacher holds students’ undivided attention.
• Trust between students and teachers: Envision students who see their teachers as friends, who listen to their opinions.
• Lack of behavior and self-esteem problems: Imagine a room full of students who are confident and self-assured, who know that they are finding their place in the world.

Bringing a shared experience to the classroom

The Quantum Learning Method Includes a Teaching Cycle:
1. Enroll: Capture the attention of students before beginning work. Ensure that they’re focused and ready to learn.
2. Experience: An extension of the “learn by doing” model; give students an experience or common knowledge on which to build.
3. Learn/Label: Present the core material, expand students’ knowledge.
4. Demonstrate: Allow students to practice their new skill or knowledge.
5. Review/Reflect: Use multiple review strategies to reflect on new content.
6. Celebrate: Reward students for learning achieved.

Bringing Quantum Learning to New Schools
These three teachers have caught the attention of schools and teachers statewide, who come to see Quantum Learning in action. What do visitors learn as they stream through the teachers’ classrooms to experience the learning environment, community atmosphere, and innovative teaching? That if you’re not earning the right to teach by getting into each student’s world, they’re not learning. And the Quantum Learning method gets into students’ worlds.

To help bring the Quantum Learning method to schools, Quantum Learning Network offers Educator Workshops nationwide. Administrators and teachers alike benefit from this five-day course that includes brain-based methods to accelerate student learning and improve classroom management.