"Sit and Get" Won't Grow Dendrites: 20 Professional Learning Strategies That Engage the Adult Brain

"Marcia brings the same enthusiasm she has for working with adults to writing for adults. This is a book all trainers could benefit from, study, and keep accessible in their tool chest."
Stephanie Hirsh, Deputy Executive Director
National Staff Development Council

Actively engage teachers, rekindle their passion for teaching, and take advantage of the ways the brain learns best!

Research and experience prove that students learn better when teachers use brain-based strategies. The same is true with adult learners. However, the very strategies that are recommended for teachers to use in instructing students are seldom reflected in staff development workshops.

"Sit and Get" Won′t Grow Dendrites draws on the latest research in brain-based learning, differentiated instruction, multiple intelligences, and adult learning to provide strategies that not only motivate adult learners but also increase understanding and long-term retention. Author Marcia Tate defines each strategy, explains its theoretical framework in easy-to-understand language, provides multiple professional learning activities that staff developers can incorporate immediately, and includes a guided reflection and application section.

Designed for easy implementation, this practical handbook includes:

• An overview of adult learning theory
• More than 150 professional learning activities
• Several sample professional learning designs
• Opportunities to reflect on and apply the presented strategies

Supported by both learning-style theory and brain research, Tate′s strategies enable all staff development professionals to plan and deliver powerful, memorable presentations that improve teaching practices and increase academic achievement.

This indispensable staff development resource is suitable for anyone who teaches adults, including staff developers, trainers, principals, teacher leaders, and educational consultants.

Marcia L. Tate, EdD, is the former executive director of professional development for the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, Georgia. During her thirty-year career with the district, she has been a classroom teacher, reading specialist, language arts coordinator, and staff development executive director.

Marcia is currently an educational consultant and has taught over 500,000 administrators, teachers, parents, and business and community leaders throughout the world. She is the author of the eight books in the best-selling Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites series and four additional books: Formative Assessment in a Brain-Compatible Classroom: How Do We Really Know They’re Learning?, 100 Brain-Friendly Lessons for Unforgettable Teaching and Learning K–8, and 100 Brain-Friendly Lessons for Unforgettable Teaching and Learning 9–12, and her latest book, Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms that is designed to address both the personal and professional lives of all educators. Participants in her workshops refer to them as some of the best ones they have ever experienced since Marcia uses the twenty strategies outlined in her books to actively engage her audiences.

Marcia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her master’s degree in remedial reading from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, her specialist degree in educational leadership from Georgia State University, and her doctorate in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University.

Marcia is married to Tyrone Tate and is the proud mother of three children: Jennifer, Jessica, and Christopher, and nine grandchildren: Christian, Aidan, Maxwell, Aaron, Roman, Shiloh, Aya, Noah, and Alyssa.

Marcia and her husband own the company Developing Minds, Inc. and can be contacted by calling the company at (770) 918-5039, emailing her at marciata@ bellsouth.net, or by visiting her website at www.developingmindsinc.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @DrMarciaTate.