Education consultant, coach and author Rachel Lissy, PhD offered the following brain science observation in her keynote address at The Jewish Education Project’s Annual Yeshiva Day School’s recent Day of Learning. When a student feels unsafe or vulnerable in class, the student’s amygdala – a key structure in the brain's limbic system – shuts down other portions of the brain and diverts calories to the fight, flight, or freeze response. This hampers the activation of the three lead skills in learning: acquisition, processing, and integration. Even if a student is interested in the material or lesson, the amygdala acts as the gatekeeper to initiate the process of learning, or to prevent it. In Jewish studies, it is vital to create the correct environment so that the amygdala facilitates, rather than inhibits, learning.
During an activated amygdala response, the intake of prioritized information – such as how to avoid triggering the amygdala in the future – takes precedence over the acquisition of academic information. The brain stores the information it absorbed while diverting cognitive resources towards emotional regulation rather than academic tasks. When under stress, the brain focuses more on self-preservation and less on realistic recall of the salient material. When it comes to processing and integrating the information, the negative emotional framing increases the effort necessary for a person to move the information from short term to long term memory as well as use it to make connections.
Teachers can create a conducive learning environment by fostering positive emotional experiences, reducing stressors, and promoting a sense of belonging and security. By doing so, they help students optimize the balance between the amygdala's emotional responses and the cognitive processes necessary for effective learning in the classroom.
In a previous blogpost, I shared how creating an environment that includes multiple methods of stimulating curiosity, building confidence, and installing feedback loops reduces the amygdala-induced negative responses. In the Jewish studies classroom, teachers bump into many triggers that activate the intrinsic motivation element of self-preservation, including: having a student read (decoding, interpreting) sacred texts out loud, or the student experiencing invisible bullying by other students or a hearing a hurtful/offensive phrase (such as a teacher asking a student “Are you on drugs?”). These types of triggers can cause the amygdala to react in a way that shuts down learning.
In order to play nicely with the amygdala, a teacher can employ two strategies. First, a core tenet of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) requires the teacher to address barriers – such as a trigger event – before they arise. The implementation of avoiding triggers and cognitive overload for the student involves designing flexible lessons and positive learning environments rather than treating the child as the source of the problem. After determining the goal or destination of each part of a lesson, the teacher figures out what barrier/s would hinder a student from achieving the goal. Then, the teacher embeds strategies, tools, and encouragement to overcome the barrier/s and reach the goal.
Second, a teacher could focus directly on the students’ intrinsic motivations (IM). Autonomy, including self-advocacy, means the student has to master a form of self-awareness to know what might trigger a negative response and how best to proceed once the amygdala triggers a shutdown. Another strategy uses the IM element of relatedness, which encourages peers to help the student move forward through a fight, flight, or freeze response. In these cases, the teacher has previously taught the class how to tap into their own IM when it comes to overcoming the IM of self-preservation. Both strategies employ Jewish ethics as a base to see the student succeed as discussed below.
The one additional idea that makes Jewish studies different from general studies in the above classroom solutions lies in anchoring the work as part of the mission of Judaism. Studying sacred texts, arguing deep ideas, and coming to an understanding of one’s place in God’s universe reinforce two IM elements: significance and purpose. A student expending effort to penetrate a dense part of the Talmud understands that the Talmud is our national inheritance. The student studies the same text as families for generations going back to Sinai. That student stands uniquely at the nexus of now and history. That is significant. Learning the documents has deep and timeless meanings.
In conclusion, the amygdala serves as a crucial bridge between emotions and learning in the classroom. Educators must recognize the impact of emotional states on students' cognitive functions and tailor their teaching strategies to create a positive and supportive learning environment. By understanding and managing the emotional experiences of students, teachers can facilitate a more effective and engaging learning process, harnessing the intricate connection between the amygdala and the classroom experience. In Jewish studies in particular, a teacher facilitates the student’s feeling that they can start to uncover their personal mission from God and create a personal Jewish lens to make meaning of the world.