From Overload to Engagement: Shifting Focus to How the Brain Learns
From Overload to Engagement: Shifting Focus to How the Brain Learns
-Nicole Teyechea, PhD
As educators, we’ve all felt the pressure to cover every inch of content while ensuring students meet academic and language expectations. Yet, how often do we pause to consider how students—especially English Learners—process and engage with what we’re teaching? The challenge is not just in teaching content or language, but in teaching in a way that connects with how the brain learns best.
When we focus solely on delivering content, we risk overwhelming students. This is especially true for English Learners, who are not only absorbing new concepts but also navigating the complexities of academic language. The result? Disengagement, surface-level understanding, and missed opportunities for meaningful learning.
What if we shifted our perspective? Instead of asking how much we can teach, we ask: How can we help students think, process, and apply what they learn in ways that stick? This question has led me to a framework that prioritizes the brain’s natural processes while supporting both academic and language development. It’s called TWRLS.
TWRLS stands for Thinking, Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking. These five processes aren’t just isolated skills—they’re interconnected pathways through which the brain engages with and retains information. By weaving these processes into our lessons, we can create opportunities for students to actively interact with content and build the language skills they need to succeed.
Why TWRLS Is a Scaffold
TWRLS serves as a scaffold for engaging students, especially English learners because it provides a structured, step-by-step approach that supports learners as they engage with complex content. Each component builds on the others, creating a framework that guides both teachers and students through the learning process. Here’s how it works:
Thinking: Encourages students to make connections between prior knowledge and new information, providing a cognitive anchor for learning. This scaffolds their ability to process and organize ideas outlined in the standards.
Writing: Writing: Clarifies and organizes students' thoughts, reinforces content knowledge, and allows them to practice language skills while demonstrating progress and identifying areas of need—a valuable data point for teachers.
Reading: Exposes students to academic language and context, providing a scaffolded opportunity to decode and comprehend complex texts.
Listening: Builds auditory processing and comprehension, allowing students to learn from others and develop language fluency in a supportive environment.
Speaking: Encourages verbal rehearsal and discussion, scaffolding students’ confidence and ability to articulate ideas in real-time.
By integrating these processes into lessons, teachers provide multiple entry points for students to engage with content, ensuring that both academic and language development occur simultaneously. TWRLS also makes learning visible, helping students see their progress and build confidence.
A Learning Journey, Not a Race
Rather than focusing on overwhelming students with information, TWRLS encourages us to engage them in a learning journey. Imagine starting a lesson with an open-ended question that sparks curiosity, moving into an activity that requires students to organize their thoughts, and then guiding them to articulate their ideas through discussion or writing. With TWRLS, every step is intentional, reinforcing both content and language in a way that makes learning visible.
The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. It’s not about adding more to your plate; it’s about refining what you already do to maximize impact. By focusing on how students learn best, we create classrooms that are not only more effective but also more inspiring for both teachers and students.
