Brains, Brains, and more brains.

Essay on the NHLP and Brain Functions:

Summary on NHLP

A few months ago I had no idea what I was doing in college. I was unorganized. I was constantly losing notes and handouts form my professors. My grades were already starting to slip. All of this happened for at least three weeks, until my English professor showed the class a Power Point about the learning process, that was researched by Dr. Rita Smilkstein. After class, everything finally clicked. I was organized. I was able to keep track of all of my notes and handouts. My grades started getting better. Now, I’m doing so much better than at the beginning of the semester.

According to the research done by Dr. Rita Smilkstein, humans learn in a series of 6 steps. The 6 steps are motivation, starting to practice, advanced practice, skillfulness, refinement, and mastery. Each person goes through this process to achieve their goal (Smilkstein). The first step is motivation. Motivation is a force or influence that causes someone to do something (Merriam-webster.com). The motivation to do something comes from many reasons, such as protection, the person had to, the person was inspired, wanting to break a record, by watching, by being shown, or just having the interest to do it (Smilkstein). After choosing what it was that motivated the person they started practicing. When they started to practice the person asked questions, they practiced, and they went through trial & error stages, until they got better (Smilkstein). After they got a little better, the person moves on to advanced practice. During the stage of advanced practice the person practiced some more, went to lessons, read about their goal, and they started gaining confidence (Smilkstein). After lots of advanced practice, the person has reached the stage of Skillfulness. At this stage the person has achieved some success on what they are doing. They have also started enjoying their goal, and have started sharing their process with other people (Smilkstein). The fifth stage is Refinement. During the stage of refinement the person has improved greatly, it has become a natural thing for them, it pleases the person, and the person can start getting creative (Smilkstein). The final step is Mastery. In this step the person has reached the maximum potential of their goal. They have begun to teach others their goal, have recognized that they have reached their maximum potential, and have started setting themselves higher challenges with their goal (Smilkstein). Although they have become incredibly talented with their end goal, there are still ways that a person can expand on their goal. Whether it is practicing, practicing, and more practice, helping others, or just tweaking, the person has accomplished whatever it was they set out to do and can know enjoy a new goal or the fine tuning of the goal or goals they have already picked.

I used this process, created by Dr. Smilkstein, when I decided I wanted to learn how to cook. I got the motivation to start cooking because my mom decided she wanted to go back to school and get a nursing degree. I started making things that she had made. I practiced with those recipes for a while. After a while I started making more difficult meals. I’m still practicing with those difficult meals. I believe it will take me a while to cook skillfully, start refining the skills I have learned, and reach the mastery level.

In the brain there are billions of cells at are called neurons. Neurons grow just like trees do. Axons are like the tree trunk. The axons are attached to the neurons. The axon terminals are like the roots of a tree. They send electromagnetic messages to other neurons. The myelin sheath is like the bark of the tree. It provides protection. The dendrites are like the tree branches. The soma, which is the cell body, is like the heartwood of a tree (Smilkstein Ch. 3).

Synaptic firing causes dendrites to grow. Synaptic firing and the firing of spark plugs are similar. Emotions can affect our ability to learn.

Works Cited

Landsburger, John. “page title.” Study guides and strategies. Date (12 May 2012)? Internet or Web. 23 Feb 2016. < URL>

Merriam-webster.com

Smilkstein, Rita. We're Born to Learn: Using the Brain's Natural Learning Process to Create Today's Curriculum, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Corwin, 2011.