Book: The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion

Sarah Rose Cavanagh works through different dimensions of emotion and how they impact learning and therefore teaching and the classroom.  Her big takeaway is to involve our students emotionally in order for them to learn better and persist, stay motivated, and not give (too much) into negative emotions. She reminds us that emotion and cognition are intertwined and connected in our brains (not in separate regions as some folks believe), and that emotions are needed to make quick decisions (think back to Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow), so we as teachers need to be able to recognize student emotions, make sure we have tools to generate positive emotions and handle negative emotions.

If learning is paired with positive emotions, students will believe they are more successful - which may not lead to more learning but will lead to greater willingness to stay engaged with content and that should lead to more learning.  However, positive emotion does not equal entertainment.

The following are some quick notes about each of the chapters, with a couple of resources:  

1. The science and neuroscience of your emotions
   emotions guide our thinking and cannot be separated out from what we consider rational
2. The Wellspring:  emotions enhance learning
   emotions connected to how well we focus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo)
   emotions maximize working memory potential and memory consolidation:  the more memorable the circumstance, the more likely you remember the content- surprise
   emotional contagion:  emotions can be contagious, affective crossover
   Why we hold hands tedtalk:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UMHUPPQ96c
3. Be the Spark. Craft your first and lasting impression:. Active and enthusiastic. Take care of yourself; be mindful and aware of yourself, emotionally authentic; humor relevant to course, confidence and optimism, inclusive pronouns - we learn together
   Flook article Mind brain and education 7(3) 182-95
4. Burning to Master:  make your content relevant, engaging, creating curiosity and confusion, pushing students carefully out of their content comfort zones
5. Fueling the Fire. Prolonging Student Persistence - give students some choices for their assignments as that kind of empowerment will give greater buy-in into their learning; goal setting are also important to foster growth mindset
6. Best-Laid plans. When emotions challenge or backfire. Negative emotions taking over because of anxiety, esp on tests and other high stakes assignment - clarity, transparency
   power struggle - students want to not do the work, so will challenge esp when authority is perceived as not that strong - be transparent, respectful, engaged.  Social loafing

Her conclusion highlights the key ideas (starting on page 212):

1. "Choosing activities, readings, and assignments that are interesting, self-relevant, emotionally evocative, and/or deeply relevant to the future careers of students may be the most powerful organizing principle you have as a teacher" (212). 
Where do you see this in the classes you teach?  Take a moment and identify three moments in your class where you are carefully building into the class these kinds of activities, readings, or assignments.  What do you find?

2. "Practicing full transparency will yield benefits in motivation, heighten student perception of your supportiveness and honesty, decrease student anxiety, and alleviate psychological reactance" (213).
Think back to a moment where your transparency helped your students relax into the content, learn better, and engage more fully with potentially adverse or difficult ideas and concepts.

3. "Teaching is a performance profession, so hone your performance:  transmit confidence, curiosity, optimism, and immediacy in your verbal and nonverbal performance" (213).
How do you practice performance?  Do you stand in front of the mirror for practice?  Do you mark in your lesson plan moments of performance?  Do you reflect on your course and identify moments of performance?