Brain-Based Learning and the Reggio Emilia Approach

with Merin Porter, Director of Marketing and Communications
December 2010
Brain-Based Learning and the Reggio Emilia Approach
Picture this: A professor asks a college student to look through a microscope, but doesn’t provide any
additional direction. What’s the first thing the student asks after he peers at the illuminated slide? Wanting
to ensure that he gets “the right answer,” he says to his teacher, “Now, what am I looking for?”
While this linear thinking may have suited the 20th century just fine, success in life and at work in the
ever-changing 21st century requires an entirely different set of skills: the abilities to communicate well,
work collaboratively with others, think creatively and critically, and solve problems. In other words, the
ability to look through the microscope, see all the possibilities and ask “What if?” instead of eliminating the
possibilities in search of the one right answer.
We know due to current research that these are skills preschool-aged children learn through social interaction
with one another and their teacher and through hands-on involvement that allows them to pursue
their interests in the development of knowledge and understanding. Our desire to empower our students
with these abilities is why we began to implement elements of the Reggio approach into our Primary School
in fall 2009.
Whereas the teacher is the main source of knowledge in a traditional classroom, students in a Reggio
classroom have a more active role in the learning process as their contributions, interests and questions
shape instruction—and children and teachers learn from one another. Topics are often explored for a longer
period of time, too.
In addition to developing 21st century skills and dispositions in our students, these educational practices
have been shown to maximize learning and provide optimal impact on the brain. That’s a fairly ambitious
claim, so let me explain. For many years, scientists have known that everything our brain does rests on
connections—complex networks known as synapses that are necessary for mature thought processes to
occur. Although children are born with most of their brain cells already in place, these neurons are not yet
linked into synapses. In fact, many of an adult’s neuron connections are initially formed at an incredible
rate during the first few years of life.
Continued on page 2
What Does the Board Do?
The Role of the Board of Trustees at St. Francis
You probably know that St. Francis operates under the governance
of a board of trustees, but if you’re like most people, you
may not really know how to answer the question, “What does the
board do?” It’s an important query, and one I want to take a few
moments to shine some light on—not only because the board and
its involvement are so vital to the well-being of our school, but also
because our parent community has expressed interest in knowing
more about our board of trustees. To that end, I plan to include
articles in future Point Notes that outline what particular board
committees do and generally give an insiders’ look at what goes
on behind closed doors. For now, though, I want to talk about
the general purpose and responsibilities of St. Francis’ Board of
Trustees.
Since St. Francis is defined as a parish day school and is a mission
of St. Francis Episcopal Church, its facilities are owned by the
Episcopal Diocese of Texas. For this reason, the church’s vestry—a
committee elected by the congregation to administer the temporal
affairs of the parish—charges the board to “govern and hold in
trust, for the present and the future, the integrity of the school.”
The board governs, protects and promotes the school in a variety
of ways:
• It ensures the school’s financial health by approving the
annual operating budget and securing the funds necessary to
finance the operating budget, capital expenditures, building
Continued on page 3

Brain-Based Learning, continued
In his book “The Art of Changing the Brain,” Dr. James Zull
reminds us that “learning is physical,” and that genuine learning
must use all four areas of the cerebral cortex: the sensory cortex, the
temporal integrative cortex, the frontal integrative cortex and the
motor cortex. Respectively, these areas of the brain are engaged by
activities that provide experience, reflection, abstraction and active
testing—and good teaching causes students to use all four of these
cortices. We began implementing the Reggio approach in Primary
School because it engages each of these cerebral areas.
• Experience: During learning, the sensory cortex is engaged
through active, hands-on experiences that stimulate the
senses. Students in the Primary School are constantly
encouraged to touch, taste, feel and smell items related to their
current learning topic, rather than just seeing the teacher use
them or hearing them discussed.
• Reflection: To stimulate the temporal integrative cortex,
children need to be able to connect a topic with prior experiences
and their world. Our teachers achieve this reflection
by documenting children’s expressed interests and using them
as foundations for lessons and discussions. In fact, it’s been
proven that when children learn about something they are
already somewhat familiar with, they are much more likely to
remember the lesson a few months down the road.
• Abstraction: To stimulate the frontal integrative cortex,
children must think deeply about a topic, analyze, hypothesize,
create, predict and synthesize information. In a Reggio
classroom, you will often hear teachers asking students
what they want to know about a particular topic and asking
them how they are going to uncover that information, rather
than always solving the children’s problems for them. In this
way, the students take an extremely active role in the learning
process.
• Active Testing: Finally, to stimulate their motor cortex,
students need to “pull out” what they have learned about a
topic and recreate it in a way they understand. In our Primary
School, they do this through play, movement and dance, music,
drama, and hands-on artistic endeavors such as painting,
drawings, clay and sculpture.
Of course, Reggio is only part of our program. The Primary School
has also chosen to use data-driven assessment tools to guide instruction
and measure growth, along with documentation and portfolio
assessment that are compatible with the Reggio approach. In
addition, our program continues to offer research-based academic
curriculum that includes direct instruction as well as project-based,
student-driven exploration. We feel that, taken together, these
practices are preparing our students for the future by giving them
the confidence to ask the questions, find the answers and take the
acceptable risks that will lead to success in the 21st century.
In the future, there will seldom be only one right answer and rarely
be only one path to a solution. By implementing elements of the
Reggio approach together with “reading, writing and arithmetic,”
our Primary School is teaching students how to brainstorm, how
to come up with new and interesting ideas, and how to confidently
look past obvious truths into the wide world of possibilities.
Christmas at an Episcopal School
Christmas is a beautiful, reverent and joyful time at St. Francis. This year, Father
Bob Wismer will be leading our celebration of the season. He will talk to the
children about the season of Advent, a time of quiet preparation for the coming
of Christ; Christmas, the celebration of his birth; and Epiphany (the 12 days of
Christmas) where the world began to understand the miracle of the baby Jesus.
The emphasis will be on the religious aspects of Christmas—not Santa, snowmen
and reindeer. We will especially focus on the preparatory nature of Advent by
having the children decorate the school—humbly at first and then building as we
progress toward the glory of Christmas.
On the opposite page is a calendar of Christmas events. As always, students in each
grade level will be singing at daytime grade-level concerts. We hold these concerts
during the school day rather than in the evening to create a more intimate
atmosphere and to allow more children the opportunity to share their gifts of song
at Christmas.
In this season of thanks and celebration, the St. Francis faculty, staff and I would
like to express what blessings you and your children are to us. Happy holidays!

The Buzz on the Board
Did you know?
• In general, the St. Francis Board of Trustees
comprises no fewer than 10 and up
to 30 voting members, and the 2010–11
board has 23 members. Each trustee
has one vote, and as a permanent voting
member of the board, the rector appoints
the chair and a vestry member. The head
of school serves as the board’s president,
and other officers include a vice chair, a
secretary and a treasurer, who are chosen
annually by the board.
• Board members are elected for a threeyear
term and may be asked to serve for
up to three consecutive terms. Each officer
is elected for a one-year term, may be
re-elected, and holds the office until his or
her successor is appointed.
• The board of trustees comprises the
rector, the head of school, a vestry representative,
19 elected trustees and one trustee
emeritus.
Board of Trustees, continued
construction costs and scholarship funds. It sets tuition, manages
the Endowment Fund, and oversees all of the school’s fund-raising
activities. Its members also participate in board-approved fundraising
activities, including the donation of individual cash or cashequivalent
contributions to Annual Fund, capital campaigns and
other fund-raising programs.
• It establishes the school’s educational mission and general policies,
and hires the head of school, to whom it grants authority for operating
the school in accordance with board policies.
• It creates organizational structure for the operation of the school,
ensuring a clear delineation of authority and proper reporting procedures
to and from the church and the school.
• It creates and refines the school’s long-term strategic plan, which it
then uses as a guide for future decisions.
• It reviews and monitors yearly matters using standing committees.
These committees include the Executive Committee, the Development
Committee, the Finance Committee, the Investment Committee
and the Committee on Trustees (COT). The board chair
may also appoint ad hoc committees to address certain issues, and
non-trustees may serve on all board committees except the COT,
which is composed solely of trustees. (I’ll talk more about what each
of these committees do in future newsletters.)
Essentially, the board provides objective, third-party oversight, keeping
a careful watch on St. Francis’ organizational, procedural, strategic and
financial health and making decisions that are designed to keep the school
strong, healthy and continually advancing.
Come Celebrate the Holidays with St. Francis!
Please join us as we celebrate the advent season at these 2010 Fine Arts performances and celebrations:
Tuesday, December 7
Joyful Sounds Christmas Concert, Fine Arts Center, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, December 8
Chamber Choir Performs, The Treemont, 10:20 a.m.
Thursday, December 9
Joyful Sounds Performs, Schlumberger Solutions Center Lobby, 3:30 p.m.
Chamber and Varsity Choirs Concert, Fine Arts Center, 7 p.m.
Friday, December 10
Kindergarten Christmas Program, Fine Arts Center, 1:30 p.m.
Friday, December 10–Friday, December 17
Eighth Grade Catch a Rising Star Art Show, People Place and Main Street
Monday, December 13
Fourth Grade Christmas Concert, Fine Arts Center, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 14
Third Grade Christmas Concert, Fine Arts Center, 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 15
Second Grade Christmas Concert, Fine Arts Center, 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, December 16
First Grade Christmas Concert, Fine Arts Center, 1:30 p.m.
Lessons & Carols, Chamber Choir Performs, Church, 6 p.m.
Friday, December 17
Bridge Nativity Play for Parents, Crum Library, 9:30 a.m.

From Standing Mud to Standing Ovation
St. Francis Dedicates Its Athletics Field
Donors, trustees, faculty and friends gathered in the stands on November
30, 2010, to officially dedicate and bless our new field.
“We are now in a position to play both a field hockey game and a football
game on the same day, simultaneously, for the first time!” said Director of
Athletics and P.E. Don Hicks to a clapping crowd.
Other benefits of the improvements include the following:
• Playing surfaces for all outdoor sports are greatly improved.
• Morning and mid-day rain showers now drain quickly so that practices
and games can go on without a hitch.
• The track and field team has the luxury of an improved high jump
area along with a straightaway on the east side that has been graded to
accommodate a three-lane 100-meter track.
• Parents and other supporters enjoy a nice walk to the bleachers, free
of mud and water.
Many thanks to everyone who worked and contributed funds to make
phase one of our field improvement project a reality!
The Rev. Stuart A. Bates, rector, assists
board chair Bill Montgomery with the
offi cial ribbon cutting.
Lacy Williams, Michelle Williams, Laurie
Bilger and Larry Wilkins sip hot chocolate
before the dedication.
St. Francis Spotlight
Greg Urbani, Seventh-Grade History Teacher
Greg Urbani isn’t the business-card
type. A dyed-in-the-wool educator,
he says he really doesn’t understand
why anyone would choose a different
career. “I have been in school in
some capacity for the last 43 years
straight, so it is a part of me,” he
explains. “The thirst for knowledge
and the richness it brings to your
life cannot be measured—I cannot
imagine doing anything else!”
A seventh-grade world history teacher at St. Francis since 2006,
Mr. Urbani brings to his classroom a teaching style pieced together
from the influence of every educator who has ever inspired him.
He credits his high school social studies teachers with making the
biggest impact on his future career choice, which in 21 years has
included every subject that falls within the social studies realm.
From teaching history, government and economics at middle and
high schools in the Galveston and Goose Creek Consolidated
school districts to covering social studies with sixth- through
eighth-graders at St. Mark’s Episcopal School in Houston, he’s
done it all—with a passion.
“There is nothing more satisfying to me than catching hold of an
entire class and realizing that in that moment they are all focused
on your every word,” he remarks enthusiastically. Mr. Urbani says
he wants his students to come to school every day wanting to learn
about history. To this end, he tailors his curriculum to include
all learning styles in order to reach every student. A member and
conference attendee of the Texas and National Councils for the
Social Studies, he has also participated in the Council for Economic
Studies seminar and is trained in Advanced Placement government
and economics, as well as differentiated learning.
After receiving a Sarah W. Woolrich Fund award in 2008, Mr.
Urbani traveled to Italy, a trip that he says “opened my eyes and
changed the way I teach the ancient cultures in our curriculum.”
With a wife who is a history teacher as well, he says the experience
awakened a desire to travel abroad and walk the roads that those in
his books have walked. At home, Mr. Urbani is an ardent cook in
the kitchen and cyclist on the streets, and is an active member of
the NorthWest Cycling Club. He says he is always trying to learn
about new subjects and hopes he will stir his students to do the
same. He concludes: “There are very few quintessential moments
in life, and I hope that somehow I can be a part of their lives in the
present or future decisions that they make.”
Point Notes is published throughout the school year by St. Francis Episcopal Day School (335 Piney Point Rd., Houston, TX 77024,
www.sfedshouston.org). Its purpose is to provide Head of School Dr. Susan B. Lair with a direct communication link to the school‘s
parent community. Produced by the Department of Marketing and Communications.