Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:00]:
L, advocates, to another episode of the Leading Equity Podcast. A podcast that focuses on supporting educators with the tools and resources necessary to ensure equity at their schools. Today's special guest is Tara Bonner. So without further ado, Tara, thank you so much for joining us today.

Tara Bonner [00:00:20]:
Pleasure to be here, Sheldon. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:23]:
Well, you know, we we're gonna get comfortable because we got a few episodes that we're putting together, and we're doing a little series. And so I'm excited for today. We're gonna kinda introduce a lot of this information, and, folks, you you definitely wanna follow along. But before we get into today's conversation, I would love for you to share with us a little bit about yourself and what you currently do.

Tara Bonner [00:00:46]:
Happy to, Sheldon. We are allies. I too have been in the field of education for, all of my career, for over 20 years now. Initially, in various schools, both here in Canada and internationally. These are public schools or private schools, mainstream classrooms, learning resource classrooms, eventually a core math class. So I have been teaching for about 10 years, and frankly just had a hunch that I wasn't making an impact. I knew Eakins if I got my students kind of over the line on a given test or a given skill, I knew the following year that their teachers would be starting all over again, especially those children with learning issues. We see this statistically, right, that they're falling farther and farther behind their peers.

Tara Bonner [00:01:33]:
So it was my own limitations as a teacher that drew me to find something different. And eventually, I found something dramatically different, not just to support students, but to change their lives. So it was an approach that spent less time on modifying curriculum, modifying expectations, but creating changes to the students themselves at a fundamental level. So for the last 15 years, almost, I've been part of an organization called the Aerosmith Program. Not the band, a r r o w, Smith Organization, which is essentially a system of brain or cognitive exercises of technology, of teacher certification processes that uses neuroplasticity to increase students' learning capacity. So we have a flagship school here in Toronto, but we also support schools around the world to integrate cognitive programming into their own communities. So those might be some new terms that I've just introduced, neuroplasticity and cognitive programming, and, of course, that's why we're here together. Our work and others like Aerosmith really fit into the intersection of neuroscience and education, which is commonly referred to as neuroeducation these days.

Tara Bonner [00:02:56]:
So essentially using our understanding of how the human brain works to improve how we learn and teach in school.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:03:04]:
So Aerosmith, not the damn Aerosmith.

Tara Bonner [00:03:07]:
Yeah. Yeah. Afraid not. The founder of of our program, it was her grandmother's name, Aerosmith.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:03:16]:
Okay. Alright. Well, that's fair. I was curious. I'm not gonna lie.

Tara Bonner [00:03:19]:
There's an origin story. Yeah.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:03:20]:
Now and and and and, Tara, you are you are exactly right. I when you said neuroplasticity, I was like, I mean, I I know a little bit about science, and I know a little bit about that. But I would love, you know, because I know about it, but I would love for you to teach our audience that are listening what exactly is neuroplasticity. So we're I'm asking for them, not necessarily for myself.

Tara Bonner [00:03:43]:
Of course. Of course, you are. Of course, you are. So in its simplest terms and let's break it down. Neuroplasticity. So neuro, think the brain, more specifically, the neurons or the nerve cells that really are the building blocks of the brain and of the nervous system. And then plasticity, the term meaning malleable or stretchable or changeable. So neuroplasticity is simply our brain's ability to change.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:04:15]:
Okay. So our brain's ability to change, can that still happen? Because my understanding was, like, once you turn 25, 26, something like that, your brain is fully developed. So is this beneficial to our younger folks or, I mean, as adults, does this happen as well?

Tara Bonner [00:04:31]:
So, Sheldon, old dogs can absolutely learn new tricks. Okay. So let's, for sure, first of all, recognize that neuroplasticity, our brains are changeable, are stretchable throughout our lifetime. And you're absolutely right. For, a long time, it was thought that there was this moment where, where our brains no longer change. But I if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take even a step back a little bit because even this idea, that our brains can change is a relatively new concept in, you know, scientifically and certainly in the educational context. I mean, really for 100 and 100 of years, it was believed science understood that the brain was fixed, was kind of hardwired. Think of it as a box and it could be filled with knowledge or content, and it had its own limitation.

Tara Bonner [00:05:25]:
And this was really understood to be the case for a long time, and I'd love to explore the implications of that fixed view in our educational system. Because it's only been a couple of decades, really in the 19 sixties, where there started to be experiments with animals initially in laboratories showing that if they were trained a certain way, then they performed better in certain mazes. And in fact, their brains were changing. There was structural and physiological changes to their brains after really specialized training. So that's really where where this idea began of leveraging it for, human benefit. The the so the concept of neuroplasticity is relatively new, but the more we come to understand about how our brains operate, the more we can understand its capacity to change. And you're right, Sheldon. Even the understanding that, for example, young children had more plastic plastic brains than olders, that's really shifted, probably only in the last maybe, decade or so because science again has taught us and we've had people in their eighties who have benefited from our, particular approach.

Tara Bonner [00:06:47]:
So, certainly, you do not have to, tolerate, or endure, the parts of, of of your life that you think you are just are or are not a math person or you do or don't have a good memory, it's absolutely possible to change your brain's capacity for the better.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:07:08]:
So if I'm hearing this correctly, the idea that your brain is fully developed at 25, 26, somewhere around there, that's a myth. Is that what I'm hearing?

Tara Bonner [00:07:19]:
Absolutely. Absolutely, it is. It's it's fair to say that the brain is most plastic Okay. The younger we are. It's fair to say.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:07:28]:
Mhmm.

Tara Bonner [00:07:28]:
But I would say that the primary factor in meaningful, measurable cognitive change is not the age of the brain. It's the active engagement of the brain. So there are some core principles of neuroplasticity, some core conditions that if they're in place, that's the most you have the best chance, for your brain to become stronger, more capable, and it's not necessarily age. It's really the willingness, the ability, the motivation, and, of course, the task itself has to follow certain criteria. But, certainly, the the possibility for throughout our lifetime to benefit from cognitive change is is possible.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:08:16]:
So it's like flexing your muscle. Right? I I I'd like to go to the

Tara Bonner [00:08:20]:
gym right now. Analogy. Yeah. I mean, you you you work out, Sheldon, so So you know this. Because I'd

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:08:25]:
be in there. I'd be in the gym. So so the it's you're getting those reps in. You do a few sets of of go ahead.

Tara Bonner [00:08:33]:
It's all reps. It's absolutely I mean, just like a bodybuilder who works out at the gym, they're they they have to commit. You know? If they go once a month, there's not gonna be any benefit. So there's absolutely that's one of that that active engagement. Sustained engagement is a key quality of neuroplasticity, but it's the same concept. Absolutely. You focus on, you focus on your body to become stronger, to become leaner, to become, more responsive, so too can your brain through targeted exercise. Now the only benefit or particular benefit to cognitive training, brain training so I'm gonna use the term cognitive.

Tara Bonner [00:09:13]:
I'm referring really to the brain here. The benefit to cognitive training over, physical training is the brain is better than a muscle. Because once it's strong, it it goes to its own maintenance program through everyday intellectual activity. So we it really does have interesting implications for our brain health, our body health. It's the same principles. And as long as we are constantly exposing ourselves to new and novel brain exercise, you have an opportunity to really, improve your functioning. And also interesting benefit to compared to building our body, you would know this, that you can't actually target a particular muscle. You may be able to target, a group.

Tara Bonner [00:10:01]:
It could be leg day for you today, Sheldon. But in fact, the brain can, undergo really distinct, and different what's called differentiated stimulation. So stimulating a really specific part of the brain responsible for a certain type of memory or responsible for a certain type of attention or a certain type of auditory processing and target and stimulate and strengthen really specific cognitive functions.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:10:28]:
But you can't target so the question I was gonna ask because I it was on my mind. I was like, okay, man. This is great. Like, can this improve someone's emotional intelligence? Can this improve someone's IQ in general? Like, what it says that you can't target things? I wanna make sure I'm clear on

Tara Bonner [00:10:44]:
You absolutely can. You raised 2 great domains that I would love to explore. Emotional L. Absolutely. I mean, we really see there are a number of cognitive functions, so different parts of our brain that can and have been improved through cognitive function. In our work, we have up to 19 different cognitive exercises. There may, there's definitely other cognitive functions out there, but ours is particularly focused on those that most impact learning academic, vocational, and social Eakins. And absolutely, there's a part of our brain right here in our prefrontal lobe that's responsible for perceiving and interpreting our nonverbal world, and it has a huge role in making connections with other people, in understanding our own emotions, in regulating our emotions, in making kind of common sense, making choices based on our surroundings, and it's a cognitive function.

Tara Bonner [00:11:44]:
It's not I mean, it can be a skill that can be acquired, but until or unless you have a cognitive ability to access that skill, to use that skill, then there may be some opportunity for for growth. So emotional intelligence is a huge area of of possibility. IQ is an interesting one. I mean, I don't want to make this too political, a podcast, Sheldon. But, you

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:12:10]:
know It's my show. It's my show. You can say whatever you want

Tara Bonner [00:12:12]:
to do. Let's go. I mean, I will say that, as I said, for 100 of years, it was believed that the brain was fixed. Right?

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:12:20]:
Mhmm.

Tara Bonner [00:12:21]:
And, truly, our educational system, as we know it still today, is was based is based on that construct. It's based on this idea that you have to, that there's an expectation that children either can or can't. Right? And they're put in these paths based on that identification. It totally made sense at the time. We thought that the brain was fixed. And, of course, the educational system as we know it, it it was born out of the industrial revolution where we had to really quickly educate a whole lot of people because we needed workers. Right? So we just educated the masses really quickly, but the same social, economic, racial, gendered hierarchies of our past were literally built into that educational system and intellectual hierarchy too. Right? Standardized testing and tracking systems that were designed to figure out who's gonna be the manager in these new factories and who are gonna be the order takers.

Tara Bonner [00:13:26]:
So the whole concept of education was built on this system that not only our brains were fixed and permanent and, you know, the brain that we're born with is the brain that we'll have forever, but that if you could, you'll always be able to, and if you can't, you'll never be able to. And the entire system of organization relying on, sorry, of education relying on things like rote memorization or the categorization of students based on their perceived abilities or ability grouping. So, I mean, again, those of us can remember still happening today, but we remember that we're putting, you know, the fast track group or the slow group, the the academic group or the vocational group based on these IQ tests, for example. And ironically, the the founder of IQ tests, Alfred Binet, he cautioned us. You know, this was 100 years ago. Don't use his IQ methods to kind of serve as any singular definition of someone's intelligence because I mean, don't feed into that narrative that your L, that this score on this particular test means anything, and it's certainly not fixed. I mean, never mind, and this is your podcast, but never mind the whole, you know, the massive cultural biases that IQ tests perpetuate, and maybe that's a whole other podcast. But even the idea that that one's capacity, one's intelligence, one's cognitive capacity is permanent, it shaped all the foundational aspects of education today as we know it.

Tara Bonner [00:15:05]:
And I'm more than sympathetic to our, forefathers and mothers because we didn't have the tools or the knowledge to correct that belief. So it continued, you know, for generations that the brain can't be changed, so you have to change everything around the learner. Or, I mean, maybe give up on the learner entirely. Right? So we really are, you know, relatively new in this in this field, in this world of of informing our education from our science because the more we understand how it is we learn and how our brain is involved in every aspect of our lives, our learning, our actions, our reactions, we can understand ourselves and each other better, but we can also start to integrate some of these neuroscientific principles into into our core curriculum.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:15:56]:
You know, ironically, I'm listening to you saying this stuff about change and you talk about how the brain Before, we thought, you know, like you said, old dogs can't learn new tricks. But as research and technology continues to increase, we can see that a lot of things that we we believed, a lot of things that we thought was true is we're we're discovering that there's there's so much out there that we we still need to tap into. So I I appreciate this. Okay. I have a question because you mentioned I okay. So I'll say this. I'm you I used to tell my kids. I say, if you got anything related to English, anything related to history, for your homework, any of those things, I got you.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:16:40]:
Like, I I'll help you out. Like, we we talk about English and history all day. But any math questions, don't come to me. Mhmm. Alright? I can do some multiplication up to you know, I know my timetables. But outside of that, I can't help you. Now now early on in our conversation, you mentioned if you say that you're not a math person, we have some resources or some support for you. What did you mean by that?

Tara Bonner [00:17:04]:
So I will say there's 2 elements to that, Sheldon. There's one is you must reject the notion. Reject that mentality. Say to your kids, I'm sorry, folks. It's not the case that I can't do math. It's that I can't do math yet. That whole growth mindset. Right? That whole idea that it it's hard, but it's not impossible.

Tara Bonner [00:17:32]:
So even the concept or construct of recognizing it it is a possible area of capacity of ability for you, you really want to start to embrace that that that growth mindset. Carol Dweck is great here. I I know a lot of schools have done a really good job at integrating growth mindset. But even that is a mindset. It's not necessarily I mean, there has been there has been some suggestion that that's changing the brain on a physiological basis, but it's a mindset. The other thing is to keep in mind is that the reason why you don't feel yet that math is a core strength of yours, first of all, is because it's hard. Math is hard. And math is using a network of very specific brain areas.

Tara Bonner [00:18:25]:
And if those brain areas Eakins mildly or even slightly underperforming, then the math world is going to feel more challenging for you. And that makes sense. All of us walk around with various cognitive strengths and weaknesses, And it totally makes sense that we're drawn to certain things and we avoid certain things. Absolutely. It's what makes us unique. What's makes us who we are is our unique cognitive makeup. But there's another element to that, and it's that our cognitive makeup can be enhanced. It can be improved.

Tara Bonner [00:18:57]:
So I think there's 2 strategies, 2 areas of, of take home messages there for you, for your kids, and for all educators is one, it's it's that our unique cognitive makeup is causing or contributing to our own self-concept of what we can and can't do, and that it's only limited by where we are right now because you can absolutely invest. And it is an investment, considerable investment of time. We can talk about, you know, what it takes to change your brain because it's not just like going to the gym. It's not gonna happen overnight.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:19:37]:
Right.

Tara Bonner [00:19:37]:
But with key resources, neuroplastic resources, you can absolutely change your capacity to learn mathematics.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:19:46]:
Can you give me an example? Maybe a story behind that. Maybe you're someone you've worked with that math they they they had the same you know, they didn't have the growth mindset as you you called me. I appreciate you for calling me out on that

Tara Bonner [00:20:00]:
because I was like No. That's fine.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:20:02]:
Not yet. You're right. I mean, that is one way to look at it, and and I didn't approach it that way. I just you know, in the United States, I would say this, I I have a friend that was an assistant principal and she said she went to China and, it was very simple. Like, I think her son was was working out there. And so she goes to China and she goes to the factory where her son is working. He's he's he's doing things. And literally any any factory worker, anybody in that place, they could ask an algebra question, and they could answer it no problem.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:20:34]:
Right? And it's and it's like the idea of I'm not a math person is very common and even acceptable in the United States, but out maybe North America. And I because I don't know how it is in Canada, but at least in the US, it's like that. Like, people will tell you, oh, I don't like math. I'm not a math person. They'll say that stuff all the time, and it's acceptable. Well, here I am saying, yeah. I'm not a math person, but I love how you brought up. No.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:21:00]:
You're not a math person yet. And so that's my own, I guess, bias that I need to that I I'm glad you brought it up because you're you're absolutely right. It's it's just not yet.

Tara Bonner [00:21:10]:
We can be forgiven because we've spent, again, generations upon generations. It's it's systemic. This idea that we define our somewhat either someone else defines us or we define L, and we get comfortable in that for better or for worse. You know? And and you know as an educator, you you look in your class and you see, okay, that's the leader. I can rely on them for this, that, the other. And that person, well, they're gonna need help all year, so I'm gonna pair them with a more capable child. We we do it all the time. It's it's what makes us human.

Tara Bonner [00:21:46]:
It's part of our biology is to identify self identify, to identify like, bodies. So it's really hard to shift that mindset, and then, of course, to shift the brain. That's the other, piece of it. And I'd love to give you an example. As I said, I was a math teacher in a school that offered cognitive programming. So these were students who initially were in my math class, some with complex learning difficulties. And, of course, I was expected to teach key aspects of math curriculum. And fractions was always the area of it was like the litmus test because I had children who had key capacity in baseline calculation.

Tara Bonner [00:22:41]:
You know, they could add, they could subtract, they see they could memorize a particular pattern or they could memorize even a procedure, but then fractions revealed L, that house of cards would fall apart because we were presented with 1 half being bigger than 1 third. And how can 1 half be bigger than a third because 2 is smaller than 3? There's a cons it's it's a conceptual relationship. There's a relationship between the numerator and the denominator, and there's a relationship from one fraction to other to another. So it's not about calculation. It's not about a procedure. It's about conceptual understanding. That's a very specific cognitive function. There's there's the light bulb in our head that goes off when we understand something.

Tara Bonner [00:23:32]:
And if that's weak, even mildly, it takes us more time and more energy to understand for the light bulb to go off. So Sheldon in this particular school, in my particular class, they all had a weakness essentially in that cognitive function, in in their light bulb. And I would do whatever I could, stand on my head to have them recognize what is a fraction. Not how to memorize it, not how to calculate it, but how conceptually to understand it. And of course, that's where manipulatives become very useful. Right? That's where, Kit Kat bars were great because I could teach quarters and halves and wholes, and I gained £15 every second because we we you know, it whatever I could do, that's that's the martyr to me, of course, in the spirit of

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:24:27]:
Sacrifice yourself for that. Yes. Exactly.

Tara Bonner [00:24:30]:
I have to. So, and you could see you know, their tongues would come out. They're really trying, but it was such a fragile understanding. And it and it only would happen if they had something to hold or look at. It was really never a conceptual understanding. It was always a visual or memorized. But outside of my class, they were working on cognitive programs, brain exercises, literally exercises that target and stimulate that specific cognitive function. And after several months, they'd spend about 30 minutes a day every day across the course of the year.

Tara Bonner [00:25:10]:
And at some point, they would come into my classroom and I'd introduce or I'd reintroduce a fraction. And they'd say, yeah. Okay. I get it. No. No. I'm good. I'm good.

Tara Bonner [00:25:22]:
They didn't need the blocks. They didn't need the manipulatives. They didn't need the Kit Kat bars. They didn't even need me. I mean, my role as a teacher became very different. I was no longer teaching to them. I was providing material. I was facilitating or coaching, cheerleading, maybe correcting, but I wasn't doing the thinking for them because they were changing their brain.

Tara Bonner [00:25:48]:
So it so going back to this idea, rather than changing the curriculum or everything around the learner, they were changing their core capacity to learn. So I I have a particular, I think, warmth in my heart for those who, for whom math, you know, that's almost a phobia. Yeah. And and and ultimately, it is because the more we are convinced that we can't do something, ultimately, it's true. We can't. Because until we have a growth mindset and then Eakins more powerfully, we change the core capacities, the parts of our brain that are responsible for making sense of mathematics, for making sense of nuances of of language or of science, then it will become challenging. So it's not making the material easy or easier but changing the brain's capacity for learning to become more efficient, to become easier.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:26:45]:
Now would you recommend this from a full group situation? So like you said, as a whole, the majority of your class is struggling or having a hard time gaining the concepts of fractions, for example. I get maybe reteaching and kinda changing things. L let's say you're talking about a multi tiered system maybe, where you have smaller group settings and and and kids that might get pulled out or something or special ed. I know we'll talk about disabilities in in our next but I'm just curious. Is this work that we should be trying to do with students 1 on 1 or should we be practicing this in larger spaces? What are your thoughts?

Tara Bonner [00:27:25]:
Absolutely in group settings. Certainly, our program is designed to be 10 to 1, a typical ratio, but we certainly have students working on the same exercises in a much, much larger group. So the class the classroom teacher learns how to facilitate a particular brain exercise and their whole class is participating in that brain exercise. Because what's what schools are recognizing these days, it's interesting because our Aerosmith's let's call it our origin story. I mean, initially, we were primarily supporting individuals with learning difficulties, sometimes complex learning disabilities. And they were spending multiple sessions a day in these cognitive exercises. And this still remains the most comprehensive way to address learning difficulties. And certainly, children are de identified as having a learning disability if they are working on multiple cognitive functions.

Tara Bonner [00:28:25]:
But something has been shifting, I think, again, in education lately, partly, inclusive models. So schools are less comfortable with having students withdraw from their mainstream class. But there's also this recognition that we all have brains, that we all deserve to have the strongest brain possible. I mean, that's the real a colleague of mine says that's the real equalizer in education is the brain. So there's schools these days that use our program in their mainstream classes. So these are this is a mainstream class, a 7th grade class or a 3rd grade class and every day for 30 minutes a day, they're doing a brain exercise. And that brain exercise might be, related to their executive function, it might be related to, to the comprehension, conceptual reasoning, the one I mentioned earlier in math class, because that allows all students to create capacity. And it's kind of an interesting time.

Tara Bonner [00:29:38]:
I saw you had some, guests earlier this month talking about 21st century learning and 21st century skills and you mentioned earlier in our chat about all the advances in our digital space and AI. And there's some very interesting conversations happening right now in education. How are we going to prepare our learners for a workforce that doesn't even exist yet. You know, it's it we don't know what skills and knowledge our students are going to need. The only thing that we can give them and what this program and programs like this can give them is the capacity, a stronger brain to be able to face whatever weird and wonderful future lies ahead and to be able to participate actively in it. So some schools use our program to ready they're kind of what they're describing is future proofing their students. All students working on cognitive exercises to prepare them for the future. So as I said, some schools are still having students come out of their academic classes or their mainstream classes, particularly those with learning difficulties to, to overcome, to address their learning difficulties.

Tara Bonner [00:30:56]:
But other schools are seeing this as a as a school wide opportunity to to really level the playing field and to have their kids ready for whatever lies ahead.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:31:09]:
Wow. Well, you know, I'm very hopeful right now. You you've you're you're encouraging. This conversation has been very positive. You know? Typically, when you hear conversations especially around students with learning difficulties, you know, it's, oh, oh, bless you. Oh, that's tough. Oh, so I feel sorry for those kids. But everything that you've said today has been very, very uplifting.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:31:32]:
You know? And and so that to me shows that there's a lot of hope and that there's there's there's so much out there that we just haven't tapped into.

Tara Bonner [00:31:42]:
People have said, you know, why if this if this is possible, why isn't my kid, doing a brain exercise every day? Like, what's taking so long for this to happen? And you know what? To be perfectly honest, Sheldon, sometimes I think, yeah, you're right. Why why is it taking so long? But then I'm reminded, this is so different. As I said earlier, it's so different from how education was created those 100 of years ago. And I think we we're asking for systemic change. We're asking for not just educators, because I speak to educators every week and this makes sense to them. It only makes sense to them. Of course, they recognize that giving their students a foundational, fundamental capacity to learn and then introduce them to academic skills and learning makes a lot of sense. So it's not the educators that that for whom this is taking some time, it's the system itself.

Tara Bonner [00:32:40]:
And that we recognize is going to take time and it's happening. I mean, the seeds are being planted and and this is happening in in schools around the world. So thank you for reminding me that it's worth being being optimistic and and hopeful that, that we've really only just begun.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:32:58]:
Only just begun. So just a few takeaways from today, and I've learned a lot already, and and and I again thank you for your time and I look forward to our future conversations. But one of the biggest a few of the takeaways that I have from today was 1, the myth there's a myth that your brain stops its fully at its full capacity rather in your early twenties mid twenties. Right? So that that was debunked and I'm glad that there's research that supports that. And at the end of the day, another takeaway for me was our brains can constantly learn and grow, but we had to practice and we had to utilize it and and keep it active. And then the final thing, I guess, takeaway from this is, it's more of the mindset. It's Eakins of what I'm getting is, like, depending on where we're at, like, let's say we feel like we can't do something. We're not a math person, for example.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:33:51]:
It's more of a mindset function as opposed to something that it can be overcome, but again, it takes practice. So though these are all tools and and takeaways. If we were to to sum it all up and and wrap things up for today's conversation, I I'd love for you to maybe take our audience home with any final words of advice.

Tara Bonner [00:34:13]:
I would encourage them as I did to recognize our students through a cognitive lens. And when I say that, to be open minded and to be curious about what parts of their brain may be contributing to their reality, to their learning struggles, to their behaviors, to their quirks and personalities. Because I think too often, we label ourselves and we label others and it limits our understanding and it limits their potential. So, I really would encourage my colleagues, my peers in education to be curious about what may lie underneath those labels, those diagnoses, and even those personality traits or quirks. There's something within all of us, our brains, that are shaping who we are and how we participate in the world. So that would be my advice is to be curious about how our brains are contributing to our reality.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:35:25]:
You're curious about how our brains are contributing. I like that. And and that's that's a great way to close out for today's session. If we have some folks that wanna connect with you, what's the best way to reach you online?

Tara Bonner [00:35:37]:
Sure. Well, my, email address is my first initial and my last name. So [email protected]. Remember, Aerosmith is not the band. It's arrowsmith.ca. Our website, Arrowsmith, is also a terrific resource for educators particularly curious about neuroplasticity, about cognitive profiles. There's a questionnaire that's, free to use. It's a tool to get teachers really thinking, as I said, through that cognitive lens to be thinking about how is my how are my students responding or reacting in certain scenarios.

Tara Bonner [00:36:23]:
So that's the best way to connect with me and and our work.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:36:27]:
There you have it, folks. You gotta tune in next week. We'll be talking more into disabilities. We'll have a whole conversation about that and and connecting that with neuroplasticity neuroplasticity. And we'll be talking about all of that. Tara, it has been a pleasure and honor. Thank you so much for your time.

Tara Bonner [00:36:44]:
Good. Really enjoyed it. Thanks, Sheldon.

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