How do you teach students when They just don’t make sense?

For some students, language is a struggle.

What they say doesn’t make sense. What they write doesn’t make sense. They don’t always make sense of what they hear or read either.

They're in a It’s SO HARD to be them. And it’s SO HARD to teach them!

WHY?

They haven’t figured out that the Key to language is patterns.

All languages are based on patterns. We recognize words, different kinds of sentences, and longer "chunks" of language because they follow predictable patterns.

Here's the problem:

The patterns of language are invisible.

Most children figure out the organizing patterns of language intuitively, but some don’t. For students who have trouble deciphering language patterns, it can feel like everyone got the secret decoder ring except for them. So...

They get lost taking information in.

They might recognize the words when listening or reading, but they hit a wall when it comes to making sense of the message. In an instant, they feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed.

Their ideas stay stuck in their head or get all jumbled up when they come out.

A common complaint of students is “I have ideas. Tons of them! I just don’t know how to organize them and get them out." It’s so frustrating!

Lost in a muddle, their learning comes to a screeching halt.

There is a solution:

Make the invisible Visible.

When students can SEE how to organize their ideas in patterns, their ability to make sense and learn skyrockets.

Brain frames to the rescue!

Brain Frames make the invisible visible. They are a set of visual tools that organize language according to the six fundamental patterns we use all the time in and outside of school.

All day, every day, teachers and students use language to do six basic things:

To do each of these, ideas must be organized differently, but some students just don’t see how.

Brain Frames SHOW students of all ages how to organize their ideas so they can SEE the patterns of language graphically.

With brain frames, when you say "See what I mean?" they will!

Over 20+ years of research and development have shown that there are ways to help disorganized students – IF you fill in the blanks that are missing for them. Thousands of teachers have used Brain Frames to master what’s so hard:
helping students who struggle with language do better in school.

Brain frames help educators get more from their students

Here’s what they say:

"I use Brain Frames every single day. I can’t imagine teaching without them."

Holly G., Northampton Public Schools, Massachusetts

"Brain Frames help students of any ability level and any age understand key concepts in any subject. They are amazingly versatile tools."

Kendra N., Reeths Puffer School District, Michigan

"With Brain Frames, ideas stay put. When students see their ideas, we can drill deeper. When I want them to really get content, we use Brain Frames."

Kim R., Concord Public Schools, Massachusetts

What makes brain frames different than graphic organizers?

Pre-made graphic organizers were organized by someone else! With Brain Frames, students do the drawing. They decide how to organize their ideas.

Kids won’t use a zillion pre-made graphics. They don't have to.

It turns out that just six can make all the difference when it comes to effective teaching and learning.

Bonnie singer, ph.D., ccc

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

A few months ago, a colleague asked me what students struggle with the most. Without blinking, I responded, "They’re massively disorganized." I didn’t mean messy. I meant internally disorganized — their language and thinking and ways of approaching hard tasks get all scrambled.

The result? They don’t make sense. They don’t make sense of what they read or what others say to them. They don’t make sense when they explain something or write. They’re muddled up. I have an undying commitment to make sense of their muddle. To unpack it, understand it, impose some kind of order in it and, well, make it less muddled.

Over years, I have learned how to help the kids in a muddle. My team and I have developed teaching methods that work. Now, we’re on a mission to bring these methods to a million educators in the next decade.

We want to help YOU help your students make sense. They deserve it. So do you. It would be a privilege to teach these methods to you.