Do Feelings Affect Academic Performance?
ByYou have probably noticed that your child responds better to a particular teacher or coach than some of the others. Did you think it was great that she seemed to work much harder for that teacher and the hard work was the cause of the good performance with that teacher? Yes, of course when the student works harder results will improve.
But there is a lot more to the story. When your child has positive feelings about a teacher or coach and the work they are doing together there is actually a dramatic difference in how well the child’s brain is functioning. Good feelings actually “light up” different parts of the brain and the students capacity to perform is substantially increased. This is now proven in the latest neuroscience. A marvelous just released book on this topic is “Shine” by Dr. Edward Hallowell. It is an easy read and very informative on this topic.
