Effective instructional practices are the principles that define teaching and learning. However, student achievement presupposes that the brains we are attempting to educate are healthy and ready to learn. Brains are fragile and our increasingly intense environment is not always gentle. This interactive session will show you a different way to see how we learn. Attendees will learn the basic physiology of the learning brain, understand what research says can optimize cognitive function for our students, and gain ideas about how we can support our school community in the pursuit of neural health.