Professional Learning
Brain Frames

Learn Brain Frames!

Visual tools that organize language

Online Course

For SLPs and K-12 educators, Administrators in need of professional development for less than 25 staff.

Private Course

For administrators in need of professional development for 25+ staff.

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 Muddle It’s so hard to be them. And it’s so hard to teach them!

A simple cartoon of a stick figure looking confused, with a scribbled thought bubble above its head, symbolizing confusion or unclear thoughts.
What can SLPs and educators do?

Teach patterns!

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

Sounds great but...

The patterns of language are invisible.

Most children figure out how language is organized intuitively, but some don’t. Students who have trouble catching onto patterns can feel like everyone got a secret decoder ring except for them.

They get lost taking information in.

They might recognize the words when they listen or read, 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.

So many say, “I have ideas. Tons of them! I just don’t know how to get them out of my head in a way that makes sense.” It’s so frustrating!

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

Here’s the 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’re visual tools that organize language we use all the time in and outside of school.

Brain Frames show students how to organize their ideas so they can see each of these language patterns graphically.

All day, every day, teachers and students do six basic things with language:
A graphic titled 'Language Patterns' in a blue banner. Below, six numbered points are listed: 1. Tell what I know, 2. Explain causes and/or effects, 3. Sort ideas into categories, 4. Make connections between ideas, 5. Compare and/or contrast, 6. Sequence ideas in order.

With Brain Frames, when you say “See what I mean?” they will!

Over 20+ years of research and development shows that there are ways to teach all students to organize and learn efficiently. Thousands of teachers have used Brain Frames to help students listen, speak, read, write, remember, and think critically. Everyone wins.

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

Kendra Nimtz, M.S., CCC, Reeths Puffer School District, Michigan

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

Holly Graham, Ph.D., Portland Public Schools, Oregon

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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 Rivers, M.Ed., Concord Public Schools, Massachusetts

A simple cartoon of a stick figure smiling and pointing to a graphic organizer drawn on a board. The organizer contains shapes connected by arrows, representing a visual representation of ideas or concepts.

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 of Vivido, Head of Writing Science & Instruction at Wilson Language Training

A few months ago, a colleague asked me what makes teaching hard. Without blinking, I responded, “A lot of students are 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 give teachers tools to change that.

Over years, my team and I have developed teaching methods that help both teachers and students organize language. Now, we’re on a mission to bring these methods to a million educators in the next decade.

It would be a privilege to teach these methods to you.

Bonnie Singer smiling in front of a bookshelf filled with colorful books and framed photos. She wears glasses, pearl earrings, a pearl necklace, and a floral-patterned top.

Online Course

For SLPs and K-12 educators, Administrators in need of professional development for less than 25 staff.

Private Course

For administrators in need of professional development for 25+ staff.