The Beacon Light Shines in Another Direction

It's been some time since I've written an entry into my blog. With this writing, the Beacon's light shines in a different direction....American History. For the next year the focus of this blog will be building background knowledge in our nation's history 1776 - 1787 and research-based instructional and thinking strategies that enhance student learning.
While in South Carolina much of our educational environment and instruction was built upon brain research; although, it was in place when I arrived. I never participated in any of the professional development based upon brain research. So, my prior knowledge of brain research is pretty poor. Over time, I've learned more and more about the brain and learning. You see, it's the brain research that explains "Why" we are to implement certain strategies with students...graphic organizers, think-pair-share, notetaking, etc. It was not until I participated in a 3-day Institute with Judy Willis and Jay McTighe that it all clicked. When one understands the impact a certain strategy has or doesn't have on the brain and its relationship to learning, it makes it easy to include strategies that work into instruction.
Why are we blogging? How does writing a blog entry fit into brain research?