Hey guys! Not a lot has been happening to blog about recently. I've been super busy with school, but everything is going great! My students are engaged and excited about learning mainly due to my full implementation of Whole Brain Teaching.
I have blogged about several topics in regards to Whole Brain Teaching (WBT), but I thought that today I could show you some of the strategies in action. Due to a video camera malfunction...boo...I don't have actual video of me teaching, but I did manage to take a picture of a wall I use regularly.
Okay, there is a lot going on here and much of it is hard to see, so bear with me. On the left is my Scoreboard. This was after my ROCKSTAR AWESOME 5th period class. Today they beat me hands down. They wanted to show my mentor how well they could follow WBT. I have improved greatly on keeping points on the Scoreboard, but still have a lot of improving to do. As hard as it is to stay consistent with the Scoreboard, it is worth it! I find myself almost speechless at how excited my students are when they receive points!
In the center of the photo is my rendition of the Universal Homework Model. Whenever we take notes, students have different tasks to do to reach different star levels. Today I wrote the number of stars they received as a class. Tomorrow their goal is to beat their current score. If they successfully beat their score they will get a star on the Super Improvers Wall.
The last section of the photo shows the Super Improvers Wall. All of my classes are at the Rookie level because it is the start of the school year, but two of my classes are moving up quickly. The interesting aspect of the Super Improvers is that it rewards improvement. This is hard for my 4th and 5th hours because they started out great and are slightly bummed that they aren't getting stars. They'll be able do it, though! Their next chance is tomorrow when they need to beat their star homework score.
Well, there you have it! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I will have an awesome video of me using these strategies in the classroom. Remember, if you need more information about WBT strategies you can find information, videos, and printables all at www.wholebrainteaching.com!
What happens when the students "win"? Do they earn something? I have heard/read about the scoreboard before, but I would love to hear from someone who actually uses it. :)
ReplyDelete-Lisa
Mrs. Spangler in the Middle
Lisa,
DeleteCurrently, my students only get bragging rights that they beat the teacher. As the year goes on, I'll implement GoNoodle, trivia games, free time, music time, etc. The key to the Scoreboard is to keep the score close no matter what. Chris Biffle says to use the Rule of 3. They can only be ahead or behind by 3. This keeps students motivated to score points. At the end of class if they win they get their incentive for how many minutes they one by. Stay with this time so that they keep wanting more the next day.
The goal of the Scoreboard is to constantly keep students engaged. When one incentive stops wearing off it's time for a new one. The idea behind WBT is that students have fun in class because it is game like and they are trying to move up levels.