WBT: Where Students Do the Teaching!

Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Statistics support this as well. The highest percentages of learning retention deal with students being involved in their learning.  Today, I'm going to speak about the Whole Brain Teaching strategy Teach, Okay which falls into the biggest retention level, teaching others.

Teach, Okay is a strategy in which you clap your hands and say "Teach!" and your students respond "Okay!" The students then turn to each other and begin discussing whatever prompt you told them to discuss.  An important part of the strategy is the quickness at which they turn to discuss with their neighbor.  You can use The Scoreboard to encourage quick turns.  They also need to be fully turned to face their neighbor.  When introducing Teach, Okay at the beginning of the year I tell my students "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they say "Knees and Toes" This acts as a reminder of how their bodies should be facing prior to their discussion.

Learning Pyramid

Now that we have covered the fundamentals with Teach, Okay, let's talk about how your can be the teachers and you can increase learning retention in your classroom.  Here are some hard and fast rules with Teach,Okay:

1.  Teach students information in CHUNKS. Have the students then reteach their neighbor the information.  You can start with them repeating what you said, but then gradually have them teach the information in their own words.  Remember, we're trying to get them to the highest percentage of retention we can!

2. Have the students use GESTURES. As before, students can occasionally use gestures that you provide for them, but also give them the opportunity to create their own gestures.  When they create their own gestures then they are making meaning of their learning and it will stick better!

3. Use MIRRORS!  When one person is speaking the other student should mirror the gestures the speaker is using.  This will help them to pay attention and activate another part of their brain.

4. Allow time for both students to speak, by using the SWITCH.  Sometimes within a pairing you have one student that is always a talker.  Both students need the opportunity to teach or they both aren't having access to that 90% retention rate.  Allow one student to speak and then enforce a switch in which the listener now becomes the teacher.

Good luck with Teach, Okay!  It engages 100% of the students in your class and encourages learning retention.  What more could you ask for?

See other blogs about Teach, Okay by clicking below:

Ending the Question "What Page?"

When you walk into my room at the beginning of class you will hear a chorus of students responding to a direction by repeating it multiple times.  No, my students do not have a stuttering problem, but rather I use what is called The Three Peat. Whenever I need to emphasize something, be it directions or an important vocabulary term, I signal my students to repeat it. The dialogue in my classroom looks something like this:

Images by Sweet Kids Clip Art

T: "Class"
S: "Yes"
T: "Turn to page 23 in your notebook.  What page?"
S: "23, 23, 23!"

Later on...
T: "Today we are going to talk about Hypothesis.  What are we talking about?"
S: "Hypothesis, Hypothesis, Hypothesis!"

By having students repeat what you just said, students are tuned into and able to respond to your direction.  Now what's important is to make this repetition fun and engaging!  Students should not be slowly dragging out their response.  The responses should be quick and energetic.  Like many things in Whole Brain Teaching, you can make The Three Peat fun and silly. Change it up a bit!  Make your students eager to hear what's going to come out of your mouth next!

Some ideas:
1. High Voice
2. Low Voice
3. Silly Voice
4. I also sometimes point to my students when I say a vocabulary term, and they point back at me three times as they repeat the word.

If you are not getting the energy that you want from your students when using The Three Peat, remember you can always go to your Scoreboard and entice that energy you know they have out of them!

Want to learn more about Whole Brain Teaching's Classroom Rules and The Three Peat?  Check out other great blogs by clicking on the link below!

Making Student Leaders: Mirror Words

One of the best parts about Whole Brain Teaching is truly getting 100% participation.  If your school is anything like mine, it is an expectation to have students engaged in their learning; however, it is a constant battle to get all kids to participate in class discussion.  Introduce MIRROR WORDS! Mirror Words is a strategy in which you say "Mirror Words"  and then students say and gesture as if they are mirroring you.  Not only does it get kids involved in the classroom, but it provides a kinesthetic mode of learning.  Students are using their brains to listen and watch what you are doing.  They are then continuing to use their brains to repeat what you said and replicate your gestures.

Image by: Living Breathing and Loving Teaching

Want to encourage continued involvement?  Make your students the leaders.  Build up their confidence and have them lead discussion or answer questions using Mirror Words.  In my classroom the dialogue would go something like this:

Teacher: "All eyes on Blake!"
Students: "All eyes on Blake!"
Blake: "Class!"
Students & Teacher: "Yes"
Blake: "Mirror Words!"

Students & Teacher: "Mirror Words!"

*Note: The teacher should join in when not leading discussion! 

Blake would then go on using gestures to explain his answer to the students in CHUNKS!  Chunking is a very important component of Mirror Words.  By chunking the information students can better understand what is being said and can remember the gestures to mirror.  

Not sure how to introduce Mirror Words? When I introduce Mirror Words we practice a couple of times with me being the leader.  Then I immediately turn it over to the students.  By setting the expectation that Mirror Words is not just what the teacher does, it gives me more buy in from the students and makes them less reluctant to participate.  We spend the period getting to know each other using Mirror Words.  Each student stands, gets the attention of the class, and then says one thing about themselves using gestures. The students mirror the words and gestures, and then we have a discussion about others that have similar interests.

As with last week, attached is a short video by Coach B for further information about this strategy! 

Find more blogs about Mirror Words by clicking the image below.

WBT Wednesday - Attention Getter!

Can I just say how excited I am for WBT Wednesdays?  Hopefully this will hold me accountable to blog each week and will also give me a chance to give you guys some great ideas!

So, today's topic is the Attention Getter.  First of all, this is one of the BEST teaching strategies I have ever come across. It always drove me crazy when I was in school and the teacher would raise her hand and wait for everyone to do the same.  Can I just say "What a waste of time!"  Instead I say "Class" and my students respond "Yes" and I have the immediate attention of every student in my class.  It's quick. It's easy, and it's FUN!

Many of you that follow this blog already know about Class, Yes so I thought I could give you some of the variations of Class, Yes that my students love. You can't continue to just say "Class" "Yes" because that will get old and students will be less engaged.  Instead make it interesting by changing it up once in a while...or in my case each time I do it!

Here are three HIGH ENERGY variations that I use:

The Ninja

Teacher: "Class Hi Ya!" (Make a gesture like a ninja!)

Students "Yes Hi Ya!" (Make a gesture like a ninja!)

*Note: You may need to explain to some classes that it is not appropriate to kick or karate chop any other classmates.  I do not have this issue, but I've had classes in the past that may need to be reminded of Rule 4: Make Smart Choices.

The Yell

Teacher "Class" (Yell)

Students "Yes" (Yell)

*Note: Talk about an attention getter! The purpose of this one is not to talk over my students when they are working. Instead, when students are getting a little too serious for our high energy classroom, I use this one to get us back to the giggly selves we should be!  For some reason, this one always gets my 5th graders laughing!

The BOOM!

Teacher "Class Class BOOM!" (Swing arm and stomp foot, emphasize boom)
Students "Yes Yes BOOM!" (Swing arm and stomp foot, emphasize boom)

*Note: This is every student's favorite.  They really get into it and use their whole bodies to emphasize the BOOM.  This is a great one for students to earn points on the Scoreboard or for the teacher to encourage higher energy in class by giving him/herself a point.

Lastly, here's a video from Coach B about Class, Yes.  Enjoy! 

Follow other WBT Blogs by clicking on the following link:

Whole Brain Teaching: Activating the Parts of the Brain

Now let's take a second and talk about brain science!  The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Scientists have spent countless hours studying how the brain works.  Not everything is known, but we do have a good idea of the importance of activating multiple parts of the brain when learning. In a book titled Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning published by ASCD, Willis explains that the more connections a student can make when learning, the more dendrites that are formed. These dendrites act as pathways to information and allow the student to more easily store and access the information in the future. Rather than simply attempting to memorize information, the brain is able to cross reference material and store it in in a meaningful way. The more regions of the brain that are stimulated, the more connections that are made in order for students to pull up learned material.

Parts of the Brain

Neuron

I introduce neurons and parts of the brain at the beginning of the year.  To introduce neurons, you can use your hand and arm! Your arm signifies the axon.  The palm demonstrates the cell body, and the fingers represent the dendrites! When students are learning new information, new dendrites form and can connect with other dendrites to make meaning of the information.

Introducing the parts of the brain is a highlight for students in my class. Students feel so smart because they have learned something about neuroscience! I have posted a video below to show how you can introduce the parts of the brain. The video is of 1st grade students, but you can do it with any grade level and just adjust to their needs!  After learning the parts of the brain, I have my students create a poster diagram of the brain and then brainstorm in groups how Whole Brain Teaching activates each part!  Good luck, and let me know how it goes for you!

Deb Wiegel's First Grade Class

Student Engagement: "Your Students Should Need Bibs!"

Okay, so now I'm on post overload, but I couldn't help but write about what has recently ignited my passion for education. Last night I tuned into the Teacher Blab Show with Bow Tie Guy & Wife.  If you haven't heard him talk, you are in for a little Southern twang, but a lot of real talk. He doesn't sugar coat anything, but rather slaps you in the face with what needs to be done in education. The most inspiring was his take on student engagement. I thought I'd pass a little of his wisdom on to you: 

• Student engagement is not all about the tools you can give students. It's about the attitude YOU bring in.

This is something that we often forget with the push to try new strategies and implement new technology.  You can buy every piece of technology, every app, every type of curriculum and you may not see all students engaged.  That's because student engagement is fostered by what YOU bring into that classroom. Your life may be a mess (I know mine is half the time), but that cannot show when you step foot into the school environment.  Put a smile on your face, take a deep breath, and know that this is your chance to make a difference.  Your students look to you to bring out the best in them.  Bring high energy, exude passion, and make kids WANT to come to your class. 

• Teachers need to defeat ignorance by developing curiosity in their students.

What is the role of education?  Everyone may have a different answer to this question, but I think we can all agree that we, as educators, need to make sure that we are developing intelligent productive citizens in society. Ignorance plays a role in so many of the issues we have today.  Part of this may be because we haven't taught students to question what is being told to them.  We just expect students to listen to what we tell them and to accept it as fact.  Our role as teachers is not to be the all knowing power, but rather to teach students how to learn, how to question, and how to make judgments based upon information they are given. Breed curiosity in your students. Excite them with how you present your lessons. Make them want to know more. Encourage them to ask questions.  Then, give them the tools they need to develop their own understanding of the content we present to them.  

• You should be the most interesting and powerful thing in that classrooms. 

If you were a fly on the wall in your classroom, what would you see?  Would students be looking around the room?  Would they be watching the clock and wondering when they get out of class?  If the answer to this is "yes" then we really need to think about our approach to how we teach our students. In order to truly engage students we need to demand their attention. Talking louder and getting mad at them for not paying attention does not work.  Instead, we should be the most interesting thing in the room.  As Bow Tie Guy put it, "Your students should need bibs to wipe the drool off their chins".  That may be a slight exaggeration, but truthfully, how can we expect students to be engaged if we don't make what we are teaching the most interesting thing in the room?  Show your students you care and make the information you are teaching intriguing and relevant to them. Dress up, do cartwheels, sing, dance, conduct trials, the list goes on an on, but the point is, without student engagement, we can't expect students to learn what we need them to know! 

Teacher vs. Students: The Game Where Everyone WINS!

Image from Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching

Recently I read a blog post that claimed that the Scoreboard game was not good teaching practice and expects students to fail.  While citing TeachHub as a source to explain the game, the author and TeachHub were misinformed about the appropriate way to conduct the Scoreboard game.

Today, I'm going to take some time to refute the negative claims against the Scoreboard game and explain why it encourages student growth and engagement.

Let me start off by explaining the rules of the Scoreboard game.  Draw on the board a smiley face and a frown face or I use T vs. S.  Every time the students do great they get a point.  Every time they don't meet expectations I get a point.  Here is where some teachers may play the game incorrectly:

• The goal is not to beat the students.  Instead it is to push students to try to beat you, by meeting the expectations established.  Set appropriate expectations that are obtainable and then keep raising the expectations bar to encourage them to keep getting better!
• When either side gets a point it should be fun.  When the students earn a point they get a one second celebration.  When the teacher gets a point the students give a one second "Mighty Groan".  When I introduce this, we see how fast we can groan and how big we can make our shoulders shrug. We do not dwell on not meeting the expectation, but rather acknowledge the need for improvement. 
• There are several ways to give both sides points in order to improve student effort. When students are trying hard, I might still give myself a point to encourage them to try even harder!  It's fun to see how much effort students will put forth in order to earn that point on their side.
• Teacher points give the teacher an opportunity to reteach expectations. It might go something like this:  "Oh students we were not giving enough energy. Point for the teacher. (Mighty Groan) Let's try again. Great Improvement! Point for the students. (Oh Yeah!). It's almost like a ping pong effect. 
• The teacher should never outright win.  The game should always be kept close (within 3 points) this encourages students to keep trying to better themselves to meet your expectation and also keeps you aware that you need to award students for their effort.
• Lastly, you should NEVER single out students by name and then give the teacher a point.  A better way to address not meeting an expectation would be as follows: "Some of my friends were not fast enough. Point for the teacher! (Mighty Groan).  Awesome groan!  Point for the students! (Oh Yeah!)"

This classroom management strategy is about teamwork.  Everyone in the classroom works together for a common goal. The teacher is the facilitator to help students reach beyond what they know they are capable! 

Here's a link with the different varieties of the Scoreboard game, and here's a video from Chris Biffle about using the Scoreboard correctly! 

I'm BACK!

Okay guys, sorry I've been MIA for months!  I have had a CRAZY year.  To fill you in, I recently completed my Ed.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Liberty University.  I also was blessed with a new addition to the family, my son, Gavin James.  I hope to post at least weekly now that I have found a rhythm with life again.  Someone needs to hold me to this!

Here's my little handsome man!
Picture courtesy of Becky Howe Photography

Well, today's post is going to be about all of the exciting things happening with Whole Brain Teaching.  I'm still working on my certification. It appears to be a LONG process, but the end goal is just amazing!  By the time I complete my certification, I will be an "expert" on WBT and ready to help you guys even further in your journey to teach with "funtricity" and have 100% engagement!

periscope.tv

Recently, Whole Brain Teachers have embraced technology and have taken to several different social media outlets to connect with others.  You can gain information about WBT through Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, and Blab. Coach B answers questions on his scopes as well as Farrah Shipley, so if you are hesitant about jumping feet first into WBT, join one of these scopes and ask about your reservations.

Also, since I last posted, WBT has gotten some attention from PBS.  Check out this news clip starring my mentor, the one and only Jasselle Cirino!  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/teachers-tap-brain-science-boost-learning/#.VfnufmMXEMU.blogger

Mohawk When You're Ready!

Today I am going to share with you a strategy that I never thought was that unique until a teacher friend mentioned to me that I HAVE to put it on my blog for others to see.   I use different gestures to be able to see who is finished with a task in my classroom.  My class is very fast paced and I give them time limits to complete certain tasks.  When they are finished with that task, they use their hands to show me they are finished. Everyone must be doing the gesture in order to earn points for students on the Scoreboard.

Basically, I give them their task and their time limit.  I then say, "Moose antlers when you are ready!" or "Chillin' like a villain when you are ready!"It then becomes a race to complete the task and get to do the gesture.

When asked, some teachers have mentioned concern about it getting kids off task. For me, it keeps my kids ON task.  Rather than them talking to their neighbor when they are finished.  They are doing a task that I have asked them to do and is fun for them.

 I have attached some of my students' favorites.

1. Hands on your head
2. Pencil up
3. Two thumbs up
4. Moose antlers
5. Chillin like a villain
6. Shark fin
7. Mohawk
8. Unicorn
9. Favorite zoo animal
10. Bunny
11. Goggles/Binoculars
12. Happiest face because you are in science!

I hope this gives you some ideas so that your transitions go more smoothly! :)

Interactive Notebook Tips and Tricks

Hey Everyone!  Today starts part one of my interactive notebook mini-series.  Many people come up to me to ask questions about how to implement interactive notebooks and how I keep it organized. Today, I'm hoping to impart on you a few staple things that I do that make using interactive notebooks easier.

1.  I encourage my students on the school supply list to buy college ruled composition books with cardboard covers.  The ones that have plastic covers seem to fall apart easily.  The pages should not have perforations because that will be bad news by the end of the first quarter. The picture shows an example of what they should be bringing.

2.  I use duct tape of different colors to line the bindings.  This has two purposes.  First, it helps the bindings stay together throughout the entire year.  Secondly, I use different colors for each class so it makes it easy to determine which class that notebook belongs to.

3.  I use a ribbon as a bookmark.  This allows students to mark where we left off and easily turn to that page the next day.  If a student's ribbon ends up falling out for some reason or it frays, I just have them use a sticky note which also seems to work just fine.

4. Allow students to create an "About Me" page or personalize their notebooks in some way.  This gives them ownership of their notebook and will likely result in better quality work throughout the year.

5.  Use a table of contents!  I struggle with sticking with a table of contents, but in the long run it is worth it.  I can tell students they need to study a certain page and they can look back and see where that page is located rather than thumbing through each individual page.

6.  I know this will be a controversial comment for those of you who are die hard notebookers, but I prefer stick glue.  I said it STICK GLUE!  Dinah Zike and other notebooking gurus would vehemently disagree with me, but I want quickness and ease, without all the mess.  The pros for Elmer's glue is that it sticks so much better so that the items you glue in will stay, I don't think it is worth the hassle of making sure all of the glue bottles work, aren't clogged, and aren't spilling all over the place.

Well there you have it, the 6 fundamental steps to creating successful notebooks.  Later I'm going to address how I grade or don't grade (a little teaser there) notebooks.  This will then transition me into foldables and science units (with LOTS of pictures).  Stay tuned!

Engaging Incentive - MIND FOOTBALL!

I haven't had time to laminate my football,
disregard the wrinkles! 

In honor of one of the greatest times of the year, I present to you Mind Football!  Mind Football is a game that I modified from several of the Whole Brain Teaching games to make work for my classroom.  My students earn minutes to play each day based upon their success at beating me on the Scoreboard.  At the end of class, I make time to play the few minutes they have earned.  My students beg for this game!

So, here are the rules:
1.  You need two teams.  I do boys against girls because it gets the students super excited.
2.  I use a bell in the middle to ring in if they know the answer (This is kind of like Family Feud style).
3. Which ever team rings in to answer the question first gets 5 seconds.  The second team then has a chance to answer if the first team is wrong or takes too long.
4. When a team gets the question right the official (ME!) awards them yards based upon difficulty of the question and enthusiasm in answering.
5.  When a team reaches the goal, they have scored a touchdown.

Now, for some of my favorite parts of the game:

• The ball always starts at the 50 yard line. If no one chimes in then no matter where the football is, it's a delay of game and the ball resets to the 50 yard line. 
• In true football fashion, a touchdown is only worth 6 points, but I throw in a basic math fact question as the extra point opportunity.  
• Lastly, if anyone argues, I give the opposing team yardage.  

You can change up the game as you like, but it is perfect as an incentive when students are good and the questions I ask review the material we recently covered.  It's a win-win for the teacher and the students.  

I hope you enjoy.  If you have any questions about how to implement the game comment below.  If you do implement the game, please let me know how it goes for you! 

Customizing Your Curriculum through Interactive Notebooks

So, some of you may disagree with the following statement, but textbooks are a thing of the past.  Honestly, I do not believe that textbooks are the best way to teach students.  Our students want to engage in what they are learning or they lose interest.  Students reading out of a textbooks or completing questions from the text does not captivate students nor does it encourage their brains to remember those important things you are teaching them.

I'm also not quite on the technology bandwagon.  I support using technology in the classroom.  I mean I use my iPad, my iPhone, computers when necessary, and my document camera nearly every day, but really...is technology the BEST way to teach everything students are learning?  I'm not 100% sold on it being the end all be all to education.

The solution to student engagement and content retention in my classroom (aside from Whole Brain Teaching, of course!) is through interactive notebooks.  With interactive notebooks, I can customize my curriculum to fit the needs of my students and they have a working piece of text that summarizes everything they need to know at their fingertips.

I know I've left a lot of questions unanswered about interactive notebooks, but my plan is to do another mini series about interactive notebook basics in the coming weeks.  Sorry I haven't been posting much recently, my classes this semester are killing me!

P.S.  I am totally "geeking out" over the new books for my classroom library.  Three of my students purchased them for me from the book fair.  Eek!  LOVE LOVE LOVE 5th graders!

Making Your Scoreboard Portable!

Well, I have made one small step in Whole Brain Teaching, and one giant leap for my teaching sanity!  I introduce to you....drum roll please....the Portable Scoreboard!

This laminated index card was the best part of my day today!  To create it, I just wrote the words "Teacher" and "Students" on a neon index card.  I then laminated the card and hole punched the middle.  I added it to a lanyard for ease of marking and I was done. In total it took me about 5 minutes to make. I put a dry erase marker in my pocket and I was set!

So, what's so great about a portable Scoreboard?  I am one of those crazy teachers that are all over the place.  I'm walking around the room, nearly doing handstands as I teach my students.  I cannot be chained to my board to mark when students are doing great or when I need to correct their behavior.  This Portable Scoreboard gives me the luxury of giving my students immediate feedback wherever I am in the room.  

Portable Scoreboard:  Student and Teacher Approved! :)

Air Punctuation and a Look into My Classroom!

Last week my students were exposed to air punctuation.  May I just say that this may be one of my
most favorite things I have implemented this year. It requires students to know what must be included in a complete sentence and makes them think critically about their answers.  I think it is great when teachers in multiple disciplines can integrate learning from other areas.  Air punctuation improves students' ability to speak in front of others and increases their logical thinking.  Through the skills they gain from science class, they are learning skills that are addressed in the Common Core Language Arts standards.

I am attaching a video of my classroom the first day they learned air punctuation.  I am the first to say, I have many things that need improving in regards to Whole Brain Teaching, but with the feedback from my WBT mentor, I'm getting better and better.

So here is how it works:
Capital letter:  A capital letter is represented with your hands moving from a closed flat position and opening them, kind of like an alligator!

Punctuation:  Punctuation is represented with a hand out like a stop sign and the sound "ert". When students need to ask a question or use an exclamatory sentence, they just make the symbol in the air and still end it with "ert".

Comma:  A comma is represented with the sound "zoop" and a hook gesture in the air.

In regards to WBT, this week I am working on shortening the "Mighty Groan" when a teacher gets a point, chunking the mirror words sections, and implementing the "All eyes on (name)".  If you all enjoy the videos, I will try to add another one after I receive feedback next week.  I hope your year is going well!

I Brain Break...Do You?

You guys are in for double posts today because GoNoodle has tasked bloggers to speak out about exercise in the classroom!

1. Often times adults see exercise as a chore, but for kids exercise should be all about fun and play. P.E. and recess offer great opportunities for kids to get their play on, but how can we bring this idea to the classroom as well?

As a middle school teacher, it is startling to me how little of exercise we have our middle schoolers engaged in.  Not only are they beginning to go through puberty and have these bodies that are changing, but then we stop giving them recess and expect them to sit longer in their desks.  This system just doesn't work.  GoNoodle provides teachers a resource to improve movement in the classroom.  

In my classroom, we use GoNoodle if students are very tired in the mornings and then as an incentive at the end of the period if they have beat me in WBT's Scoreboard game.  Students are so motivated by GoNoodle they beg for it each day.  Because they want to get up and moving, they work extremely hard during class time.  GoNoodle provides a win-win situation: I don't have to give up getting my content covered and students are engaged in fun exercise with me!

2. Something awesome happens in kids' brains when they are active. Have you observed students to be more focused and engaged in learning when you regularly incorporate movement into your classroom?  

...Um...YES!  YES!  YES!  Students are excited to come to class because they know they are going to have fun.  By making learning fun students want to learn and they are willing to put forth more effort.  Add in the brain science behind movement and learning, and we truly have a winning combination.  Movement makes students healthier.  They are academically more healthy, emotionally more healthy, and physically more healthy. 

3. Kids are watching and following your lead!  How can teachers model healthy, active lifestyles to their students inside and outside the classroom?

The first and foremost thing to do is to dance and move with your students.  By joining students in GoNoodle it builds a relationship with them.  Students see that you are all about movement so they are too!  In school, I GoNoodle with my students and play sports with them.  This not only shows them that I am active as an adult, but also builds those crucial positive relationships.  Outside of the classroom, I attend my students' games.  I encourage them to do their best, show strong character, and practice, practice, practice to help their team succeed!

GoNoodle truly provides teachers with the resources they need to build a safe community of learning through movement and fun. By getting students up and moving, we are setting the stage for a healthy lifestyle outside of the classroom and into the future!

Discipline with Dignity & WBT Pt. 2

Expectation of Success

Discipline with Dignity says:
Although schools with better funding seem to be more attractive to parents because they tend to have better test scores, the authors of Discipline with Dignity point out a profound statement:  These schools still have just as many boring teachers.  The authors than task us with this question:

"Could it be that these [thriving] schools have a cultural expectation of success?

Whole Brain Teaching does:
WBT is about setting high expectations and moving students from a place of complacency to a place where they are so engaged that they want to do better.  Through friendly competition, a safe learning environment, and "funtricity", students understand that when they come to a WBT class they will be expected to do well and when they rise to that expectation, the bar will be raised even higher.

Focus on Improvement

Discipline with Dignity says:
Academic and behavior achievement should focus on improvement.  Competition between students should be replaced with competition within each student.  Students should be challenged "to be better today than he was yesterday."

Whole Brain Teaching does:
WBT's Super Improvers League emphasizes just that, individual improvement.  WBT Founder, Chris Biffle discusses the importance of recognizing improvement rather than achievement.  Students that struggle in class may never see recognition and begin to lose motivation to do well at all. By flipping recognition towards being "better than your best", all students have the opportunity to achieve recognition and stay motivated to continually improve.

If you would like to find out more about Super Improvers, please look in my archived posts.  It's a great way to improve effort, achievement, and engagement within your classroom!

The next post in this blog series will deal with modeling and chunking information. Hope to see you back soon!

Practice Cards to Improve Behavior

So...for my regular followers, I know I told you that this week would be a series on Discipline with Dignity, but we are going to take a little detour because I couldn't wait to get home to tell you all about my wonderful day today!

Coach B's post today tied right into my blog!

School has been in session now for a little over a month and as much as I love my sweet 5th graders, I have a class of 6th graders that are the dread of my day.  Individually, the kids in that class are amazing, but together they form this overwhelming environment of chaos.  I found myself each night coming home and complaining about not being able to fully do Whole Brain Teaching because they wouldn't let me.  In actuality, I wasn't letting myself.  I wasn't using all of the tricks I had in my bag to get through to this class.

Not every class is the same and so I needed to do something different with this group of students. Thus, Practice Cards showed their face today in science class.  Practice Cards are simply warning cards in which students owe time practicing the rule that has been broken.  I am very lucky to have recess time in which my students can come in to "do their time".

How I am formatting my Practice Sessions are as follows:
1.  Students receive a Practice Card when they break one of the five classroom rules.
2.  For each card a student receives he/she must practice that rule (WITH GESTURES) for one minute.
3.  If a student gets three practice cards, we are calling home to talk with parents.

Today, I had five 6th graders practicing Rule 2: Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak.  The power of the Practice Cards was not only in having the students practice the rules, but also in detouring others from breaking the rules.  It acted as a reminder of my expectations and when they saw me follow through with the Practice Cards they knew I meant business!

Class ran SO smoothly!  I was able to teach instead of harp at students for talking.  It was as Coach B says "Teacher Heaven"!  What discipline strategies do you use that reinforce positive behavior rather than dwelling on the negative?  I'd love to hear from you.

Discipline with Dignity & WBT Pt. 1

This week's blog series is going to touch on the first three chapters of Discipline with Dignity, but rather than just telling you what is in the book, I'm going to present it in a way that gives those of you that use Whole Brain Teaching validation that we are making a difference in the lives of our students!

Before we truly get into how WBT reinforces Discipline with Dignity, I want to present you with a quote from the book:

"Good discipline is about doing what is best for students to make good, healthy choices, not about making the lives of educators easier."  

Many teachers ask me why my classroom management plan has so many components and how I can keep them all straight.  The answer to that question is quite simple. It isn't easy. It isn't easy to do everything I need to in order to make sure that I follow WBT.  What is easy though, is teaching students in a way that makes my job fun all the while shaping my students into well-rounded, hard working people.

Discipline with Dignity's main focus is reinforcing positive behavior and using negative behavior as a teachable moment to change the behavior rather than drawing attention to the negative and lessening the self-esteem of the challenging kids in your class.

How Does WBT align with Discipline with Dignity? This series will focus on the following areas in which WBT has gotten it RIGHT! :)

Expectations of Success
Focus on Improvement
Modeling
Chunking
Rule Reinforcement &
Evaluation of Discipline Plan

Tomorrow's post will be about the expectations of success and focusing on improvement.  Can't wait for you to check back tomorrow!

Blog Series Coming Soon!

As I work my way through ASCD's book Discipline with Dignity, I can't help but point out to my colleagues how most of the suggestions in the book align directly with the strategies in Whole Brain Teaching.  These reflections will make up my new blog series:  WBT Rooted in Research!

Remind for Parents

Image courtesy of Remind.com

Do you have that principal that keeps driving home the need to stay in contact with parents?  Or do you have that parent that insists that you contact them all of the time to let them know the homework assignments?  I have experienced both, and what could sometimes be a frustration due to lack of time, has been made easier by Remind.

Remind (previously known as Remind 101) is a one-way text messaging opportunity for you as a teacher. You can text the parents and students that sign up for Remind quickly and easily. This year, I have had multiple parents thank me for my communication with them. I have also had many of my students prepared for class the next day because their parents reminded them of the science homework.

When I first considered using Remind, I just assumed it would be another thing to add to my list to start remembering to do, and honestly it is, but it makes my classroom time so much more efficient.  This year I have a system where during my plan period, which is after all of my classes, I really quick access the website and send out the messages.  It is so quick and easy that I timed myself today and it took a whole one minute and 24 seconds to send out messages to all of my classes.

But what if you forget? Remind has an app!  I have the app on my iPad and then can send messages  when I'm sitting at home watching TV!  It's quick, it's easy, and will make a world of difference in your classroom!

Do you use Remind?  What great ways has it affected your class?