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It's been awhile since I've posted on this little blog of mine.  I am so so sorry!  But the good news is that WBT is going really great in my room!  The posters are up, the kids are great at Class Yes, Teach Ok, Hands and Eyes, and even Mirror (when I remember!)  I swear, this is more about training the teacher than it is about training the kids! One big goal I had for quarter 1 was to get my kids' data binders up and going.  In the data binders, kids would keep track of their scores, but they would also make goals for themselves after looking at their graphs and seeing where they need to improve.  One of the goals was also a behavior goal.  I decided, instead of me remembering each kids' goal and giving them stickers for their Super Improver card, I would call them up at the end of each day and ask them if they made their goal.  I wrote each goal on a checklist so I could easily reference what the goal was.  If they thought they made their goal for the day, they got a

I'm decorating my room this year with a bright colored tropical theme.  So of course I had to make new Whole Brain Teaching posters! Included: The 5 Rules Class Yes Teach? Ok! The Tickler Switch Mirror Hands and Eyes Click the picture to download from Google Drive! I hole punched the strategies and attached them all with a binder ring.  This way, when I am introducing and reading from the back, the students can see the poster on the front for a visual. The best thing about these posters, is that I also made scripts for how to introduce each rule and strategy.  I made them in a circle outline to fit on the back of these circle tropical posters, but they will also fit on the back of any WBT poster you use.   Click the picture to download the scripts from Google Drive What theme are you decorating with this year? I'm linking up with Manic Monday !

To start at the beginning of this book club with me: Buy the book  Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids Read about Chapters 1 & 2 here Read about Chapters 3 & 4 here Read about Chapter 5 here  Read about Chapter 6 here Read about Chapter 7 here Read about Chapters 8-10 here Read about Chapter 11 here Join the Official Book Study here I'm back with my thoughts on two more WBT techniques: Mirror & Hands and Eyes. Mirror is when you want students to mimic your gestures or to even repeat after you.  The teacher says "Mirror".  The students respond with "Mirror" and start to mirror the teacher's motions.  There are three main types of gestures that you can use while teaching: Casual - the hands motions that you would normal use while talking Graphic - motions that match what you are saying.  The gestures for the rules are graphic {Say "Raise your hand.." while raising your hand.} Memory - these are gestures to help you remember a fact,

To start at the beginning of this book club with me: Buy the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids Read about Chapters 1 & 2 here Read about Chapters 3 & 4 here Read about Chapter 5 here  Read about Chapter 6 here Read about Chapter 7 here Read about Chapters 8-10 here Join the Official Book Study here The Scoreboard is WBT's classroom management tool.  They don't use clip charts, stoplights, or card-pulling systems.  They don't use stickers charts, prize boxes, or classroom money.  They use tally marks for when the class is good and tally marks for when the class is not so good.  They are explicit about the good and not so good behavior and they have kids working for the teeniest little reward - and the kids love it!   I've created some pretty huge freebies for you - 50 pages worth of Scoreboards and introductions.  This freebie has two products - one that is just Scoreboards: portrait and landscape of 5 different designs, then additional Scoreboards f

To start at the beginning of this book club with me: Buy the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids Read about Chapters 1 & 2 here Read about Chapters 3 & 4 here Read about Chapter 5 here  Read about Chapter 6 here Read about Chapter 7 here Join the Official Book Study here Teach Okay is WBT's main strategy.  We know that research shows that kids learn best when they teach each other and work in collaborative groups. In order to do Teach Okay, the teacher talks for about 30 seconds, says "Teach", the students say "Okay" and teach each other what the teacher said.  The teacher and students both use big gestures while teaching.  There are four reasons for this: First, if students are suing gestures, then the teacher can easily see who is on task and who is not.  Second, this brings in some kinesthetic learning and activates more areas of the brain.  Third, this gives students who are antsy, overly active, or have ADHD some movement instead of being

To start at the beginning of this book club with me: Buy the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids Read about Chapters 1 & 2 here Read about Chapters 3 & 4 here Read about Chapter 5 here  Read about Chapter 6 here Join the Official Book Study here When I first heard about WBT last year, I taught the rules, did the scoreboard (just the first part of it), and also used Class Yes.  I taught the rules, but I didn't always reference them, practice them, or even understand them!  After reading this chapter, I am much more prepared to introduce them and I appreciated how Biffle goes through and explains WHY the rules are the way they are. Rule 1: Follow directions quickly.  This one is a no brainer.  Of course we want kids to follow directions quickly.  The quicker they do what we ask, the learning can be done and the less room for misbehavior. Rule 2: Raise your hand for permission to speak.  This is another one that I enforce on a daily basis.  I can't stand when c