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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

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 Join the Official Book Study here The assignment for The Book Study for chapter 6 was to come up with 10-15 new variations of Class Yes, WBT's attention getter.  Here is a list of my favorites from the participants of the book club: Class Meow, Yes Meow (reminds me of Super Troopers!!) Class a doobie do, Yes a doobie do (think of The Temptations) Woo hoo Class, Woo hoo Yes Boom chicka Class, Boom chicka Yes (reminds me of a camp song!) Aloha Class, Aloha Yes La Class-eh, La Yes-eh Woop woop Class, Woop woop Yes (Arsenio Hall style!) Heeeeeey Classy Cla-ass, Heeeey Yessy Ye-ess (Gangam-style) Choo choo Class, Choo choo Yes (while pulling an imaginary train whistle) Classerific, Yesserific Yo Class, Yo Yes (I actually have a book in my room called Yo Yes!) Class a doodle do, Yes a d

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 Join the Official Book Study here Chapter 5 This chapter is all about the brain research behind Whole Brain Teaching. One of my classes in grad school was all about the brain research behind teaching and learning.  Also, my extensive training with Project GLAD has taught me the brain research behind language acquisition.  I know that students need to activate their prior knowledge in order to make sense of new information.  If they do not have something already in their brain to anchor it to, it will be harder to learn the concept.  I also know that through cooperative learning, students are better able to create new memories because they are using more parts of their brain than by just participating in an activity by themselves. In chapter 5 of Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids  we learn some of the n

I'm following along with the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids  (I bought the Kindle version).  There is a book study page over at the blog  http://wbtbookclub.blogspot.com .  This site is mostly for people who want to become WBT certified, so I am sharing my thoughts here, too, in case you are more interested in just learning about what WBT is! To see my thoughts on chapters 1 & 2, read this post over on my other blog, Teaching With Style . Chapter 3 This chapter is all about the common mistakes that teachers make.  The author and creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, highlights these seven: Losing your temper and yelling at kids Confronting misbehaving children in front of their peers Having a disorganized space Being unhappy in your job Being unwilling to take work home or putting in more time than your contract indicates Assuming that all children love school or want to follow directions intrinsically Refusing to change or grow as a professional Chris believes that unt

Welcome to my new Whole Brain Teaching Blog!  Most of the time, you can find me blogging over at Teaching With Style .  But sometimes, I'll be over here, telling you all about my WBT  experiences.  Why WBT?  I'll fill you in...  I started to dabble in WBT this past year when I moved states and taught a new grade level in Hawaii.  I had always worked in a Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports (PBiS) school that had school-wide rules, expectations, incentives, and discipline.  My new school has a behavior acronym, but nothing else.  Our acronym is TORCH.  There is a torch in our school seal, which is a popular Hawaiian symbol usually meaning light of knowledge or wisdom. TORCH means: T - tenacious O - observant R - respectful C - compassionate H - honorable I felt that I could teach these traits, but I still needed some concrete rules for my classroom.  In walked WBT.  There were rules, routines, expectations, and systems.  I was in love after seeing my very first video! I