I got bit by The Whole Brain Teaching bug

Hello all!

Have you heard about Whole Brain Teaching? If you haven't, it is the brain child of Chris Biffle. The idea behind Whole Brain Teaching is "based on cutting edge scientific research, Whole Brain Teaching recognizes that students learn the most when they are engaged in lessons that involve seeing, hearing, doing, speaking and feeling." (Taken from the Whole Brain Teaching website: http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/)

Last year I moved into a new school, in a new city. Half way through the school year I realized I had used and exhausted all my "teacher tricks" and I felt that I was still not getting through to my students. At that point, I blogstalked my favorite blogs and tried to figured out how to incorporate strategies to connect with my students. This is how I stumbled across Whole Brain Teaching.

Here is an example of Whole Brain Teaching.



Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher, Amanda from Teaching Maddeness, Stephanie from 3rd grade Thoughts all have wonderful information on their blogs about Whole Brain Teaching. (Plus freebies to help you get started.)

After reading a couple of blogs and watching a tons of videos online, I decided to try some of the strategies in my classroom. I had immediate and positive responses in my classroom. My students loved it! The best part...the behavior was down to a minimum because all of my students were too busy doing the movements to talk to their neighbors! Whoop Whoop! Last year I only introduced the scoreboard, the Class Rules, and Class, Yes?.




This is a great video on introducing the WBT basics to your class. In my class, I probability won't introduce ALL of those concepts in the same day, instead I would spread them over the course of the week or two depending on how fast your students are catching on to these routines. This year I am going to try to incorporate more of the movements within the lessons and the Student Improver Wall. Chris Biffle does a wonderful job explaining the Student Improver Wall in the video below.



I really like this idea because it allows ALL my students to work on the skills that they need to work on while still being successful. The only concern I have is I am going to have a big class of 28 students next year and I don't really have a whole lot of room on my classroom walls. So I made these small name cards so I would have enough room to have all my students in the same spot.

As Chris Biffle said you can have the levels be named anything that will work with whatever theme you have in your classroom. I used the free Super Improver levels from Tara at Little Minds at Work. So the cards that I made for each student align with her levels.

Hopefully this made some sense. I am excited to get started.

As a side note: I am not getting anything from Chris Biffle or the Whole Brain Teaching organization. Nor am I an expert in any of these strategies.

Five for Friday (March 1st)

Happy Friday! (Can I get a whoop whoop?!) Man-o-man this week was crazy. I’m linking up with Kacey at Doddle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

1.   This week I completely overhauled the way I taught math. It all started when I was blog stalking and came across Stephanie’s at 3^rd Grade Thoughts blog. She has a whole section on how she has set up math rotations within her class. I figured I would give it a shot. AMAZING! Why had I not thought of this before? My students like it too because I am able to be more specific to their specific needs and they are able to move around more. However, I am still working on how to ensure they are actually doing their work.

Here is Stephanie's anchor chart.

 

2.   We have been working hard at place value. I saw this adorable activity from Abby Mullins on Marshmallow Place Value activity last year. I have been dying to use it. My kids loved it! Anytime they can use/eat food, they are game. Check out the freebie here.

 

 

3.   This is all of my math centers. Eeek! It is frightening just looking at it. I think I am going to assemble a packet. We have been having a little problem with students only doing 1 activity. Hopefully this will fix the problem.

 

4.   In addition to changing my math all around, I also decided to implement some whole brain teaching strategies I have been hearing so much about. What a change that has made. I am only doing a portion of it so far, but I am excited how successful we have been so far.

This video is not me but I absolutely love her take on whole brain teaching. It makes me want to be in her class.

5.   The best part of my week is yet to come. Tomorrow the Seattle Sounders start the 2013 season. (For those of you that don’t know, they are a soccer team.) My entire family is HUGE fans! We yell, scream, and holler the entire 90 minutes. I offen go to work the next day without a voice.

My brother, mom, and I at last year's game.

WOW! My brother and I look so alike. Haha

 

Enjoy your weekend! What do you like to do that is non-teaching related?

Krystyn

A Giveaway, a Sale, and Whole Brain Teaching

Hello All! I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend. I know I did but it was WAY too short! Today I am linking up with Our Sweet Success for a Ginormous Giveaway Linky Party. They are trying to host the biggest linky party ever.

Here are the rules straight from their blog:

Phase 1 - Link Up! (Our Sweet Success)

If you would like to join this giveaway by offering one of your products, then join us in the biggest linky party EVER!!! The deadline to enter will be Saturday, March 2. We have several of your FAVORITES that will be joining us!!

 

Phase 2 - Enter to WIN! (Mackey's Classroom)

Starting on Sunday, March 3...Sarah will begin the raffle for the winner! ONE lucky winner will win:

 

ALL of the products offered by the most amazing teacher/bloggers on TPT.

 

Phase 3 - Prizes Sent!

All teacher/bloggers who linked up will email their product to winner!!

(We are anticipating over $100 worth of products)

Doesn’t that sound fun?

In addition to the giveaway, I am also offering 20% off everything in my TpT store February 28^th-March 3^rd in honor of one of my favorite “holidays”…Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

I am hoping to finish up my Courage Unit tomorrow. That will also be included in the sale.

On a completely random topic, one of my team members was telling me about Whole Brain Teaching. I have heard of it and even implemented brain breaks in my classroom but I don’t know that much about it. What are your thoughts about it? Do you use it? How do you like it? 

Happy Teaching!

Krystyn