Intro to WBT

Last week, I shared with you my goal of becoming certified as a whole brain teacher! This week... the first week of summer for me, I am going to spend the entire week sharing with you all about my experiences with whole brain teaching and why I love it so much!


To me, videos say so much more than words. Check out this conference and 2 teachers learning how to become whole brain teachers. How exciting!

"Your classroom is a lifeboat - teachers united can never be defeated!" ~ Coach B.

I love when I go into a classroom to sub and the teacher has implemented some of these strategies. Even better is when I have the opportunity to teach during my student teaching and get to teach my mentors a new strategy.

The strategies are so simple and engaging, you can teach your students to utilize them in minutes. YES - MINUTES! Am I sure? Positive! I have done it as a sub!

Class-Yes. Boys-Mama. 
When I say class, you say yes. In the same way. So fun, so simple, and sometimes so silly. It works every time. I use this at home with Boys-Mama. My teenager is not on board with the Mama but he still stops and listens.

Switch!
I was taught to use think-pair-share or double-think-pair-share or check-your-neighbor techniques with my students. I can't wait to switch to Teach-Okay next year. In the meantime, I do use switch. This is when the person who is doing the talking is now quiet and the quiet one is now talking. Works beautifully.

I also do this at home. We set a timer and each boy heads off for his assigned chore. When the timer goes off, I say switch and they switch chores. They never know the time limit or if I will switch so they always have to do their best. Another great strategy!

Hands and Eyes.
Amazingly enough... this was first taught to me by a class of 3rd graders. I tried Class-Yes. I tried holding my hand in the air. I got nothing. When the "problem-child" walked up to me and whispered "say hands and eyes" and then went back to his seat. Early that day I asked him to help me as he being the biggest problem he would also know who is not on track as he is the one normally being the problem.

I said hands and eyes, the kids screamed back hands and eyes. yes SCREAMED! and then dead silence. A pin could drop and be heard. From that point on, I never lost the engagement of my class again. They knew I knew what to do.

Teachers united! What a simple thing and so INCREDIBLE!

Wanna know how you can do it? Check out this video!

If you are a sub, a simple 5-7 minutes at the start of your day can make everything go so much smoother. If you are lucky enough to have your own class, imagine what this 5-7 minutes can do for your entire school year!!