Student Engagement

I love mirrors.  Mirrors is a WBT engagement technique that is used with every lesson.  The idea behind it is that kids mirror your words and/or gestures, thus engaging their whole brains in learning.  I have found it to be extremely effective.  However, I have a handful of students who do not consistently do mirrors with us.  This has been very frustrating.  I was ready for a solution.  I found that solution thanks to Coach B. and his Monday night webcast on the Whole Brain Teaching website.  The topic was 100% student engagement, and I have to tell you that he had some awesome ideas!  If you have the opportunity, I would strongly suggest going to www.wholebrainteaching.com and viewing his webcast.  You can find it under wbt tv on the goodies menu.  It is number 582.

I would like to share with you two ideas from the webcast that I implemented the next day.  The first was adding mirrors to my scoreboard.  At the bottom of my scoreboard I created a section entitled mirrors.  On one side I wrote kindergarten mirrors and on the other side I wrote fourth grade mirrors.  I chose kindergarten and fourth grade, because they are two grade levels below and above where my students are at.

I began by modeling for my students what kindergarten mirrors look like, and I had the kids try using kindergarten mirrors.  We then did the same thing for fourth grade mirrors.  I emphasized that when fourth graders use mirrors they use crisp big gestures and have lots of energy.  We talked about whether or not we wanted to be like kindergartners or fourth graders, and of course, the class all wanted to be like fourth graders.  I began giving points in both columns as the students earned them.  It just so happens that our team goal on our Super Improvers Wall is "mirrors" and "big gestures", so I told the kids that at the end of every day if they had more points on the fourth grade side than the kindergarten side, they would receive a team improver star.  They loved this idea!  I have seen a big improvement in mirrors this week.

I saved my favorite new Coach B. engagement strategy for last.  In my room we call it "Model Mirrors".  As per Coach B.'s instructions, I made a big arrow and hung it up on the wall in my room.  I told the kids that whenever I have a really big point to make, I will go and stand under that arrow.  Students know that I am then going to do one of the three different types of mirrors.  Below is a list of what they are:

          Mirror Words:  Students mirror your gestures and repeat  your words.
          Silent Mirror:  Students mirror your gestures, but not your words.
          Magic Mirror:  You speak, but do no gestures.  The students must create the gestures themselves.

Students may choose to be a "Mirror Model".  A mirror model is someone who does mirror so well, that they can model for others what it should look like.  They make the choice to be a model by standing up.  I tell the students that they do not have to stand up and be a model, but if they do, I expect to see fourth grade mirrors.  The first time I used this strategy, I was amazed.  Everyone in my class stood up, and everyone was doing fourth grade mirrors.  This included a few special education students whom I have been working with since the beginning of the year on using gestures.  Amazed and elated are the two best adjectives that I can use to describe the results.

I wish I could tell you that all of my students now use fourth grade mirrors 100% of the time.  Unfortunately, they don't.  At least not yet.  I can tell you, however, that student engagement during mirrors has increased dramatically in my classroom in the three days since I have implemented these two new strategies.  I am looking forward to trying some of the other engagement strategies that Coach B. introduced us to.  Remember, for more on all of the new engagement strategies, check at webcast 582 on the Whole Brain Teaching website.