A Closer Look at a Writing Lesson

One of the things that I love the best about Whole Brain Teaching is the way that writing is taught. Over the years I have seen and have used so many writing programs and methodologies in which students are given a lot of time to practice writing, but what they are practicing is the wrong way to write.  This revelation did not occur to me until I started teaching writing the Whole Brain way.  In Whole Brain Teaching writing is broken down into its smallest components and taught to the students in such a way that what they are practicing is the correct way to write.  I would like to demonstrate this by sharing with you a lesson that I recently taught on compound sentences and the joining word "but".  I used the WBT 5 step lesson plan and taught this lesson over a period of three days.

If you are not familiar with this format, please see my blog post entitled, "The Five Step Lesson Plan."  Before sharing with you my lesson, there is one thing that I would like to point out.  During the explanation portion of the lesson it is so important that you chunk the information that you are sharing with your students into very small parts.  The longest you should be talking at any one time before asking the students to share with their partners (Teach Okay) is around 30 seconds.  The general rule is that you share information with the students using "Mirror Words" (students repeat your words and copy your gestures) and immediately follow this with "Teach Okay".  (You say, "Teach."  The students respond "Okay."  They then turn quickly to their partners and share what you have just taught them.)  This is not an easy thing to do.  As teachers we are used to talking.  Getting into the habit of chunking your lessons takes time and practice.  This is something that I have recently really been working on.  I found that the best way to make sure you are doing this is to decide in advance at what places in your lesson you are going to have your students do "Teach Okays".  Honestly, when I started teaching this way there were times where I thought that this was impossible.  What I discovered, however, is that when I forced myself to plan a lesson around the idea that I was going to chunk it, my lessons turned out better, and my kids did a much better job of understanding and retaining the information.

In the lesson below I have written all of my "Teach Okays" in red, so that you can more easily see how many small chunks I broke my lesson into.

Question:  "Our question for today is, what is a compound sentence?"  Teach Okay

Answer:  "A compound sentence is two sentences (hold up to fingers) put together to make one sentence (with other hand grasp two fingers and pull them together)."  Teach Okay

Explain:  (Have a compound sentence with the word "but" written on the board.)  "Today they are going to learn how to form a compound sentence using the conjunction "but.  Tell your partner what you are going to be learning today."  Teach Okay  Remind students that "but" is one of our Brainies.  Using "Mirror Words" and "Brainies" read the sentence on the board.  Teach Okay  "Mirror Words.  (use Brainies)  The first sentence is ..."   Teach Okay  "Mirror Words.  (use Brainies)  The second sentence is ..."   Teach Okay  "Mirror Words.  But joins the two sentences together."  Teach Okay


Explain to students that you use the word "but" when you are comparing.  Using the sentence that you have already read, point out to students what you are comparing.  (For example, if your sentence was "Johnny can run fast, but Mark can run faster," you would be comparing how fast Johnny and Mark could run.)  "We are going to read some more sentences together.  It is going to be your job to decide what we are comparing.  Mirror Words.  (Read Sentence using Brainies.)  Teach Okay
Repeat with two to three other sentences.

"This time I am going to give you the first sentence.  It will be the job of you and your partner to finish the compound sentence.  Don't forget your comma and your joining word.  We will be using High Five Teach (In High Five Teach students take turns sharing.  I have taught my students that the person sharing stands up, and the other student must repeat his words and copy his gestures.  This increases student engagement.  When one student is done sharing he high fives his partner and sits down.  His partner then stands up and begins sharing.)  Mirror Words.  (Read sentence using Brainies.)  Teach Okay
Repeat with three to five other sentences.

Next, play the "but" complexor game.  Directions for this game can be found in "The Writing Game".  This is a free download that is available at www.wholebrainteaching.com.  All you have to do to receive the downloads is register on the site.  Once you do they will be available to you on the right side of the screen.  Click on downloads.  Scroll through until you find "The Writing Game".

Please note the number of "Teach Okays" in the explain portion of the lesson.  Depending on how many sentences you choose to do with your students, you could be doing anywhere between eleven and fifteen "Teach Okays".

Test:  It is in this portion of the lesson that we check students' understanding.  "It is time for QT."  (This stands for question time.  The kids will respond "Cutie".  They then put their heads down and lay their hand flat on their desks.)  Ask students the following question:  "Is this sentence correct?"  Have ready a list of sentences to read to the students, all using the word "but".  Make sure that some of the sentences are using "but" correctly, and some are using "but incorrectly.  Students listen to the sentence and respond with either a thumbs up or thumbs down.  This tells you as the classroom teacher who is getting it and who isn't.  This allows you to either go back and reteach or move on.  It also lets you know which of your students you might want to pull for further instruction at a different time.

Critical Thinking:    Guide students orally through the first three rungs of the Genius Ladder (For more information on the Genius Ladder, see my Blog Post on this topic.) using the following sentences:
Blah:  my brother's favorite food is pizza.
Spicy:  My brother's favorite food is hot, cheesy pizza.
Extender:  My brother's favorite food is hot, cheesy pizza, but my favorite food is cold ice cream.
Genius Paragraph:  Students create their own paragraph using the structure of the extender sentence as their topic sentence, but changing the foods and people as they want to.  They must give detail adders and a concluder (concluding sentence).  This is done orally at first, but then the students are asked to put their paragraph into writing.

It is important to note that at every level of the Genius Ladder students are sharing using Teach Okay and Tag Team.  While the students are writing their paragraphs, I walk around the room with my red and green pens to do red/green writing.  If you are unfamiliar with what red/green writing is, please see my blog post on this topic.

I hope that you have found this lesson helpful and that it inspires you to take a closer look at your writing program.