The New and Improved Five Step Lesson Plan

This has been an amazing week!  I just got back from the National Whole Brain Teaching Conference in Pineville, Louisiana.  The conference itself was soooo much fun and I learned soooo many new things.  If I tried to include them all in this one blog, it would take way too long.  Instead, I have decided to share them with you one at a time, beginning with my favorite - The New and Improved Five Step Lesson Plan.

For anyone who is not familiar with the original five step plan, you can find many in-depth posts on my blog that cover this topic.  Below are the names of the original five steps:

1.  Question
2.  Answer
3.  Expand
4.  Test with QT
5.  Critical Thinking

The changes to this plan have happened in steps three and five, with the biggest change being in step three.  It is now all about ramping up the critical thinking skills in every lesson.  Instead of waiting to focus on critical thinking in step five, it now takes place during step three.  This occurs with the assistance of critical thinking sentence frames.  After teaching the concept and providing the students with examples using the Mirror Words and Teach Okay format that we have always used, we then introduce students to critical thinking sentence frames.  Below is an example of a critical thinking sentence frame that could be used when introducing students to the denominator of a fraction:

I see a group of ______________.  The denominator is ______ because ____________________.

The frames above ask students to take what they have learned about fractions and create their own denominators with things/people in the classroom.  The key to all critical thinking sentence frames is to include a "because clapper" in every set of sentence frames because it requires students to give a reason for what they believe.

Next year I will be using these frames with every lesson.  My plan is to create a data base of critical thinking sentence frames for second grade that can be used year after year.

Since critical thinking was introduced in step three, step five is now called "Advanced Critical Thinking".  This step almost always involves writing.  In the spirit of funtricity, a WBT buzz word, I have my students write to Biffy Bluebird.  She is a fun WBT cartoon character.  I explain to my students that she knows nothing about __________ (whatever we are studying).  Their job is to teach her what it is and explain to her how to do it.  The kids really enjoy doing this.  Occasionally, time permitting, I will choose a few pieces of writing at random and tell the kids that I am going to pretend that I am Biffy Bluebird and try to follow their instructions.  This can be a lot of fun and very educational for the students as they watch, usually with much laughter, the results.

So there you have it.  The changes to the five step lesson plan.  I would just like to end with one very important reminder.  Remember, all five steps can, but do not usually, occur on the same day.  It usually takes me between three and five days to cover all five steps.

I hope that you find this information to be helpful as you begin to think ahead and plan for the upcoming school year.

Good-byes

I love teaching, but I hate having to say good-bye to my students on the last day of school.  Every year was tough, but this year was particularly tough.  I had this amazing group of students - my inaugural WBT class - whom I did not want to leave.  We went through the year together and they were my willing guinea pigs.  We laughed together, learned together, and had so much fun together.  I am not sure who loved Whole Brain Teaching the most - my students or myself.

As I reflect back on this school year, there are so many things that I learned.  I can't even begin to tell you how many ah, ha moments I had.  It was a journey that was a lot of hard work, but I will never regret taking it.  I have grown so much as a teacher this past year.  The highlight of the year was becoming a certified Whole Brain instructor.  I am looking forward to the future and am excited about being able to share what I have learned with others.

Over the summer I will begin looking ahead to next year.  I am looking forward to next year in a whole different way.  Last year there was the excitement of beginning something new and the fun of trying to learn and figure everything - and I do mean everything - out.  This upcoming year I am excited about knowing what I am doing and not having to figure everything out.  

Many people have asked me what I am going to change for next year, and my answer is not really a lot.  Yes, I will make a few minor tweaks, and because I know what I am doing, my timeline for some things will change.  However, all of the strategies, techniques, and games that I have used this year will remain.  My motto is "Why mess with perfection?"  After all, in my book WBT is about as close to teaching perfection as you can get.

Another question that I have been asked is what my favorite parts of WBT are.  That is a tough one, because the real answer is everything.  However, as a challenge, I posed the following question to myself:  If you could only implement ten components of WBT, what would those ten components be?  This led to my list of ten WBT must haves.  Here it is:

1.  The Super Improver Wall

2.  Mirror Words

3.  Teach Okay

4.  The Brainies

5.  The Genius Ladder

6.  Red/Green Writing

7.  Puzzlers and Complexors

8.  The Scoreboard

9.  Class Yes

10.  The Rules

I am just thankful that I am not actually limited to only ten. If, however, you are just starting out in WBT and are looking for a place to begin without getting too overwhelmed, these are the ten that I would definitely start with.  My suggestion would be to  master these ten, and then branch out and continue to explore the wonderful world of WBT.  You can find more information on all of these topics right here on my blog, or you can go to WholeBrainTeaching.com for free downloads and webcasts on each of these topics.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful and restful summer.  Maybe I will see you at the National Conference in Louisiana.  Have a great vacation!!!