Happy Holidays!

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very happy holiday season.  It is my prayer that your Christmas was a blessed time with family and friends and that your New Year celebrations be safe and full of joy.

I have really enjoyed this time of rest and relaxation.  Over the break I have had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends, as well as relax and read a couple of good Christian fiction books.  I even gave my house a good cleaning, something that it desperately needed.  I think, however, my favorite part of this vacation was the time that I spent serving others at the Salvation Army.  I was blessed to be able to hand out Christmas toys and turkeys on Christmas Eve, as well as serve at the food line the week after Christmas.  My therapy dog, MaryAnn, joined me on all of these outings.  Although she may not have understood all that we were doing, she has definitely enjoyed all of the time she got to spend with her mommy.  I truly believe that there is no better way to spend out time than to serve others.  There is definite truth in the saying that it is better to give than to receive.

I have also had some time during this vacation to reflect upon this school year.  It is hard to believe that my first year as a Whole Brain Teaching instructor is almost half over.  It has gone very quickly, but it has been so much fun!  I have never enjoyed myself so much as a teacher.  It is fun to watch my kids have fun learning.  There are so many good things that I could say about Whole Brain Teaching. It has transformed my classroom in ways that I would have never thought possible.  Engagement is up, discipline problems are almost non-existent, my students love school and are excited about learning, motivation is high (Thank you Super Improver Wall) and the list goes on.  I am excited to see what the new year is going to bring.

Right now the thing I am most excited about is Coach B.'s trip to Las Vegas.  I am referring to Chris Biffle, the founder of Whole Brain Teaching.  He will be in Las Vegas January 23rd and 24th.  My students and I are so excited, because he will be spending a portion of his day on Friday in our room.  I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.  On Saturday Coach B. will be giving an all day seminar from 8:00 to 3:00 at Mack Middle School.  It is free and open to anyone who would like to attend, so if you are in or around the Las Vegas area, I would encourage you to take advantage of this awesome opportunity to come hear Coach B. in person.

If you are working on New Years' resolutions for the coming year, I would encourage you to make implementing Whole Brain Teaching in your classroom one of those resolutions.  I promise you that the rewards will be well worth the work.  If I can help you in anyway with making this resolution a reality, please let me know.  I always love to hear from all of you.  Have a very happy New Year!

The Super Improver Wall Photo Level

In an earlier post I shared with you how much I love my Super Improver Wall and explained how to put one up. (If you are not familiar with the Super Improver Wall, I would encourage you to read my earlier post on the subject.) Nothing has changed.   I still love my Super Improver Wall.  It still never ceases to amaze me how hard a student will work for a little star colored in on a piece of paper.  Just recently we had parent teacher conferences.  Most of my students came with their parents to the conferences, and without fail, they all showed their parents where they were on the wall and talked about the number of stars that they needed to "level up".  This is the term that we use in my classroom for moving up to the next level on the wall.

The current buzz in my classroom is making it to MVK (Most Valuable Kid).  This is level five on our wall.  What makes this level so special is that it is the "photograph level".  (I will explain what I mean by this in a moment.)  It is common practice to attach rewards to certain levels on the wall.  Not every level has a reward attached to it, but the teacher chooses specific levels at which to reward students, as well as the rewards that go with these levels.  I do not tell my students in advance which levels have rewards attached to them or what the rewards are.  They find out when the first student reaches that level.  There is, however, one exception to this practice.  The MVK level has had a small picture of a camera next to it since the beginning of the year.  I did not tell the students what the camera meant.  I only told them that something special would happen when they reached this level.  Just recently my first student did, and it has been so much fun.

Alright, it is time to reveal the secret of this level.  When a student gets to this level he gets to choose two of his friends to take a silly picture with.  When my first student reached this level I told her to choose two friends that she would like to do something special with, but I did not tell her what they would be doing.  She picked them just as the students were heading out to lunch recess.  The three of them came back to the classroom with me, still having no idea what was going to happen.  When we got back to the room I revealed the surprise, and they took their silly picture together.  I then swore them all to secrecy, which they thought was very cool.  They liked knowing something that the rest of the class didn't know.  That night I printed the picture and the next day I hung it face down on my Super Improver Wall.  The rest of the class was very curious about this.  I told them that when Dawn (not her real name) earned her ten stars, I would turn the paper over and they could all see what was on the back.  Of course, Dawn and her two friends knew, but they were not about to tell anyone.  

This created quite a stir, because now everyone wants to make it to MVK and find out what all of the excitement is about.  Students are really stepping up.  What amazes me is how students will look for ways that they can personally improve, knowing that when I see this, they will earn a star.  Here is one example.  We have been talking for quite some time about "answering the question that is being asked".  My kids are real good about using complete sentences, but with many of them being ELL, they often struggle with understanding what the question is really asking.  They will give a great answer, but it often does not match the question.  Recently we took a reading test on reading diagrams.  The questions were a little tricky, and I assumed that many of my students would have the same struggle.  To my surprise a majority of my students actually answered the questions being asked.  A few of them had the wrong answers, but at least they showed that they understood the questions.  It was a huge breakthrough and very exciting.  In the past I had given out stars for improvements on reading tests, and the students knew that this would be a definite improvement and would earn them a star.  I did not disappoint them.  As soon as I had graded the test, I handed out the stars, emphasizing how proud I was of them for answering the questions being asked.  

I can't wait to see the students' reactions when Dawn gets her card turned over.  Here is how that works.  I simply draw her next ten stars on the back of her photograph.  As soon as she earns all ten, the photograph gets turned over for all of the class to see.  The photo will hang by the Super Improver Wall until the end of the year.  Then Dawn will get to take it home.

Below is a picture of what the wall currently looks like.  You will notice Dawn's card on the left side.  She currently has one star drawn on the back of it.  If you look carefully, you will also see the camera next to the MVK level.

If you have not yet started a Super Improver Wall in your room, I would encourage you to do so.  It would be an awesome thing to set up over Christmas break and start when the students return to school in January.  It is very easy to do, and I promise you that the payoff is well worth the effort.

The Wacky Star Fun Button

This post is all about true confessions.  Below is a picture of my Wacky Star Fun Button.  It has been hanging on my board since the first day of school.  I learned about this button over the summer as I was trying to learn everything I could about WBT.  As soon as I saw it and read about it, I fell in love with it.  The premise is pretty simple.  This button is designed to build student engagement during oral writing.  There are many different ways that the button can be used to accomplish this, but I am going to share with you step by step instructions for the way that I decided to use the Wacky Star Fun Button in my room:

1.  Draw the students' attention to the button.  Keep referring to it as the Wacky Star Fun Button and really hype it up.

2.  Tell the students that something special happens when you push the button, but to find out what that is, they have to build their own star.  Explain that the star is built during oral writing.  (By oral writing, I mean anytime that the students are talking with their partners or to the whole class, using Brainies and Gestures.  In my room this happens all day, not just during writing time.)

3.  Every time students do an exceptional job with their oral writing, give them one side of a star.  I just draw the star as they earn it on the board next to the Wacky Star Fun Button.

4.  When students have earned all five sides (made their own star) tell them that when you push the button something very magical is going to happen.  For as long as your hand is on the button, they will all receive magical powers that will allow them to become any animal that they won't.  However, as soon as your hand leaves the star, the powers go away and the students must immediately become themselves again.  The only rule is that they may not yell.

Keep in mind that at the beginning of this post I said that this is what I had decided to do.  Up until a couple of weeks ago I never did it.  I meant to.  I even had the button written in my lesson plans for the first week of school to remind myself.  However, I kept forgetting.  I would usually remember long after the students had finished their oral writing.  For awhile I kept saying, "I will remember next time."  That, however, never happened.  Eventually I just forgot about it completely.  I guess I was so busy learning so many other WBT things, not to mention the normal beginning of the year stuff, that it just never became a priority.

Fast forward to the beginning of December.  One day as I was looking at my board, my eyes stopped on my Wacky Star Fun Button, and I made up my mind that I was introducing it to my kids on that day.  I have to be honest.  I did not realize how engaging it would really be.  My class has been working really hard at using Brainies and gestures at the same time when they are doing their oral writing.  This is really hard for them.  Almost a third of my class is special education, and it is not easy for them to use Brainies and gestures consistently.  However, when I told them about the button, it was like watching a whole new class.  Suddenly I was seeing big gestures and the Brainies from almost everybody.  It took them less than one day to earn all five parts of their star.

They actually finished their star during math.  I didn't want to stop the flow of the lesson, so I told them that when math was over we would do the Fun Button.  However, by the end of math I had forgotten about this.  My students hadn't.  When the lesson was over, I said to my class, "Do you know what time it is?"  In my mind it was time for red/green writing. (If you are curious about what red/green writing is, check out my blog post on this topic.)  My students, however, knew the correct answer.  They all said in unison, "It is time for the Wacky Star Fun Button!"  It took a total of 20 seconds of class time, (That is how long I left my hand on the button.) but the payoff was huge!  The Wacky Star Fun Button has now become a regular part of our day, and I promise you that I no longer forget about it.

I am considering changing up the reward a bit, because we all know that we need to keep what we are doing in the classroom fresh, in order to keep the students interested.  Instead of just changing into animals, I have been thinking about other things that my students can change into for 20 seconds, like musical instruments or vehicles.  If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.  Please leave a comment after this post.

Remember, there is no one set way to use this button.  Although originally designed to be used with oral writing, I know that teachers have chosen to use it with other things as well.  It is all about what will work best in your classroom with your students.  I am attaching the download of the button that I got over the summer.  There are instructions attached that are a little different than what I shared with you.  Use these, use my ideas, or come up with your own.  I just challenge you to give the Wacky Star Fun Button a try.  Like me, I promise that you will not be sorry.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/2p5r4sp5a9i2ir1/WackyStarFunButtonWholeBrainTeaching.pdf?dl=0

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.

The Compare and Contrast Brainies

The week of Thanksgiving is a week in which we all traditionally reflect upon all of the things that we are thankful for.  In my professional life I am very thankful for all of Whole Brain Teaching, but these last couple of weeks I have been especially thankful for the Compare and Contrast Brainies.  Below is a picture of my Compare and Contrast Brainies.  They hang at the top of my Brainie board.

                                                                   

It is now time for true confessions.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had completely ignored these two Brainies.  I knew that I needed to introduce them to my students.  I also knew how important these two critical thinking skills are; however, I just never got around to them.  This was partly due to the fact that I was so busy with so many other components of Whole Brain Teaching, that these very important Brainies kept getting pushed to the back burner.  I would look at them hanging there and feel guilty.  I kept telling myself that I would introduce them to my students when it was time to teach comparing and contrasting.  That, however, was very wrong thinking.  These two Brainies are not meant to be taught as part of a week long unit and only occasionally referred back to.  They are at the heart of critical thinking and should be used on a regular basis.

Once I realized this very important truth, I got to work.  My goal was to incorporate these Brainies into as many different lessons as I could.  Last week we were studying long "u" patterns, so I asked students to look at words with different patterns and share with me how they were the same and how they were different.  I also decided to try them in a grammar lesson.  We were studying past tense verbs, so I gave students a list of regular and irregular verbs and asked them to look for similarities and differences.  I even created a Genius Ladder around the Comparing Brainie.  Students were asked to compare ways that dogs and cats are similar.

However, my favorite lesson so far took place over two days.  I decided that I would ask my students to compare and contrast apples and oranges.  On the first day we focused on ways that they are similar.  I brought in an apple and an orange.  We began with a brief vocabulary lesson.  Since I have so many ELL students, many of them were not familiar with the words wedges, peel, or core.  I then placed a chart on the board.  At the top I wrote:  Apples are similar to oranges because ___________.  Underneath this sentence frame I created a T-Chart.  One side was for "Pitty Patter" proof.  (This is the WBT term for weak proof.)  The other side was for strong proof.  After providing my students with some think time, I asked them to share ways that apples and oranges were similar with their partners, using the sentence frame on the chart and the Compare Brainie.  (When saying "are similar to" students must lace their fingers together, which is the gesture for comparing.)  We used "High Five Teach", which means that students take turns teaching each other their sentences.  Peanut Butters (I call my partners Peanut Butters and Jellies.) went first.  I have recently started having my students stand when they are teaching their partners, and it has been very effective.  Peanut Butters shared their comparing sentence using the Brainies, and Jellies repeated their partners words and gestures.  They then gave each other a high five and Jellies shared.  This process repeated until I called the class back together with a "Class Yes".  I walked around listening, encouraging, and assisting as needed.  When we came back together as a class, I asked for students to share their sentences,  There is a very specific procedure for this.  I have listed it below:

Teacher:  "Diamond Eyes" on (students' name).
Student: (Stands) Class.
Class:  Yes.
Student:  Giant Mirrors and Words please.  (with gesture)
Class:  Giant Mirrors and Words please.  (with gesture)
Student:  Apples are similar to oranges because ___________________.  (with Brainies)
Class:  Apples are similar to oranges because _____________________.  (with Branies)
Teacher:  Give (student's name) a ten finger wooh!  (Class gives Wooh.)

Every time a student shared the class would vote with a thumbs up or thumbs down on whether they thought the proof was strong proof or "Pitty Patter" proof.  I would then write it on the appropriate side of the T-chart.  The class really surprised me at some of the strong proof that they came up with.  Here are a few examples:  they both grow on trees, they are both healthy, they both have juice.

We immediately followed this with a round of Prove It.  Prove It is a game that helps students prepare for standardized tests in a fun way.  (Please see my post which explains how to play.)  I gave my students a short passage that compared lions to leopards.  There were two questions, both in a testing format.  The students knew exactly what they needed to do to find the answer and were able to underline their proof with their red pens.  It was great to see how well they truly understood what it meant to compare two items.

The real fun, however, came during red/green writing.  (For an explanation of red/green writing, please see my post on the topic)  I asked students to write a paragraph that would answer the following question:  In what ways are apples and oranges similar.  The chart from the morning was on the board and the students got busy.  We have been talking about attaching "detail adders" to our "detail adders" and the students did a really nice job of this.  I took a picture of a  piece of their writing so that you could see what I mean by this.

The next day we went through the exact same process, but this time we looked at ways that apples and oranges are different.  It went equally well.  I'd like to share with you a couple of my favorite strong proofs for ways that apples and oranges are different:  apples have black seeds and oranges have white seeds, oranges have wedges and apples don't.

The more I use the Comparing and Contrasting Brainies, the more that I see their power.  After Thanksgiving break we are going to look at how Thanksgiving and Christmas are similar and how they are different.  We are also going to be comparing and contrasting compound words with multisyllabic words.  I can't wait to see how my students do with both of these.

If you have not tried using the Compare and Contrast Brainies, I would encourage you to do so. If you are not familiar with the Brainies and would like to know more about them, go to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  Register on the site.  (Registration is free.)  You will then be able to access the Braine Game, which is one of the many free downloads.  Just scroll down the right side of your scree and you will see a bar labeled downloads.  The Brainie game will be the first download that you see.

The Five Step Lesson Plan

A fundamental part of Whole Brain Teaching is the five step lesson plan.  I love the five step lesson plan.  Mastering this lesson plan design will move you one step closer to teacher heaven.  What makes it so great is that it is easy to follow and can be used with any lesson or program that you currently use.  All you need to do is tweak the lesson to make it fit into the five step lesson plan.  Soon it becomes habit, and you are automatically writing up every lesson that you teach in this format.

Step One:  Ask a question.  This sets the stage for learning, because it causes your students to start thinking about what they will be learning about.  Recently, I was teaching a math lesson on more than/less than; so I asked my students the question, "What is more than less than?"  This is done using Teach Okay.  Below is an explanation of Teach Okay.

Teach Okay is all about student engagement.  Its structure is designed to create 100% participation in a lesson.  The way it works is simple.  After sharing a brief chunk of information with the class (in this case the question), the teacher claps her hands twice and says, "Teach."  The students clap their hands twice and say, "Okay."  They then make a full body turn to their partner and teach the information that the teacher just shared.  At the beginning of the lesson, they simply restate the question.  

When the teacher wants the classes attention, she calls them back with a class yes.  The class is expected to immediately turn, look at the teacher, and fold their hands.  The teacher then continues with the next part of the lesson.

Step Two:  Answer the Question.  Give the students the answer to the question that you asked.  This often means providing them with a definition.  In my more than/less than lesson I defined more than less than using gestures and Mirror Words.  Sometimes I will use Silent Mirrors or Magic Mirrors  Below is an explanation of Mirrors.

Mirrors is another student engagement strategy.  Students are expected to copy the words and/or gestures of the person teaching.  The teacher begins by stating the type of Mirror that he/she will be using and using the gesture for that Mirror type.  The students then repeat the name of the mirror and copy the gesture for it.  Mirrors stay on until the teacher says, "Mirrors off."  Here are the three types of mirrors:

Mirror Words:  Students are to repeat your words and copy your gestures.
Silent Mirrors:  Students only copy your gestures.
Magic Mirrors:  You put your hands behind your back, and students create gestures for what you are saying.

Teach Okay generally follows Mirrors.  This allows students the opportunity to teach each other, with the use of gestures, the information that you just taught them.

Step Three:  Expand.  This is where the actual teaching of content occurs.  It involves the use of Mirrors and Teach Okay.  It involves chunking the information being taught into small segments and having the students teach that information to each other.  The rule of thumb is that a teacher should never talk more than 30- 45 seconds at a time.  Any longer and we go into lecture mode.  This is when we start losing our students.  It takes a little bit of practice at first, but after a while it becomes habit.  My more than/less than lesson came from a program that our grade level is using called Engage New York.  I simply took the material that I needed to cover in the concept development portion of the lesson and put it in the Mirror/Teach Okay format.  Here is one example of this.  The lesson called for students to draw on a form that was provided three similar numbers using base ten blocks.  They then were to created their own problems using these three numbers and the more than/less than symbols.  Here is what I did.  After the students drew the base ten blocks for each number I revealed the following sentence frame:  _________is more than/less than __________ because __________________.  Then, using Teach Okay and Tag Team Switch (In Tag Team Switch students take turns sharing.  Teachers have a set procedure on who always go first.  In my class my students are labeled Peanut Butters and Jellies, and Peanut Butters always go first.  After taking their turns, the Peanut Butters will high five the Jellies and Jellies will take their turn.  This continues until the teacher calls the students back together using Class Yes.) the students create their own problems using the sentence frame that I provided.  Using the word because (WBT calls this a because clapper) is very important, because it asks students to give a reason (proof) for their answer.  As I walked around and listened to the students I heard lots of amazing proof.  They would say things like, "549 is more than 149, because it has more hundreds."  A couple of my higher students actually stated how many more hundreds:  "It has four more hundreds."  When I called the students back together I wanted them to hear each other's thinking.  I especially wanted the whole class to hear what my high students had to say.  So I asked those students to share.  They do not, however, share in the normal way.  They stand and using Class Yes and Mirror Words, they actually teach the class.  The class will repeat their words and gestures, just like they do mine when I am teaching.  This is the beauty of Whole Brain Teaching.  When one student shares, the whole class is still engaged!

Step Four:  Test.  This is where you check for understanding.  There are two ways to do this.  This first is with Yes/No Way.  The teacher makes a statement.  For example, 335 is greater than 353.  The students respond with "Yes!" (and a fist pump) or "No Way!" (hands on forehead and then quickly pulled off)  The other way to test is called QT (question time).  When you say QT to your students, they should say, "Cutie."  They then put their heads down and lay their hands flat beside their hands.  The teacher then makes the same type of statements that were used in Yes/No Way, but this time students keep their heads down and respond with either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  The teacher uses a clip board to note which students need additional help.  Based on the results, you can choose to either move on to step four or go back to step three and reteach.  Please note that Yes/No Way is optional, but QT should be used in all of your lessons.

Step Five:  Critical Thinking.  This step asks students to engage in higher order thinking skills.  It is a critical component and should not be left out.  Often it will involve writing.  In my more than/less than lesson, this was the question that I asked my students:  Noah's number was 353.  Manuel had 35 tens and five ones.  Who had more?  How do you know?  Students had to write out their answer and show their proof.  

It is important to note that you do not have to do all five components in one day.  Depending on the subject, the time, and the material to be covered; I will often do steps one through three the first day.  The next day I will spend some more time on step three, and then go on to steps four and five.

I have found this format to be extremely successful.  The students are engaged throughout the entire lesson; this means few, if any, behavior problems, the students are excited about learning; they retain more information; and they have not asked me once this year, "How do I _____________."  They got it through the lesson format, because they were engaged!  If you have not yet tried the five step lesson format, I would highly encourage you to do so.  I can promise you that you won't be sorry.

The Scoreboard Version 2.0

The Scoreboard has often been referred to as the motivator.  It is a reward system that replaces team points, clip charts, cards, names on the board etc.  It is easy to implement; there is student buy-in and participation; and students are never singled out for wrong choices.  To get started all you need to do is draw a two column grid on your whiteboard.  On one side draw a smiley face and on the other side draw a frownie face.  When the class, or even a few students, performs well, briefly tell the class what they did (ex. Great diamond eyes and folded hands.) and ask for a "mighty oh, yeah".  Students will quickly clap their hands together and say, "Oh, yeah!"  While they do this, you will make one tally mark on the smiley face side of the scoreboard.  On the other hand, if the class does not perform well, you will briefly tell the class what they did (ex.  Too slow.) and ask for a "moaner groan".  Students will quickly shrug their shoulders and groan.  You will then place a tally mark on the frownie face side of the scoreboard.  It is important to note that children can be singled out for positive choices (smilies), but never should a student or group of students be singled out for negative choices (frownies).  When using the scoreboard always follow the + - 3 rule.  This means that smilies and frownies should always be within three of each other.  As coach B. says, "If you reward too much, the students become lackadaisical.  If you penalize too much, the students will become resentful."  This is why the +-3 rule is in place.  The reward can simply be the students knowing that they beat the teacher.  Other options are an extra minute of recess, one less homework problem, Mind Soccer minutes, or a one minute dance party.

I began the year using this basic scoreboard, and it has been very successful. I think it has worked so well because it is simple and motivating.  Students love the "mighty oh yeahs".  They have fun counting the tallies on each side and working hard to make sure that they do end the day with more smilies than frownies.  I see the value of the + - 3 rule, because a close score is part of the fun.  I compare it to a ball game.  When the game is a blowout, it is not as interesting.  It is the close score that keeps the spectators' attention.  The same philosophy applies to the scoreboard.  Without a doubt, it has been the best management tool that I have ever found.

There are a number of variations to the basic scoreboard that are designed to keep the scoreboard fresh and motivating.  These variations can be found in Coach B.'s book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids.  However, the latest and best version of the scoreboard just came out.  Coach B. has labeled it "The Scoreboard version 2.0".  It is also known as the Video Game Scoreboard.  The premise behind this score board is very simple.  It is played like a video game with ten different levels.  Each level has its own name and a unique set of challenges.  Bonuses are attached to each level, beginning with level two.  The first level is called Base Camp.  This level is designed to introduce the students to the scoreboard.  Students will earn smilies when they perform like students in the grade two years above their grade.  They earn frownies when they perform like students in the grade two years below their grade.  So in my room students earn smilies for performing like fourth graders and frownies for performing like kindergartners.  This is a very important part of the scoreboard, because it serves a dual purpose:  it provides a built in structure for practicing the rules and a motivator for students to follow the rules.  Let me explain:

When teaching students a new rule or procedure, wrong way/right way practice should always be used.  During wrong way practice students are asked to model the rule the wrong way.  In my case, I would ask my class to show me what it would look like in a kindergarten classroom.  Students demonstrate this and are praised for doing such a good job of showing me what kindergartners would look like.  We then talk about what the rule or procedure would look like in a fourth grade classroom.  Students would be asked to model what it would look like and would be praised for doing it like fourth graders.  The students are given the goal of always following the rule or performing the procedure like fourth graders would.  This is where the scoreboard comes in.  When students perform a rule or a procedure like a kindergartner, the tally goes on the kindergarten (frownie) side of the scoreboard.  When they perform it like a fourth grader, the tally goes on the fourth grade (smilie) side of the scoreboard.  Since kids always want to be perceived as older than they really are, they will perform at the higher level.

Level one also has a wildcard, if you choose to use it.  Instead of using smilies and frownies, you can name your levels and change the sound effects that students use when earning a tally.  For example, you might use "Captain" and "Crew" and change your sound effects to "Yo ho ho" and "Arg".  Another idea that works well for this time of year is "Farmer" and "Turkey".  Your sound effects could be "Yum Yum" and "Gobble Gobble".  My plan is to throw in a Wild Card at level two, but for level one, I am going to stick with smilies and frownies.

Advancing to the next level is easy.  It takes ten wins to advance to the next level.  A win is simply earning in one day more positive marks than negative marks.  I have chosen to place ten numbers at the top of my scoreboard and mark off one number with each win.  When all ten numbers are marked off, the class will advance to the next level.  I just began the Video Game Scoreboard this week.  My kids love it.  After all, what kid does not love video games.  Below is a picture of what my scoreboard looks like.

You will notice at the bottom that I did choose to keep "Beat the Clock".  I use this for lining up and passing out papers.  I simply count how long it takes for students to either line up or pass out papers, and I write that number down on the scoreboard.  The next time they try and beat that time.  If they do it is a positive mark.  If they don't it is a negative mark.  It is super simple and the kids love it.

As I already mentioned, there are ten levels to the scoreboard.  I have only talked about the first, because this is as far as my class has got.  Throughout the year as my class moves through the levels, I will share with you more about this exciting new scoreboard.  If you are ready to learn more about all of the levels, then just go to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  From there go to the drop down menu at the top of the page and click on "Goodies".  The first choice under "goodies" is "wbt tv".  When the page opens scroll down and you will find a video library of webcasts by Coach B.  The Scoreboard is webcast 584.  While there, please be sure to scroll through all of the webcasts in the library.  There you will find a wealth of information on Whole Brain Teaching.

The Genius Ladder

The Genius Ladder is at the heart of the WBT writing program.  At its core it is 10-15 minutes daily of oral writing practice, but in reality it is so much more!  It teaches sentence structure, parts of speech, grammar, and what a paragraph is.  It can also be a springboard to numerous writing assignments, as well as a way to reinforce content in areas like science and social studies.  Finally, it engages your students by bringing "funtricity" to your writing program.  Below is a picture of my Genius Ladder.  Mine is a little on the large side.  I have discovered that though not necessary, having a Genius Ladder this big definitely gets the kids attention, so I am okay with it.  The traffic light transitions on the side are not a part of the Genius Ladder.  The side of the ladder just seemed like a logical place to put them.

The Genius Ladder has four rungs to it.  The first rung is called "Blah Sentence".  Here you write a simple sentence with an article, noun, verb structure.  An example would be, "My dog ran."  For the first four or five weeks of the school year, my students would use "Teach Okay" to create new sentences, by first substituting the noun in the sentence with new nouns, and then substituting the verb in the sentence with new verbs.  In the first round an example of a new sentence might be "The girl ran."  In the next round they might say, "The dog barks."  I found that doing this daily provides students with a really good grasp of nouns and verbs, as well as the structure of a simple sentence.  At the end of "Teach Okay" I always ask two or three students to share their sentences with the class using "Giant Mirrors and Words."  This sharing provides another opportunity for a whole class model.  At this point in the year my students understand nouns and verbs, as well as the simple sentence structure, so we just read the Blah sentence.  When we are done, the kids love to say, "Blah, boring."  This allows us more time to spend on the higher levels of the ladder.

The next level is the "Spicy Sentence".  At this level you add an adjective to your "Blah" sentence.  Just like the first level, students use "Teach Okay" to share their new sentences.  An example of a "Spicy Sentence" would be, "The large dog ran."  As students take turns sharing their sentences, they are constantly thinking of different adjectives.  Right now I have students that will create "Spicy Sentences" with two or three adjectives.  After "Teach Okay" I choose two or three students to share using "Giant Mirrors and Words."
I love this level, because students really begin to understand what adjectives are and how to use them properly in sentences.

The next level is the "Extender Sentence".  At this level the "Spicy Sentence" can be extended in any number of ways.  I decided to start my year by having my students extend their sentences using the "Connect 5 W + H" Brainie.  This Brainie is simply teaching students "who, what, when, where, why. and how."  I began by teaching my kids how to extend their sentences by answering the question "why".  We did this using the "because clapper".  We then answered the question "when" by extending our sentence with phrases like "in the morning" or "After dinner".  Finally, we answered the question "where" and students extended their sentences with phrases like "outside" or "at the "park".  Most recently we used both "when" and "where" to extend our sentences.  Next on the agenda is compound sentences.  Later in the year we will do prepositional phrases.  The same procedures are followed at this level as the previous two.

The last rung of the ladder is called the "Genius Paragraph".  We started working at this level about four or five weeks into the school year.  Here the extender sentence becomes the topic sentence, and students then add details, which are referred to as detail adders.  They also add a closing sentence, which is called a concluder. At this level I have students share with their partners, and then I usually ask one student to share his/her "Genius Paragraph" with the class.  Often I will use the oral writing practice as a springboard to my writing lesson and have my students write down their "Genius Paragraphs".

Just recently I tried my own innovation of the Genius Ladder which the kids totally loved.  I told them that they were each going to create their own ladder.  I provided them with a paper which had all four rungs on it.  On our class Genuis Ladder I posted the structure for each level.  For example, at the "Blah" level I had written "The/A/My noun verb."  I then guided students through each level of the ladder, which they wrote out on their paper.  At the extender level students chose how they wanted to extend their sentence.  Along the way students shared with their partners and with the class, just like we normally do.  The last step was to have the students write out their "Genius Paragraphs."  I was really impressed with the job that they did.  Even my special education students were successful.  To me this assignment was simply a testament to the power of the Genius Ladder.

If you would like more information on the Genius Ladder, you will find some great resources at the Whole Brain Teaching website.  Just go to www.wholebrain teaching.com.  Under Goodies on the drop down menu, go to wbt tv.  There you will find an archive of webcasts.  Number 504 is on the Genius Ladder.  Coach B. will explain to you everything that you ever wanted to know about it.  Also, if you register at the site, you will have access to the free downloads.  There is a great Power Point on the Genius Ladder, which will provide you with tons of sentences to get started.

Reflections

At the time I wrote this post I had been doing Whole Brain Teaching for about 14 weeks.  It was around the beginning of last May that I first discovered this gateway to teacher heaven.  I implemented each component that I learned about as quickly as I could, but there were some things (Super Improvers' Wall, Three Star Homework) that, because it was so close to the end of the year, I didn't get to try out until this year.  From the start I fell in love with Whole Brain Teaching.  The ideas were fun, simple, and easy to implement.  I can't tell you how many times I have said to myself, "I can't believe that I never thought of that."  The results were also amazing!  Some of them were expected, but I have to be honest.  Some came as very big, but very pleasant, surprises.

This week I found myself reflecting upon those unexpected results.  I would like to share some of my reflections with you.  It is my hope that if you are new to WBT or are thinking about trying it out in your room for the first time, you will find my experiences inspiring and decide for yourself to take the plunge into Whole Brain Teaching.

1.  I can not believe how hard students will work to earn a little star on a piece of paper.  I do not think I have ever seen anything as motivating as the Super Improvers Wall.  It is the buzz of the classroom.  I am always hearing things like, "I only need two more stars to level up."  The best part, however, is all I have to do is say to a student, "If you start writing neater (or whatever else the student needs to improve upon), you will earn a Super Improvers' Star."  The results are instant.  The student will start writing neater.  It still amazes me.

2.  Everyone does their homework!  I think it is a combination of the choices that students are given with three star homework and the motivation of getting to play Mind Soccer on Fridays that produces these results.  I have to be honest.  I was very skeptical at first about giving kids a choice.  I thought that many of them would take the easy way out and simply do one star homework.  What I discovered, however, is that almost all of them are doing three star homework.  They are choosing to do all of their homework neatly and correctly for the privilege of playing Mind Soccer.  Which leads me to my next reflection.

3.  Who would have ever thought that a review game would generate so much excitement.  Mind Soccer, however, does just that.  You can literally feel the buzz in the room on Friday afternoons.  It is like a countdown until Mind Soccer begins.  It is amazing that students will work so hard to earn the privilege of reviewing everything that they have been learning.  Wow!

4.  Getting kids to write in complete sentences with all of their periods in the right places has never been so easy.  It is only the beginning of November and all of my students, including my special education students, punctuate properly.  This is my twenty fifth year of teaching, and I have never seen this before.  Don't get me wrong.  I am not saying that they are perfect and never leave out a period here or there, but overall they have got it!  Right now I am thinking about one of my special ed students that I will call Dan.  Dan did not use any periods in his writing.  One day I sat with Dan and showed him how to find his periods by listening for the clicks.  (The click goes along with the "Midnight Phone Call Test".  This is the WBT way of teaching what a complete sentence is.  The idea is that if someone calls you in the middle of the night and you pick up the phone to answer, is what the person on the other end of the line saying to you a complete message?  If it is, then it is a sentence.)  I have my kids hold an imaginary phone to their ears and pretend to hang up when they hear the click (the end of a complete message).  The next day I noticed that Dan was still not using periods in his writing, so I challenged him to listen for the clicks himself and offered him a Super Improver Star if he could put all of his periods in the right places.  Not only did Dan put them all in the right places, but he has been punctuating perfectly ever since.  To what do I attribute this?  I think it is a combination of all of the WBT writing techniques, but if I had to pick just a couple, I would say that oral writing and the Brainies have made the biggest difference.

5.  Rule Two (Raise your hand for permission to speak.) really works!  We all have blurters in our rooms, but rule two will put an end to the blurting.  It still amazes me how well it works.  If a student calls out, I simply say, "Rule Two".  The class repeats the rule, the calling out stops, and I never have to address the one who did it.  Soon those students learn to stop calling out.  The key is consistency.  I have been very careful to never address a student who calls out, but to always say "Rule Two".  As a result, I rarely have blurters anymore.  There have been a couple of times when I have gone two or three days without ever having to say, "Rule Two".

6.  Not once this year have I heard the words "I don't know what I'm suppose to do".  The use of "Mirrors" and "Teach Okay" keeps the students engaged, so that they actually focus upon and understand the directions being given.  Wow!!!

7.  My struggling readers love coming to group, are excited about reading, and believe in themselves.  This is thanks to two wonderful WBT reading games that I use everyday with this group of students.  They are Super Speed 100 and Super Speed Rhyme.  What I like best about these games is that they provide my students with the multiple repetitions that they need in order to learn.  What my kids like is that they can see their growth as they work to beat their scores and fill up a page of stars with smiley faces.  (They get to put a smiley face in a star each time they beat their previous score.  One page full of smiley faces earns a Super Improvers Star.)  Both games are free downloads on the Whole Brain Teaching website.  

8.  My students actually reread and edit their writing!  I attribute this to red/green writing.  (For more information about red/green writing see my post on this topic.)  They do not want that red mark on their paper, so they are very diligent about the things that I am looking for.  When they get a green mark they will often say, "Yes."  I have also had students point out something to me that they want me to mark with my green pen.  Of course, I am happy to oblige.

9.  The Brainies are a hit, and many of my students will use them even when I have not asked them to.  When Coach B. came out with the Brainies I knew that they would be motivating.  I guess I just did not have any idea how motivating they would be.  I also did not realize how much of an impact they would have on students learning.

10.  Teaching is really fun!  I enjoy coming to work everyday.  Learning is really fun!  The kids enjoy coming to school everyday.  Our classroom is just a really fun place to be, and I love every minute of it.

For more information about any of the techniques that I mentioned within my reflections, please go to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  There you will find a number of amazing free downloads, as well as a library full of webcasts by Coach B., the founder of Whole Brain Teaching.

Proper Nouns and the Complexor Game

Since I began teaching the WBT way, whenever I am thinking about how I am going to introduce a new concept to my students, there are two words that I always keep in mind:  engaging and funtricity (a WBT buzz word).  I know that these two things will always lead to student learning, so I want them to be at the heart of all of my lessons.

Last week my writing focus skill was proper nouns.  In the past my introductory lesson for proper nouns included a lot of brainstorming.  Whole class brainstorming did not seem to fit into my new WBT criteria for lesson planning, so I decided to think of another way to teach it.  I wanted something that would make proper nouns exciting and keep all of the students engaged.  After some thought, I decided that the Complexor Game would work great with proper nouns.

The Complexor Game is part of the Whole Brain Teaching Writing game, which can be downloaded from the WBT website.  The Complexor game breaks down writing into very small skills.  Each complexor focuses on a different skill.  Examples of complexors are subject verb agreement, making a list with commas, using the word because correctly in a sentence ...  And the list goes on.  Teachers print off the Complexor that they want to use and give a copy to each of their students.  The complexors provide a sample sentence frame and a sentence frame for the students to orally fill in.  The best part, however, are the word lists at the bottom of each complexor.  Students can no longer say that they can't think of anything, because a number of different options for filling in each sentence frame are already provided.  Students simply need to choose from the list the ones that they like.

Every student works with a partner.  In my class the partners are called Peanut Butters and Jellies.  Peanut Butters always go first.  Their job is to create as many sentences as they can in one minute using the sentence frame provided, while Jellies use their whiteboards to keep track of their partners' scores.  Each correct sentence is one point, and in my class students can not earn that point unless they use the target Brainies.  I choose the target Brainies based upon the Complexor we are doing.  For example, if the Complexor is on the correct use of the word "and", then students are expected to use the "and" Brainie when they are creating their sentences.  I always tell the scorekeepers to watch carefully, and to only award a point if the target Brainie is being used.  After one minute their scores are tallied and they are given a second minute to try and beat their previous score.  They love this!  Of course, if they beat their previous score, their partner will give them a ten finger Wooh.  Roles are then reversed, and the same process is repeated.

Although proper nouns is not a Complexor within the Writing Game, I decided to use the Complexor game format to teach it.  I began by putting three posters on the board.  One had days of the week, one had months of the year, and the third had holidays.  I started my lesson on proper nouns with the Question/Answer format from the WBT five step lesson plan.  I then showed my students the list of the days of the week and explained that days of the week are proper nouns and they must always be capitalized.  Students were then asked to create sentences using the days of the week.  I emphasized using the capital Brainie when they said the day of the week within their sentence, because it is a proper noun and must be capitalized.  After a few examples, the students were ready to play.  Students then used the format I described above for the complexor game with their days of the week sentences.  For every correct sentence using capital Brainies, students received one point.  Students were very good about watching for capital Brainies and correcting each other if they didn't use them.  I then repeated the same process for months of the year and holidays.  It was a lot of fun.

I also wanted to introduce students to names as a proper noun, but I decided that this was a little too broad for the Complexor game, so I had the students take out their "Yes/No cards".  These are simply laminatd notecards.  One side is colored green and has the word yes written on it.  The other side is colored red and has the word no written on it.  I introduced the name rule and then simply said a word, such as Target.  If students thought the word should be capitalized, they held up the yes side when I said, "Show me."  If they thought the word should not be capitalized, they held up the no side instead.  This allowed me to see who had the idea and who needed extra help.

The next day I wanted to see how well my students could transfer what they had learned about proper nouns to their writing, so we had the "Proper Noun Challenge".  I gave students fifteen minutes to write as many sentences as they could using proper nouns.  I had the posters up from the day before, and I encouraged the class to think of the sentences that they had shared with their partners the previous day during the Complexor Game.  Every time they used a proper noun, they had to underline it.  I walked around with a red pen and green pen, circling in green any proper noun I saw that were underlined, and circling in red any word that was underlined/capitalized and shouldn't be, or any proper noun that was not capitalized.  At the end of fifteen minutes, students counted up the number of proper nouns that they had.  The person who used the most proper nouns in their writing got a 100 finger sizzling Wooh with firecrackers.  It was very exciting!

Remember, any lesson can be made engaging and fun.  It just takes a little thought and a little creativity.  I am finding that the more I do it, the easier it becomes.  Just remember, when you are planning your lessons, always think of engaging funtricity and you can never go wrong.

The Super Improver Wall

If you do not already have a Super Improver Wall in you classroom, I have just three words for you:  Put one up!  In twenty-five years of teaching I have tried just about every management system and method for motivating students that you can think of.  Never have I found anything that is so effective and so easy to implement as the Super Improver Wall.  Below is a picture of what my wall currently looks like.

                                                                         

To get started you need ten different levels.  The name of each level should be in a different color.  It doesn't matter what you name your levels.  Many people will give them names that match their classroom theme.  For example, a good friend of mine who teaches at my school has an eighties them in her room.  Her levels have names like "Rock Star" and "Producer".  All students will start on the first level, which should be in white.  In my room it is the beginner level.  Students' names are written on cards that match the color of the level that they are on.  The cards are placed on the board.

Now here comes the fun part!  You start looking for improvements in your students.  When you see one, you or the student colors in a star on the student's card.  The improvements could be in any area.  Below I have listed some examples of some of the things that my students have earned stars for:

                                                          1.  Making smarter choices
                                                          2.  Beginning to use the Brainies
                                                          3.  Better or more consistent gestures
                                                          4.  Improvements in writing
                                                          5.  Improvements in Super Speed Math
                                                          6.  Folded hands and laser eyes
                                                          7.  Being a better partner
                                                          8.  Growth in reading

The point is that the improvements can be in anything!  The students are not competing against each other, but against themselves.  It is often your lower students that have more stars, because they have more room for improvement.

When a student has received ten stars, he moves up to the next level on the board, and his new card is the color associated with that level.  I will sign the back of the old card and send it home with the student, along with a certificate for moving to the next level.  I tell my class when a student reaches level four, I will take his picture with two of his friends.  They will be asked to pose for a silly picture.  This picture will go face down on the board and the stars the student earns will be colored on the back of the picture.  When a student has earned ten stars, the picture will be turned over and revealed for the first time.  We haven't got there yet, but I am very excited.  I can see how motivating this will be.

I would like to share with you my favorite story so far this year about our Super Improver Wall.  I have a little boy in my class who I will call Johnny.  (This is not his real name.)  Johnny is in special education and one of the lowest students I have ever had.  Johnny entered my room three days into the school year, not knowing how to read or write anything.  When he did write a letter or two, there was no letter/sound correspondence at all.  I had been working with Johnny, showing him how to sound out words and write down the sounds that he hears.  He was beginning to get the idea and would do this when myself or another teacher was sitting with him and giving him a lot of support, but he would not do any writing independently.  So one day, about the middle of the third week of school, it was the end of the day and we were doing red/green writing.  I had given Johnny a very simple sentence frame:  I like ________.  The day before I had helped Johnny write "I like video games."  The next day, however, I wanted Johnny to fill in the frame on his own.  He had sat for the first five minutes of red/green writing and done nothing.  So I walked up to him and whispered, "If you can write an "I like" sentence before we clean-up, you will get a super improver star."  I have to be honest.  I did not expect him to do it, but I figured that it was worth a try.  A couple of minutes later I looked over and he had his journal in the air shaking it.  He looked very excited.  I went over and saw that he had written:  "I like fit video games."  I was so excited!  He had sounded out the word fight, and copied video games from the day before.  I did not care that it wasn't spelled right.  What mattered was that he had written that sentence in under two minutes, along with his very first word that had letter/sound correspondence.  Not only did he get a super improver star, but I had the class give him a hundred finger Wooh.  (Okay, maybe I did get a little carried away with the hundred finger Wooh, but it was a very exciting moment.)  This is the power of The Super Improver Wall.  It is amazing!

I also have a card on the wall.  I decided to put it up after my mentor, Nancy Stoltenberg, suggested it.  Having my own card up has brought another layer of fun to the wall and has shown my students that everyone has something that they can improve in.  Right now there are two things that I am working on.  In the morning I always hand the bag that had our breakfast cards to a student to hold while we are going through the line.  However, I always forget to take the bag back after I've passed out the cards, and the student has to remind me.  I was told that if I remember on my own I might even get two stars!  I am working very hard on this.  The other area in which the students have told me that I can earn a star is our "Beat the Clock" section of the scoreboard.  I am constantly writing our seconds for "papers out" next to "line" by accident.  My students have promised me a star if I quit doing that.

As you can see, the scoreboard is very motivating and a lot of fun. Coach B., the founder of Whole Brain Teaching, has done a great webcast on the scoreboard.  You can view it by going to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  Under "Goodies" click on the first link entitled "wbt tv".  There you will find a library of webcasts that Coach B. has done.  The Super Improver Wall is number 503.  You can also find many examples of walls that other teachers have done by simply going to Google and typing in "Whole Brain Teaching Super Improver Wall".

The Diamond Rule and Solo Yes

You gotta love Coach B.  As the founder of Whole Brain Teaching, he is always hard at work thinking up more ways to keep us in teacher heaven.  This week, on his Monday night webcast, he did it again.  He introduced us to two new ideas, which I implemented the very next day.  They are both awesome!

The first is a new rule.  You heard me right.  Whole Brain Teaching now has six rules, instead of five.  The new rule is called the Diamond Rule.  Coach B. created it to help solve a problem that all of us as as teachers face:  How do we get our students to look at the person who is teaching, whether it be us or another student?  As Coach B. explained, this is so important because when students are looking at the person speaking, their visual cortex is engaged.  By looking somewhere else, they are disengaging an entire portion of their brains.  This is not acceptable.  After all, this is Whole Brain Teaching, and we want the students' whole brains engaged at all times.

This is where the Diamond Rule comes in.  It very simply says this:  Look at the person who is teaching.  The gesture that accompanies it is to point your first two fingers towards your eyes, and then point those same two fingers towards others.  As Coach was sharing about this rule, someone on line came up with a great saying:  "Diamond Eyes".  I could not wait to introduce both the rule and the catchy saying to my students.

Since this was a new rule, literally hot off the presses, there were no signs for it.  So as soon as the webcast was over, I got to work creating mine.  I have attached it below.  If you like it, please feel free to use it.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlp9og8s2qdwj51/diamond%20rule.pub?dl=0

I introduced the rule to my students using Mirror Words and Teach Okay.  In Mirror Words, students copied my words and my gestures.  Then, during Teach Okay, they taught their partners the words and gestures.  This was immediately followed by "Wrong Way Right Way" practice.  This is a staple of WBT.  Students are asked to practice the rule both the wrong way, and the right way.  By doing this, students know exactly what the rule should and should not look like.  It leaves no doubt as to what is expected of them.  My kids loved the rule, and I saw an immediate improvement.  Suddenly all of my students - even the easily distracted ones - had their eyes on the person speaking.  It was awesome!  One of the nice things about this being a rule is that if I have a student who is having trouble following it, I can invite the student in at recess for two minutes of rule practice.  So far it doesn't look like I will need to do this, but it is nice to have that option if needed.

This rule has really helped during oral writing, when the students are sharing with Mirror Words.  Now, when I call on a student to share, instead of just saying the students name, I will say, "Diamond Eyes on ________."  This reminds the students of the expectation and focuses their attention on the person who is speaking.  I love it!  It has also helped my students earned more tallies for fourth grade mirrors (See last week's post.)  After all, if students are looking at the person who is doing the mirrors, it is a lot easier to mirror them.

Finally, I would like to share with you another great new idea from Coach B.  It is called Solo Yes.  Solo Yes is just like Class Yes, but instead of doing a call out with the entire class, you call one student's name, and that student is expected to answer yes, fold his hands, and look at the teacher.  Nothing else is said, and the lesson continues without interruption.  This is a great strategy to address the behavior of that child who, during a lesson, is playing with his eraser, looking in his desk, tying his shoe etc.  It quickly reminds the student to focus on the lesson, without disrupting the lesson's flow.  It has been a great help.  I used it a lot the first day, but since then I have not needed to use it as frequently.

I spoke at the beginning of this blog about teacher heaven, and I have to tell you that these two strategies have definitely helped to get me there.  Like so many things in WBT, they are so simple and easy to implement, but the payoff is huge.  I would strongly recommend giving them a try.  If you do, please leave a comment on this page letting me know how they are working in your room.  I would love to hear from you!

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.

WBT Writing

I chose to write this post in red because red is a color that grabs the attention of others, and it is my hope that this post will grab your attention.  Let me just begin by saying, WBT writing rocks!  We are five weeks into the school year, and I am loving what I am seeing.  If you are considering using some or all of the Whole Brain writing techniques, but are still a little unsure, let me encourage you.  You will be amazed at the results!

It is not easy to let go of what we know and have always believed in.  When I decided to do full WBT implementation this year, that meant letting go of some things that I had always believed in very strongly, like Writers' Workshop.  For 24 years I had either been using or training other teachers in how to use a Writers' Workshop approach.  It was not an easy thing to let go of, but now that we are five weeks into the school year, I can tell you that I do not regret that decision at all.  The truth is that I have never gotten such good results in such a short amount of time.  Since I am no longer doing Writers' Workshop, I can only attribute this success to teaching writing the WBT way!

It is hard to pinpoint one component of the program that makes it so successful.  I see it as a synergistic effect that is achieved when all of the different components are mixed together.  Having said this, however, I do think it starts with a combination of oral writing and the Brainies.  There is such truth in the statement, "If a child can say it, he can write it."  Oral writing teaches kids how to write before they have even picked up a pencil.  The teacher provides students with a framework for oral writing through the use of sentence frames. Sentence frames benefit all students, but with a class composed mostly of ELL students, a third of which are in special education, I find that the sentence frames are especially beneficial.  The Brainies are gestures that accompanies students oral writing.  These gestures remind them to do things like punctuate correctly or indent.

I also love the WBT philosophy that writing should be broken down into its smallest components and these components should be taught individually.  Coach B. uses the analogy of a tennis game.  Before anyone can pick up a racquet and play, he must first learn a backhand, forehand, volley, serve, overhead shot etc.  Writing works the same way, but many times we expect students to write without teaching them the individual components or giving them the structure that they need to become strong writers.  WBT uses complexors and puzzlers to teach these skills and frameworks in a fun game-like format.  You can read more about complexors and puzzlers by going to the Whole Brain Teaching website and downloading the Writing Game.

I also believe that another thing which makes Whole Brain writing so successful is the immediate feedback that students receive through red/green writing.  I am able to provide feedback to all of my class everyday through red/green writing, as opposed to just three or four students each day when I was using a Writers' Workshop model and conferencing with my students individually.  If you would like to know more about what red/green writing is and how to implement it, please see the post that I have written on this subject.

I would like to end by sharing with you the comment that actually inspired this blog post.  I have a student in my class who I will call Tommy.  Tommy is one of my special education students.  He entered my room as a total non-reader and a non-writer.  At the beginning of the year Tommy struggled with writing even a few words.  He felt successful, however, through oral writing.  He could verbalize what he wanted to say and share it with others.  As he has slowly started to read, he has also slowly started to write.  Last Monday for red/green writing I asked students the following question:  What did you do over the weekend?  Their answers became their topic sentences.  Tommy then asked me the question that I will never forget:  "Can we do one of those three zoop (the sound effect for comma) sentences?"  I answered, "You mean a triple whammy sentence.  Of course, you can."  I came back by a few minutes later and he had written the perfect triple whammy sentence, sharing three things that he did over the weekend, and it was punctuated perfectly.  I could share many other stories, but I think that Tommy's does the best job of emphasizing the point that Whole Brain writing truly does work.

My goal in writing this post was not to teach you how to do Whole Brain writing (Which, by the way, would be impossible to do in one post.), but it was to inspire you to consider learning more about it and using some or all of its components in your classroom.  I hope that I have achieved this goal.  Happy writing!

Oral Writing Essay

Our class has been working on oral writing since the first day of school.  However, up until this point, it has just been individual students sharing individual sentences.  I decided that this week it was time to take the plunge and do our first oral writing essay as a class.  I have to be honest.  I was not sure how my class would do with it.  Out of my 18 students, 14 are well below grade level, with 6 of those in special education.  However, I decided that the only way for both my students and myself to learn was to just do it, so we did.

I knew that it would be important for my students to have a model to follow for putting together this essay, so I used the model that I had been teaching my students in writing.  Below is a picture of it that is now hanging up in our writing area.
                                                                         

The go sign was an answer to a question.  This became our topic sentence.  When I introduced this model to my students I placed a rock in each of their pencil boxes and asked the question, "What did Miss Ray give you?"  I then instructed them to look in their pencil boxes for the answer:  Miss Ray gave me a rock.  They now had their topic sentence.  Each star represents an adder.  (This is what Whole Brain Teaching calls a detail.)  Before each adder they had to use a "traffic light" transition word.  They needed a green light transition word before their first adder, a yellow light transition word before their second adder, and a red light transition word before their last adder.  Below is a picture of my traffic light transitions.

The stop sign after the stars represents the students' concluder.  (This is what Whole Brain Teaching calls the concluding sentence.)

This model worked really well and resulted in some great writing!  Since the students knew it so well, I decided that it would provide a great framework for their first oral writing essay.  The topic I chose was the retelling of a passage that we had been working on all week in reading.  It was about a mom and her daughter who made cupcakes together.  The students had read this passage numerous times and had used the "Connect 5W+H" Brainie to both write and answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about the passage.

Since it was their first time doing an oral writing essay, they needed some guidance, but I was amazed at how well they did.  The first student was able to tell the topic sentence.  Then it was time for the adders (details).  I wasn't sure how my students would do with remembering in order the important details, but they did really good.  I did not even have to remind them to use transition words.  Each student who shared remembered to use the correct transition word with the comma (zoop), when it was his/her turn.  The funnest part, however, was watching them ask for help.  If a student was not sure what to say next, he would say "help me".  The class would then gather around and give suggestions.  This part was a little shaky.  The kids did not quite understand that they each needed to give their own suggestions, instead of chiming in together and following each other.  I think this happened because my lower students are unsure of themselves, so they followed the lead of my few stronger ones. Since I have so many low students, it sounded like one big chorus.  Come to think of it, that is probably a good thing.  When the student sharing heard an idea that he wanted to use, he used "Class Yes" to have the rest of the class return to their seats, or in this case their spots on the floor. After the third adder, the next student knew that he was to give the concluder (closing sentence).  Once again, I did not have to remind this student, because the model was there for him to follow.

I have to admit that it was a pretty awesome thing to see.  I am looking forward to doing more oral writing essays on a variety of topics.  As my students' writing improves and they get more practice at doing oral writing essays, we should be able to move away from such a strict model.  I am very excited to see the progression.