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.