Coach B.'s visit to Las Vegas was awesome! I can't tell you how great it was to meet him in person and watch him in action. This post is dedicated to all of the "fine tuning", ah ha moments, and new ideas that I walked away with at the end of Coach's visit. Numbers one and two were my biggest ah ha moments. After that, they are listed in no particular order.
1. My biggest ah ha moment was in regards to Mirror Words. The first thing that I noticed was that in both my classroom and during both training days, Coach B. used Mirror Words even when he did not go right into a Teach Okay. This was huge for me, because for some reason, I had always connected Mirror Words with the Teach Okay. As a result, I only used it right before I did a Teach Okay. To explain why I thought this this way, I need to go back to the beginning. If you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I was a self-taught Wibbiteer (slang for a Whole Brain teacher). I watched videos and everything that I could find on line about WBT. Most everything I learned about I felt like I understood pretty well, but Mirrors were confusing to me from the beginning. When I first started, I thought that the students had to repeat exactly what you said, along with your gestures. (I guess I thought of a mirror and it brought to my mind the idea of mimicking the other person.) Thankfully, through the intern program, I quickly learned that my understanding of Mirror Words was incorrect. The goal is for students to paraphrase what you are teaching them. This was very eye-opening to me, because since students didn't need to copy my exact words, I could give them more than a simple sentence to teach. I could actually say things like, "Explain to your partner ____________." It changed my lessons. They became so much easier to chunk. My teaching changed completely. Now I feel like I have the final piece of the puzzle. I feel like a free woman. I can use Mirror Words anytime I want to, not just before a Teach Okay! Thinking about it now, I realize that I probably should have known that. After all, I never felt like Silent Mirrors or Magic Mirrors were tied to my Teach Okay. However, the past is the past, and I am just happy that thanks to the modeling of Coach B., the light bulb has finally come all the way on.
2. I really enjoyed watching Coach B.as he taught step two of the five step lesson plan: the question. My biggest take away was that during Mirror Words we can do more than just simply state the question. We can say things like, "I have a question. A really big question. It's a ginormous question. Here is our question for today." We would then go on to state the question two different ways. It just made step two a lot more fun. Then, right before calling for a Teach Okay, we can either say "Mirrors Off" and ask students to share the question with their partner, or simply go right into the Teach Okay. I loved it, because it really brings that element of funtricity to what had not previously been a very exciting part of the lesson.
3. Coach B. talked about something that I think is super important. It will not change what I am doing, but it gave me more insight into why I am doing it, which will help me better explain WBT to others. He said that when we teach our students, we are really teaching them a foreign language. Words like numerator, denominator, hexagon, preposition etc. they have never heard before. When learning a foreign language, we can't just hear the language. The way that we learn it is through speaking it. After modeling the first two steps of a fraction lesson, Coach B. stopped and talked about how many times we had used the words numerator and denominator in the past few minutes. Repetition is key to learning a foreign language, and it is the repetition created by the first two steps of the five step plan that makes those two steps so powerful. That was a great take away for me.
4. My next insight was in regards to think time. He said that when we give kids think time, we don't know what they are thinking about. I had not thought of this before, but it made sense. However, I was not sure that this would work with my ELL students, who I feel often need a few moments to think about what they want to say, particularly right before oral writing. So I talked to Coach B. about this. I shared with him what I currently do: Right before asking students to think of a triple whammy sentence I have them put their heads down and hold up one finger for each whammy they think of. When three fingers are up, I know they have their triple whammy sentences. He thought that this was interesting and suggested that I try it both ways and see what the differences are in the students' responses. That is exactly what I am going to do. I am anxious to find out if my students can come up with triple whammy sentences without the think time. If they can, I am considering saying good-bye to my think time.
5. Coach B. talked about one of the most powerful things that you can teach your students: No two sentences start with the same word. If you are familiar with the Writing Game, this is actually found on the paper clip editing checklist. I have it typed out and ready to go on my wall, but I had not yet taught it to my students. I was going to, I just hadn't given much thought yet to when. I am happy to report that the wait is now over. Last Monday I began to teach my students this very important rule, and it is now hanging on my red/green writing wall.
6. Coach used a half finger Wooh with my students. It was awesome! He would say, "Give me an eleven and a half finger Wooh". For the half finger students bent one finger and very quickly and in a high voice said, "Woop". It was awesome! I use them all the time now. My kids say that Coach B. has really got me hooked on the half finger Woohs. I told them that they were right. I love them!
7. I learned a fun option for three-peats. As soon as students have followed a direction, such as blue folders, they raise both hands in the air and either cheer out loud or silently until you signal for them to stop. Another idea would be for them to snap their fingers. This keeps the students busy if you need a moment to help a student who can't find what you have asked for. I love it! I implemented it this week with my class - I chose the silent cheer - and I am happy to report that it is a success.
8. Coach also officially introduced as a strategy something that he has always done: Give me a _________. For example, "Give me an oooh!" or "Give me an aaah!" We practiced inserting these statements into our lessons, and it just added a little more funtricity to them.
9. It was a lot of fun when Coach B. came and played Mind Soccer with my students. He modeled a component of Mind Soccer that I remembered seeing on videos, but until he modeled it, I had forgotten all about it. When a team got a question right he would point to them and say cheer, and then he would quickly point to the other team and say moan. It made the game a lot more fun. I will definitely be doing that from now on.
10. My last big take away was to amp up the funtricity. I feel like we have a lot already, but watching Coach B., and the way that he was able to make everything fun, was contagious. The limbic system in the brain is so important to learning. If we can't engage our students emotions, they will not retain the information, which is truly what learning is all about.
I am so happy that I had the opportunity last weekend to work with Coach B. There are not enough positive adjectives to describe him. I, for one, am just very thankful for Coach B.'s passion for helping others. It is truly one of the things that make him so special. Happy Whole Brain Teaching!
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
The Scoreboard Version 2.0 Continued
Let me begin by giving you a recap of the basic scoreboard:
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. These 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.
Last fall Coach B. introduced us to the latest version of the scoreboard, known as the Scoreboard 2.0, or the Video Game Scoreboard. It is referred to as the video game scoreboard, because students advance through ten different levels, similar to the way you would move through levels in a video game. Each level has its own name and brings with it its own set of challenges and rewards. Last time I shared with you about the scoreboard our class had just started using it. We were at level one, which is called "Base Camp". My students have since progressed to level three, which is the Double Bonus level. The concept of a bonus was first introduced in level two, "Ruleville". A bonus is a focus on a specific rule or behavior that you want to reinforce in the classroom. For example, if your students have trouble with Rule Two, "Raise your hand for permission to speak." then you might make Rule Two your bonus. The bonus is listed separately on the Scoreboard, because it is a behavior that you will be watching specifically for. When students are caught following this behavior they receive bonus points that count toward their overall score.
Level Three is known as the "Double Bonus". At this level students are given not just one, but two bonus behaviors to work on. Coach B. also provided another option at this level. You could choose to say that all we are working on are the bonus behaviors. These would then be the only behaviors that you would score for. I liked that idea. Overall I have a well-behaved class with no serious behavior issues. I thought it would be fun and very helpful to focus on two behaviors that can always use a little fine tuning: Diamond Eyes/folded hands and gestures/Brainies. Below is what my level three scoreboard looked like when we began.
So far level three has been very successful. You will notice the numbers one through ten at the top of the board. I put this there to keep track of the students' wins. It takes ten wins to move up to the next level. At the time I took this picture it was the end of day one at level three, and as you can see, the students won. They have been very excited about this level, and I have definitely noticed an improvement in how quickly students look at me and fold their hands. I have also noticed that some of my lower babies are trying a lot harder to use Brainies and gestures. I think that having just those two things to focus on has made a huge difference. I am really enjoying this level.
I am also looking forward to level four. It is called "No Traitors!" and looks to be a lot of fun. At this level the boys compete against the girls and there are no bonuses. A traitor is someone who scores for the other side, but you would never mention them by name. Both the boys and the girls earn smilies and frownies. The winner (boys or girls) is determined by who has the most smilies. I have decided that the winning side will get to line up first the next day. This should generate a lot of enthusiasm. A class win occurs when both the boys and the girls have more positive points (smilies) than negative points (frownies). I am really excited about this level and so are my students. I have hinted to them that something really big is going to happen at level four, but I won't tell them what. As a result, they are even more motivated to get past level three.
If you would like 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.
If you would like 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.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Common Core Curriculum and the Genius Ladder
I love the Genius Ladder! It is one of the core components of the Whole Brain Teaching writing classroom. If you are not familiar with what the Genius Ladder is or how to use it, please see my post entitled The Genius Ladder before reading any further. There you will find a full description of what the Genius Ladder is and how to use it within your classroom. I have been using the Genius ladder faithfully since the second week of school. I have always chosen the content of my ladder based upon what type of extender I wanted to use. I began with the because clapper. From there I moved on to phrases that answered the questions "when" and "where". Next, it was on to prepositional phrases. I then taught my class how to form compound sentences. Most recently, my class learned how to use the conjunction "but".
I could have easily continued making my ladders based upon the type of extender I wanted to use, but recently I decided to try something different. I decided to build my ladder around our common core content. With the Common Core, the rigor our curriculum has definitely increased. Students no longer just need to know the answer. They also need to be able to explain their reasoning in writing. I decided that the Genius Ladder would provide the perfect framework for students to do just that. I also made the decision to combine this use of the Genius Ladder with Red/Green Writing. This made perfect sense to me, since one of the topics that students are encouraged to write about during Red/Green Writing is what they have learned about that day. The Genius Ladder would simply provide more structure.
The first step was to decide which standard to use first within the ladder. In math we are learning how to subtract with regrouping to the tens place. Any second grade teacher who has ever taught their students how to do this knows how challenging this can be. Students need to understand when and why they take a ten from the tens place and trade it in for ones. It was upon this premise that I built the day's Genius Ladder. Below is a picture of what it looked like.
The first level, the Blah level, simply says, "The student traded in a ten for ten ones." At the spicy level I asked students to think of an adjective to describe a student who knew that he needed to trade in a ten for ten ones. I used the word smart. My students came up with a number of adjectives that included brilliant, brainiac, genius, and bright. At the extender level I asked my students to use a "because clapper" to provide a reason why a student who need to trade a ten for ten ones. They answered the question using a "Teach Okay" and then shared with the class using call outs.I then wrote in the Genius Ladder what the students shared. (Normally, I would already have the extender level of the ladder filled in, but since I wanted the students to provide the reason, I wrote it in the ladder after they came up with it.)
It was now time for the Genius Paragraph, which meant that it was time for the students to do some writing of their own. First we talked about writing a "detail adder" that began the "For example" Brainie. We have used this Brainie a little bit in class, but I wanted to provide students with a more structured opportunity to include it within their writing. I decided that it fit perfectly with this lesson. Students then used "High Five Teach" to share examples of times when you would not have enough ones to solve a subtraction problem. Since students had been orally doing something similar during math time, it wasn't too difficult for most of them to think of examples. After sharing with their partners, I then asked a few students to share with the class. What really impressed me was how many students used the "If, ___ then" Brainie in their "detail adder" sentence. We had done a lot of practice with it previously, and it was great to see that students could apply it to a new situation.
Please note that it is very important that students are provided with many opportunities to write orally before they record their thoughts on paper. While engaging in this oral writing practice students are using their "Brainies". (Please see my posts on the Brainies.) The Brainies do a great job of helping students learn the conventions and grammar of the English language. I have found that this oral writing practice results in significantly fewer errors when students are ready for paper/pencil writing.
It was then time to write. Students each have a writing notebook that they do their Red/Green Writing in each day. Students only had around ten minutes to record their thinking, so I was only asking students to write down their topic sentence and one detail adder. I walked around the room with my red and green pen making marks on the students' writing. ( If you are not familiar with Red/Green Writing, please see my post on the subject.) Below is a sample of one of my low/average ELL student's writing. I took a picture of the page in her notebook that contained her Genius Ladder writing. What you see below it is the writing that she began the next day during Red/Green Writing.
I was very pleased with how this lesson went. I am looking forward to finding more ways to use the Genius Ladder to reinforce Common Core concepts in all subject areas.
I could have easily continued making my ladders based upon the type of extender I wanted to use, but recently I decided to try something different. I decided to build my ladder around our common core content. With the Common Core, the rigor our curriculum has definitely increased. Students no longer just need to know the answer. They also need to be able to explain their reasoning in writing. I decided that the Genius Ladder would provide the perfect framework for students to do just that. I also made the decision to combine this use of the Genius Ladder with Red/Green Writing. This made perfect sense to me, since one of the topics that students are encouraged to write about during Red/Green Writing is what they have learned about that day. The Genius Ladder would simply provide more structure.
The first step was to decide which standard to use first within the ladder. In math we are learning how to subtract with regrouping to the tens place. Any second grade teacher who has ever taught their students how to do this knows how challenging this can be. Students need to understand when and why they take a ten from the tens place and trade it in for ones. It was upon this premise that I built the day's Genius Ladder. Below is a picture of what it looked like.
The first level, the Blah level, simply says, "The student traded in a ten for ten ones." At the spicy level I asked students to think of an adjective to describe a student who knew that he needed to trade in a ten for ten ones. I used the word smart. My students came up with a number of adjectives that included brilliant, brainiac, genius, and bright. At the extender level I asked my students to use a "because clapper" to provide a reason why a student who need to trade a ten for ten ones. They answered the question using a "Teach Okay" and then shared with the class using call outs.I then wrote in the Genius Ladder what the students shared. (Normally, I would already have the extender level of the ladder filled in, but since I wanted the students to provide the reason, I wrote it in the ladder after they came up with it.)
It was now time for the Genius Paragraph, which meant that it was time for the students to do some writing of their own. First we talked about writing a "detail adder" that began the "For example" Brainie. We have used this Brainie a little bit in class, but I wanted to provide students with a more structured opportunity to include it within their writing. I decided that it fit perfectly with this lesson. Students then used "High Five Teach" to share examples of times when you would not have enough ones to solve a subtraction problem. Since students had been orally doing something similar during math time, it wasn't too difficult for most of them to think of examples. After sharing with their partners, I then asked a few students to share with the class. What really impressed me was how many students used the "If, ___ then" Brainie in their "detail adder" sentence. We had done a lot of practice with it previously, and it was great to see that students could apply it to a new situation.
Please note that it is very important that students are provided with many opportunities to write orally before they record their thoughts on paper. While engaging in this oral writing practice students are using their "Brainies". (Please see my posts on the Brainies.) The Brainies do a great job of helping students learn the conventions and grammar of the English language. I have found that this oral writing practice results in significantly fewer errors when students are ready for paper/pencil writing.
It was then time to write. Students each have a writing notebook that they do their Red/Green Writing in each day. Students only had around ten minutes to record their thinking, so I was only asking students to write down their topic sentence and one detail adder. I walked around the room with my red and green pen making marks on the students' writing. ( If you are not familiar with Red/Green Writing, please see my post on the subject.) Below is a sample of one of my low/average ELL student's writing. I took a picture of the page in her notebook that contained her Genius Ladder writing. What you see below it is the writing that she began the next day during Red/Green Writing.
I was very pleased with how this lesson went. I am looking forward to finding more ways to use the Genius Ladder to reinforce Common Core concepts in all subject areas.
Friday, January 9, 2015
The Power of Whole Brain Teaching
Not too long ago one of my students came in and handed me a piece of paper with writing on it that she had done at home. This is not unusual. Quite often students will bring me short notes they have written or pictures that they have drawn for me. It is really sweet. This one, however, was quite different. It demonstrates the power of Whole Brain Teaching in a way that nothing else can. Below is a picture of the paper that she gave me.
It was like receiving a recap of what we had recently been studying. This came from one of my average students. The first thing I noticed was that she indented. We have been using the indent Brainie for awhile, but it still amazes me how easy it is to get students to indent independently. After all, it is only the first semester of second grade. The Brainies are amazing!
Next, I noticed the use of the "If-then" Brainie. We were studying character traits at the time and using the "If-then" Brainie to state evidence supporting a character trait. I know that the writing is a little hard to read, so let me share with you, unedited, the five sentences that she wrote:
"If a dinosaurs eat a person, then he is mad. If Carmen was crying, then she is sad. If Carmen erned a super improver star, then she is happy. If Jenk did not want to go with Carmens mom, then she is shy. If a princess made a person feel better, then she is helpful."
Of course, her sentence about earning a Super Improver Star is my favorite! All three of those sentences were punctuated correctly, which demonstrates the power of the Brainies. Also, I don't know if you can see it, but if you look carefully at the two Carmens, you will notice that she had orignally written lower case c's, but changed them to capitals. I attribute this to all of the revision practice that the students get with red/green writing. (For more information on red/green writing, please see my post on this subject.)
From there she went on to write three different lists. The first is a list of long vowel words. The second is a list of long "o" words", and the third is a list of long "e" words. All three sentences were written correctly with commas and the word "and" before the last item in the list. This can be attributed to the "Triple Whammy sentence". A triple whammy sentence is a list with three parts. An example would be: My three favorite subjects in school are reading, math, and science. Once students have learned how to write a triple whammy sentence, it becomes very easy for them to correctly create longer lists.
She ended with examples of the first two steps of Whole Brain Teaching's five step lesson plan. When introducing a concept using WBT, the first step is to ask the students a question, which they ask to their partner. The second step is to answer the question. The answer is the definition of the concept. You may notice that her definition of a noun is incorrect on her paper. However, when she handed the paper to me she informed me that she had got mixed up there (pointing to that sentence) and that she meant to say an adjective describes a noun. She went on to explain that she didn't have time to fix it. Her second example came from math. We have been studying place value. I had created my own power pic to go with a place and defined it as "A place is a home for a number." (For my information on Power Pics, please see my post entitled "The Power of the Pics".) It had been a number of weeks since I introduced this Power Pic to my students, but because we are constantly reviewing the Power Pics, the students are retaining the concepts. I would also like to point out that both of her questions ended with question marks.
I chose to write this blog, because I know that there are some people who will be reading it that have not yet tried Whole Brain Teaching, but are curious about it. Maybe you are one of them. If you are like I was, you might be wondering, "Can anything be that good? Do you really get the results that are claimed?" My answers are emphatically "Yes and yes!" This little girls' paper clearly demonstrates the power of Whole Brain Teaching. I will never teach any other way! I have spent 25 years in education and have never seen anything like it. If I had to boil why Whole Brain Teaching works so well down into one sentence I would say the following: It works so well, because learning is fun and the students are always engaged. The same day that this student gave me this paper, she turned to me as we were leaving for the day and said, "Miss Ray, I really love school!" My reply was, "I really love school too!" Whole Brain teaching makes coming to school everyday fun for both the teacher and the student. So what are you waiting for. Take the plunge and you won't be sorry. Within a month you will find yourself saying, "This is the best educational decision that I have ever made."
It was like receiving a recap of what we had recently been studying. This came from one of my average students. The first thing I noticed was that she indented. We have been using the indent Brainie for awhile, but it still amazes me how easy it is to get students to indent independently. After all, it is only the first semester of second grade. The Brainies are amazing!
Next, I noticed the use of the "If-then" Brainie. We were studying character traits at the time and using the "If-then" Brainie to state evidence supporting a character trait. I know that the writing is a little hard to read, so let me share with you, unedited, the five sentences that she wrote:
"If a dinosaurs eat a person, then he is mad. If Carmen was crying, then she is sad. If Carmen erned a super improver star, then she is happy. If Jenk did not want to go with Carmens mom, then she is shy. If a princess made a person feel better, then she is helpful."
Of course, her sentence about earning a Super Improver Star is my favorite! All three of those sentences were punctuated correctly, which demonstrates the power of the Brainies. Also, I don't know if you can see it, but if you look carefully at the two Carmens, you will notice that she had orignally written lower case c's, but changed them to capitals. I attribute this to all of the revision practice that the students get with red/green writing. (For more information on red/green writing, please see my post on this subject.)
From there she went on to write three different lists. The first is a list of long vowel words. The second is a list of long "o" words", and the third is a list of long "e" words. All three sentences were written correctly with commas and the word "and" before the last item in the list. This can be attributed to the "Triple Whammy sentence". A triple whammy sentence is a list with three parts. An example would be: My three favorite subjects in school are reading, math, and science. Once students have learned how to write a triple whammy sentence, it becomes very easy for them to correctly create longer lists.
She ended with examples of the first two steps of Whole Brain Teaching's five step lesson plan. When introducing a concept using WBT, the first step is to ask the students a question, which they ask to their partner. The second step is to answer the question. The answer is the definition of the concept. You may notice that her definition of a noun is incorrect on her paper. However, when she handed the paper to me she informed me that she had got mixed up there (pointing to that sentence) and that she meant to say an adjective describes a noun. She went on to explain that she didn't have time to fix it. Her second example came from math. We have been studying place value. I had created my own power pic to go with a place and defined it as "A place is a home for a number." (For my information on Power Pics, please see my post entitled "The Power of the Pics".) It had been a number of weeks since I introduced this Power Pic to my students, but because we are constantly reviewing the Power Pics, the students are retaining the concepts. I would also like to point out that both of her questions ended with question marks.
I chose to write this blog, because I know that there are some people who will be reading it that have not yet tried Whole Brain Teaching, but are curious about it. Maybe you are one of them. If you are like I was, you might be wondering, "Can anything be that good? Do you really get the results that are claimed?" My answers are emphatically "Yes and yes!" This little girls' paper clearly demonstrates the power of Whole Brain Teaching. I will never teach any other way! I have spent 25 years in education and have never seen anything like it. If I had to boil why Whole Brain Teaching works so well down into one sentence I would say the following: It works so well, because learning is fun and the students are always engaged. The same day that this student gave me this paper, she turned to me as we were leaving for the day and said, "Miss Ray, I really love school!" My reply was, "I really love school too!" Whole Brain teaching makes coming to school everyday fun for both the teacher and the student. So what are you waiting for. Take the plunge and you won't be sorry. Within a month you will find yourself saying, "This is the best educational decision that I have ever made."
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