Growth Talk

One of the newest WBT innovations is the use of growth talk on a daily basis in the classroom.  Growth talk comes as a result of research by Stanford's Carol Dweck and others, which demonstrates that when we use phrases such as "you're great... wonderful... fantastic" the effect on our students is often the opposite of what we are looking for.  Instead of increasing student performance, they will often avoid academic challenges for fear that it will make them less than "great".  This is known as a Fixed Mindset classroom (praising for ability).

In a Growth Mindset classroom students are praised for improvement, effort, and determination.  The language used in these classrooms is referred to as Growth Talk  We want our students to understand that growth comes as a result of effort and determination. It is all about very specific praise:  You beat your previous score by 10 words, you never indented your paragraphs before, but now you do it all of the time.  Your gestures are very large.  Everyone can see them.  You are showing me hands and eyes just like a fourth grader would (two grade levels above your own.).  The Super Improver Team is a perfect use of the growth mindset because students are rewarded for effort and not ability.

One of the best ways to teach a growth mindset is with examples of this mindset from our own lives.  I recently had the opportunity to share one such example with my students. This spring I was taking a Chalk Talk class for professional development credit.  This might sound like a fun and easy class, but it terrified me.  I only took it because it was the only class available at times I could attend.  To say that it terrified me is not an exaggeration.  Art is a definite weakness for me.  The combination of no natural talent, no desire to learn, and a number of very bad and embarrassing experiences with art have led me to avoid it at all costs.  I was the teacher who, before so much could be made on the computer, would pay someone to decorate my classroom.  And let's just say that bulletin boards have always been my nemesis.  I would rather speak in front of a group of 1,000 people with five minutes notice or write a 20 page paper than make a bulletin board.  So, as you can probably tell, I did not enter the class feeling very good about it.

After the first night I had a new appreciation for how many of our lowest students must feel when they sit in our classrooms and try, but know that they can not do what everyone else can.  The second night of class was even worse.  We were asked to give a very short five sentence chalk talk introducing ourselves.  Writing the chalk talk was not a problem, but no matter how hard I tried I could not figure out anything to draw that looked even close to what I wanted it to be.  My goal was to draw a dog's face, since I am the owner of three beautiful Papillons, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't do it.  As people started sharing I became more and more panicky.  I kept trying to draw a dog, but I just couldn't do it.  I found myself beginning to shake and tears started to well up in my eyes.  Fortunately, the instructor noticed, and she quietly skipped over me.  I was very thankful, but I was also very humiliated.

I did a lot of self-reflecting over the next few days.  It was just a few short weeks prior that I had read all that Coach B. had sent us on Growth Talk, and I began to realize that maybe part of my problem was that I did not have a Growth Mindset when it came to art.  I had spent so many years telling myself how bad I was at it, that I was getting exactly what I was expecting.  So, I decided that I would go to the next class with a Growth Mindset.

The next class I came to with a different attitude.  I told myself that my drawing may not look like the instructor's or the other students, but it could be better than what it is now.  With this new attitude I really payed attention and did my best to follow the instructor's instructions as she taught us how to draw people, animals' faces, and even cubes.  This class was the first time that I had ever received any instruction in how to draw anything.  After a little practice I discovered that I could draw legs and arms on people.  I knew how to make a simple animal's face, and with a ruler, I could draw a pretty decent cube.  For the first time ever, I wasn't embarrassed by what I had drawn.  I found that I was actually having fun, something that I never thought I would say about drawing.  The last thirty minutes we were given art paper, black markers, and chalk, and asked to draw anything that we wanted.  I was pleased with the end result, and I will confess to you that it was the first time that I ever saved a piece of art.  Usually, when forced to do anything artistic, my work went straight in the garbage can when I was done.

This piece I not only took home with me, but realizing what a powerful example it could be for my students, I took it to class that day and shared it with them.  I also shared with them the same story that I just shared with you, and I let my students know that this was the first time that I had ever shared anything that I had drawn with anyone.  The story had a powerful impact upon the students.  We talked about the importance of not only using Growth Talk with each other, but speaking Growth Talk to ourselves.  As part of this discussion I asked students to identify any negative thinking that they had,  anything that began with the words, "I'm not good at,,," and replace that with Growth Talk instead.

I am now very thankful that I took the Chalk Talk Class.  It taught both myself and my students a very powerful lesson in Growth Talk.  I hope that you are able to share similar experiences with your own students.

Habituation

It is spring time. 
It's getting close to the end of the year.
It's just that time of year.

This is my twenty-fifth year of teaching.  It is also the very first time that one of the above three sentences has not been a part of my vocabulary.  You only have to teach for one year to know that your students never behave the same at the end of the school year as they do at the beginning of the year.  Usually it is around Christmas when the students' behavior begins to change.  We attribute that to Christmas fever.  Then the new year comes.  We start seeing behaviors that we didn't see earlier in the year.  The things that worked so well at the beginning of the year do not seem to be working as well now.  Pretty soon we are calling it spring fever and counting the days until spring break.  Then it is summer fever and we are counting the days until school is out.  Some years are better and some are worse, depending upon our class at the time, but the same pattern always seems to hold true.  After a few years we just accept it.  After all, it is what it is.

What if it didn't have to be this way?  What if our kids responded the same way in May as they did in September?  Impossible!!  Very possible!!!  Read on to find out how.

To understand why students' behavior changes from fall to spring, you have to understand the principal of habituation.  This is a word that I had never heard of before until Coach B. came to town and explained it.  Then the light bulbs all began to come on.  Habituation is a response of the brain's nervous system.  To help explain, please allow me to share with you the example that Coach B. used.  If you turn a slug over and touch it with a probe, the slug will pull away from the probe.  The slug will continue to pull away until about the tenth time that you touch it.  Then it will not respond to the probe at all.  This is known as habituation.  A stimuli that previously caused a reaction within our brains' nervous systems, no longer causes a reaction.

Let's now apply this to the classroom.  At the beginning of the school year everything is new to our students.  They are working hard to earn the rewards of our management system, our attention getting signals are new and fun, so are all of our classroom procedures and routines.  Over time, however, habituation will occur.  Students will become used to these systems, signals, and routines.  It has nothing to do with how good or effective they are.  The best management system in the world will not work as well in May as it did in August.  It won't even work as well in December as it did in August.  We continue using it because we know how well it works.  We have seen how effective it can be.  We tell ourselves that it must just be the students and the time of year that it is.  The truth is that it is not our management system, our students, or the time of year that is at fault.  It is simply a matter of habituation.

The solution is very simple.  If we change the stimulus, we will get a different response.  This doesn't mean that we have to completely change our management system, attention getting signals, or routines.  Keep the same structures.  Just spice up some of the components, so that it new and fresh for the students.  Whole Brain Teaching is great at that.  Below I have listed some of the ways that WBT keeps things fresh and avoids habituation.

1.  Class Yes is the attention getting signal in WBT.  There are so many variations of it, that the only limit is your creativity.

2.  The scoreboard (see separate blog posts on this topic) has ten different levels to it.  Each level has its own rewards and challenges, so that students are always looking ahead and excited about what comes next.

3.  The Super Improver Wall (see separate blog posts on this topic) also has ten different levels.  Students never know what might happen as they move from level to level.

4.  Mind Soccer, Whole Brain Teachings review game, has a number of different rules and variations which are introduced one at a time over the course of the school year.  This way the game always stays fresh and exciting, and kids are always begging to play it.

5.  Class leaders are used a lot.  Students never know who will be chosen or what they will be chosen for.  This keeps things fresh and exciting.

I have been following this advice all year, and I can tell you that it totally works.  At the first signs of habituation, I just change things up a bit.  It is like having a new class.  It is now May, and the school year is almost over.  The best news is that in twenty-five years of teaching, this is the first time I can honestly say that my students were just as well behaved at the end of the year as they were at the beginning of the year.  I wish that I had know about this principle of habituation years ago.  It sure would have saved me a lot of stress.  Please share this principle widely with others.  It has the power the transform classrooms.

Reflections on an Awesome Week!

Last week was an awesome week!  If you were to ask me why, I don't think that I could name just one thing.  Instead, I would have to say that it was a combination of many things, all of which were WBT related.  I would like to share with you my list of what made last week one of my favorite teaching weeks of the year.

1.  Our focus skill this week in both reading and writing was possessive nouns.  In the past this has always been a challenge to teach and not something that I looked forward to.  This year, however, was very different.  Not only was it a lot of fun to teach, but my students all quickly and easily caught on to how to use apostrophes to make nouns plural.  I firmly believe that this was mainly due to the WBT way of introducing possessive nouns:  splitters and jammers.  

A splitter is the WBT name for an apostrophe "s" that is used with a singular noun or an irregular plural noun, such as children.  I explained to the class that the splitter (the apostrophe) splits the owner from the "s".  I called the "s" the "badge of ownership" and used the gesture of pointing a thumb on each hand to the front of my shirt.  I would box the noun to show the owner and then talk about how the splitter split the owner and the badge of ownership.  During writing we played the complexor Game. (More information on the Complexor game can be found in other blog posts or on the WBT website under free downloads/The Writing Game.)This gave students many opportunities to orally write sentences with apostrophe s's.  They then wrote the sentences that they had created in their writing notebooks.

A jammer is an apostrophe that follows a plural noun which ends in "s".  I explained to my students that the jammer jams the "s" into the noun, making it plural.  The jammer becomes the "badge of ownership".  The concept of the "badge of ownership really helped my kids to remember to write the apostrophe after the "s".  The kids simply learned that there is always an apostrophe after a jammer, because that is how you show ownership.  We also played the Complexor game with plural possessives and wrote the sentences created in our writing notebooks.

After studying splitters and jammers separately, we combined them together and students had to determine when to use a splitter and when to use a jammer.  This is what the board looked like for that lesson:

                                                             

You will notice the apostrophe Brainie at the top of the board.  We obviously focused on this Brainie for the entire week.  Under that you will see two anchor charts that I created, one for singular possessives and one for plural possessives.  On the day of this lesson I added the list of owners and possessions, as well as the sentence frames.  Using Teach Okay and High Five Switch, students took turns sharing with their partners whether or not the owner was singular or plural and whether they needed to use a splitter or a jammer.  They then had to create a sentence using the owner and the possession, in which they used the apostrophe Brainie.  After students had time to work on this with their partners, they shared with the class using High Five Teach.  I was amazed at how well they had caught on.  Even my lowest students were able to explain when to use a splitter and when to use a jammer.  I will never teach possessive nouns any other way,

2.  Our phonics skill for the week was creating plurals with nouns that end in "s".  In the past I have always taught this in the form of a year.  This fit perfectly with WBT.  Students still learned the cheer, but they learned it using Mirror Words and Practiced it using Teach Okay.  We call it the "Five Finger Rule" cheer.  The cheer goes like this:  If a word ends in s, x, z, sh, ch (hold up one finger for each), you gotta (bend left arm in front of chest with had in a fist.) add (Do the same with right arm.) "es" (Very slightly raise fists on both hands.), yes!  (Jump in the air and bring bent arms out straight.)  The kids have so much fun doing this cheer, and by the end of the week everyone knows when to use an "es" to make a word plural.

3.  We did two Genius Ladders last week that were both very challenging, but the students did a great job on them.  They both focused on possessive nouns, but on one there was an apostrophe "s", and on the other there was an "s" apostrophe.  On both I included a dependent clause telling when.  This is our newest extender.  We have been working on it for about three weeks.  Both ladders were very challenging.  The sentences were quite long and there were a lot of Brainies in them, but the kids did a great job!  I was very proud of them.

4.  For red/green writing I asked the students to write a five paragraph essay on what they did over spring break.  I am happy to report that fifteen out of my seventeen students can now successfully write  a five paragraph essay.  My biggest celebration is that one of my two lowest students, a special ed. child who began the year as a non-reader, was able to write for the very first time (with a little assistance) his very first five paragraph essay.  The class celebrated with him as he earned a Super Improver Star.  I also had a number of students use possessive nouns correctly in their writing.  They were all quick to point this out to me, because they were all looking for a Super Improver Star.  I am happy to say that they each earned one.

5.  This week I introduced students to the Brain Tree.  If you are unfamiliar with the Brain Tree, that is because it is the newest WBT technique, hot off the presses just a few weeks ago.  The concept is simple.  Students score themselves from a 1-5 on different WBT techniques that they are using in the classroom.  An analogy is made to an Oak tree.  A one is an acorn, all the way up to a five, which is a mighty towering oak tree with many acorns.  Points are considered leaves, and each week scores are added together to get a total number of leaves for the week.  The goal is for students to beat their previous week's score.  At our school we are having a little friendly competition among participating classes.  Everyone who is doing the Brain Tree has placed one on their door, with their scores.  This will allow other classes to see these scores and try to beat them.  

This was our first week using the Brain Tree, so I wasn't sure how my students would respond to it or how they would do with scoring themselves.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  They caught on to the concept very quickly, and when it came time to give themselves a score, I was amazed at how honest and accurate they were.  The Brain Tree is definitely a great tool  to motivate students.  I am excited to see how they progress each week.  They have set a goal for themselves to have a perfect score (a five in each area) by the end of the year.  That sounds like teacher heaven to me.  We'll see how it goes.  

If you are interested in using the Brain Tree in your room, I have inserted a link with directions and the chart.  I blew my chart up using the poster maker and added pictures of the five different stages in an Oak Tree's development.  Here is the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wgmakik4o93jwgp/Brain%20Tree.docx?dl=0

6.  One of my students came up with an idea that we tried, and it has really worked well.  Whenever I ask my students to share with each other using either High Five Teach or Uh/Oh Switch, the student who is sharing stands.  This works really well when the students are at their seats, but when they are seated on the floor in the meeting area, I have told my students not to stand.  One day during the week we were in the meeting area about to use High Five Teach, when one of my students raised her hand and suggested that the student sharing do so while on his/her knees.  I wasn't sure how this would work, but I said that we would give it a try.  It has been great.  The students love it, and it allows them to move a little, even if it is just a change of position, while they are on the floor.

7.  We have been working really hard in reading on two things:  paraphrasing and remembering detail adders.  I have spoken to my students about the need to stick the detail adders in their minds and have used the analogy of velcro to help students get that visual image.  We have also talked about the importance of sticking the first and the last detail adder because if we do that, the ones in the middle are easier for our brains to remember.  This lends itself to paraphrasing because if students are able to stick the details in their brains, they will easily be able to paraphrase what they are reading.  We have been practicing this in reading groups, but I decided to see how it would work as part of the Crazy Professor Game.  (This is another WBT game that can be found on the WBT website under free downloads.)  I gave students a fiction passage entitled The Difficult Assignment.  We read the first paragraph using Mirror Words.  I then asked the students to read the paragraph on their own using their Brainies and their gestures, but I also gave them the goal of making sure that they stuck the first and the last detail adders in their minds, to help them with the middle ones.  We even started calling this a detail adder sandwich.  Students then used Uh Oh Switch to paraphrase that first paragraph with their partners.  We repeated this process with each paragraph.  I am happy to report that even my lowest students were able to paraphrase.  Next time we are going to try this with a non-fiction text.

So, there you have it.  Those are the highlights of the week.  I hope that the ideas and experiences that I have shared in this blog will inspire you.  Here's to more week's just like this one!

The Victory Line

When Coach B. first introduced us all to the Scoreboard Version 2.0 back in the fall, I immediately began using it in my classroom.  Since then, I have been sharing with all of you my class's progression through the scoreboard game.  Each level has definitely brought with it a new degree of excitement, energy, and motivation.  A couple of weeks ago  my class finally reached the level that I have been anticipating the most - The Victory Line - and I have to say that it has been everything that I had hoped it would be.

Before I get into The Victory Line, I would first like to recap for those of you who are not familiar with it, how the Scoreboard Version 2.0 works.  It works very similar to the basic scoreboard, which is basically a two column grid drawn on your whiteboard.  A smilie face is drawn on one side and a frownie face is drawn on the other side.  When the class, or even a few students, performs well, the class is told what they did (ex. Great diamond eyes and folded hands.) and asked for a "mighty oh, yeah".  Students will quickly clap their hands together and say, "Oh, yeah!"  While they do this, they are given one tally mark on the smiley face side of the scoreboard.  On the other hand, if the class does not perform well, they are briefly told what they did (ex.  Too slow.) and asked for a "moaner groan".  Students will quickly shrug their shoulders and groan.  A tally mark is then placed 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 the + - 3 rule should always be followed.  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 main difference is that with the 2.0 version students progress through ten different levels, beginning with Base Camp.  Each level is slightly different.  When students have earned ten wins at one level, they then move on to the next level.  My students began at Base Camp in the fall, but they have now made it to level five, The Victory Line.  To understand the power of the Victory Line, I first need to back up one level and talk about level four, NO Traitors.

Level four is when the competition becomes between the boys and the girls.  It was a very exciting time in our classroom.  There was a lot of "funtricity" in the air, as students worked together to earn a victory for their team.  It came at the perfect time of the year.  Spring break was quickly approaching and it was time to shake things up a little.  No Traitors did just that.  The best part, however, was that a couple of my boys who are in special education began consistently making gestures.  This is something that we  had been working on all year.  They would do so sporadically, but not on a consistent basis.  It wasn't that they weren't paying attention to what we were doing, they just weren't comfortable with the gestures.  No Traitors changed all of this.  As soon as I told the students that I was going to be looking for who did the best gestures, the boys or the girls, these couple of boys stepped up to the plate and began gesturing beautifully.  I was amazed!  They were determined that their team was going to win and they were going to do their part.

The Victory Line took No Traitors to the next level.  As the students got closer to ten wins at the No Traitor level (A win is when the boys and girls combined get more smilies than frownies.), I began to really promote the next level.  I told students that the boys and girls would still be competing against each other, but there was a special prize to be won at this level.  The class could hardly wait to level up.  They worked hard, and when they did, I explained to them the prize.  The winners (boys or girls) would get to line up first all day.  So if the boys won on Monday, then on Tuesday they would get to line up first for the entire day.  They loved it!  This new level brought a newness to the boy girl competition, keeping it fresh and exciting for the students.

Next up is blue dubs.  At this level I will be giving blue tally marks for certain things, like making good gestures.  The secret is that the blue tally marks will count as double.  The competition will still be between the boys and the girls, and the winners will still get to line up first.  The Blue Dubs will just continue to build on what has already been a huge success.

If you have not tried using a scoreboard in your classroom, I would highly encourage you to do so.  It is very easy to implement, will not cost you any money, and will motivate your students and keep them motivated throughout the school year.

Super Speed Reading Games

As an inclusion teacher I have students who enter my room as non-readers or reading significantly below grade level.  Part of the challenge that these students have with reading is the number of repetitions that they need of a word or a phonic's pattern before they "own" that word or pattern. Finding a way to provide students with the needed number of repetitions has always been a challenge, and I had never been able to find that "just right" solution.  That all changed, however, when I discovered Whole Brain Teaching.  In the free downloads section of the Whole Brain Teaching web site, there are two games that were literally a answer to prayer for my low readers. They are Super Speed 100 and Super Speed Rhyme.  In this post I would like to share with you my experiences with these two games.

The first game I would like to talk about is Super Speed 100.  This game is designed to teach beginning readers of any age the 100 most commonly used sight words in the English Language. These are the words that make up approximately 50% of what we read.  The words are arranged in order of frequency.  “The” is the most common word in English, so it is the first word
learned.  “To” is the next most common word in English and is the second word learned, and so on. The game has 100 levels.  One new word is added in each level from 1-100; previously learned words are frequently repeated.  Every 10 levels, there is a Challenge.  The Challenge contains all the
words from previous levels.  In order to continue, students must be able to read all of the words in the Challenge.

I play this game every day during my low students' reading group time.  You can choose to play solo or partner Super Speed.  I have my students play with partners. At the beginning of the year I tested my struggling readers on these 100 words to determine their starting level for the game.  I paired up students who tested close to each other.  Partners are given one minute to alternately read the words.  At the end of one minute they mark where they left off.  I then time them for a second minute, and students try to get farther than they did the first minute.  If they beat their previous number of words, they draw a smiley face in a star on a sheet of stars that come with the game.  When partners are able to read all of the words in a level, I cross that level off, and the next day they start on the next level.  In my room when students fill up one page of stars, they earn a star on the Super Improvers Board.  (For more information on the Super Improvers' Board, see my post on the subject.)  This just provides students with added incentive.  They are always counting to see how many more stars they need to fill up their page of stars.

Immediately following Super Speed 100, we play Super Speed Rhyme.  Super Speed Rhyme is actually a power point designed to teach beginning readers some of the most common word families.  Included in the Power Point are a number of suggestions on how it can be used in the classroom.  One of the suggestions is to play a game using the words from the Power Point.  Last summer, in preparation for the game, I typed all of the words from the Power Point out and grouped them by word families.  Since Super Speed Rhyme was designed with kindergartners and first graders in mind, I added additional word families that I would expect my second graders to know.  The game is played very much like Super Speed 100.  Once again, you have the choice of having your students play solo or with a partner.  For this game I chose to have my students play solo.  They still have a partner, but their partner's job is to follow along and be prepared to provide help reading a word if it is asked for, and correct their partner if he/she reads a word incorrectly.  All partner A's reads first. After one minute they mark where they left off.  They are then given a second minute to try and beat their score.  If they do, they give themselves a smiley face and I cross off one line of words on their paper.  This process is then repeated with all of the partner B's.  I have attached the word list that I use with my students.  Please feel free to use it as is, or revise it to match the levels of your students.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgav55nrzbcwj3f/speed%20rhyme%20words.docx?dl=0

I have seen so much growth in my struggling readers, and I truly believe that these two games have played a big part in this growth.  I think that they are successful for two reasons.  The first is student engagement.  I have never seen kids so excited about coming to a reading group, and I have never seen struggling readers have so much fun reading.  The kids love the game format, and they love to see their daily improvements.  The second reason is the number of repetitions that these games provide.  The repetitions are built into the format of the game.  My lowest student played the game for over two weeks, before he could remember the first ten sight words.  Since then he has progressed more quickly, since only one new word is added at each level.

When students graduate from Super Speed 100, there is another game that I would highly recommend called Super Speed 1,000.  This game is appropriate for all students who can read the first 100 sight words.  My kids love it!  It can also be found on the Whole Brain Teaching web site under free downloads.

No matter what grade level you teach, if you have struggling readers in your classroom, I promise you that you will find success with these games.  I hope that you will give them a try.

Thirty Seconds or Less

Thirty seconds or less would be a great model for Whole Brain Teachers.  This is because thirty seconds is the longest amount of time that a teacher should talk at once before engaging students, preferably with Mirrors and/or Teach Okay.  Sound impossible?  It's not!  Yes, it does take some practice.  You really have to be aware of how long you are talking.  You also have to learn how to chunk your lessons.  I decided to write this post because many teachers have asked me how I chunk my lessons.  The question I keep getting is, "How is it possible to talk for only 30 seconds at a time and still communicate everything that you need to."  In this post I would like to give you an example of how it is done.

To demonstrate how this is done I chose a lesson that I did recently with my students.  It was on the second grade standard "Author's Purpose".  I will be sharing the first day of the unit.  Since the purpose of this post is to show the ratio of talk between myself and the students, all of my dialogue will be in black.  My students' participation/dialogue will be in green.  I will not be including "hands and eyes", "Class Yes", or where I used gestures,  You can find information about these things in other posts.  Here, I would like you to focus specifically on how the lesson is chunked.

We know that authors write book, but I have a question for you.  Why do you think that authors choose to write books.  Tell your partner in a complete sentence and be sure to use a because clapper.

Using Teach Okay students talk with their partners and create sentences that answer my question.  One example of a sentence I heard was, "Authors write books because they want us to learn something and get smarter."  Three students shared their answers using call outs.

Mirror Words.  Mirror Words.  What is Author's Purpose? What is Author's Purpose?  (repeat sequence twice) Teach.

Okay,  What is Author's Purpose?  What is Author's Purpose.

Mirror Words.  Mirror Words.  Author's Purpose is why the author wrote the text:   to persuade, inform, or entertain.

Author's Purpose is why the author wrote the text:  to persuade, inform, or entertain.  (repeat sequence three times)  Teach.  Okay.  Students tell their partners the definition approximately three times.

Take a look at out Power Pic.  There is a picture of a pie on it.  The pie is to remind us of the three purposes.  The first letter in pie, the "p", stands for persuade.  The second letter, the "i", stands for inform.  The third letter, the "e", stands for entertain.  Explain to your partner why there is a picture of a pie on our power pic.

Using Teach Okay students take turns explaining to their partners why there is a pie on the power pic.

Today we are going to focus on persuade.  Mirror Words.  What does persuade mean.  What does persuade mean?  (repeat twice)  Teach.  Okay.  Students repeat the question two times.

Mirror Words.  Mirror Words.  The author is trying to convince us to think like him because he wants us to do something.    The author is trying to convince us to think like him because he wants us to do something.  (repeat sequence three times)  Teach.  Okay.  Students tell their partners the definition approximately three times.

Commercials are good examples of what it means to persuade.  Companies make commercials because they want to persuade us to buy their products.  I am going to show you a commercial.  As you are watching, I want you to think about what the company wants us to do and how you know it.  Tell your partner what I want you to do.

Using Teach Okay the students paraphrase the directions that I just gave them.

Students watch a 30 second commercial about Doritos.

I would like you to tell your partner what the company wants you to do.  

Using Teach Okay students share what the company wants them to do.  An example of a sentence I heard is "The company wants us to buy Doritos.  One student shared using a call out.

I would now like you to tell me how you know this.  What did you see in the commercial that made you know that the company wanted you to buy Doritos.  Please use the following sentence frame:  I know this because ______________________.

Using Teach Okay students fill in the sentence frame.  I then asked a couple of students to share using call outs.  Here is what one student shared:  I know this because the commercial said that they tasted good.

I am now going to read a letter to you.  I would like you to listen very carefully and think about who is doing the persuading.  Who are they trying to persuade, and what do they want to persuade them to do.  I also want you to think about how you know this.  You will be using the sentence frames on the board:  ______________ wants _____________ to _________________.  I know this because ______________.  Tell your partner what I would like you to do.

Using Teach Okay students paraphrase the directions that the teacher gave.

Teacher reads the letter.
using Teach Okay students orally fill in the sentence frames on the board.  I then asked a couple of students to share using call outs.  

The above process was repeated with two other letters.

This was the end of the expand part of my lesson.  Immediately following this was QT (step four of the five step lesson plan).  Critical thinking (step five) occurred later in the week after we had spent time on inform and entertain.

I hope that you found this example helpful.  Remember, it is all about practice.  When you first start, don't try to chunk everything that you teach.  This will be too overwhelming.  Instead, choose one lesson and plan where your Teach Okays are going to go.  Make it a goal to not talk more than 30 seconds.  Once you are comfortable with the lesson format, you will find that you are using it more and more.  Before you know it, you will find that you are teaching this way for the whole day.  Happy chunking!

The Perfect Fit Methodology

When someone asks me what Whole Brain Teaching is, one of the first things that I tell them is that Whole Brain Teaching is not a program, it is instead a methodology.  This is a very important distinction.  We have enough programs in education.  Programs demand a chunk of our precious teaching time, they tell us what to do, and they often tell us exactly how to do it by scripting out everything that we are to say.  In a nutshell, it is prescribed content.  A methodology, however, is not content.  It is the vehicle we use to deliver the content.  It is the collection of strategies and techniques we use to ensure that our students are learning the content.  A methodology is not something else that we have to do.  It is a better way of doing what we already have to do.  This, in a nutshell, is Whole Brain Teaching:  a better way of doing what we already have to do.

One of the reasons that I fell in love with Whole Brain Teaching is because it wasn't one more thing I had to do.  The strategies and techniques were so easy to implement and use that everything I was already doing became so much easier and so much more successful.  I could give you numerous examples of this, but in this post I would like to share with you the difference that Whole Brain Teaching made in my favorite contraction lesson.  When I was student teaching one of the cooperating teachers at the school I was at shared with me a lesson that she used to teach contractions to her students.  I fell in love with it and have been using it ever since.  It is called "Magic Door Contractions".  Below is a picture of a Magic Door".

In the past I always taught this lesson by telling students that I was going to do a magic trick for them.  I would then hold up the door with both flaps shut.  Making a big production out of it, I would tell my students that I was going to take two plain ordinary words, did and not, and by saying the magic words, "AbraCadabra Contraction Action," I would turn these two plain ordinary words into a contraction.  I would then open the doors with a flair and reveal the contraction did not.  I then would explain that magicians all have a secret to their tricks that only the magician knows.  I would ask my students if they wanted to become magicians and be able to do the magic door trick - which of course they all did.  What followed was my ten minute lecture on how to form a contraction.  Of course, I was very dramatic as I explained how I would say the contraction that the two words made; listen for the missing letters; and then squeeze the two words together, replacing the missing letters with an apostrophe.  What I did not realize was that I was talking far too long, and that no matter how dramatic I was being, most of my students had tuned me out after a couple of minutes.  I would always end the lesson by giving the students blank doors that they had to fill in with the two words and contraction of their choice.  They would try the trick one time with a partner, and then they would take their doors home to do the trick with their families.  I had always felt like this was a good way to introduce students to what contractions are.  It was fun and hands-on.  Students got a good introduction to contractions, which I built upon over a two week period in which I gave students many days of practicing how to make contractions.

This year I still wanted to use my Magic Doors, but I wanted to present them to my students using the Whole Brain Teaching vehicle of choice:  The Five Step Lesson Plan.  In this post I will not be defining common WBT terms used during a five step lesson such as "Mirror" and "Teach Okay".  If you are not familiar with the specifics of a five step lesson, please see my separate posts on this topic which will define these terms and take you more in-depth.  For the purposes of this post, I simply want to demonstrate how I was able to take a lesson that I have already done, and teach it the WBT way.  Below is what it looked like the WBT way:

* Please note that this lesson took place over a three day period.

Question:  (MW)  What is a contraction?  (T/O)

Answer:  (MW)  A contraction is a word with missing letters marked by an apostrophe, zeep.  (Zeep is the sound effect that accompanies the apostrophe, which is one of the Brainies.)  (T/O)

Explain:  I did my magic trick, and then I asked the students to explain the trick to their partners (T/O)
I then reminded my students that the apostrophe took the place of the missing letters.  So I asked them which letters were missing in the contraction didn't.  They had to tell there partners which letters were missing and how they knew, using a because clapper.  (T/0 followed by Call-Outs)
(MW)  Contractions come in families.  (T/0)  I then displayed a poster of contraction families and asked my students to determine how many contraction families there are.  (T/O followed by holding up fingers to show the answer)  Below is a picture of the poster I displayed:

I then went under my sign for Big Point.  Students who chose to become model mirrors stood.  (MW)  Every family has the same missing letters.  (T/O)  I then made a big deal out of the fact that if you can learn which letters are missing in each family, then you can make any contraction.  I also reminded them that they already knew the missing letter in the "not" family, so that meant they only had eight more to learn.
We then looked at one family at a time and using T/O followed by call-outs, students had to tell me the missing letters in each family.  They also had to prove which letters were missing using a because clapper.  Before we moved on to a new family, I would give students a list of the words that made up the contractions in that family and they had to tell their partner the contraction for those two words in a complete sentence and write the contraction on their air whiteboard.  (One of the Brain Toys).  We used High Five Switch for this.  Below are the sentence frames that the students used when sharing:

___________ is the contraction for __________ and ______________.  You write the contraction _____________ (Spell it on your air whiteboards.)

After all of this, I told them that it was now their turn to do the magic trick.  We went through the same process we did at the beginning of the lesson with me doing a trick and the students explaining the trick to their partners using T/O.  I then passed out doors already made.  (This was a switch from what I had done in the past when the students made the doors, but I felt that this way they would have the opportunity to do more tricks.)  Using Uh/Oh Switch students did the trick for their partner.  Students then traded doors and did the trick with their new door, once again using Uh/Oh Switch.  We continued doing this until students had had the opportunity to perform the trick several times.  When done I allowed all of the students to take one door home so that they could perform this trick with their parents.

Test:  I used QT and made statements such as:  In the not family, the missing letter is the "o".

Critical Thinking:  Students had to write a paragraph that answered the question, "What is a contraction?"  They were encouraged to use the "For Example Popper".  (This is another one of the Brain Toys.)

*I was also giving out Super Improver Stars all week to students who had begun to use contractions in their writing.

Following this lesson, students had an additional one day of practice making and writing contractions before they were tested.

How did the WBT way compare to what I used to do?  In past years I spent two weeks on contractions and spent a lot of time working with students in small groups to make sure they understood what a contraction was and how to write one.  It was a lot of work.  When test day came I would get a few hundreds from my high students, and the rest of my class would mostly get B's.  Generally I would get a few C's, as well as a couple of D's or F's, usually from my special education students.  I would then go back and meet with the students in small groups or individually to discuss what they had trouble with on the test.  It was an exhausting process.

This year I spent one week on contractions.  I spent no time working with students in small groups prior to the test.  Sixteen out of seventeen students got an "A", including my two lowest.  One student got an "F".  I only had one student to go over the test with, and the entire week of teaching contractions was fun and easy!

If you have not yet tried Whole Brain Teaching, my question to you is "What are you waiting for?"  It is not more work.  It is a methodology that is fun, easy, and a perfect fit for anything that you are already doing.

Coach B.'s Visit to Las Vegas

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!

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.

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."

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 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.