Whole brain teaching activities that rock !

I first came across Whole Brain Teaching, on line, reading about it and watching videos on Youtube! Later, I decided to apply it in my classes  and ever since, it has proved to be  a valuable teaching tool in my class!

Whole brain teaching is a new “radical” idea to some, however it is nothing more than tried and true teaching practices, combined into a new approach.  Whole brain teaching combines direct instruction,  sharing and immediate feedback to become a new style of teaching.  Whole brain teaching surmounts to several  steps that a teacher incorporates into their everyday classroom.   I believe that because this method can be adapted to any age level, any group of students in any place, this practice may be one of the best, best practices.

Whole Brain Teaching posters, behind my desk in the classroom!

Here today, I’d like to share with you my most favourite WBT teaching practices, that have proved to be valuable in my class and are highly recommended to all teachers!

Step 1: Class-Yes
The teacher of a whole brain classroom (WBC) uses this attention getter before beginning every class.  The teacher begins class by saying “class” any way he/she likes, and in turn the class is responsible for mimicking the teachers voice by responding yes.  Therefore, if the teacher says, “class, class, class, classy class!” The class must respond: “yes, yes, yes, yessy, yes!”  My students LOVE this attention getter! They always respond to it and I never need to raise my voice anymore in class!

Step 2: Teach-OK
I use this teaching practice, mainly when I teach grammar…..It always works miracles!! You should all try it and see for yourselves! This is the informative part of the lesson.  Before beginning the teacher must divide the class into two groups, 1’s and 2’s the teacher in each pair will rotate each time.  Then the teacher begins to teach small sections of information, while incorporating gestures, songs, movements and chants.  When the teacher has finished a small portion of information he/she says to the class “Teach” and the class responds “OK!”  In turn the students turn to teach each other, mimicking the “lesson” taught by the teacher.  During this time the teacher observes the students’ comprehension, if the teacher is not convinced the students understand the lesson, repeat this process.Otherwise, move to “class-yes” and begin another short lesson.

WBT Teach.

Step 3: Hands and Eyes
This step is used at any point during the lesson when you want students to pay “extra attention” to what you are saying/doing.  To begin this process the teacher says, “Hands and Eyes!,” and the students respond by mimicking the words and movements of the teacher. Perfect!!

Step 4 :Mirror
I personally  use Mirror, mainly when I teach grammar rules!Similar to “Hands and Eyes,” mirror allows the teacher to gain control of the classroom as well as have students mimic the motions and speech of the teacher.  This is the main part of the lesson where teachers are expected to contribute their own “silliness” and movements into the lesson.  Teachers will incorporate their own gestures, songs or chants in this portion of the lesson and the students are expected to “mirror” the teacher after the teacher says “Teach” and the class responds “OK.”

WBT mirror

Step 5: Switch!
This step is to be used with the “Teach-OK” step, while students are teaching it is imperative that the same student not teacher every time. Therefore, in order to get every student involved in the lesson, the teacher will direct the students to “Switch!,” the students will respond by saying “switch” and the “teacher” of the group will rotate.

 I admit that the idea of combining classroom management and active teaching/learning has me very intrigued.  I feel that beginning this practice in any classroom would be very easy.  The students would hopefully be very willing to try the techniques since the teaching centers somewhat around an overarching game. 

  Here, I should also  remind you of the classroom rules I wrote about in another post a few months ago….https://aphrogranger.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/class-rules/

 Classroom Rules

Before beginning the actual “informative” part of each lesson, the teacher goes over the five classroom rules with the entire class. This is to ensure that everyone understands the rules, but it will also help the teacher in the end, if a student is not following rules.  The rules and gestures are as follow:

• 1-Follow directions quickly! (Make your hand shoot forward like a fish)
• 2-Raise your hand for permission to speak (raise hand, bring down to head and make a talking motion).
• 3-Raise your hand to leave your seat (raise hand, make a walking motion with fingers).
• 4-Make smart choices! (tap one finger to your temple as you say each word).
• 5-Keep your dear teacher happy! (hold up each thumb and dex finger out like an “L” framing your face; bob your head back and forth with each word and smile really big!)

To know more about Whole Brain Teaching, you could visit   http://www.wholebrainteaching.com

Brain gym-WBT warming up: the lion’s roar

Class rules

I spend about three weeks at the beginning of each school year, to work on the basics with all my classes: these incude, warming up-getting to know you activities, class rules , goals setting, life skills!

I’ll be able to write here about each one of them , soon….

Today, I could talk a bit about class rules and what I have found to be working in my classes! Well, I’ve tried class contracts and long discussions about which rules both the teacher and the students should follow during the school year!

First, the kids brainstorm classroom rules .My class rule is a pledge!  ” I will do nothing to interfere with the learning, safety, or respect of myself or others”.We also talk about the 3 P’s: BE PROMPT- BE PREPARED-BE POLITE! My students brainstorm all the rules they can think of and we categorize them into these three!

But, I’ve also tried to work with WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING RULES which my students just love!

The following are five classroom rules that will make your life amazingly easier. One of them is nuclear power in your hands!

If rules are only posted on your board they are not really a part of your class. You must have the rules running around in your students’ heads for them to be effective. It will also help you quiet extra talking in the class. Look for that as you read.

Teach them as follows:

Rule One: Follow directions quickly! (the gesture: make your hand shoot forward like a fish)

Rule Two: Raise your hand for permission to speak (the gesture: raise your hand, then pull it down next to your head and make a talking motion. This rule will be the most commonly violated. See below for how you stop this without criticism or negativity.)

Rule Three: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat. (the gesture: raise your and, and then make a little walking figure with your index and middle finger.)

Rule Four: Make smart choices! (the gesture: tap one finger to your temple as you say each word.

Rule Five: Keep your dear teacher happy! (the gesture: hold up each thumb and index finger out like an “L” framing your face; bob your head back and forth with each word and smile really big!)

In elementary school, rehearse the rules first thing in the morning, after lunch and after each recess. When you call out the rule number, your students respond with the rule itself and the correct gesture. Make the rehearsals as entertaining as possible; use a variety of voices (happy, robot, froggy) and tempos, fast, slow, super fast. For additional fun, ask of your liveliest students to lead the rules rehearsal.

Rule Two will be the most commonly violated, duh. You do not have to call anyone down; you do not have to mention names. If you are addressing the class and some kids are talking, you stop, hold up two fingers and loudly say “RULE TWO!”

Every kid in your class should repeat rule two energetically with gestures. This signals the violators to stop talking … without you needing to scold them.

Rule Five is nuclear power. Think about it- keep your dear teacher happy. THERE IS NO LOOPHOLE! No student can convince you that they are making you happy. You are the world’s greatest authority on what makes you happy. If they try to convince you they are making you happy, immediately inform them that does not make you happy.

If a student complains that they don’t know how to make you happy, tell them that following the first four rules will be just dandy.

Rule Five has no loophole.

If parents ask why their child should worry about making you happy, respond that you have the responsibility to teach their child and every other child in that class. The happier you are, the better you can do your job.

Now, let’s think briefly, about how these five classroom rules relate to brain structure.  The brain learns in five ways, by seeing, saying, hearing, doing and feeling.  When you teach the rules with the Whole Brain signs, your students’ brains are maximally operative.  They see the signs, hear the rules, say the rules and make the gestures.  If you are upbeat and entertaining in your presentation, and of course you are!, your students will also have the lovely feeling of having fun.  Also note that for all five modes of brain learning to take place for your students, you have to engage in all five modes yourself.  Whole Brain Teaching is as great for the instructor’s brain as the students’!

I have recently added this attention poster below, to help me with class management and it proved to be REALLY useful! My kids just ADORED it! I have been using this every single day, when I need to have their attention and it really WORKS!!