What exactly is Whole Brain Teaching? No matter if you are already familiar with
WBT, or if this is the first time you have heard about it, it’s always nice to
know about the scientific details….s’more fun facts will be included too!
Whole Brain Teaching is a teaching system that takes a
regular “lecture style” classroom lesson and kicks it up to the highest level
of interaction, where students’ brains are fully-engaged in the learning
process. Here are two different lesson
types:
In a Regular classroom lesson (aka boring), only two parts
of the brain are stimulated:
1.
Wernicke’s Area (Listening)
2.
Hippocampus (Memory Formation).
In a WBT lesson (aka party!), the entire brain is activated:
1.
Pre-Frontal Cortex (Focusing)
2.
Broca’s Area (Speaking)
3.
Wernicke’s Area (Listening)
4.
Visual Cortex (Seeing Gestures)
5.
Motor Cortex (Making Gestures)
6.
Limbic System (Emotions)
7.
Hippocampus (Memory Formation)
8.
Amygdala (Motivation)
Wow! That’s a BIG
difference! I mean, just imagine that you’re
at the “S’mores-Gabord Galore Cook-off”, and Chef #1 yells, “S’mores are ready!” Your mouth is watering; you can’t wait to
take a big, gooey bite… but then the chef only gives you a graham cracker with a
piece of chocolate. Ummm….this isn’t quite
what you were hoping for. Where’s the
marshmallow? Why isn’t it even
warm? This s’more is sooo boring! Hey! It’s
actually not fair! You start to pout,
cry, and then get angry. You even start
pushing the girl next to you in line!
Hearing cheers and laughter, you look over to see a big
group at Chef #2’s bonfire station, so you decide to see what all the fuss is
about. Ohhh my, it’s not a fuss. It’s a revolution! These s’mores are perfectly cooked, with
ooey-gooey marshmallows, melted milk chocolate…and…what?! There’s more?! Here, the chef is adding on extras - white
chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter, sliced strawberries or bananas,
Andes mints, Nutella, cinnamon, dulce de
leche, salted caramel, even bacon! This
s’more is truly going to be a PARTY in your mouth!!! Now, this is what you were craving! Yes!
You feel happy! You smile, laugh,
and then start to dance. You even give
the guy next to you a high-five!
Now – which S’more would you rather have for dessert?
Which classroom lesson would you rather teach?
With Whole Brain Teaching, you will be able to create a
classroom environment where 100% of your students are actively engaged, highly critical
thinking skills will be integrated throughout the curriculum, and disruptive behavior will disappear,
all because students are having fun while learning!
Until my next post, go check out these great sites!
P.S. Eating S’mores while WBT’ing at the same time, is, by
far, the best thing ever!!!
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