The Organizer: The Classroom Rules
Rule #1 Follow Directions Quickly!
Rule #2 Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak!
Rule #3 Raise Your Hand for Permission to Leave Your Seat!
Rule #4 Make Smart Choices!
Rule #5 Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy!
Diamond Rule: Keep Your Eyes on the Target, Please!
*Practice "Right-Way/Wrong-Way" to make learning the rules for exciting for students; use Student Leaders to help review the rules to the class; Partner Practice is also a great way for rehearsal time!
The Attention Getter: Class!-Yes!
*Remember to change up the way you say it! Ex) Classity! Classity! - Yessity! Yessity!, Hey Class! - Hey Yes!, Frontier Class!, Falcon Yes! You get the idea....!!!
The Focuser: Hands and Eyes!
Say this to get students back on task, with eyes on you and hands folded, ready to listen to your next BIG point!
The Routine Setter: 3-Peats
Students will repeat your directions 3 times. Ex) Pencils out, out, out! or Lines, lines, lines!
The Engager: Gestures
Get those hands moving! Use Power Pix and Brainies gestures throughout your lessons! Gestures are one of the most important parts of a WBT classroom! Check out the Brainies and Power Pix on the WBT website!
The Active Learner:Teach-OK
Students will pair up and teach their partner skills and concepts that they have learned; The teacher will clap/stomp/snap in a patter and say "Teach!", the students will repeat the pattern, say "OK" and turn to their partners ready to share! The more teachers talk, the more students they lose....so talk in short chunks and let those students start sharing what they've learned!
The Involver: Switch
The "Switch" eliminates chronic talkers and chronic listeners. Every student becomes an active participant in the classroom!
The Unifier: Mirror
Use the Mirror to introduce new concepts and review learned skills; remember to use those BIG gestures! Students will not only mirror the teacher, but their partner/student leader as well!
The Critical Thinker: Power Pix
Power Pix are a great tool to use for incorporation of state standards and key concepts! I will blog in further detail about Power Pix in the future!
The Reward Giver: Woo! It's Cool!
Reward your students with a Ten Finger Woo...or even a Ten Finger Woo with a Lightning Sizzle! Also, don't forget to say, "It's cool!" when a student (or especially the teacher) makes a mistake!
The Writer: Genius Ladder
Blah Sentences! Spicy Sentences! Extender Sentences! Genius Paragraphs! *More details about the Genius Ladder coming soon!
The Class Motivator: Scoreboard
Start tallying up those Mighty Oh Yeahs and Mighty Groans! Who will earn the most points by the end of the day??? Do you see a quick Dance Party in your future?!
The Individual Motivator: Super Improver Team
Everyone is a Super Improver! Students can improve on handwriting, following directions quickly, math facts, reading fluency, the list goes on and on....even the teacher is a Super Improver! *More info to come on this amazing strategy that is used in Whole Brain Teaching classrooms!
Teacher Heaven: The 5-Step Lesson Plan
In the 5-step lesson plan, make sure you state a question, provide an answer with a gesture, expand on the answer with examples and review, evaluate using Yes/No Way/QT/Prove It!, and finally, don't forget about the critical thinking aspect with the concept and writing assessment!
The Energizer: YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are the driving force in your classroom! You set the stage for your environment! Don't be afraid to act and look silly! Your students will love the action of a WBT classroom and will be highly engaged in the learning process!
***The WBT strategies that are the easiest to implement TOMORROW are the Classroom Rules, Class-Yes, Hand and Eyes, 3-Peats, and the amazing Scoreboard!!! Go get your WBT on!!!
"Tell me and I will forget; Teach me and I may remember; Involve me and I will learn"
Benjamin Franklin
