State Testing is Complete!

It's that time of year again...when teachers are hoping and praying that their students apply the skills and strategies that have been taught when taking the high-stakes tests! As I talked with teachers on our campus this week, they relayed how exciting it was observe their students labeling answers "smartie", "trickster", or "doofus", underlining key words, and really taking their time on the tests. The test simulation practice helped build up stamina in the students, and a listing things that demonstrate visible effort assisted them in being specific in their test taking behaviors. (If you haven't already, check out the test prep slide show at www.wholebrainteaching.com) I was glad to hear that the teachers felt our test prep was worthwhile!

First Grade Transitions

Here is my first video, as a WBT intern, (Fall 2010). You will see Class-Yes, The 5 Rules, Teach-Ok,  The Scoreboard, and Switch, all in under 7 minutes. This video was filmed during the first quarter of first grade. We were working hard on procedures. 

Deb

First Grader Leads Lesson on Brain Structure

Several friends have asked me to post my WBT videos on my blog. This video features one of my first graders leading her classmates in teaching the parts of the brain. This video was filmed during second quarter of first grade, (December 2010). You will be impressed by the students' engagement and interaction as they learn and practice following their student leader!
Deb

Matoska International IB World School

I was blessed to visit family in Minnesota recently, and my sister teaches at a wonderful elementary school, Matoska International IB World School. I jumped at the invitation to teach lessons in several classes, across multiple grade levels. 

I entered each class, without knowing the teacher or the students. First things first,  I taught the students, "Class, Yes". Once that was established, I was able to teach model lessons, WBT style. The students were engaged, and we had a blast!  Teachers commented on how their students immediately responded to me, and were focused on the learning. I even got thank you letters with "Spicy" sentences from a first grade class! (They had been working on adjectives, so it was the perfect opportunity to teach them how to write a spicy sentence.)

In my sister's fourth grade class, the scoreboard was introduced. By the end of the second day, they were really getting the idea of working together as a class for those positive points. They even asked if they could earn points for their hallway behavior! Imagine that! 

Whole Brain Teaching is effective, regardless of the type of school, economic level, or location.

What do we call it when students are having fun while learning, the week leading up to vacation? 

Teacher Heaven!

Spreading the Joy!

Deb

Genius Ladder in Third grade:

This week I had the opportunity to model the Genius ladder in a third grade class.

I took a quick pic of the board to share with you. (Ignore the "Prove It" in the top left corner- that is just the classroom reminder from the morning, and a whole other post!)

For those of you who are new to the Genius Ladder,  you can check it out at www.wholebrainteaching.com




We started at the bottom, with our "Blah Sentence", The dog ran. I asked them to orally subsitute the noun, and as partners they came up with many varieties and repetitions. For example, The kid ran. The mouse ran. The tiger ran. I heard some laughing, and one pair of boys said, The nose ran. Then, they readily backed it up with, "Nose is a noun, and you can have a runny nose!"

Calling the whole class back, we climbed to the next rung on the ladder, the "Spicy Sentence". I shared with the class that when I have pizza, I like it a little spicy, with pepperoni! We talked about adding an adjective to create a spicy sentence. Before I had them come up with their own "Spicy Sentences",  I needed to doublecheck to see if they all remembered what an adjective was. We agreed that an adjective was a describing word, and gave a few examples.  Our "Spicy Sentence" was The ugly dog ran. When the students brainstorm and create as many spicy sentences as they can think of with their partner, they use the capital letter gesture (One hand eye at head level-palm down, the other hand at chest level-palm up) and the gesture for period. (Some teachers use the hand up with a screech, like a car screeching to a stop, others use a one finger point with a tongue click). Both partners gesture throughout the exchange.

I called the class back, we shared a few "Spicy Sentences", and then moved up the next rung to the "Extender Sentence". This particular class had been working on prepositions last week, so not a lot of review was necessary here. In WBT, we tell the students that prepositions are "squirrel words". Have you ever watched a squirrel? They dash in, out, up, down, over under, through, etc. Those "squirrel words" are prepositions.  Our Extender Sentence was, The ugly dog ran across the road. Again, we brainstormed a few extenders, then turned to our partner to generate Extender Sentences. Do you notice how many oral repetitions the students are getting? Many opportunities for practice are essential when building the Genius Ladder.

The final rung on the Genius Ladder is the Genius Paragraph. The students helped generate the sentences as the teacher wrote. I am including our Genius paragraph below.


The ugly dog ran across the road. He was chasing the chicken because he liked to eat the white meat. Next, the chicken scurried into the tiny pen. Lastly, the sad, ugly dog wandered away.

This Genius Paragraph has a topic sentence, two adders, and a concluding sentence. Notice, the students used "because" in one of the adders, and no two sentences begin the same.

This day, the students did not write their own Genius Paragraph. In fact, the plan is to continue to model as a whole class for several days before the students write their own paragraph independently. However, this teacher is having a different student record the Genius Paragraph each day, and this is going in the writing center. Clever!

Best of all, the students are begging to do The Genius Ladder! Teacher Heaven!!!

Kindergarten Fun

People often ask me how quickly they can introduce WBT concepts at the beginning of the year, especially in Kinder.  Well, rather unexpectedly, I ended up subbing in Kindergarten on Thursday and Friday. They had already learned "Class, Yes" and "Hands and Eyes" from me when I had been in and out, giving baseline assessments and general assistance. On Thursday, we rehearsed the "Five Rules" throughout the day, I introduced the scoreboard, and I taught them how to "Turn to your neighbor".  Friday, I introduced "mirror" and they loved it! I taught them to use the triple repeat for lines, chairs, papers, etc. I used the WBT 5 Step lesson plan to teach the LA Power Pix "Author". We used air whiteboards to sequence the story of The Three Little Kittens.  The teacher's aide commented on how well the students participated, and that she liked how I made learning so much fun!
I will be stepping in for 2 weeks,  until our long term sub can take over. This week, we will learn the LA Power Pix for character, capital letter, sentence, period, and the math Power Pix sort and count.  So, how much can you introduce at the beginning of the year in Kinder? Quite a bit!!! The key is to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, until they are meeting your expectations.
Guiding Kinder students in learning using WBT means no more unneccesary stacks of busywork for students during an unexpected absence by their teacher. Learning continues!!! Can I get an "Oh Yeah!"?

Coaching Fun in First

This week, I was observing in a first grade classroom, and the teacher was asking if a story was fiction or non-fiction. First of all, the teacher said, "Fiction is when a story is true, and non-fiction is when a story is fantasy". (I am pretty sure she knows the difference, but just said it backwards.) I began to walk up quietly, because as an instructional coach, I need to correct inaccurate information. She called on her top student, and the student repeated it the same way the teacher presented it, to which the teacher replied, "That's correct". Uh oh! I whispered to the teacher, and asked her if I could teach the kids a little trick to remember fiction/non-fiction. I then showed the students the gesture for fiction, (3 fingers on the forehead like 3 eyeballs), because if someone had 3 eyeballs it would definitely be fiction, or make-believe! We laughed, and asked each other, "What is fiction?", and answered, "Fiction is when a story is made up, it is not real" (with accompanying gesture of 3 fingers on the forehead). Then, I proceeded to teach them the gesture for non-fiction, (2 fingers right below the eyes), because a real person has 2 eyes. We then moved on to ask, "What is non-fiction?", and answered "Non-fiction is when a story is real, not made up" (with accompanying gesture of 2 fingers below the eyes).  I asked them if I could come back later and show them some pictures that would help them remember fiction and nonfiction, and we would play a game. They resoundingly responded "Yes!"
Later that day, I returned and brought the power pix for fiction, and non-fiction, and we played "Yes, No Way" and "QT". Oh, what fun!
This process took no more than 5 minutes each time, and the students got it!!!
I saw these students in line for lunch the next day, and they said, "Mrs. Weigel, I remember fiction and non-fiction" (with gestures).
I love my job!
Deb