Whole Brain Teaching Series! Super Improvers Wall

This is my eighth Whole Brain Teaching Series post and so I am happy to present you with information on the "Super Improvers Wall"! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. Last time I highlighted "Mind Soccer".

     The "Super Improvers Wall" is a fun and long-lasting method used to increase student motivation WITHOUT pinning students against one another. I strongly believe that we, as teachers, should focus on creating respectful learning environments that not only foster a sense of community amongst our students but also ensure that our students feel safe. Although competition can be a great motivator for some students, competition amongst peers can often leave students feeling inadequate, embarrassed or ashamed. These types of experiences leave our students with a negative view of the task/subject or even a negative view towards school in general! What I like about the "Super Improvers Wall" is that it is based on students beating their own personal goals, whether they are academic, social, or behavioral. No two students are ever EXACTLY the same at something and each student can have their own goals so competition between classmates is minimized if not eliminated. The following describes the "Super Improvers Wall" as it is stated by Chris Biffle in the free WBT e-book, Whole Brain Teaching Model Classroom (pg 7).

** You must have a free account to access and download the free e-books

      "When you observe students improving in any classroom activity... put their name on your Super Improvers Wall. As you note the continued improvement in any learning or social activity, add stars after the child's name. When a kid has accumulated five stars, then something special happens.

    Bring in your camera and take the students picture with any friends he or she chooses. Encourage the kids to make funny faces. Children love to see pictures of themselves making funny faces.

     Develop the picture and bring it to class. Do not show the child the photo but replace their name on the Super Improvers Wall with the picture, image side to the wall. At this point, the child wants, almost more than anything in the world, to have the photo turned around and see his/her funny face picture with their friends.

     As you note continued improvement... put a star on the back of the photo. When the photo has five stars, make a big production of turning it around. Viola! Announce that your Super Improver has become a Student Leader! We almost guarantee that at least once a day, the student and her friends will go up and look at the picture.

     What should student leaders do?

     Assign leaders for one day to perform, at your request, any of the following callouts: class!, hands and eyes, mirror, papers, seats, lines, switch, teach, Mighty Groan, Mighty Oh Yeah. (Depends on what Whole Brain Teaching Strategies we are using in our classrooms. You could have them be a part of any part of your classroom routine as well.) Change leader tasks daily, not everyone who has a photo turned to face outward will be a leader every day."

     Obviously, this is a strategy that is more geared towards younger-age students but perhaps there are modifications to make it more appealing/appropriate for high school age as well? I will do some brainstorming but what are your thoughts?

Check out this awesome Super Improvers Wall from "A Whole Brain Teacher"s blog

Love the flare of this one created by Heather Hansen a WBT Intern 11/12

 Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out the videos on Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action

Thanks for checking out Whole Brain Teaching Series!

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! Mind Soccer

Here is my seventh Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. Last time I highlighted "The Agreement Bridge", this week I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "Mind Soccer".

     As teachers, we are always finding/inventing ways to review material with our students and gauge their comprehension. These can include traditional worksheet assignments, trivia games, curriculum-themed board games, and card games, SmartBoard interactive games, jeopardy.... the list goes on and on. The point is that we need to have a way to understand what our students understand and provide our students with opportunities to review content in various contexts.

     With this in mind, I think that students need to enjoy what they are doing and have fun with their learning. I believe that if students can have an emotional reaction (in this case, fun/laughter/excitement) to their learning then they will remember it more easily. I mean, it works with the subjects we hate right? "Mind Soccer" is an activity used to review material with students that are meant to be fun, exciting and engaging for our students. The rules of the game specifically create intense and exciting situations for our students which I believe may assist them in remembering the material more effectively. The following describes the rules of "Mind Soccer" as stated by Chris Biffle in the Mind Soccer free e-book download.

The Set-Up: Draw a horizontal line, about six feet long, near the bottom of your blackboard. Mark off the line in 11 equidistant vertical marks. The horizontal line stands for a soccer field; each end of the line is a soccer goal; the vertical marks divide the field into units (like a football field). Place an eraser under the vertical mark in the middle of the field. The eraser is the soccer ball.

How To Play
1. Divide the class into two teams. We’ll use boys against girls, but it could be the right side of the class against the left side, etc.
2. Each team chooses the other team’s captain (this is usually quicker than having each team choose its own captain.)
3. To start the game, the captains stand face to face at the front of the room. You pose one of your review questions and, just as in “Family Feud”, the captains slap their hands down on a desk as quickly as possible if they know the answer. The captain who is quickest gets the chance to answer. If the captain is right, his/her team gets the ball. Otherwise, the opposing team’s captain gets the ball.
4. Assume the girls’ team wins control. Picking one player at a time, ask review questions to the girls’ team. If the player’s answer is correct, loud, fast and with an energetic gesture, that counts as a “strong kick.” Advance the ball, the eraser, almost a full hash mark down the field toward the boys’ goal. If the answer is correct but too quiet or slow or doesn’t have an energetic gesture, that is a “weak kick.” Advance the ball a short distance toward the boys’ goal. If the girls’ answer is wrong, shout “Turnover!” and now the boys’ team gets a chance to play. If you like a rowdy classroom, encourage teams to cheer when the ball is going their direction and groan when it isn’t. Thus, every time the ball moves, you’ll have cheering and groaning.

     This is an activity that I will be using with my students as soon as I begin teaching again! I think that this activity will be especially beneficial for our class because many students have difficulty with writing and reading but excel in their verbal language skills and would be able to answer questions verbally more easily. Check out this video of a 7th Grade Class in Texas using "Mind Soccer".

Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action.

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! The Agreement Bridge

It is my sixth Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. In my last WBT Series post I highlighted "The Genius Ladder", this week I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "The Agreement Bridge".

 "The Agreement Bridge" is a collaborative problem-solving strategy that we, as teachers, can use with our students who we are having a difficult time connecting with or who are displaying challenging behaviors in our classrooms. I will note that this is a strategy adopted, through the inspiration of, Ross Greene's Lost as School document. Sometimes it can be really difficult for teachers to understand our student's true personalities. It can be very easy for a teacher to view a student based on their behavior in the classroom or on their academic achievement. I feel, however, that it is extremely important that we provide opportunities to learn about our student's personalities outside of the classrooms: What types of extra-curricular activities are they involved in? What are their favorite TV shows or websites? What is their relationship with family members? etc. 

     With this in mind, it is possible that we will have those students that we have a more difficult time building relationship with. As such, we may experience difficulties in our classrooms such as disengaged students, poor attendance, difficulties with homework or classroom procedures, etc. What "The Agreement Bridge" does is that it functions as a means for students and teachers to learn more about each other and begin to build the basis for a relationship through a game rather than a formal discussion (which most students probably would not find comfortable). The game begins with a ruler in-between the teacher and student to represent a bridge with tokens on each side representing themselves. As the teacher and student answer various questions about themselves and about specific classroom situations, they can choose to move their markers across the bridge if they feel as though they can now better relate to one another or keep their marker in the same place if they feel that there is still not a common understanding. The following describes "The Agreement Bridge" strategy as stated by Chris Biffle in the Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids book.

     Mrs. Maestra and Juana sit on opposite sides of a table with a ruler between them. One end of the ruler points at Mrs. Maestra; the other end points at Juana. The ruler represents the “distance” between them. One marker representing Juana, stands at her end of the ruler; the other marker representing Mrs. Maestra, stands at her end of the ruler. (If markers are unavailable, any other small objects maybe used, chalk, paperclips, etc.). The goal of the game is for the two players to participate in a structured discussion that eventually arrives at a mutually satisfactory agreement resolving the problem that separates them.
     Mrs. Maestra and Juana have a copy of The Agreement Bridge game board (Appendix) and talk about the subjects it presents. After each subject is discussed, one or both players have the option of moving their markers closer to the center of the ruler if they feel the distance between them has decreased. The game is completed when the markers of both Mrs. Maestra and Juana arrive at the middle of the ruler; this symbolizes that the distance between them has been removed and they are ready to fill out an Agreement
Contract (Appendix).
     Mrs. Maestra explains that each topic on the Agreement Bridge game board introduces a new subject for conversation. The subjects are: Hello, Problem, Swap, Smart Choices, Foolish Choices and Change. The players decide who should go first. With shyer students, Mrs. Maestra automatically took the lead. The first player puts a coin on one square on the board, introducing the subject he or she wants to talk about. When the first player is finished talking, the second player puts a coin on the same square and discusses the same subject. When the conversation is completed, the second player moves her coin to another square and talks about the new topic. Essentially, the players engage in follow the leader. First, one player chooses a subject and talks about it; then the other player talks about the same subject and, when finished, picks the next subject. The topics may be selected as many times as the players wish. After each topic is discussed, one or both players, if they believe the distance between them has decreased, moves their marker closer to the middle of the ruler.

  Obviously, I chose to write about it today because it does interest me and I feel that it could work very effectively with early years students and maybe even some middle years students. I feel as though most of our students would love the opportunity to tell us more about themselves and to share stories about what interests them so I think, with some prompts, the Hello square could work really nicely. Something that the book also mentions is that this game allows students to see their teachers in a different context because they are learning information about them that they wouldn't normally learn. I feel very strongly that one of the easiest ways to build relationships with our students is for them to see us in multiple settings and to discover that we are actually "real people" and not JUST teachers, haha. Similarly to my post on "The Genius Ladder", I will make sure to update information once I have tried these strategies with my class.


Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action. 

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! The Genius Ladder

    Hi, everyone again I am currently writing my fifth Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. My last WBT Series post I highlighted was "The Scoreboard", this week I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "The Genius Ladder".

     So far, my WBT posts have been summarizing classroom management strategies but this week I would like to add something new! I've decided to include some information on the WBT teaching strategy of "The Genius Ladder". I really enjoyed learning more about this strategy so I've decided to include it as this week's WBT focus.

 "The Genius Ladder" is a visual teaching strategy that provides students, of any age, with an opportunity to practice sentence structure, parts of speech, complex sentences, and paragraph organization. The following describes "The Genius Ladder" teaching strategy as stated by Chris Biffle in the WBT Model Classroom PDF available here.

Genius Ladder made by Allison, WBT Intern for 2011/2012

     The Genius Ladder is posted on the front board and changes daily. Students work from the bottom of the ladder, simpler sentences, to the top of the ladder, a paragraph. The rungs of the Ladder are:

     Genius Paragraph

     Extender Complexor Sentence

     Spicy Sentence

     Blah Sentence

     Here is a filled in sample (Note that when used in class, students work from bottom to top, from Blah sentence to Genius Paragraph).

     Genius Paragraph: The crazy boy runs down the street. He looks like he is being chased by a ghost. No one knows what is wrong with him.

     Extender Complexor Sentence: The crazy boy runs down the street.

     Spicy Sentence: The crazy boy runs.

     Blah Sentence: The boy runs.

     The Blah sentence, as you can tell, is composed of an article, "the," a non-subject, "boy" and a verb, "runs." Obviously, an infinite number of sentences can be composed using these three simple components.

By having students begin with a Blah sentence, teachers can employ a very useful rule for student writing, "No Blah Sentences!"

     The Spicy Sentence adds an adjective, one of the simplest grammatical devices for increasing the flavor of student writing.

     The Extender Complexor extends the Spicy Sentence and makes it more complex. This category is extremely rich in possibilities. A Spicy Sentence could be extended with because or a prepositional phrase. A Spicy Sentence could also be extended with a conjunction, an adverb or a dependent clause.

     At the top rung of the Genius Ladder, the Genius Paragraph, several sentences called Adders are added to the Extender Complexor. Adders are defined as any sentence that adds information to a previous sentence. Thus, Adders make up the bulk of student writing. As you can see, as the student moves up the Genius Ladder, the sentences advance, quite naturally, from simple to complex. Fairly sophisticated topic sentences can easily be created. 

 Click on the link below to the PDF where you can find the full "Genius Ladder". There is a great section on how to specifically utilize it in the classroom.

Check out the Whole Brain Teaching PDF to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action.

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! The Scoreboard

Hey, everyone, I'm excited to be writing my fourth Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. The last post I highlighted was "Mirror", today I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "The Scoreboard". 

Scoreboard for older students (5-12): Teacher vs. Students

"The Scoreboard" is a classroom management strategy that assists in motivating our students. We are told again and again in our education classes that a student's motivation can affect the entire classroom environment and will affect us and the other students as well. We can tell when one of our students (or perhaps the whole class) is just not into a certain idea or activity. Maybe its the topic, maybe its the teaching style, maybe they are having an off day, or maybe its one of those days where you swear its a full-moon (it happens)!

Scoreboard for younger students (K-4): Smiley vs. Frowny

We are not always going to be able to have all of our students be super-excited about our subject or a certain activity. We get that, right? Some people will just not like the subject "x" no matter how hard a teacher tries. "The Scoreboard" can be a fun way of boosting our student's motivation in the classroom. Essentially, all it is is a basic T-chart where we keep tally of positive and negative behaviors. What type of behaviors is completely up to the teacher. Using "Teach-Ok" and the students aren't participating? Negative point. Morning announcements come on and everyone attentively listens? Positive point. We can award points for anything depending on what type of activity we are doing and what our expectations are. This way, even if a student doesn't like the subject or activity, they still realize the expectations for the classroom and can be motivated by the scoreboard even if they are not motivated by the task at hand. The following describes "The Scoreboard" strategy as stated by Jeff Battle on the Whole Brain Teaching website.

During class, you will be rewarding a mark in the Student section for procedures performed well. When you reward them with a mark in the student section for their performance, just like the smiley-frowny game, you can involve the kids in a really fun way. Walk to the board, raise your chalk or marker, or stylus, and address the class.

“One-second party!” You proclaim enthusiastically. Make a mark in the smiley section then point to the students. To this, they respond by clapping and throwing their hands in the air and yelling “Oh, Yeah!”

However, if the students do not listen, and follow instructions you do not have to fuss at anyone! You just look at the non-compliant students and say “Thank you very much! That was a point for ME!”

You walk to the board and add a mark to the Teacher column. Loudly proclaim, “Mighty Groan!” and point to the class. They must lift and then drop their shoulders and groan loudly! Since they are getting to make noise in class it is usually nearly as enthusiastic as the one-second party (or Mighty Oh, Yeah!)

In this way, you have a “game” in which students cannot rebel effectively. Rebellion only results in a point for the dreaded teacher.  You are either playing for the students and getting a reward, or not following instructions and playing for the dreaded Teacher's Team, and losing some reward.

Note that there is no punishment. You do not assign extra homework, or take anything else away. They just lose a privilege they were working for.

One thing you must understand from the start is that you should not let the difference between the number of Student and Teacher points get greater than three. If you over reward they will stop working for it. If you let them get too far in the hole they will quit trying to win the reward. That is the reason for the +-3 rule.
Student and Teacher points will build quickly at first, but fall off as they get better at procedures.

     I used "The Scoreboard" before and I did find it effectively. Like Jeff mentions, I did not punish my students for receiving negative points but I did not allow them a privilege that they were working towards. For example, at the start of class, we would decide as a group what type of "reward" we wanted based on what we were doing that day. Maybe it was extra time to complete an assignment or the option to work in groups as opposed to individually. If they "beat" me in "The Scoreboard" they would receive that privilege, if they didn't I would carry out my lesson like I had originally planned. The students definitely got into it and I could tailor "The Scoreboard's" use each day depending on our activity. Sometimes it would be based around specific WBT strategy expectations, sometimes it would be based around basic classroom procedures and sometimes both. Note, that we always talked as a class about what the expectations were for the day so everyone could be on the same page. Personally, I am not incredibly fond of creating a teacher vs. student environment in my class. I would like to come up with something that achieves the same effect, just not with those labels attached to it (I don't think High School students would be as motivated by a happy face and sad face).

     What are your thoughts? Comment down below.

Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action.

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! Mirror

July is here and I'm excited to be writing my third Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work. In my last Whole Brain Teaching post I highlighted "Teach-Ok", this week I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "Mirror". 

     "Mirror" is a classroom management strategy that allows us, as teachers, to gain our student's attention while maintaining engagement levels. One of the things that I found difficult with teachers that they always couldn't tell if their students were truly paying attention while they're speaking. Sure they were sitting quietly staring at the board but were they actually listening? I found that many times the teacher would explain an activity or concept (verbally and on the board) only to have a few students respond, "What page was that on?", "Am I allowed to use markers?", "Can we have partners?" I quickly learned that no matter how clear the instructor made their instructions, some students will just zone out at times and not be able to pay attention. That's fine, we all do it! There is a way, however, to assist in addressing this concern in our classrooms.

The strategy of "Mirror" is awesome in the sense that it is very simple, requires little to no planning and we can quickly ensure that we have engagement from our students. When we are introducing something important like a definition, a new topic, an important announcement or instructions for an assignment we want to make sure our students are paying attention and understanding what we are saying. Like many whole brain teaching strategies, "Mirror" engages our student's motor cortex of their brain which assists in memory development. The following describes the "Mirror" strategy as stated by Chris Biffle on the Whole Brain                                                                                                                                          Teaching website.

Mirror is one of WBT’s simplest and most powerful techniques.  You say “mirror” and your students respond “mirror.” They then pick up their hands ready to mimic your gestures.
As students imitate your motions, their motor cortex, the brain’s most reliable memory area, is automatically engaged.  Use mirror when telling a story, giving directions, describing the steps in a procedure, demonstrating a process ... anytime you want your class locked into what you are saying.  In general, there are three kinds of gestures that you can use with mirror:

     -- casual:  these are hand motions that come naturally while speaking
     -- graphic:  match your gestures to exactly what you are saying.  

                       For example, if you’re talking about walking somewhere, 

                       walk your fingers through the air.  If you want to explain a hard problem, scratch your head.  If you are presenting a big idea, spread your arms far apart.

     -- memory:  these gestures are linked to core concepts and/or state standards. 

                       Every memory gesture should be unique.          

Thus, we suggest pretending as if you are writing in the air like the memory gesture for an author, making an “X” with your arms for multiplication, dealing imaginary cards for sorting and so forth.

     I used this technique with teachers so they can teach their class and it worked amazingly! I am a "hand talker" to begin with (maybe that's one reason why I love whole brain teaching haha) so I could easily incorporate casual gestures so the students would follow along with. The very first time I saw a teacher introduced this they were explaining an assignment, so the instructor said, "There are 3 things I need from you today" and then as she went through the list she would have her students hold up 1, 2 or 3 fingers depending on what step she was explaining. At first, they were hesitant because before they could just let her talk and they didn't need to be paying attention but now they had to participate! After some encouragement, however, she was able to have them all participate with following along with the instructions. It was super simple, didn't require any prep to incorporate but she and I could easily tell if her students were paying attention. Plus, she didn't have any questions about assignments afterward!

Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Chris Biffle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action.

Read More

WBT & Students who are Introverted

 I heard in an article about the students in our classes who may be introverted and how we can best address their needs in our classrooms. Ever since then, I have been trying to brainstorm some ideas on how I may use whole brain teaching strategies and have them be a positive experience for these students.

     Tony Baldasaro the writer mentioned a few times throughout the post that students who are introverted need time to think and reflect silently on a subject before sharing their ideas with others. He used the example that a student who is introverted may not be able to provide a response in class but will think of a wonderful response in their next class after they have had time to think things through. One of the things I thought that may assist this issue is to provide our students with a "schedule" of what the next day is going to look like. This could be a physical handout, an agenda on the board or a note that we have our students copy down. It would outline the different topics that we are going to cover and what type of activities we would be doing (group discussion, reading, handout, project, etc). By providing this schedule, our students who are introverted would have a full 24 hours to think about what information is going to be introduced in class and what will be required of them in regards to participation. I think that this may assist in achieving a positive classroom experience because our students already have a basic introduction to the class and can be more prepared to participate. Bonus, it will keep us more organized as well! :)
               SAMPLE
               Geography: First Nations and the Treaty Process
                - Definition of First Nations (Teach-Ok with partners)
                - Group discussion about prominent First Nations individuals
                - Definition of a treaty (Teach-Ok with partners) 
                - Do you know of any treaties in the United States?
                - History of treaties
                
     One thing that people are quick to notice is that whole brain teaching classrooms are not always quiet environments! While being structured and on-task, they require high levels of student involvement which often asks students to participate verbally. How would this work if one, or more, of our students, requires silent time in order to process information?  One of the things that we could incorporate is silent "Teach-Ok". It would function the same as regular "Teach-Ok" but we would have our students mouth the review silently while they do the gestures as opposed to verbally reviewing. This is something that I would use to switch up in the classroom if I noticed that one, or more, of my students, we're needing a bit of a break. Playing off this same idea, we could also use a noise-meter in the classroom to indicate to our students what level of noise is appropriate during a specific time. If I felt that one, or more, of my students, needed a break I could "crank down" the noise meter to have students whisper during "Teach-Ok".

     I know that this isn't a long list but it is a start! I would love any suggestions that you can offer on other ways that we could adapt whole brain teaching strategies.

(These are just some ideas that I came up with that are specifically related to whole brain teaching strategies that I have used. I understand that every student is unique and I would ensure that I had full comprehension of my student to guarantee that my student's needs are being addressed in the most appropriate manner.)

Read More

Whole Brain Teaching Series! Teach-Ok

 I'm excited to be writing my second Whole Brain Teaching Series post! I hope that this focus on a specific WBT strategy is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work and what my personal experience with it has been. Yesterday I highlighted "Class-Yes", today I would like to introduce you to the WBT strategy of "Teach-Ok".

"Teach-Ok" is a formative assessment tool that allows for you, as the teacher, to gauge student's comprehension on the topics you're teaching. This strategy, however, is not your average worksheet that bores your students.

Studies have shown that when the primary cortices of the brain are engaged simultaneously, information is more easily stored in long-term memory. This strategy engages your students visually, verbally, mentally and physically! In addition, it is fun for both the students and the teacher, which engages the emotional system of the brain as well.

     Who amongst us can honestly say that they haven't had students that look like the picture above? We know that the longer we lecture in front of a class, the more students we lose to boredom. The "Teach-Ok" strategy shortens the time that you, as the teacher, spend lecturing at one time. It does not shorten how MUCH content you cover, it just changes how you DELIVER the content. The following describes the "Teach-Ok" content as it is stated by Jeff Battle on the Whole Brain Teaching website.

Teach-OK works like this: Divide your class into teams of two. One student is a One, the other member of the team is a Two. You want students to do a large amount of teaching. Present a small amount of information, complete with gestures. (I'll discuss gestures in more detail later on) When you finish, look at the class and clap two times, say “Teach!” Your students clap twice and respond “OK!”  Look at our Power Teachers videos for examples of this approach.

Teach your students to copy your gestures (kinesthetic) and mimic the emotion in your tone of voice (limbic).  As your students teach each other, move around the room listening to what they are saying.  This is an excellent opportunity to monitor student comprehension.  Then, call them back to attention with the Class-Yes!  If you are not convinced your students have understood your lesson, repeat it.  Otherwise, go on to the next small group of points.

     Essentially, many teachers do use strategies similar to this idea. Just think of how many times you have your students discuss a topic with their partner or table group before you go on to a new idea. This strategy follows this basic idea but with a more structured and purposeful layout. Remember, you want to ensure that you are presenting information in shorter chunks and encouraging visual, verbal, mental and physical engagement!

 This technique Is incredibly engaging and your students won't be zoning out because they don't have an opportunity to! One thing that I do recommend is that you chose your pairings with careful consideration to your student's personalities to ensure that students will be able to concentrate on the co-teaching component (sometimes certain students can just not teach effectively to one another), but with some management, it works great.
 
Check out the Whole Brain Teaching website to see Jeff Battle's instructions in context or check out Chris Biffle's YouTube channel to see this strategy in action

Thanks for checking out our second Whole Brain Teaching Series post!

Read More

WBT & Differentiated Instruction

Dr. Carol Tomlinson


First of all, I wanted to address the WBT website has so many amazing strategies and resources that I will be able to highlight different ones on the WBT Series for quite some time. Thank you to everyone that checked out the posts and, as always, I look forward to your opinions and stories on these strategies.

Today I'm going to talk about Differentiated Instruction by Carol Tomlinson, (view her website here). We talk about Differentiated Instruction in every single one of our education classes. If you are not familiar with this topic, it centers on the idea that every classroom is going to have students that represent a broad spectrum of learners and, as teachers, we must plan for these differences. We need to keep in mind that our students are going to be coming into our classrooms with different ability levels, different learning styles, different backgrounds, etc. and we need to tailor our classroom to best accommodate all of our students.

One teacher that I saw in their classroom who had three different types of assignments/tests/projects that he provided for his students. There was the "straight-ahead" option (the easiest level), the "uphill" option (intermediate level) and the "mountainous" option (the most challenging level). The names for the levels were chosen with consideration as they are all meant to imply a step-forward in the learning process. Through conferencing and open communication, the students knew exactly what level they should be working at and they would pick the appropriate assignment. Although each level was tailored to a different ability level, they all focused on the same curricular outcomes which still allowed for group discussion within the classroom. It worked wonderfully!

This got me thinking about if some of the WBT strategies could fit into a classroom that is practicing Differentiated Instruction. A textbook that I found "Success for all Learners: A Handbook on Differentiating Instruction", put out by Manitoba Education and Training, a handy chart is provided that overviews what "A Continuum Towards Differentiated Instruction" looks like. The following will summarize areas of the chart and include my opinions about how WBT strategies* may fit into this model.

Culture & Climate
Traditionally, "learning is associated with silence".
Through Differentiated Instruction, "learning is associated with on-task student activities".
- Well we all know that WBT is definitely anything but silent! In my classrooms
  I encourage participation in WBT strategies such as "Class-Yes" (see last
  Wednesday's post) which is far from silent but still an on-task student activity.
  I think that by encouraging student's to share their information and discuss
  topics together they will be more comfortable in your classroom which leads
  to the development of a positive learning environment.

Ways of Learning & Demonstrating Learning
Traditionally, "teachers present new information through lectures and reading".
Through Differentiated Instruction, "teachers use a variety of instructional modes including music, demonstrations and kinesthetic activities".
- The possibilities with this one are endless! As far as I am concerned, it is a given that
  I will have some sort of visual to go along with my lessons but after that, I believe that
  a teacher's only major restriction is their creativity level. What really stood out for me
  with this one was the demonstrations and kinesthetic activities. Many WBT strategies
  incorporate visuals referred to as "Power Pix" that a teacher uses kinesthetic
  gestures and demonstrations to explain so I think that this is a great match.

Instructional Methods
Traditionally, "students are passive".
Through Differentiated instruction, "students are active".
- I think WBT allows for students to be incredibly active! In "Teach-Ok" students are
  continually engaged and participating in the lesson. It also allows for them to develop
  an awareness of their meta-cognition process because by having to "teach" material
  to their neighbor, they develop an awareness of how much of the material they
  understand. Teachers can then use this awareness when holding teacher-student
  conferences to help understand the student's individual style of learning.

Assessment
Traditionally, "assessment happens at the end of a unit or course".
Through Differentiated Instruction, "assessment is ongoing".
- Yay for formative assessment! I think that this is something that teachers can do
   in many different ways. Remember, your only restriction is creativity. When using
   "Teach-Ok" teachers circulate around the room as their students work as teams
   to review material. This is a perfect opportunity to assess if your students have
   understood the lesson or not. As this assessment occurs, teachers can then plan
   accordingly to either spend more time on the topic or move onto something a
   bit more challenging.

Classroom Configuration
Traditionally, "desks are arranged in rows facing the teacher".
Through Differentiated Instruction, "desks or tables are rearranged as needed to facilitate working groups and student interaction".
- I am a HUGE fan of moving around desks and tables.
  WBT incorporates a lot of group work amongst students and encourages
  discussions with peers so I would move around the desks into partner groupings
  or larger groups (up to 4 or 5) depending on the activity.

Through this summary, I am comfortable saying that I will be able to use Differentiated Instruction in my classroom and still be able to incorporate elements of the WBT strategies. In my eyes, they almost seemed to naturally go together anyways!

* I tried to focus on the strategy of "Teach-Ok".
(1996). Success for all learners: A handbook on differentiating instruction (1.12). Manitoba: Manitoba Education & Training. 

Read More