Hey everyone, I'm here with another Whole Brain Wednesday with another easy to implement WBT strategy...
Teach your hand & Teach your foot...
You all know the dreaded "down time" that no administrator wants to see or hear about... And don't even mention the word "filler!" But as a teacher you know there are times where some of your students are waiting... oftentimes the waiting is for students who are moving more slowly.
Think... stop & jot... you're reading a great read aloud, where students have a sticky note trail. You stop, ask a question, students do a turn & talk (or teach, okay in a WBT classroom) and when they're done talking with their partner they jot their answer on a sticky note. You can probably picture the exact kiddo in your class who will be the last one to finish... every time. You want that kiddo to get the chance to finish, but you don't want the rest of the students just waiting... so, I introduce Teach Your Hand & Teach Your Foot.
In my classroom, anytime we have to stop & jot or record an answer when we are all together in a group, my students know they should "teach their hand" or "teach their foot" the answer when they are done writing. Even in reading groups, kiddos know to "retell their hand" while they wait for other students to finish reading.
It is exactly what it sounds like...
The kiddos whisper teach the answer to their hand OR to their foot! After the first time, when they look at you like you're CRAZY, then giggle uncontrollably as they teach their foot; the kiddos just do it without thinking... they don't sit around and wait, they just KNOW to teach their hand or foot!
And, common, don't they look adorable???
If you love this strategy... I suggest you introduce "teach your hand" first, then when that starts to lose its excitement, tell students they can choose "teach your foot" which will introduce a whole new level of excitement into waiting time!
Enjoy & go teach your foot what you just learned ;)
Today I'm going to talk about the Whole Brain Scoreboard! I talked a little bit about it here...
So the scoreboard is really simple... you can just draw a smile & a sad face on your board or write teacher and students on the board. But if you want to get a little more fancy (or cutsie) grab this freebie...
I have these laminated with magnets on the back and put them up on the whiteboard for our "master" scoreboard. I put a mini scoreboard on my name tag so I can give points at any time.
So at the very basic level, the scoreboard is where students can get positive points (smile/students) or negative points (sad face/teacher). Younger kids will definitely love the smiles/sad faces but upper grades might like teacher vs. students better.
These points are generally given when the whole class is doing a nice job or when the whole class needs a little motivation to improve behavior, use of WBT, etc. Once in a while POSITIVE points can be given for one student who "saved" the class from getting another sad face point to help motivate the kiddos. When students get a positive point, they get a 1 second party to say "oh yeah!" and do a fist pump or other motion you decide on. When students get a negative point, they give a mighty groan and get right back to work.
I use the scoreboard to motivate my kiddos to use our WBT gestures, to energize their Teach/Okay time, to prevent unnecessary chatter and many other instances, especially when we are in a whole group setting.
In the past I would tally up "smile day" for students to earn a classroom celebration such as a dance party, extra recess, etc. However, after attending the WBT conference, I am convinced that this scoreboard needs to be used for more immediate (but simple) rewards. I plan on giving students between 1 and 3 minutes of a fun game such as around the world or chat time at the end of the day. The possible 1-3 minutes will work perfectly because the teacher should try not to make the tallies go more than +/-3 either way. Keeping the score like this keeps students on their toes. They never feel that "winning" is out of reach or that they are "winning" by so many that they don't have to try their best.
As the year goes on you can do different things with the scoreboard such as "double points" or boys vs. girls. I've also done a double score board where half the scoreboard focuses on one classroom rule. There are many other scoreboard "levels" on wholebrainteaching.com too!
Alrighty, now for a freebie... Here is the super improver wall my grade level team will be using :) Click below to grab it for free!
Today's Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday will be quick. I will be discussing using "Switch" during "Teach, Okay." If you're unfamiliar with "Teach, Okay" read up on it in this post from last year.
Switch is used to help your talkers (you know the kiddos who do ALL the talking in their group and always have an answer without doing much thinking) practice listening and have your listeners (the kiddos who always let the other group members do all the talking) practice talking.
I did a post about "switch" last year. In that post I describe the all-class switch. This switch involves the teacher deciding when partners should switch listening and speaking turns. The teacher reaches up like she is pulling a giant light switch and says "switch" the students copy the gesture, say "switch" then rotate listener/talker. To read more about this switch, check out last year's post.
During the WBT National Conference, we learned about the high five switch. During this type of switching, partners have a very specific question to answer, something to teach their partner, etc. When they are done teaching, answering the question, etc. they high five each other and switch roles. You can make this even more involved by having the speaker act as the teacher, getting their partner's attention using class, yes as well as using gestures which the listener mirrors. When the partners high five the new speaker now uses class, yes and gestures while the listener mirrors the gestures. Having the kiddos take the role of the teacher as well as using gestures makes it very easy for the teacher to see who is engaged while she walks around listening into students' conversations.
Check out this video from the WBT Conference with 2 of the trainers modeling the high five switch...
I plan to use both types of switch in my room this year. While the students are getting used to teach, okay and gestures, we will probably do the whole-class switch but as the students get more comfortable, I will teach the high five switch, giving students more independence and control of their learning.
Be sure to tune in next week for another Whole Brain Wednesday!
If you missed part 1 of this post last week, go read it here!
Part 2 of losing the clip chart is all about the Super Improvers Wall!
With a Super Improvers Wall, you don't need to tell a kiddo to move their clip down, because instead they will be trying to IMPROVE academically or on a negative behavior... all POSITIVE reinforcement and no negative, hooray!
So what exactly is the Super Improvers Wall (or Super Improvers Team)?
It is a way to help students become intrinsically motivated to improve both behaviorally & academically! (like I said, all positive!)
Every super improver wall has 10 levels... such as the levels used on the WBT website and by Kate over at EduKate and Inspire:
Or something to fit your classroom theme such as the candy theme I'm going to try this year:
Or here's the sports theme Super Improvers Wall I made for my grade level partners:
Keep reading to get either of these themed walls/teams for free!
Okay so #1... a color coded 10 level theme.
(If you're going to use these throughout a building or across a grade level, it's nice for everyone to have the same color scheme to kiddos can talk about their improvements with kiddos not in their class)
Now #2, each kiddo has their name on a colored piece of paper that coordinates with their color level. So for example, everyone in my class will start out on a white piece of paper because they will be "bubblegum" or in my grade level partner's classes they will start out on white paper as "fans." Since I haven't set this up yet in my room (trying to enjoy July & stay out of there!) here is a great example of the beginning of the year from Kate (again) over at EduKate and Inspire.
So how do kiddos change the color of their card & move up in levels???
That brings us to #3, kiddos earn stars for making improvements (hence the name Super Improvers). When a kiddo earns 10 stars they move up a level. Meaning, they take home their star-filled card and get a new card with their name on it, in the SAME PLACE it already was on the Super Improvers wall... see yet another example from Kate (geesh I think I need to thank her for her awesome post when I'm done here!)
I really like that they stay in the same place all year no matter what color they are. It takes away the feeling I know kiddos have about clip charts that "Oh I'm always below everyone" or on the other side "Ooooh I'm always above everyone."
It also is powerful that kiddos are competing against THEMSELVES, not each other!!!
Okay so... to review:
#1 There are 10 levels to the Super Improver Wall/Team
#2 Each kiddo's name is on the color coordinating with the level they are on.
#3 Kiddos need to earn 10 stars to move up a level.
Got it? Okay. So now you may be asking how do kiddos earn a star? Well, that's up to you as a teacher... For me, I'll start the year with a couple class goals... improvements on following class rules such as Rule #1 Follow Directions Quickly & Rule #2 Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak (check out my post on WBT rules here & go here to get my WBT rule & procedure cards). Then I'll probably add in that making personal improvements on our addition facts can earn a star.
Throughout the year, class goals can change &&& (best part) you can make INDIVIDUAL GOALS for certain kiddos (after all, the whole point is INDIVIDUAL improvements)...
Perhaps you have a child who cannot keep their hands to themselves... you tell them they will have a *special* goal to keep their hands to themselves, if they can make improvements on that, they get a star! Or maybe your class goal has moved beyond not shouting out, but you still have a kiddo who shouts out constantly... make that their *special goal*
The individual goal setting is my FAVORITE piece of the Super Improver Wall! I can't wait to manage behaviors in a POSITIVE way!!! However, I am promising myself here and now that I will not have individual goals for EVERY kiddo, because that just seems very overwhelming to manage!
So here are some ideas for how kiddos can earn stars either as a class or individually:
Improving...
following certain classroom rules
math facts
spelling certain words
handwriting
blurting
challenging oneself (i.e. not saying "I can't do it!")
rug behavior
partner-work behavior
length/meaningfulness of journal entries
moving safely in the room
the list goes on, and on, and on!
I will definitely be posting more about the Super Improver Wall as the year goes on! I wanted to use it last year but didn't feel I completely understood how it worked. Feel free to leave comments with questions (I will email you back so you definitely see my response!) There is a lot more you can do with the Super Improver Wall too, such as take pictures at certain levels and of course there's the whole "picture on the wall forever" that happens if a kiddo reaches the top level, but we have many more Wednesdays for that!
In the meantime, thanks for sticking it out through this entire post, please click the images below to get a free copy of either of the Super Improver Wall Levels I featured in this post!
Candy Theme
Sports Theme
A final shout out to Kate over at EduKate and Inspire for her "help" with this post! Go check out her blog, she is also a 2nd grade blogger & a "Whole Brainer"
So I've decided to make Wednesdays "Whole Brain Wednesday!" If there is interest, I'd LOVE to make it a linky party where other Whole Brainers can link up on Wednesday with a WBT post (they wouldn't have to be as long as this one!)... PLEASE PLEASE leave some feedback in the comments if that is something you would be interested in participating in :)
Today I bring you Part 1 of "Lose the Clip Chart!"
So today I'm going to talk about WBT's 5 rules & practice cards to go along with these rules. The practice cards are the first reason I threw out my clip chart on the last day of school this year! Yes, that's right I THREW AWAY MY CLIP CHART!!!!!
If you aren't familiar with WBT's 5 rules, please check out my rules post here. If you like the rule cards above, check them out at my TPT store (they're free!), go grab them.
Okay, so hopefully you either know about the rules already or have checked out my rule post from a while back and are ready to learn about rules cards...
I LOVE these rules, they cover all of the 20-million & one rules the kiddos brainstorm at the beginning of the year if you have them generate your classroom rules. I even used them as a sort where we came up with "rules" and talked about which of our 5 classroom rules their rule ideas fit under. There is ALWAYS a way to make desirable & undesirable behaviors fit into the WBT rules!
So that brings us to practice cards...
You can read about practice cards on the WBT website and even download practice cards if you have or create a free account with them.
I've adjusted the practice cards to fit my classroom-life and after going to the AMAZING WBT National Conference, I feel totally okay with the "adjustments" I've made to make WBT work best in my class!
The point of practice cards is to give students a logical consequence when they break a rule. So often kiddos go home tell their mom or dad their clip moved down or their card color changed and when mom or dad ask why they say "I don't know!" Let's be honest, I'm sure you've received an email or phone call more than once asking what happened for a kiddo's clip to move down... NEVER AGAIN!
Come November or December, once kiddos know (and should be following) the classroom rules, introduce practice cards. I plan on using a calendar size pocket chart with my students' numbers in the pockets.
If students are breaking a rule, I will put the corresponding rule card into their pocket chart pocket. No more telling kiddos to "move your clip down" or "change your card." As Coach B would say "Don't stop the train!" in otherwords, don't stop teaching to tell ONE student to move a clip because that stops the teaching and learning. Instead, keep teaching, and move a rule card into that child's number spot in a way that doesn't cause a distraction like you know clip changes SO very often do!
I made my rule cards correspond with the color of the rule cards I have in my room (& that you can grab for free using the link earlier in this post). This is different than how WBT describes the rule cards, it's okay if you like their way better, I'm just sharing my way ;)
If a kiddo gets a rule card put in their number slot, they practice the rule & gesture for 2 minutes at recess, during lunch or whatever works for your classroom/school. A note also goes home, explaining what rule was broken, and asking families to help their child practice the rule, sign and send the note back. Here's an example of a letter that could go home...
The practice card doesn't get taken out of the kiddo's number spot until the letter is returned.
I know what some of you might be thinking... I have kiddos who don't have support at home, and the letter will never come back! Don't fear... these kiddos can have a supportive adult in your building practice with them and sign. I'm sure there is a paraprofessional, specials teacher, administrator, etc. who would be willing to be a support for these kiddos.
But wait... there's more!
What about those kiddos who ALWAYS follow the rules? Or the kiddos who have such a hard time following the rules but have an extra special day? For these kiddos I have the "Star Card" (my version of the purple card if you read WBT's information about practice cards).
These cards don't have to be introduced when you introduce the practice cards, you can wait... even leave them in an empty slot and wait for kiddos to ask... you know how curious they can be ;)
These cards can be used to "cancel out" a practice card. Let's say one of your kiddos who gets practice cards sent home quite often gets a Rule 2 practice card for shouting out. He stays in and practices the rule & gesture for 2 minutes at the beginning of recess. In the afternoon, this kiddo does SUCH a great job remembering to raise his hand... you give him a star card! How happy will he be when that means NO LETTER goes home! Hooray! So, a star card over a practice card=no note home.
And those kiddos who ALWAYS make a good choice? Maybe one day one of those kiddos is being extra helpful to a struggling friend, following Rule 4 to the maximum! Maybe they get a star card... and since it didn't "cancel out" a practice card... a "You Rock!" letter goes home with that kiddo!!! So a star card with no practice card = You Rock Letter. Here's an example of a "You Rock!" Letter...
I haven't made any "final touches" on the practice card items I've made to use in my room next year, but feel free to click the picture links below to download them for your classroom... but, be on the lookout for updates to these as they are not even on TPT yet.
Practice Cards (Includes student number cards, practice cards & star cards)
Practice Card & I Rock Letters (includes 3 versions of practice card letter & an "I Rock" letter)
I hope you enjoyed my post & I hope you will be back next Wednesday for another "episode" of Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday. Next week I'll talk about the Super Improver Wall! Yet another reason to ditch that clip chart!
As you may know I was able to attend the Whole Brain Teaching National Conference 2014 in Pineville, Louisiana this past week, despite it meaning I missed every day of the last week of school except the very last day.
So that meant, I got in Thursday, relaxed for a bit with the hubby, dug for clothes that were clean & wearable for the last day of school then fell asleep only to wake up for the craziness that is the last day of school. It has seriously taken me until today to feel somewhat refreshed... but (un)lucky me we have a make-up PD tomorrow, so it's not summer quite yet :(
So anyway, back to Louisiana, Mrs. R (remember her from my Daily 5 posts? here & here) another teacher from her school & I flew to New Orleans Friday night, spent the weekend there, then drove to Pineville for the 3-day National Conference. I'm gonna have to say Cafe DuMonde was definitely a highlight of the Pre-Conference mini-vacation!
Oh & holding a baby alligator on our swamp tour just outside of New Orleans was a VERY close 2nd!
But, back on topic... Here's the 3 of us with Chris Biffle, the founder of WBT!
We learned a lot, had a ton of fun and have way too many ideas for next year! We all joked that we wished the new school year started next week so we could use all we learned! (But let's be honest, I'm not giving up my summer!)
I'm going to give you a little overview of our 3 days as well as a few of my take-aways. I hope to do 1 WBT post a week throughout the summer to share even more from the conference!
[Day 1]
Classroom & Behavior Management
Mrs. R & I decided to go to the "advanced" class during breakout because we have both been using the behavior management strategies that are a part of WBT for over a year (2 years for Mrs. R & about a year and a half for me). Our prize for being brave enough to go to the advanced class was getting about 4 hours in a classroom with 30 or so teachers and Chris Biffle "Coach B" as our instructor.
Coach B is SO high energy that we were EXHAUSTED & earned ourselves some pool time when we got back to our hotel haha!
We learned a lot about super improvers (Mrs. R. used it but not as effectively as she would have liked and I have been wanting to start using it & will this coming year!)
We also learned a whole bunch about brainies which are gestures students can use when talking in class to improve their critical thinking. The brainies stand for words such as: because, however, in addition, and, for example & TONS more. I can't wait to use those with my kiddos for both critical thinking & oral writing next year. I will definitely do a post dedicated to brainies this summer.
We learned a ton more, but we'll save it for a later day!
[Day 2]
WBT Writing
Between Coach B & grade level breakouts, we learned more about the Brainies I talked about in Day 1, and how using those brainies helps kiddos improve their writing. I was BLOWN AWAY by this video of kindergarteners using brainies during oral writing and further BLOWN AWAY by the writing they were able to come up with at the end of the year... WOW! It is a long video, but it is well worth every second of the 25 minutes if you are a K teacher, want to use WBT, etc.
[Day 3]
WBT Lesson Planning
Although I TRY really hard to stick to this format of teaching, especially when introducing something new, I really want to get better at it, so day 3 made me feel more confident moving forward next year.
As one of my TEAM modules for beginning teachers in CT, I focused on using the 5 step lesson template to plan a math unit. It really forced me to decide on any gestures, examples and QT (quick test) questions ahead of time (rather than on the spot & by the seat of my pants while teaching). Sadly, after completing that module, I didn't stick with using the template. However, after a day filled with the importance of shortened teacher talk time and using this type of format to present information to students, I'm revived and ready to use these steps next year.
For my TEAM module, I created this easy template, click the picture below to get your copy. If you're new to WBT I promise to post more about the lesson template this summer, so that it makes more sense :)
Mrs. R & I are getting together later this week to do some note sharing and creating of WBT things for our classrooms next year, so definitely stay tuned as I will be sharing some of those resources (for free!) as well as going more in depth about some of what I learned at the conference.
But before I go... 3 big take-aways from the conference.
#1 Coach B has the most energy out of ANY teacher I've EVER met!
#2 I am getting rid of my clip chart!!! As scary as I thought this would feel I am BEYOND excited to take it down and never put it back up! I'll be posting soon about the Super Improvers Wall & Practice Cards that will be WAY better than ANY clip chart!
Read more about "divorcing" your clip chart on Mrs. Shipley's Classroom here. Mrs. Shipley is the first grade leader for the WBT team so she was presenting at the WBT National Conference, wooh!
#3 Loud=OKAY! The past year and a half I spent a lot of time asking my kiddos to use whisper voices during "teach-okay" and although sometimes that kind of quiet tone in the room is a GOOD thing (& oh so necessary when Mrs. K has not had enough coffee hehe), these kiddos need to just GET IT OUT! And what better way for them to get that loud, crazy, fun energy out than through on-task learning. Mrs. A better get ready for some LOUD NOISE coming out of my room and across the hall next year... maybe I'll close my door a little more often ;)
Hope you're as excited as I am for more WBT posts as the summer moves forward!!!
