Mid-Year Reflection

After implementing a Whole Brain Teaching model in my classroom for the past five months, I would like to reflect on how things have gone.  I have learned many new strategies for classroom management and instruction.  I enjoy sharing my successes with other teachers.  I have also had struggles with some strategies that have not gone as smoothly as hoped.  My students started out slowly, not grasping the concepts as quickly as I would have liked.  However, as the routines and strategies are continually repeated, they are beginning to show great growth.  The areas the students lack in are a direct reflection of my failure to focus on these concepts.

Successes:
Super Improvers Wall
Consistent use of scoreboard
Guff
Practice cards
Teach-Ok
Red Green Marker
Genius Ladder
Super Speed Math
Crazy Professor Reading Game
Oral Writing
Power Pix
5 step lesson plan
Becuase clapper

Areas for growth:
Use Super Improvers Wall more consistently
Use Guff when needed
Use purple practice cards more often
make Power Pix smaller, and review more often
Learn more steps in the Crazy Professor Reading Game
Add more Red, Green marker requirements
Use oral writing more often
Implement Independents
Blog more often
Use double and triple because clappers
Consistent use of 5 step lesson plan

As you can see, the students are moving up the levels on the Super Improvers Wall.

We are now using practice cards.  The rule requiring practice is placed on the students number.

Today was the first day of the independents.  We started with 3 students and added a fourth.  I'm sure they will all be asking to be out of the group tomorrow!

We are using the electronic scoreboard!  So fun!  Just wish it had Guff and Independents built in.

As you can see we have added tons of Power Pix.  In fact, we have run out of room, and I need to make them smaller to fit the rest.  When we review, I put the ones that don't fit on the wall in a stack.  The students can choose one from the wall, or say "bonus" to choose a random Power Pic from the stack.  You can also see that some of the Power Pix are teacher created.

Super Speed Math Day One

After watching the webcast on Super Speed Math, I was excited to try it with my class.  Over the years I have been frustrated about the poor results I have seen from teaching math facts.  When my students leave my class to move on to fourth grade I know that a large number of them have not mastered their multiplication facts.  This gives them a great disadvantage when moving up to the next grade.  I knew that what I was doing was not effective, but didn't know what else to do. 

On Wednesday, I told my class that I had learned a new math game and that I was excited to teach it to them.  I explained that I was going to teach them the game on Friday. During the last hour today (Friday) I announced that it was finally time to learn the new game, Super Speed Math.  The room buzzed with excitement.

After explaining the rules to the game and writing them on the board, I said, "Ready, Set, Go!" and started the timer.  You could hear 16 children reciting their multiplication facts as quickly as they could.  None of them were yelling or off task.  You could tell they were fully engaged.  The other half of the class stared intently at the answer key (even though the answer to almost every problem in the first 2 rows was 0.) 

The students really seemed to enjoy the game.  They especially liked being able to cross off the first row when they broke their own record.  When I explained that the shaded boxes were the gnarlies the class was grateful that they were near the bottom.  I also got them excited when I explained that once they passed level one, level 2 was in random order with the gnarlies near the top!

Overall, the game went smoothly, but there were a few things that can be improved next time.  I had one group arguing over whether a student broke her own record or not.  I tried to explain that it was suppose to be a fun game, and that they shouldn't argue, but I will have to come up with a better remedy for the next time.  I also had an odd number of students, so I had to partner up with the extra student.  This made it very difficult to monitor the class the way I would have liked, especially the first time we did something new.

Success At Last!

Over the last six weeks, I have been feeling a bit frustrated about the progress my class was making.  Each week the class has learned new concepts using the 5-step lesson plan.  The students have learned the Power Pix for each standard, practiced, used the three check for understanding strategies, and used critical thinking.  At the end of each week, the class would have a multiple choice test on the week's standards.  Unfortunately, each week the results were very disappointing.  There would be less than 10 students with scores of 80% or higher, which is our goal.

I was starting to wonder what I was doing wrong.  The other 3rd grade classes were doing much better than mine.  Was I going too quickly?  Maybe Whole Brain Teaching just wasn't working.  I would ask the class each week, why they thought the class wasn't doing well, and I would get the same answers each week:  not paying attention and talking too much.  The problem was, during the week the students appeared to be paying attention, and most of the talking was during "Teach""OK".

This week, we were finally able to have a review week.  There were no new standards to teach.  The class had time to review all 20 ELA Power Pix that we have learned so far.  We spent each day reviewing a different concept.  On Friday, we took a review assessment.  At last, the students did very well. The students had retained all of the information that they had learned all year!  20/30 students earned 80% or higher, and 6 more earned 70% or higher. Only 4 students earned a score under 70%.

This assessment showed that the repetition of the Power Pix is working for my class.  The concepts that we learned longest ago, the students did the best on because they have repeated them the most.  The concepts that we just learned last week were the concepts that the students struggled the most on, because they have not had enough repetition and practice.

Seeing such amazing progress has given me more confidence in using Whole Brain Teaching.  After all, practice makes permanent!

First Day of the Guff Counter

Last night, I knew that today would be the first day that I would use the Guff Counter.  I have about 3 students that have been giving me "guff", so I decided to introduce this part of the scoreboard.  Yesterday, I reviewed the procedures for the Guff Counter given in the Levels section of the Whole Brain Teaching website (wholebrainteaching.com)  I practiced how I was going to present this new procedure to get ready.

During the day today I waited for someone to give me "guff".  By lunch time I thought that I might not need to introduce the Guff Counter after all.  However, while we were lining up for lunch, a student gave me "guff".  I said, "You just reminded me of a special part of the scoreboard.  I will tell you about it after lunch."

After lunch, I did not mention the Guff Counter.   I waited until the same student gave me "guff" again.  This time I said, "That reminds me of a new part of the scoreboard.You see, talking back to the teacher isn't allowed in our classroom.  I call this "guff".  When a student gives me "guff" I will say, 'That sounds like guff to me!'  Lest's see how that will look.  Zach, since you helped me remember the Guff Counter, can you help me?"  The student in question looked at the ground, and very quietly said yes.  Next. I asked him to say "I wasn't talking" when I asked him to stop talking.  After he gave me "guff" I counted 3 words (I wasn't talking) and added 3 tallies under the word "Guff" on the sad face side of the scoreboard.  Then, I explained that if the class helped me to stop the "guff" there would be no guff points, and the class would earn a happy face.  I taught them how to put their palms up and say "Please Stop!"  After practicing, the class got a tally on the happy face side of the scoreboard for using the new procedure correctly.

After we learned how to use the Guff Counter, we only needed to use it one more time during the day.  This time is was for another student.  The student that "taught us" how to use the new procedure was careful not to give any guff for the rest of the day.

My favorite part about using this system was that I didn't get into an argument or a power struggle with the students.  It is so easy to argue back when a student says "I wasn't talking!"  The next thing you know you are arguing with an 8 year old.  With this system, there is no argument.  The student's power to argue is taken away, and the teacher can move forward on a positive note.  The students loved the Guff Counter (unless they were the guffer).  I look forward to how this will enhance the positive environment of my classroom all year long.

Leveling Up

This week was another successful WBT week!  I learned a lot as a teacher, and the students are starting to catch on as well.  Today, I finished my first 5-step lesson on Context Clues.  Yesterday we went through the first 4 steps, but the students did not pass the QT test.  Today, the students came to class excited to learn the next "test".  Can you believe it?  After the students passed the QT  and Prove It "tests" the students wrote their own "Prove It" questions for critical thinking.  The class enjoyed answering their peer's multiple choice questions, and discussing why the answers were and were not correct.  It was also a great opportunity for me to give a quick mini lesson on giving enough information to determine an answer.

 I had several students move from "Rookie" to "Phenom" on our Super Improvers Wall.  The class cheered as I awarded the students with a new green card.  I sent the white card home.  Students were excited all day to see if they might be the next one to move up!

 Here is a close-up of some of the Super Improver Cards.

 I liked the Genius Ladder game that we played last week so much, that I made an official place to post the points on the board.  Students earn 1 point for writing a topic sentence and 1 adder.  They earn 2 points for writing a topic sentence and 2 adders.  Students earn 3 points for writing a topic sentence and 3 adders. Writing a topic sentence, 3 adders and a concluder earns a students 4 points.  Students earn a bonus point for writing a spicy adjective in every sentence.  The class tally was 93 points for the week.  We will try to beat that score next week.

My husband is a printer.  He made this terrific "Practice Makes Permanent!" poster.  I have it hung above my practice cards.  I haven't started using the practice cards yet, but we still practice our rules every day.  Occasionally a student has to practice a rule or two for 30 seconds at recess.  I have warned them that when we start the practice cards practice time will be 2 minutes.

Next week I look forward to becoming more proficient in using the 5-step lesson.  I have prepared the templates, PowerPix, and examples.  Hopefully, my weekly test scores will improve from using this lesson format!

First Day Using 5-Step Lesson Template

Today, I began to use the Whole Brain Teaching 5-step lesson plan template.  The class learning objective was to define unknown words using context clues.  Here is a brief summary of how the lesson went.

First, I asked the question, "What are context clues?"  The students used "Teach""OK" to ask each other the question.  After that, I placed the Context Clues Power Pix under the document camera (teacher created).  I gave the students the definition of context clues along with a hand motion. This is the second step in the 5-step lesson template.

     "Context Clues are used to find the meaning of an unknown word by using the words around it."  The hand motion was to shrug shoulders and then make a circle with one hand.

After practicing the new Power Pix as a class and in pairs, I went on to the third step: Extend.  For the extension I explained that to find the meaning of an unknown word students should choose a synonym that would fit in the sentence.  I showed several examples of this.  Then, I had the students practice choosing a synonym for an unknown word with several examples.

When I felt that the students had been given enough examples, I moved on to the fourth step: Test.  I excited the students by announcing that this test required no writing, no grading, and would be FUN!  Student heaven!  They couldn't wait!  The first test was "Yes" "No-Way!"  The students loved the hand motions, and had a great time telling me if what I said was correct or not.  Since they did great with the test I explained that they were ready for the next test, which is called QT.  They really liked the name until I told them what it meant (quick test).  However, once I explained the process they were all back on board.  We practiced saying QT and covering our eyes several times before I gave them true and false statements about unknown words.  Now that the students were not able to copy their neighbors, they had a lot harder time showing understanding.  Several of them were even peaking!  After several attempts, I explained that they were going to need more practice before they would be ready to pass the QT test.  I promised them that I would teach them the third test if they passed the QT test tomorrow.

The students are now excited and curious about what the next test will be.  They all want to try really hard on the QT test so that the next part will be revealed.  I have never had a class so excited to take a "test"!  Teacher heaven!

Observation of PowerPix/Teach OK

On Friday, I was reviewing our weekly Power Pix using "Teach" ""OK" when our principal, along with a principal from another school entered the classroom.  As I asked the question, "What is a homophone?"  The students answered in unison using the correct hand motions.  Then, they used teach OK to first review the definition and hand-motions, and then to give examples of homophones.  After the first person shared, he or she used the "high five switcher" to give the other person a turn.  When they both were finished, they gave a thumbs up to let me know they were ready to move on. 

As I worked with one pair of students that were having difficulty, I noticed the administration talking to my students.  They were asking them what we were doing.  The students were explaining the hand motions to them.  After staying in my room for several minutes, the principals left. 

Sometimes, when I have been observed in the past, I have wondered if administration was pleased with what was happening in my classroom.  I worry about what the feedback will be.  However, with Whole Brain Teaching, I felt confident that this observation was a success.  I was teaching the California Standards, the students were engaged, and I was not doing all the talking.

After school, another teacher asked if they could come in to observe me as well.  She had heard great things about my class from the principal already!  I felt like giving a "Mighty Oh Yeah!"