So I went by school yesterday to work in my room for a bit. The boys were with grandma, so I had a little time. I printed off my Whole Brain Teaching Model Classroom eBook and got to work. I have now found a spot for my Class leaders board, my Genius Ladder, my PowerPix Walls (for both Communication Arts and Math), my Scoreboard, and my Practice Cards. So much to do before school starts. I have all the spots picked out, and now I just have to put it all together. I'm thinking a couple more afternoons and I'll be ready to go.
Also on the list of things to do...get ready for a new teacher back to school presentation with Susan. Planning on getting together with her, so we can get all our ducks in a row. Busy times. Where has the summer gone?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Had to Learn More!!!!
So, I had been using WBT in my classroom, reading the eBooks, and checking out the website, but I still had to learn more! Another colleague of mine approached me about attending a WBT conference in Phoenix. I was all for it! We checked with our principal and were given permission to go. Of course, we had to pay our own way, but they wouldn't dock us the days we were gone. We checked into the conference and ended up making all of our arrangements for a January conference in Phoenix! We were pumped.
WBT was running fairly smoothly in my classroom. The scoreboard was keeping my class on track with behavior. The PowerPix were proving to be very effective, and the Teach/Okay was a huge hit with all of my kids. They would constantly tell me how much they loved third grade because they got to teach each other and talk. This was the first year that discipline problems were almost non-existent. I was so excited about the upcoming conference in Phoenix and learning more about WBT!
WBT was running fairly smoothly in my classroom. The scoreboard was keeping my class on track with behavior. The PowerPix were proving to be very effective, and the Teach/Okay was a huge hit with all of my kids. They would constantly tell me how much they loved third grade because they got to teach each other and talk. This was the first year that discipline problems were almost non-existent. I was so excited about the upcoming conference in Phoenix and learning more about WBT!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Another Amazing Conference!
I returned last Thursday evening from another amazing WBT conference in West Plains, MO! What an amazing learning experience. How quickly things can evolve in WBT. The Sentence Ladder, which I learned about in Louisiana, is now the Genius ladder! How much fun are students going to have constructing genius sentences! The five step lesson template was reinforced for me, and clarified a few steps that I wasn't fully implementing. I now feel that I have a clearer understanding of how my model classroom is going to look when I return in August. I went by school yesterday and tried to get a vision in my mind of where everything is going to go. I think I have a spot for my PowerPix wall, my class leaders, my genius ladder, and my scoreboard. I'm anxious to get started working with my 3rd grade team on the Prove It game. We've already started discussing core concepts that we need to be writing up questions for in math. What a busy and exciting time!
I guess I should get back to how my classroom was running during the 2010-2011 school year though. I started to incorporate some of the math PowerPix, and again was amazed at how quickly my students were picking up various concepts in both Communication Arts and Math. The best part was that they remembered what we learned about when we came back to it later. I got more in depth with the eBooks, and introduced some of the WBT games. My kiddos loved SuperSpeed 100, and I could tell a difference in their fluency. The main thing I needed to remember was that I needed to learn more about WBT, so we would all be successful!
I guess I should get back to how my classroom was running during the 2010-2011 school year though. I started to incorporate some of the math PowerPix, and again was amazed at how quickly my students were picking up various concepts in both Communication Arts and Math. The best part was that they remembered what we learned about when we came back to it later. I got more in depth with the eBooks, and introduced some of the WBT games. My kiddos loved SuperSpeed 100, and I could tell a difference in their fluency. The main thing I needed to remember was that I needed to learn more about WBT, so we would all be successful!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Incorporating PowerPix
So, my students had mastered the 5 classroom rules, were loving the scoreboard (especially when they won), and seemed to be totally on board. I was still learning about Whole Brain Teaching myself, so the best key to my learning was the website. I found the eBooks to be especially helpful, the PowerPix were awesome, and the forum was there to answer questions. I didn't start posting on the forum until January, but I was still able to get some great ideas from others who had posted.
Since I was still learning myself, I decided that I would pick out a couple of different PowerPix to incorporate into my teaching. I really liked the Nouns PowerPix, and thought that it would be a great place to start with my students, since that is a review skill. So, I familiarized myself with it, and jumped right in. They loved it! They got to move, talk, teach, and thump on their desks for the "thing" in "a noun is a person, place, or thing!" I was ecstatic. Of course, what made it even better was when I asked them what a noun was during our shared reading lesson, they could tell me, show me, and then identify nouns in our reading! Wow!
My class was active, engaged, and loving learning! I was having the most fun teaching that I had ever had in my 6 years! I wasn't coming home frustrated about my day, because I really had very little discipline to deal with. The scoreboard was taking care of pretty much all of the discipline problems!
So, what about math!? We were working on place value, and low and behold there are PowerPix for place value. That was going to be my next step.
Since I was still learning myself, I decided that I would pick out a couple of different PowerPix to incorporate into my teaching. I really liked the Nouns PowerPix, and thought that it would be a great place to start with my students, since that is a review skill. So, I familiarized myself with it, and jumped right in. They loved it! They got to move, talk, teach, and thump on their desks for the "thing" in "a noun is a person, place, or thing!" I was ecstatic. Of course, what made it even better was when I asked them what a noun was during our shared reading lesson, they could tell me, show me, and then identify nouns in our reading! Wow!
My class was active, engaged, and loving learning! I was having the most fun teaching that I had ever had in my 6 years! I wasn't coming home frustrated about my day, because I really had very little discipline to deal with. The scoreboard was taking care of pretty much all of the discipline problems!
So, what about math!? We were working on place value, and low and behold there are PowerPix for place value. That was going to be my next step.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wow!
Okay, so I know that I'm taking you on a journey in my classroom during the 2010-2011 school year, but I have to take a short break to tell you how excited I am about the upcoming school year. I just returned home from the WBT National Conference, and I have to say what an amazing time I had! I picked up some new ideas that I'm pumped to use in my classroom this year. The sentence ladder is going to totally transform my students' writing. Super Speed Spelling...can't wait!!!! Thanks for all the great tools to use in my classroom to help my students learn and be more successful!
Okay, back to my 2010-2011 school year. I felt that my students had a good foundation with the classroom rules and the scoreboard. Of course, I had used "Teach-Okay" to teach the rules! This was huge. From the beginning I had students telling me that they were loving 3rd grade, because they got to talk to each other and move during class time. Our building only has one recess a day, so it is extremely important for me to incorporate movement into my lessons. Let me think about this for a minute...students move in WBT! What a perfect tool for a teacher to use in their classroom when their students have very little opportunity to get out of the classroom and move! At our first parent/teacher conference, I had parents telling me that their children loved school, and that this was the first year that it wasn't like pulling teeth to get them to school in the mornings. Again, I have to give props to WBT for this. My kids were talking and moving, but they were moving and talking about stuff I wanted them to talk about! Ooooh, what a great year this was going to be!
Okay, back to my 2010-2011 school year. I felt that my students had a good foundation with the classroom rules and the scoreboard. Of course, I had used "Teach-Okay" to teach the rules! This was huge. From the beginning I had students telling me that they were loving 3rd grade, because they got to talk to each other and move during class time. Our building only has one recess a day, so it is extremely important for me to incorporate movement into my lessons. Let me think about this for a minute...students move in WBT! What a perfect tool for a teacher to use in their classroom when their students have very little opportunity to get out of the classroom and move! At our first parent/teacher conference, I had parents telling me that their children loved school, and that this was the first year that it wasn't like pulling teeth to get them to school in the mornings. Again, I have to give props to WBT for this. My kids were talking and moving, but they were moving and talking about stuff I wanted them to talk about! Ooooh, what a great year this was going to be!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Starting the 2010-2011 School Year
The beginning of my school year was sure to be somewhat crazy with an original roster of 29 third grade students. I wasn't sure where I was even going to put them all, but it all worked out. Three of the 29 didn't even show the first day, so I was left with a little uncertainty of my actual numbers until after the first week. I ended up starting the school year with 26 kiddos and kept the same 26 until after Christmas break.
I had the scoreboard up in the classroom and ready to go and dove right in with the 5 classroom rules. Rule #5 quickly became my kids' favorite. We mastered the classroom rules quickly and they could tell me right away what every rule was, what it meant, and could show me how they all looked! We were well on our way. My kiddos loved the scoreboard right away...something about competing against the teacher!
I had looked at several of the WBT eBooks, but still wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to start. I loved the PowerPix and was anxious to start finding ones that would apply to our district curriculum. I was amazed at how many correlated perfectly and would be useful in my classroom! So, I had a lot of learning that needed to take place on my part and on the part of my students.
This was just the beginning, but I felt like this was something that I had to give a try and follow it through.
I had the scoreboard up in the classroom and ready to go and dove right in with the 5 classroom rules. Rule #5 quickly became my kids' favorite. We mastered the classroom rules quickly and they could tell me right away what every rule was, what it meant, and could show me how they all looked! We were well on our way. My kiddos loved the scoreboard right away...something about competing against the teacher!
I had looked at several of the WBT eBooks, but still wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to start. I loved the PowerPix and was anxious to start finding ones that would apply to our district curriculum. I was amazed at how many correlated perfectly and would be useful in my classroom! So, I had a lot of learning that needed to take place on my part and on the part of my students.
This was just the beginning, but I felt like this was something that I had to give a try and follow it through.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Here it goes!
Okay, so this is my first attempt at blogging, so we'll see how it goes! I am a third grade teacher who loves Whole Brain Teaching, and am excited to share the successes I've had with fellow educators and get them on board for Whole Brain Teaching. I'm going to take you on my journey of Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom, and what a difference it has made for me as an educator!
I was first introduced to Whole Brain Teaching when I returned from maternity leave in November of 2009. I wasn't sure exactly what to think at first, because I was only getting bits and pieces from co-workers. I had missed the big presentation everyone else received because I was spending some quality time with my new little guy!
I decided that I would attend a workshop on May 21, 2010 (the day after school got out) with Chris Biffle. That is when everything changed for me, and I knew the 2010-2011 school year was going to be totally different...and different it was!
The 2010-2011 school year was fabulous all thanks to Whole Brain Teaching! I could sit here and write all night, but I'm a busy mommy of two...so I'll return later to continue to take you on my Whole Brain Teaching journey!
I was first introduced to Whole Brain Teaching when I returned from maternity leave in November of 2009. I wasn't sure exactly what to think at first, because I was only getting bits and pieces from co-workers. I had missed the big presentation everyone else received because I was spending some quality time with my new little guy!
I decided that I would attend a workshop on May 21, 2010 (the day after school got out) with Chris Biffle. That is when everything changed for me, and I knew the 2010-2011 school year was going to be totally different...and different it was!
The 2010-2011 school year was fabulous all thanks to Whole Brain Teaching! I could sit here and write all night, but I'm a busy mommy of two...so I'll return later to continue to take you on my Whole Brain Teaching journey!
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