The whole brain teaching (power teaching strategy)Objectives

By the end of the session participants would be able to:

*Identify the qualities of effective teachers.

*Understand the meaning of the term power teaching.

*Realize the value of power teaching in their classrooms.

* To gain awareness of the elements common to effective power teaching.

*Will begin using some common power teaching techniques.

Effective Teachers

*Understand the development of the students.

* Value the development of the students within the class.

*Plan strategic lessons using effective teaching strategies.

*Use multiple assessments to evaluate progress.

*Create suitable learning environments.

*Adapt and modify instructions.

* Use effective communication.

Proverb

A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron

Horace Mann

Whole brain teaching (power teaching)

Introduction:

1-I felt my teaching was starting to become boring.

2- I was having difficulty engaging some students.

3-some students were not remembering what I had taught them

4- I was having much fun as a teacher.

5- I had had two difficult years in terms of behavior level of students.

So I decided to use power teaching strategy.

What is whole brain teaching (power teaching)?

It was created in 1999 by three teachers, Chris Biffle , a college professor , Jay vanderfin, a kindergarten teacher and Chris Rekstad , a 4 grade teacher.

They wanted a system that was supported by the following three beliefs: it is brain based, it is fun, and it is free. It is a grass roots educational reform that is based on interactive teaching strategies. And a system of classroom managements and teaching techniques that seek to make connections between the right and the left side of the brain. Whole brain teaching is built upon student engagement and interaction.

What are the principles behind whole brain teaching (power teaching)?

There have not been any extensive research- based studies on the effects of whole brain teaching in the classroom.

Whole brain teaching promotes the idea that the most effective learning takes place when a student engages the brain’s primary cortices visual, auditory, language production and motor as the same time.

What I like about wbt

*It is an active and lively for students to learn.

*It meets the needs of different learning styles.

*You can pick and choose the strategies and techniques that work for you.

*Wbt is a great classroom management tool.

*It provides students leadership and student led teaching at an early age.

*It helps students develop critical thinking skills.

*It is fun to teach.

*The resources are all free.

*It is designed to be used from kindly to high school.

*Students enjoy well- designed learning games.

*We can make outstanding educational progress in the proper settings.

To do all these we need:

Powerful teachers

Benefit of power teaching:

*Teachers feel empowered.

*You can build a sense of community and a family feeling for students and teachers alike.

*It makes the most challenging; students sit in the class and allow the teacher to teach and the students to learn.

*The 7 main parts of power teaching

Class yes attention grabber (use this technique whenever you want to quickly gain the attention of your class .For maximum effect, occasionally vary your tone of voice)

Scoreboard motivator (Frequently reward positive behavior and penalize for negative behavior. Observe the plus/ minus 3 and keep the scores in three points.

Hands and eyes use this technique whenever you want maximum attention.

Mirror and words unifier

Teach ok it is a crucial power teaching skill. Teachers must learn to speak more briefly. The longer we talk the more students we lose.

Switch The involver.

The Five rules. The organizer.

Rule number 1

Follow directions quickly.

Rule number 2

Put your hand up for permission to speak.

Rule number 3

Put your hand up for permission to go to leave your seat.

Rule number 4

Make smart choices.

Rule number 5

Keep your dear teacher happy

The main ideas so far………………..

*Lessons move quickly along.

*Kinds are active in their learning.

*Limit speaking to mini lectures.

*Use gestures.

*Incorporate pictures.

Other aspects of WBT I use

There are a lot of other tools, strategies and learning games on WBT to suit arrange of age levels.

*Correcting error (It is cool):

It’s the easiest and painless way of correcting errors. Telling the class that it is ok to make a mistake

*Rewarding students:

Whenever the student needs reward for the right answer or good behavior, use a 10 finger woo.

*Controlling Classroom Noise:

Using volume o – meter helps in controlling the unnecessary sound in the classroom.

*Focusing on the Explanation:

This strategy is used when you need your students to be intensely focused on what you are saying.

* O. No ‘I cannot ‘’:

We never want our students to say ‘’ I cannot ‘’ these are two of most mind crippling words in our language .Instead of ‘’ I can’t, instruct students to say I can’t yet.

*Asking Questions:

There are various reasons for which students raise their hands .This gesture can be used to show that the student wants to ask a question.

Power pix

1-The power pix are printed, laminated and displayed.

2-they are in the WBT folder I’m creating

3-teacher displays the power pix, teaches the concept and related memory gestures.

4- After students have repeated the concept and practiced the gestures. Frequently review each power pix and expand the concepts further.

*Genius Ladder:

Fast paced, game for developing students’ speaking and writing skills.

Play the game for about 15 minutes every day.

Students learn to use noun, verbs, adjectives and prepositions while writing complex topic sentences and tightly focused paragraphs.

*Oral writing:

Ongoing exercise that teaches students how to speak using well organised sentences, paragraphs and even essays as a powerful aid to writing.

*Early student’s level:

Teach how to answer questions with a complete sentence………………………………

Complete sentence answer with because clapper ……………………….because……………

Complete sentence answer with because and the adder ‘’and ‘’ …………..because…………..and…………………….

Triple whammy sentence…………..because……………..,…………………and…………………………

*Upper primary level:

*Oral writing tasks become more complex.

*Begin to use Help Me and the off topic prompt.

*Teach the CONCLUDER when students are able to speak short paragraphs.

*Writing and speaking becomes enlivened with gestures for older students too.

*Complex writing skills are developed by adding more complex adders, (adjective, because, conjunctions also for example).

*Students are taught to practice oral writing with each other in response to any questions posed by a teacher; it can be linked to most curriculum content.

As a visual cue prompt can be posted on the board.

*The super improver wall:

*Students gain stars by making some sort of improvement (Academic or Behavioral).

*Helps build classroom community .

*It is not a competition.

*Improving handwriting.

*Using an interesting vocabulary word in their writing.

*Doing a random act of kindness.

*Improving classroom behaviour.

*Reading a challenging book.

*Going above and beyond on an assignment, and the list goes on.

Conclusion

*PROS:

1-WBT can be incorporated into what do you already. Students will be very willing to try the techniques since they centre on an overarching game.

2- You can embrace the differences between students, while also incorporating fun active lessons into our teaching.

3-livens up lessons with upbeat actions and saying while placing a major emphasis on students immediately re teaching information to their peers.

4-parents have commented to me that their children are coming home eagerly reciting information I have told them and they are excited.

5-breaks learning down into small segments are very applicable to students with special educational needs and poor concentration.

6-I’m enjoying adjusting to becoming a‘’ game show host’’ every day and showing excitement in my own teaching with gestures.

7-I’m very willing to work on for the benefit of my students.

*Cons:

1*Students learning will not go through the roof using WBT alone as the website likes to suggest.

2* WBT is something I use to supplement my daily teaching , as opposed to being my ‘’ whole ‘’ teaching system.

3*some people will be opposed to the pressure of testing such as NAPLAN.

4*Even though WBT can be adjusted to any grade level , you may reject this practise because it makes time away from ‘’ real learning ‘’ where the teacher is directly instructing students.

5*you may be reluctant to break away from the practice of direct instruction.

6*Noise levels in the classroom .it allows for students to yell at times and to become excited about learning.

7*It may be out of your comfort zone, certainly was for me but I wanted to give it a go and see what the children thought of it.

Further information

For more information about whole brain teaching I advise you to check out YouTube for additional Chris Biffel videos and videos of whole brain teaching being demonstrated and used in the classroom. Also www.whole brain teaching.com is an excellent resource for materials and information about professional development opportunities.

Prepared by: LET. Layla AL Daher.