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| http://eideticmemory.org/whole-brain-teaching/ |
I've heard so many positive things about Whole Brain Teaching, yet I have been hesitant to check it out. Why? I don't really know. If I'm being perfectly honest with myself it's because I am afraid that I will fail at it.
There, I said it.
It takes me back to last summer when I came across several articles bashing the whole "stoplight" system for behavior management
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| http://germantownavenueparents.com/2013/08/does-your-childs-teacher-use-a-stoplight-for-behavior/ |
Many of these articles are written by parents and claim that behavior management systems such as the red, yellow, green stoplight are extremely punitive and publicly humiliate children.
I don't agree and I've used a variation of this system in my classroom with success and without publicly humiliating my students. But, the rampant concern over the use of such systems and arguments from teachers that methods such as Responsive Classroom and Whole Brain Teaching are far more successful have made me do a lot of reflecting on how I will approach classroom management and behavior management in my classroom.
This past year, I chose not to use the individual behavior management system that I had used in the past. Coincidently, I had my largest class ever (28 students) and felt like I was dealing with behavior problems all year. When I left for maternity leave I swore up and down that I would definitely revert back to my behavior management system because kids need consequences.
Well, this article, "Behaviour management": no systems but relationships, has again gotten me thinking about the right thing to do. The author attributes her success in classroom management to not having "systems," but developing relationships with students and providing them choices with the stipulation that choice is a privilege. She doesn't believe in applying systems and routines universally to all children and deals with every child according to what they need.
I really like what I read and immediately began to think about how I could implement more choice in my classroom. Free seating on the carpet? Choice of partners? Choice in table spots? Choice in activities? I don't think I am too controlling, but I often make these choices for students because I think that it eliminates problems, yet maybe I am completely off base. Maybe if I allowed my students more opportunities to choose, I would eliminate some of the behavior challenges...Would children behave better if they could choose their own carpet spots? How would that work? What would that look like? I am already stressed...
So as my mind is reeling over what changes I will make in my classroom, I thought back to all the positive things I have heard about Whole Brain Teaching. I literally have never heard a teacher utter a single negative word about it. On the contrary, many teachers have said it completely changed their classrooms for the better.
So, I am at the point where I feel the need to know what the hype is all about.
I went to my bff Amazon to purchase the book and happily discovered that it's available to borrow through the Kindle Lending Library for Prime Members. Wahoo!
Now, I have added Whole Brain Teaching to the list of things I want to dive into this summer. I am excited to learn more about it and how it can apply to my classroom. It sounds fun and exciting and I am hopeful that I can do it without failing.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - Robert F. Kennedy
Do you use Whole Brain Teaching?
What is your favorite part about WBT?
What words of advice do you have for me as a WBT newbie?
7 comments:
I really love WBT. I have found it difficult to implement entirely. I always start out with the rules, but I don't like the scoreboard. I will be giving it another shot this year.
✰Becca
Simply 2nd Resources
Oo, I'd like to read this and I have the kindle lending library :)
I like choices in the classroom to some extent. I use it a lot for learning- especially with the Daily 5. But I have found that more social things ie. letting kids choose partners, or seats leads to hurt feelings very quickly. I let kids choose table spots at lunch at the beginning of last year and it was a huge disaster after a month or so. Just my experience, you can try it out and let me know if it goes better for you :)
I don't use the stoplight system and everytime I've tried to do something like that it didn't work for me (though my principal is against the stoplight system so I've had to do variations), but I think if it works for you- you should do it!
I love using choices, but with choices comes responsibility. So, if they choose to sit by a friend on the carpet, they have to continue to be respectful to the speaker, if they can not they lose that choice. Natural consequences work great with choices. I also believe in building relationships/classroom community. It really does make a big different, specially with those challenging children. I use some ideas that WBT uses but I am not sold on the complete package. I look forward to your future post about it.
I started implementing many components of WBT last year. I LOVE it. What I love is that you can start slow. There are SO many training videos online - both on youtube and the WBT website.
I am going to check out that book - it sounds right up my alley.
I love WBT! I have been using it with my Firsties for 3 years now. Start off with the classroom rules and scoreboard for sure! If you use both of these consistently you won't need anything else! Use Class/Yes and Hands and Eyes from day 1 and then add in the others. You won't be disappointed. Watch the videos and follow the othe WBT teachers for inspiration. Farrah Shipley is a great one to follow!
I have a copy of the book, I just need to pick it up and read it. Some in our school started using it last year and loved it.
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