Please join fellow WBT educators in a lively discussion of Chris Biffle's latest book, "Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids"! Earn WBT Certification points in the Official WBT Book Club! Points will be awarded to Whole Brainers who regularly post thoughtful, energetic posts, 700 points possible during the summer session! Book Club Guidelines 1. Become a member of this site. Scroll down on the right and click "Join this site". Only members are able to post. 2. Enter your email address in the box on the right (just below the Members section). This will allow you to receive messages from Coach B regarding new discussion topics and important info. 3. Click on the Chapter links on the right to see questions related to each chapter of the book and post a comment with a thoughtful reply. Try not to exceed 250 words. 4. Feel free to ask questions and answer others' questions using the "Questions Page" on the right. Don't hold back! But dress appropriately; the weather in Teacher Heaven is electrified with funtricity so it can sizzle. 5. Please sign all of your posts with your real first and last name. 6. Big Important Note! Please use college level literacy in your assignments. Avoid spelling errors, typos, awkward sentences, incomplete answers. Sorry, no rewrites!
Whole Brain Teaching Certification Points (CP) will generally be awarded as follows: Perfect, fully developed, assignment: 25 CP 1 error: 20 CP 2 errors: 10 CP 3 or more errors, 0 CP. An outstanding, insightful assignment will earn (gasp!) a 5 POINT BONUS! Awarding of points may vary from the above, at the discretion of WBT staff members.
Chapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching
Thinking about your own teaching tendencies, which brain areas are you most likely, and least likely, to activate in your students? Pages 18-26 Full credit: 25 WBT Certification Points
Partial credit: 10 WBT Certification Points Reminder: Please sign your post with your real first and last name.
Replies to previous posts not yet scored: Kimberly GandrupSeptember 8, 2013 at 3:49 PM: Great job incorporating WBT techniques to increase your student’s breain engagement! Here are 25 CP for you!
mochalalaSeptember 8, 2013 at 4:09 PM: Karlyn, nice job! You have a good handle on how the brain works, and a plan for improving as you move forward. Be careful with writing errors, there are several in this piece. Here are 10 CP for you!
Cathy GibsonSeptember 8, 2013 at 4:45 PM: Cathy, glad to hear that your year with WBT is starting off on the right foot! You have many writing errors in this piece, and didn’t fully respond to the prompt. Unfortunately you won’t earn any CP for this, but keep trying!
kristi suarezSeptember 8, 2013 at 7:24 PM Kristi, great job! Reflection is key to growth. It sounds like your students are really going to benefit from your drive to improve using WBT techniques! Here are25 CP for you!
After reading chapter five I was surprised to learn that there are so many different parts of the brain and that they all have separate functions. The prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain that I activated frequently in my students. I taught kindergarten for many years and I used various strategies to gain the attention of my students so we could begin an activity quickly and lose as little instructional time as possible. I used hand signals along with my verbal instructions. My students were given the opportunity to do a lot of cooperative learning and workstations. When I was doing small groups my students were peer teaching. When students are teaching each other they are using five areas of the brain, the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s are and the limbic system. Whole Brain Teaching shows us that the more teachers talk the less students listen. Students need to repeat lessons with gestures and this allows the new information being taught to stick into student’s long term memory. I involved my student’s limbic system when rewarding classroom behavior but I did not include the opportunity for them to respond orally when we used our classroom “scoreboard”.
Debby, Your students will enjoy the "Mighty Oh, Yeah!" and "Mighty Groan" with your scoreboard, I hope you give them a try! Here are 25 certification points!
Considering my own teaching tendencies, it’s likely I activated some parts of my student’s brains more often than others. For example, I am a problem solver, decision maker and very rational. These qualities made me very comfortable with inquiry based lessons and discussions about making good decisions and rational choices. Therefore, it’s likely my student’s prefrontal cortex received the most attention. I’m also a visual learner who appreciates a structured conversation to help make sense of ideas, so my student’s visual cortex and Broca’s area were not being slighted. However, before WBT strategies, I think I was just teasing these parts of the brain. We didn’t do enough to fire up the mirror neurons, so nothing was really long term. Then, there are brain areas I probably didn’t activate much at all until WB. For instance, Wernicke’s area and the limbic system were completely neglected. Thankfully, Mirror, Teach-Okay, the five classroom rules Scoreboard and Switch can compensate for my weaknesses. Using the WB lesson template ensures that these strategies are considered, included and placed properly in lessons to help student move ideas into their long term memory.
It’s also important for me to mention that WBT has finally presented me a means to be able to reward students in a constructive way. I always struggled with trying to find a system for rewarding students. In the past, nothing ever seemed valid in terms of teaching and learning. Now, with the WB system everything is about teaching and learning. With that being said, it’s clear to me now, I never knew how to activate the limbic system. I’m so grateful.
I believe that my teaching tendencies are directly correlated to my learning tendencies. I learn best by being immersed in a topic, writing, touching, moving, reading, speaking, making; essentially by doing. Therefore, I think my teaching tendency would lean towards activating brain areas that correspond to these activities. For example, if I were teaching a unit on Rocks and Minerals I would have my students handle various rocks and make observations, work with a partner to chart, compare and contrast these observations. I would display an anchor chart about important features of Rocks and Minerals. Students might make a brochure about a certain type of rock and present it to their class. These activities would activate multiple brain areas, including the Prefrontal Cortex, Motor Cortex, Visual Cortex, Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area.
The area of the brain I may have failed to activate throughout all these activities is the Limbic System. Teaching students to have an emotional connection with Rocks and Minerals is next to, if not completely, impossible. This is the beauty of Whole Brain Teaching! Emotions may not be easily tied to inanimate objects but they can certainly be stirred during the instruction of these objects. Making gestures that correlate to Rocks and Minerals, teaching their peers about specific characteristics, or mirroring my gestures while I explain how rocks are formed, creates an emotional investment in the study of Rocks and Minerals for my students. This emotional investment is what will ultimately activate the Limbic area of the brain. Making it possible to activate all areas of students’ brains, even while teaching about unemotional topics such as Rocks and Minerals. Elizabeth Ross
Libby, Nice post! Yes, WBT can even bring out the Limbic system when teaching about ROCKS! I teach that unit, and mine always "ooooo!" when they realize they are touching something that may be a million years old! Here's 25 points for you!
As an active person, I feel that my teaching strongly activates the motor cortex for my students. Before using Whole Brain Teaching I made sure my kids were physical in their learning with a lot of hands on activities. It was amazing to me to see the difference in my teaching once I started using gestures to help them remember concepts.
Before utilizing Whole Brain Teaching, my kids didn’t have enough opportunities to use Broca’s area. They sometimes turned and talked to each other, but not enough to get the information into their long term memory. Often times, their conversations would take a different direction and have nothing to do with what I was teaching. Using Teach-Okay has been amazing! The students are able to teach each other important concepts. I can visually see if students are engaged and on topic with a glance around the room. I can come back to these concepts at a later time and the students remember the gestures and the words that go with them!
I used to gain my students attention by asking them to give me five! I honestly can’t remember what all five of the items were, but it took a long time to get there to begin my instruction. Once I got to five; I’m pretty sure my students’ prefrontal cortex was no longer engaged! Using Class-Yes and Hands and Eyes instantly grabs my students’ attention. Their prefrontal cortex is engaged and when I need their attention for something really important Hands and Eyes works wonders!
I forgot about Give Me Five! Those were the dark ages, before WBT. I bet we shave at least 3 seconds of time off our attention grabber by using Class/Yes instead! Imagine all those 3 seconds added up! Whoo-Hoo! More learning!
Suzanne, I agree, Teach/Okay is the BEST when I want to have a quick assessment of overall comprehension! Then, add in the Class/Yes, Hands and Eyes, and Mirrors and it is a happy day! Here are 25 certification points. (Save each post in a document to submit later).
Before this year, if anyone had asked me whether or not brains were working in my classroom, I would have answered, "Of course!" After being introduced to Whole Brain Teaching, however, I realize how false this statement would have been. Now, thanks to Class-Yes, students are activating their prefrontal cortexes multiple times a day! Mirror is used often in my classroom, especially now that students have begun using "magic mirrors." Mirror allows me to teach otherwise boring concepts in an exciting and memorable way. Students recall vocabulary and concepts for weeks at a time thanks to the gestures they use during Mirror. Teach-Okay has become one of my favorite Whole Brain Teaching tools. When students are teaching each other with big gestures, I can immediately tell who is involved and who needs further instruction. Since this technique involves five brain areas (visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the limbic system) at once, it’s no wonder students enjoy this technique too! Teach-Okay has taught me to keep my teaching short so as not to let students become disengaged. Before, I lectured for far too long, which was too much for the short-term memory of my students. One area that I need to improve on is the Scoreboard. This involves the limbic system of the brain. We utilized this tool heavily in the first quarter of the school year, but as Whole Brain techniques continued to create "teacher heaven," I would forget to mark Mighty Oh-Yeahs and Mighty Groans! Students were following procedures beautifully, but I realize now that they still need to engage their limbic system in order to have fun and stay engaged. After watching a webcast on the Scoreboard, I began to switch up the rewards and “amp up” the Mighty Oh-Yeahs and Mighty Groans! Doing this enabled me to rejuvenate student interest in the Scoreboard quickly. I plan to incorporate the “Mystery Road” soon. Even when things are going well in the classroom, I need to remember to continue techniques that engage the limbic system so that students continue to enjoy school. Madeline Mahan
When reflecting on my own teaching, prior to my introduction to Whole Brain Teaching, I would have to admit that I had a tendency to lecture and talk for far too long, which primarily utilizes Wernicke’s area of the brain. Sometimes, I would have students “pair share,” which involves Broca’s area (speaking), which includes the motor cortex that activates the lips, tongue, and vocal chords. I have an interactive white board in the classroom, and when students view a presentation, I am reaching the visual cortex. Although the whiteboard is “interactive,” students aren’t given enough opportunities throughout a typical day to actually, physically “interact,” although I try.
I have a Response to Intervention classroom, and I have an instructional assistant with me. We implement small-group instruction for reading, spelling, grammar, and mathematics. During these small-group sessions, we are again, primarily focusing on Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area of the brain. We make use of personal whiteboards throughout the day, both in whole-group instruction and in our small groups; now, we’re reaching the visual cortex, and the motor cortex. Sometimes, students are given a choice of assignments, which involves the prefrontal cortex, used in decision making. I also implement song and motion whenever I can; this activates Broca’s area, the motor cortex, and, perhaps most important, the repetition of the song is building those delightful dendrites (which equals learning)!
Largely overlooked, the area of the brain I would least likely activate was (sadly) the limbic system (including the almighty amygdala). “Funtricity” was lacking. Since I began implementing Whole Brain Teaching strategies in my classroom, we are “limbering up” our limbic systems, and we are attentive to our amygdala, largely through the use of the omnipresent Scoreboard. Can I get a “Mighty Oh Yeah?”
By implementing the “Big Seven” throughout the course of the day, I am reaching different parts of students’ brains, most notably the oft overlooked motor cortex. Through mirroring and repetition, we are building bushy dendrites. I am learning techniques to not only help the challenging students learn, however, through enthusiastic implementation of Whole Brain Teaching strategies, I am building an effective classroom where all students are learning. With dogged determination, by year’s end, we hope to be drowning in dendrites!
In my pre-Whole Brain Teaching days, I tended to use hands on games and activities to engage my students in lessons. I tried to make activities fun and interesting based on the goals I was trying to get my students to reach. Never before did I specifically plan for lessons which would address those brain areas which are supposed to be engaged in the learning process. Obviously, I engaged the pre-frontal cortex (whether effective or not) because I had to obtain my student’s attention before beginning my teaching. Their motor cortex and visual cortex were engaged during the lessons as I designed lessons which incorporate my student’s movement and visual senses to make lessons meaningful to them. Because my students are special education students, many of them have language delays, so I tried (sometimes unsuccessfully) to engage Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area in lessons, but this was difficult, especially with non-verbal students or those with severe speech impediments.
I would have to say that the limbic system was the area that was neglected the most in my planning and delivery of lessons. Although I tried to create lessons which the students would be excited about, this does not always correlate to an emotional connection with the content. I can see how the scorecard can generate these emotions for students, especially those positive emotions which special education students do not always get to experience in a regular education classroom. In learning the techniques used in WBT, I can now more effectively engage my students in learning meaningful lessons. The use of gestures and mirroring allows the students to not just move during lessons, but create prompts for themselves to use as reminders of their learning through muscle memory. The Teach-Okay allows them to gain the repetition needed to ensure maximum learning of concepts. These new methods are so exciting!
Amanda, Good reflection on your strengths and weaknesses! Activating the limbic system will bring you as much joy as it does your students! Here are 25 certification points!
I feel that as I reflect upon my own teaching I am most likely to activate two distinct parts of the brain. The first is the visual cortex. I am a visual learner so I have always been big about allowing kids to “see” what I was trying to teach them. Sometimes it means I start a lesson with a popular movie clip or commercial. Other’s it means I use visual tools, like a balance scale, to demonstrate more complex ideas like the commutative property of addition.
The second area of the brain I think that I am likely to activate is the limbic system. Being a very effective literacy teaching I have had great success with provoking deep empathy in my students to characters in stories and books. I have been able to make them cry, laugh and even get mad at the way that I have taught them to evaluate literature and characters at a deeper level.
The areas I am least likely to activate are probably the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex. Unfortunately, I have done a lot of “telling” in my day and not always allowing my first grade students to reason or make their own decisions about things. I also have always been surrounded by educators who have their students sitting quietly in their desk looking like model students. I was always fearful that if students were moving around my room would look like chaos in passing. This year it all changes.
Candice, I'm quite certain that you will LOVE the changes when you implement WBT! It is wonderful to hear the academic chatter in the classroom! There was a small editing error "Being a very effective literacy teaching I". Here are 20 certification points. Save this in a document to turn in later.
I think that I am most likely to activate students’ visual cortex and Wernicke´s area because I use a lot of visuals in my classroom and I talk a lot. Unfortunately, I have become used to talking more than my students and I do not motivate them enough to use other areas of the brain like the motor cortex and Brocas area. Students get a lot of visual and auditory input and are expected to process the information they receive completely. Sometimes, students use their Brocas area during oral expression exercises or debates, but shy students are less likely to participate. Mirror is a great tool that gives students a “safe” way to practice oral skills without being embarrassed in front of the whole class. Furthermore, the Teach-Ok and PPL allow the students to practice with a partner and discreetly ask the teacher questions and make corrections. I am least likely to activate their motor cortex. Before reading the WBT book, I always thought that my classroom was too small to do anything requiring movement. However, I can activate students´ motor cortexes by using gestures and ensuring that they use gestures during the Teach-Ok.
Adrienne, Nice analysis of your strengths and weaknesses! You will love the increase in attention and motivation as you activate these other areas of the brain on a regular basis! Here are 25 certification points to save in a word document to submit later.
Since starting with Whole Brain Teaching my teaching techniques have changed dramatically. By using the techniques I have learned I feel that I am better able to activate several areas of a student’s brain. Prior to using Whole Brain Teaching, I think that the areas of the brain I am most likely to activate in my students are the visual cortex and the limbic system. I think I was drawn to the visual cortex because it is how I learn the best which makes it the easiest and most natural way for me to teach. I think the limbic system is the next most likely area I would activate. I teach Kindergarten and the limbic system has been an easy part to activate in 5 and 6 year olds. They respond to several rewards both tangible and intangible. I think the least likely area I would activate would be the prefrontal cortex. I think this is the area that I don’t often think of small children using. I think that, prior to learning about Whole Brain Teaching, I was so focused on being a leader that I “instructed” students rather than letting them problem solve and reason out ideas. Now that I am using Whole Brain Teaching I feel that I am activating all areas of the brain and reaching all of my students rather than just the ones that learn the way I do.
Nichole, Isn't it amazing to see the difference when the kiddos are activating the various areas as they happily learn?! Here are 25 certification points to save in a word document to submit later.
I believe that my teaching tendencies directly correlate with my learning style. I am a tactile learner. I have to be completely immersed into an idea to firmly grasp it. I need to see it, touch it, hear it, and experience it (if possible). I like to bring this into my classroom. Using “class- yes” and “teach- okay” are two major staples in my teaching regime. Using these methods activates the prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s Area, and Wernicke’s area of the brain. For example, using the “class- yes” attention getter focuses the class and readies the students for learning. After a brief instruction, using “teach-okay” emphasizing energetic, instructional gesturing, you engage numerous brain areas. For example, let’s take a look at a lesson on the value of money. Students will handle real coins and distinguish the features of it. Later on, students will use play money to set up a class store to practice using money to buy things. Students can apply what they are learning to real world situations. In this specific example, the Limbic System is activated. The students are giving emotional content to a lesson. The Limbic System in my opinion is the hardest to activate. It is difficult to give emotional content to certain topics presented in the curriculum. This is where Whole Brain Teaching comes into play! When students can take a dry topic and teach their peers about it or apply it to a real world situation, it now has meaning and they can connect with WHY they are learning these specific topics. The students have an emotional connection to even the driest of topics! Hooray for Whole Brain Teaching!
Caroline, Nice job! You might consider using the Brain Toys is an easy way to activate their Limbic System in all subjects! I love your enthusiasm for WBT, keep up the good work! Here are 25 certification points!
I have been teaching for nearly 30 years. I have mastered lecture style teaching through much repetition. This style is now engrained in me. I have introduced Whole Brain Teaching to my class this year as I am aware that the lecture style was no only boring but ineffective. I have found that it is hard to change my habits of lecture style teaching. I have found myself talking much more than I should. This all confirms what is said in Chapter 5 about the ieffectiveness of repetition. Luckily, Whole Brain Teaching is a lot of fun. It activates the limbic system that controls the motor cortex of reasoning. When lecturing, I can say to myself, “I’m not having fun, I need to change my ways!” Of course, I want to activate the limbic system for my children. I want them to have fun while learning. As a first grade teacher, I want to build a strong, positive emotional foundation for learning. Using the gestures, activating the motor cortex, introduces another element into the lessons that are new and exciting for all. I am particularly happy with how my Special Education students react to the use of gestures. They are able to recall much more quickly when I use a gesture. The smile on their faces represents the pride they feel as they recall something that they would not have been able to using just verbal and visual cues. John Medina in Brain Rules states the importance of using several areas of the brain at the same time to foster the growth of dendrites. Whole Brain Teaching does this- putting teachers in Teacher Heaven and students in Student Heaven. That is a Mighty OhYeah!! Liz Howard
Liz, I love the fact that after 30 years you are open to changing your methods and reaching the kids in a new way! You are so right, activating the limbic system makes all the difference in the world! Oops - there was a tiny typing error "lecture style was no only boring". Great post though! Here are 25 certification points!
When I think of my own teaching tendencies pre-WBT, I would say I activated the Wernikites and pre-frontal the most, with the motor cortex coming in close behind. I liked to do the teaching and having the students listen. I would often employ hands-on activities to deepen the understanding. The area I activated the least in students would be the Brocaians area. I never could figure out why everyone did not learn from this model...
After watching WBT videos and reading chapter 5 of ‘Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids’, I have successfully used these new-to-me strategies in my class with huge success. I believe I am now activating the pre-frontal, motor, limbic, visual, Wernikites, and Brocaians parts of my students’ brains.
Using the ‘Big Seven’ has increased my students’ engagement and learning outcomes. From the day I introduced these strategies, my students have been engrossed with them. Who ever thought something as easy as saying, ‘Class Class’, could bring your students eyes to you and quiet their mouths!? Well, Coach B obviously did. My students love doing the ‘Mirror with Words’ and ‘Teach Okay’ with the ‘Switch’.
In the past, when I taught my students nouns, adjectives, and verbs, about 5% would remember the definitions for next time. This year, by introducing them by speaking for less than 30 seconds, using big gestures, ‘Mirrors’, and ‘Teach Okay’, I had 95% of my students remembering what they are and leading the class in review. Their Wernikites area is briefly activated along with their pre-frontal and visual cortex, while I speak and then all their areas are activated when they are repeating, teaching, and listening.
“Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning.” (pg. 19) All educators and administrators need to read this. Having the students repeat short phrases with gestures over and over to each other allows them to ingrain it into their memories. This year has clearly shown me this in all areas of the curriculum.
Last week, my student teacher finished her 5 week placement with me and I asked if she learned anything. She said the ‘Class Class’, ‘Scoreboard’, and ‘Teach Okay’ were the most valuable tools she had learned all year. She used the example of the class playing ‘Mind Soccer’ on Friday afternoon. One of my very low students answered ‘What is capacity?’ perfectly, using gestures. Even my student teacher recognized that this would not have been possible using traditional teaching methods.
Bonnie, It has got to be a huge motivator for you to see your student teacher learn such meaningful lessons. It has been for me. What do you think will be the hardest part of the brain to consistently activate? Here are your 25 certification points.
That's a tough question. I guess I would have to say the Brocaian's area. I know I am activating it far more than in the past, but it is still a learning process to let students talk so much - although rewarding to hear them 'teaching'. ��
I have a tendencie to activate the limbic system first . I am very passionate in what I engage myself into and teaching English as a Second Language motivates me to try to make my students fall in love with a foreign language and its culture. It is also very important to activate Wernicke´s area to help the students understand sounds, the motor cortex in writing as well as training lips and tongue to create letter sounds , Broca´s area in pronunciation and fluency and the prefrontal cortex to reason a culture and the origin of a language different from their mother tongue. The introduction of WBT in an ESL class has been wonderful because we engage all brain cortexes to have them see, hear, speak and enjoy the process of learning on a long term memory basis. Every time we repeat class/yes, teach/okay, the five classroom rules, the scoreboard, Hand and eyes, switch and mirror, it involves a continuous repetition on both knowledge and pronunciation, reason and fun, making a wonderful and satisfying experience to feel dendrites growing in English! And it has a great reward to see the happy faces of my students lighting up when understanding of the language finally sinks in!
Fabiola, I'm so glad you are using this in your ESL classes! Repetition will really help as they conquer that second language, and with WBT it will be fun too! Watch out for spelling (tendencie), editing errors (prefrontal cortex to reason a culture and the origin of a language different from their mother tongue) and run on sentences. Here are 10 certification points for you effort! Save all of your posts and points in a word document to turn in later for certification.
Which areas of the brain are you most likely to activate? least likely to activate?
I think my teaching style has typically activated the visual cortex, the motor cortex, and the Wernicke’s area with the way that I have taught in the past. I know the Broca’s area is activated through speech and we do talk in the classroom, but I am very visual and hands-on with learning. For myself, I have to “do it” in order to retain it. My weakest area is the prefrontal cortex. I want to help so much that I often make all the decisions for my students. I am a control freak and giving them more room to do the decision-making makes me nervous, but I know that they need it. I’ve had the most fun this year with involving the limbic system! Who knew math could be so emotional! Of course, I had to become emotional first and then the kids followed. Now, the kids that once hated coming to school to learn math are looking at one another and yelling, “This math is awesome!” I owe it all to Whole Brain Teaching. I can’t wait to learn more!
Jackie, I love to hear that "math is awesome"! Adding the limbic system really makes a huge difference! I agree, it is really hard to give up some of the control, but they do become stronger critical thinkers when we allow them more freedom to think for themselves! Here are 25 certification points!
In my teaching, I always try to remember write it, say it, and do it. I remembered reading somewhere that students should practice a skill three different ways and this strategy was a suggestion. This strategy activates the visual cortex (seeing), Broca’s area (speaking), and the motor cortex. I was missing activating all areas of the brain at the same time. My students were not engaged because the majority of their brain was not active.
What I have enjoyed about WBT is that the prefrontal cortex is woken up by a simple class-yes. Teach-ok engages the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. It blows my mind that one strategy triggers five areas of the brain! This strategy also forces my students to be engaged in the lesson. No one can be a passive listener because we will keep practicing until everyone is engaged. An area of the brain that I have not covered yet is the limbic system. Whole Brain Teaching has allowed me to tune in to this area through The Scoreboard. Students love yelling a mighty oh yeah for a smiley or a mighty groan for a frown.
After reading chapter 5, I am looking forward to watching my students grow as we activate all areas of the brain.
Ashley, It is amazing how effective Teach/Okay is! You won't have to repeat directions to ten different kids anymore. Best of all, they are actively engaged! Here are 25 certification points!
Music performance is said to be an art that activates all parts of the brain. It is an obvious oral art form the involves the process of perceiving sound stimulus, interpreting its meaning, and tying the meaning to an emotion. Various neural pathways are activated during music making. The first and most widely used sector of the brain is the auditory cortex. While reading music involves the visual cortex, how a person plans to play or sing any note or rhythm is controlled by the prefrontal cortex. And like mentioned earlier the limbic system is involved with emotional attachment that accompanies playing or listening to music. However when it comes to music performance in the classroom setting I find I personally focus on using two sensory parts of the brain; the auditory and motor cortexes. There is a huge kinesthetic part of teaching elementary music. The students learn more through a total immersion in the musical arts then they ever could in a lecture setting. To develop an inner sense of beat students must be physically involved in music making. They must be able to move their entire bodies in a free and uninhibited way. They must be able to move isolated body parts with ease. When a student is able to control and express free movement they will have a stronger sense of beat. Another benefit of using the primary motor cortex in music classes is its connection to other areas of the cerebrum. When students are using kinesthetic motions to act out the lyrics of a song, the brain will remember the lyrics better. It also helps the brain recognize the basic patterns of the songs the students are performing. I also begin to notice a connection between chordal harmony and the motor cortex. In my 5th grade lessons I teach basic rock and roll chord sequences. The students learn basic chord progressions from many different musical artists. I first attempted to teach these chords through paper and pencil and game up with not a lot of success. After taking advantage of the learning power of the motor cortex, my students were able to successfully play simple and complex rock and roll chord progressions. To do so we came up with more motions that represented the various chord symbols and functions. Motor cortex is a fabulous tool to use for memorization, but the ultimate area of the brain music teachers wish to use is the auditory cortex. Many music teachers strive to reshape the auditory cortex to our liking. In music we play many “active listening” games which requires the students to use their “ears” at a high level. We want the students to process music using their entire brains to enhance the music experience. Upon pairing these games with whole brain teaching strategies I discovered that, when enhanced and activated, the auditory cortex can accomplish musical goals that were not possible. Using activities like teach ok, many young elementary school students can now identify and sing the tonic note of songs in various tonalities. This is due to the fact that they are using the auditory cortex more through whole brain teaching structures.
Jason, What an exciting music class you must have! You have a great understanding of the various brain areas and how they work together to activate learning! Watch for those tiny errors "I first attempted to teach these chords through paper and pencil and game up with not a lot of success". Nice post! Here are 25 certification points!
The brain area that I am most likely to activate with my students is Broca and Wernicke area. I am more prone to verbalize a lesson to my students. This is something I really need to work on because I feel that I talk entirely too much. I am hoping to change this with Teach-OK.
The area that I am least likely activate with my students and going to work on is auditory cortex. I am going to do as much hands-on and repetitive practicing as possible this year because I believe students who do, learn.
Karen, The repetition of directions, teach ok, etc. (auditory) and the hands on (motor cortex) will really increase the level of comprehension in your classroom! In the future, try to share more details, thoughts, reflection etc. in your posts. Here are 25 certification points.
The brain areas I activate in my students most frequently are the "Visual Cortex" and "Wernicke's Area". I believe other areas are activated, but I would like to focus on these for this response. I've identified the "Visual Cortex", because I frequently use gestures in my teaching. Secondly, I've identified the "Wernicke's Area" because it controls listening. By identifying this as one of the most activated areas of my students' brains, I've also identified my own weakness. I need to work on micro-lecturing and move away from my love of hearing my own voice! I am guilty of talking too much and too long! One area I believe I need to focus on more for this upcoming school year is the “Hippocampus”. Unfortunately, it is the area of the brain that is least likely to be activated during my instruction. I need to get in a better habit of having students repeat, repeat, and repeat again. Repetition is key in moving information from short term memory to long term knowledge!
I am very verbal, so lecture comes very natural to me. Therefore, I would have to say that before being introduced to Whole Brain teaching, I most frequently activated the Wenicke's Area in my students' brains. I do have a lot of ELL students in my class, so I use a lot of "realia" while I am lecturing. This activates my students' visual cortex. I also know the importance of movement (activating the motor cortex), so I have always tried to include some sort of movement in the teaching of every concept. I have not, however, been as purposeful as I should be in this area. My biggest weaknesses have always been activating Broca's Area and the Limbic System. I have always run a very structured classroom, so I am sad to admit that I have not allowed opportunities for a lot of conversation. Apart from pair and share and structured games or partner work, the students have not had a lot of time to talk about what they were learning. I have always known how important this is, especially with ELL students. I was just overly concerned about off-task behavior. I didn't know how to structure the conversation. Whole Brain Teaching with "Mirror Speak" and "Teach Okay" has changed all of that. My students are constantly talking and activating Broca's Area, and I still have the structure that I feel comfortable with. I love it. Whole Brain teaching has also dramatically increased the frequency with which I activate my students' LImbic System. Prior to Whole Brain teaching, my preference for lecture did not do a lot to emotionally engage my students. In addition, my management system was more negative than positive, and it did not tie directly to my instruction. Students now love to learn, and it is great to see how easy it is to create meaningful rewards that are tied directly to instruction. I can honestly say that now my students whole brains are engaged!
Joyce, It sounds like you have made some positive changes to your methods of instruction! I am very structured too, so I can relate to the struggle of learning to allow the students to have that conversation time. But, the more you use the WBT techniques, the easier it gets! Here are 25 certification points!
I loved reading Chapter 5 and realizing that there is a scientific basis for such common-sense practices. It just makes sense that a student who is engaged (prefrontal cortex is switched on), actively teaching and gesturing (motor cortex, visual cortex, Broca's and Wernicke's areas), and growing dendrites with newfound knowledge is going to learn and progress at an amazing pace. The areas that I will definitely stimulate in my student's brain are the ones I just mentioned and especially mirror neurons! I am a school administrator so I have a mixture of children and adult students. I love to do mirror words. For one thing it forces me to be clear and succinct, because if I am not they cannot repeat my words back to me. I also love to play guitar and sing to groups of kids and adults. I find music engages many parts of people's brains. I actually wrote a song based on the five rules. Most of the students and adults at my school have the song memorized. They moved the song and the rules into long-term memory. The one whole brain technique I struggle with is scoreboard. I keep forgetting to use it!!!! Anyway, I hope to have many more opportunitites to practice engaging all parts of my students' brains. Carl Rust
Carl, What a wonderful idea to put the rules to music! You should definitely send a video of your song to Coach B.! He would love to see it! I agree, mirror words does make us really think about how we are speaking. Here are 25 certification points!
Finally got around to putting a video together for the rules song. Let me know what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPrQVZgxeHI&list=UUuYqUI7AQ2yvYBPEfekxmIw
As I was reading chapter 5 I was able to think back on the area of the brain I am most likely to activate and the area I am least likely to activate. I came to this conclusion: Broca's area focuses on verbalization, getting students to talk, and interact through meaningful conversations. I believe this area is easiest to activate because students are natural verbalizers, at least most of them are. I currently teach 5th grade and as many are aware, 5th graders love to talk. They love to talk when the time is right and when the time is wrong. Once I realized how important Broca's area is in WBT, I soon figured out I have to teach my students the right and wrong time to activate their Broca's area. I know, with the use of WBT and each component that comes with it, I can positively activate this area so my students are verbalizing during more appropriate times in the classroom, times such as "Teach-Okay", the 5 classroom rules, the scoreboard, and "Switch".
The area of the brain I am least likely to activate in my students is the Limbic System. This area focuses on emotions. 5th graders are very emotional as it is. They are going through a tough change, not only physically with puberty, but also mentally and emotionally with having to move from a classroom setting of 20+ peers to a multi-class setting of 300+ peers. It can emotionally exhaust them. The reason I feel this can be the hardest area to activate is because it is already highly activated with body changes and preconceived notions about middle school. So much is already happening in this area of the brain that it can be difficult to get some students to break their emotions away from that and transfer their emotions more positively. With that being said, I know as I work my way through implementing WBT I will find strategies that will positively benefit my students' emotions so they can learn to break free of the emotions that can seem negative and enjoy emotions that are more positive. Emotions attached to the scoreboard, the 5 classroom rules, and "Teach-Okay" are just a few examples of times when positive emotions are activated in WBT.
Ellen, Nice work! You will find that 5th graders love the WBT strategies such as the Crazy Professor, Brain Toys, Mind Soccer etc. Activating the limbic system will help them have positive behavior and even learn more because they are having fun! (I teach 5th grade too and have seen it work wonders!). Here are 25 certification points!
I love this chapter! It really brings to light why whole brain teaching works! Many of us do have teaching tendencies that only activate one or two parts of the brain at a time. By using the Whole Brain Teaching's Big Seven you will activate many parts or all parts of the brain with each teaching technique.
Before using Whole Brain Teaching, one area that I activated regularly in my students was the prefrontal cortex. Having taught first grade for many years before transitioning to third grade, I used many different strategies to obtain student attention quickly with visual and verbal cues.
An area that I was least likely to activate before using Whole Brain Teaching was the Wernicke's area. This area is important in hearing and understanding language. Part of the problem was that I was talking too much and the kids were not talking enough. I would also give short, simple, and easy directions, yet many students still had difficulties following them. After using Whole Brain Teaching over the past year I noticed a big change. By implementing the Teach - Okay strategy, I was not only activating the Wernicke's area, but four other areas as well. Using the Teach - Okay strategy, students were actively teaching others, using their voice and gestures. My students were able to follow directions 100% better using this method than using other techniques I had used in previous years.
Again, Whole Brain Teaching techniques allow all parts of your brain to work at once. This results in a superior management system!
For years I’ve known that many students learn best by doing something and by seeing something (nonlinguistic). So I have had students moving around the room doing hands-on projects and generally trying to make concepts as concrete as possible. I also use a lot of visuals and multimedia on the Smartboard. Students are singing, constructing, discussing, and actually manipulating text or images on the Smartboard themselves. The use of images and multimedia activate the visual cortex. Hands-on projects and movement bring the motor cortex to the fore. When students are touching the Smartboard, both the visual and motor cortexes are involved. An area of the brain that I haven’t taken advantage of enough is Broca’s area, the speech center. I didn’t have students talk to each other about their learning. Over the past few years, as I’ve using more WBT methods, the use of this part of the brain has improved. But, I need to incorporate more speaking opportunities. This year, as I fully implement WBT strategies, my classes will flow more smoothly and student achievement will improve because we will be making full use of their brains.
Sheryl, Nice job! Don't forget the importance of the Limbic system as you bring the FUN of learning to your students with WBT strategies. Here are 25 points for you!
After reading Chapter 5, I feel as though I now have a clearer understanding of the brain and its complex makeup. The way Coach B. “dissected” and explained each component of the brain, along with its primary function, has caused me to reflect on my personal teaching style. One of my favorite statements that Coach B. shared at the national conference this summer was, “When every part of the brain is being used at the same time, there is no space left for any knucklehead ideas.” #sotrue
After 18 years of experience as an elementary teacher, I would say that I have typically been a “lecturer” type of teacher. As a result, the most common brain areas activated by my students in my classroom were the visual cortex and Wernicke’s. I would have to say that the area that was least likely activated during instruction was the motor cortex. Before attending the conference and reading Chapter 5, I would have agreed that using the motor cortex during instruction could have distracted the students’ neighbor(s) or even been a disruption to their own learning process. I have now come to realize how important it is going to be for me to adjust my teaching style so that every student in my classroom activates his or her WHOLE brain during instructional times. Although I have always been creative and highly energetic when delivering my lessons, I have now discovered that no matter how much I prepare or how much energy I put into my lessons, those challenging students probably were most likely not engaged. This also clarifies why those students typically had unsatisfactory grades and behavior.
My goal when I start the 2014-15 school year is to apply these powerful teaching techniques that are explained throughout this chapter. There is no doubt in my mind that when I put in place "The Big Seven", I will be able to say that I have gracefully entered “Teacher Heaven”!
Kelly, I agree with you about the "The Big Seven" leading to "Teacher Heaven," because your story sounds a bit like my own. I was afraid of "losing control" of the kiddos during things like "Teach! Okay!" . However, what I found is that the structure and engagement allowed the kids themselves to gain control over themselves. I gained a synchronicity with the class like never before. I'm excited for you to see the magic of "The Big Seven". Signed Jim Hobley, Wholebrainer
I had no idea there were so many parts of the brain. I am sad to say that before I began using Whole Brain Teaching I ignored most of the parts. I mainly engaged the Wernicke’s Area and the Visual Cortex. I engaged the Wernicke’s Area the most because I love talking. However, my students do not always love hearing me talk. As Coach B says, “The longer teachers talk, the more students we lose.” During my undergraduate work, my professors stressed the importance of saying directions and writing information on the board. For example, if I told the students to turn to page 32 I should say turn to page 32 and then write the number 32 on the board. I also know it is important to engage the visual cortex because many people are visual learners. However, there are many other important parts of the brain.
After reading about Whole Brain Teaching I began using the “Class-Yes” and “Teach-OK!” These activities engaged many areas of my students’ brains and my brain as well. Students still used the Wernicke’s Area because they were listening to some information from me. However, they were also using the Broca’s Area because they repeated definitions and information to a partner. They used the motor cortex, “the brain’s most reliable memory area,” because they moved their body to talk with a partner and included specific hand movements to help them remember specific information. The more brain areas the students engage the more memories they make.
When I matched these Whole Brain Teaching activities with songs, jingles, and just plain fun the students and I entered “Teaching Heaven.” They remembered important information, we were having fun, and we enjoyed learning together.
Nice post, Amber! The brain is so under-utilized in a traditional classroom. Your professors would be amazed how far you took that page number on the board! Wahooo! Here are 25 points for you!
Before I learned about Whole Brain Teaching, I made up chants, rhymes, songs and gestures to help my students remember important information. I had fun doing this but more importantly my students did too plus they retained much of the information. Some of my colleagues thought I was over the top and at times I questioned myself, until I came across a Whole Brain Teaching video! As I was watching it, I immediately felt validated and after reading the chapter: “The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching” I felt motivated and inspired as I learned this type of teaching can be backed by brain science. The brain areas I consistently activate in my students are the prefrontal cortex and the Wernickes area. I activate the prefrontal cortex when I want my students' attention. I always do an attention getter, whether it’s “Class Yes, or hocus pocus everybody focus”. Also, when I’m ready to introduce an important point, “I use hands and eyes” or “posture check (which looks like hands and eyes).” Once I seize their attention, I activate my students’ Wernickes Area by verbally explaining the lesson. The brain areas I’m least likely to activate in my students are the Broca’s area and the limbic system. I like it when my students teach each other, however I’m overly concerned with the loudness it brings forth and the disturbance it may cause our neighboring classrooms. Also, I personally enjoy showing a lot of excitement and emotion in my teaching and I smile when my students do the same, but once again my students get so excited that the noise level gets out of control. However, after reading this chapter, I know how important it is to activate these areas that I’m willing to do it more often. My plan is to have “short bursts” of loudness then silence. Hopefully my colleagues and myself could handle that and even better, maybe my colleagues will be wondering what I’m doing that they’ll want to join me in my Whole Brain Teaching journey! Arlene Snyder
Arlene, You sound like a fun teacher! You might watch Chris Recksted's WBT Crazy Professor YouTube video, he has a neat way to control how loud the kids get during WBT activities by using a volume control meter. Great job! Here are 25 certification points!
After reading Chapter 5, I have a whole new outlook on the brain. I have never bothered to research how the brain works. Chapter 5 does a great job of condensing information about the brain into laymen’s terms. It took me a minute to think about my teaching style and which parts of the brain are activated throughout the day. Since I already use some of the Whole Brain Teaching strategies, I can say that the prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and limbic system are most commonly activated when I use Class-Yes and Teach-Okay. I could see light bulbs clicking on and learning taking place immediately. Although the limbic system would be activated during Teach-Okay, it could have been activated more by using The Scoreboard. I tried the marble system, and it only worked for a short period because the students were trying to reach a long term goal that may have lasted months. With The Scoreboard, their limbic system is stimulated constantly on a daily basis. This will assist in providing a conducive learning environment. My goal is to use the Big Seven teaching techniques all year long since I’m familiar with them now.
Sherry, I'm glad to hear you will be adding the Scoreboard in your class! You are right, it will activate the limbic system and add Funtricity to your day! Here are 25 certification points!
This topic was hard for me to write about at first. I really had to think about it. I felt like I stimulated all areas of the brain. In reflection – I do all of them, some more consistently than others. I think consistency will be the key for me this year.
One area that I think that I did consistently well was activities that activate and engage the prefrontal cortex. I used many different strategies to obtain student attention quickly with visual and verbal cues. One thing Whole Brain Teaching did is simplify the process. I no longer had to come up with any catchy call-backs or stunts to keep them from getting bored. A simple Class-Yes is all it took to keep their attention. The Variety came in how I delivered the Class-Yes. They never knew which voice, pattern or style that I was going to use. Some students would even request their favorites.
The area that I need to work on the most is activating the Broca’s area. Instruction to stimulate Broca's area focuses on verbalization, getting students to talk, and interact through meaningful conversations. I need to talk less frequently in class. I was not giving them the opportunity to have conversations about what we were learning. During the last two years, I have really been working on this area. When I read this chapter, I was so excited to see that by using Teach-Okay, I could not only stimulate the Broca’s area but also involve four more areas at the same time. What a deal!!!!!!! Last year, I tried to implement Teach-Ok. I had some success with it; however I did not use it consistently. Planning will be the key for success. If I plan out what they are to talk about, then it will help stay me on track.
Using all of the Big Seven consistently will be my goal this next year. Teacher Heaven, here I come!
July 29, 2014 Chapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching Thinking about your own teaching tendencies, which brain areas are you most likely, and least likely, to activate in your students?
Before I read Whole Brain Teaching last summer, you would not catch me trying to deliberately engage the motor cortex during learning. There might be a break between lessons to get kids moving in order to help them focus during learning, but I never encouraged movement during instruction. I didn’t know how to make it happen. I have always leaned toward firing up the prefrontal cortex by pushing students’ thinking, whether about academic content or reflecting on behavior. Imagine my delight when I realized and later witnessed how the motor cortex of my student could be his friend and mine! This is especially so for the second graders that I had for the first time last year. Laying on the carpet? Are you kidding me? This was new territory for a former upper grades teacher. However, by calling Class!Class! and having students turn AND respond was a dream come true. I had my little second graders sit on the carpet for much of instruction. When we did Teach!Okay! Wernicke’s Area and Broca’s Area were switched into play. They turned either 90 degrees or 180 degrees. Motor cortex… activated. It’s not like the lights went off then. While one student taught, what was the other student doing? Sometimes she was mirroring. Good morning mirror neurons. I was often so impressed with the results, I would hoot “Give me an OH YEAH! for nice mirroring. I could almost see the limbic systems light up with their excitement. Furthermore, with a box of brain toys at my disposal, I was able to make use of what I learned while studying learning and memory earlier in college: the more you elaborate an idea, or the more different ways that you process information, the better chance you have of recall. Brain toys do just that. They engage the learner, who has to elaborate an idea and make new connections (perhaps with a “because clapper” ). The outcomes of WBT are results I have always hoped for, and saw scattered here and there, but never found in one place. Not to mention, wherever else I have encountered smart ideas about learning, memory or classroom management, they have nearly always been devoid of fun. My limbic system and those of my students thank you Coach!
Jim, I love your enthusiasm! Adding the motor cortex really takes the level of learning to new heights! What fun your students will have learning! Here are 25 certification points!
Prior to my discovery of WBT I was using 1-2-3 Magic as my classroom behavior model. When I created lessons the students engaged their Prefrontal Cortex through the use of music as an attention getter and transition cue. They engaged their Limbic System through use of a behavior system that was not only individual but as a group as well. Once I started doing parts of WBT in my first grade classroom 2 years ago I started to engage more areas of their brains through use of 5 of the 7 teaching techniques. I never deliberately used switch or mirror in my classroom. I occasionally had the students repeating what I said, but now that it was explained by the areas of the brain that are activated by these techniques I will be adding these to my lesson plans immediately! I love the sentence in the book "Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning. Repeat that sentence over and over so that your learning produces bushy dendrites." Now that I am a Music teacher this is a "no brainer"! Practice, practice practice, but make it interesting so habituation doesn't set in!
Mitzi, I am happy you are able to see the proof of how amazing the WBT process is at activating all parts of the brain. I am only able to award 10 points to you for this post because you missed the second part to this prompt "...which brain areas are you most likely, and least likely, to activate in your students?" You have scored well on the past prompts so "It's Cool!" I look forward to reading your future posts.
Which areas of the brain are you least likely to activate? Which areas are you most likely to activate?
Before studying Whole Brain Teaching, I usually only engaged the students' visual cortex (seeing) and Wenicke's area (language understanding). The areas I was least likely to activate were Broca's area (speaking), and the limbic system (feelings and emotions.)
After studying Whole Brain Teaching and the brain, I have worked harder to engage the limbic system. I found that if I have students write about topics that they are interested in when teaching grammar, their limbic system is involved and they remember the concepts because their feelings were involved. One student last year loved skateboarding. He would write sentences using any grammar topic I taught about as long as he could write on his favorite topic. Then later, he could apply his learning to the new topic about which he was writing.
Last year, I used Class-Yes to activate the prefrontal cortex which controls focus of attention and decision making. Another powerful teaching technique is Teach-Okay. This engages five areas of students' brains including the visual cortex (seeing gestures), motor cortex (making gestures), Broca's area (verbalizing a lesson), Wernicke's area (hearing a lesson), and the limbic system (giving emotional connections to the lessons.) As the students teach each other with words and gestures and the partner mirrors, both students are storing the information into their long term memory. Using the five classroom rules, scoreboard, hands and eyes, switch, and mirror also helped with engaging the students. It also ensures me that their whole brains are engaged in learning and adds funtricity to our classroom. By helping their whole brains to be involved in their learning, it is "teacher heaven" for me as they are storing their learning in their long term memory.
Hannah, Activating all these brain areas helps students produce higher quality learning! Oops, there was a tiny spelling error "Wenicke" (Wernicke) in the first paragraph. Here are 25 certification points!
As I get ready for diving into Whole Brain Teaching with my 2014/2015 class, it’s easy to see where I will be activating the “Whole Brain” with my teaching. However, reflecting on my past teaching I realize that I didn’t make enough use of the Visual Cortex. I never thought of myself as a visual learner, and it was always a struggle for me to remind myself that many students need to have the visual to help them learn. Adding gestures into my teaching will help engage the visual cortex, along with posters and Power Pix. In the past, I always ran a TRIBES classroom. We had our own set of “rules” to make our classroom feel more “community” based. Every morning during our “Community Circle” we would review our “classroom agreements” which involved the brain’s “Mirror Neurons.” I also engaged the prefrontal cortex getting my student’s attention by singing the old song “Hands Up, baby hands up” with my students to get their attention. Yes, I had their attention, but I guess I spoke too long and lost their attention. I am hoping Hands and Eyes, and limiting my speaking to 30 seconds will change that. I am just thrilled to start my school putting WBT into action right from the first day of school. I am excited to see the difference all 7 parts of WBT makes in my challenging classroom. I used parts of WBT two years ago, but I have been away on maternity leave for the entire school year that passed. I'm heading back fresh and rejuvenated about my teaching career!
Lisa, I can feel your excitement as you begin your year with WBT! It really does transform a classroom into teacher heaven! Here are 25 certification points!
The brain is such a fascinating organ that should be studied by all educators. Brain science instruction from my college days has long been forgotten, therefore I was grateful for this refresher course. However, the information pertaining to mirror neurons was new to me.
As a preschool teacher and a tutor for struggling learners, I employ multiple techniques when teaching my students that cover all areas of the brain. In our classroom we sing,move, and do motions to the concepts being taught. Due to the fact that my children have such a short attention span, they require constant movement. During these activities we engage the visual cortex (seeing the gestures), motor cortex (making the gestures), Broca’s area (verbalizing through singing), Werniicke’s (hearing the singing), and the limbic system(giving emotional content to a lesson). Creating mirror neurons is my goal with each lesson, although I did not realize that was what it was called before reading this chapter.
The prefrontal cortex is an area that I need to engage more often. I need to increase opportunities for my student to use reasoning, planning, and decision making. Using class yes will allow my children to engage this portion of their brain.
Melissa, Your pre k kiddos will love using the teach ok technique! It sounds like you are excited about using these new strategies! Have fun with it! Here are 25 certification points!
I realised my own learning tendencies when I first learned about multiple intelligences. From that moment, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.(Confucius)” has been the most impressive physilophy in my teaching life. Yes, I was a kinaesthetic learner who can learn the best by doing the task in action. Then, I found myself preparing lesson plans based on moving activities students are to take part in the lessons actively, which activate their prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, Broca’s area as they have to speak to each other, Wernicke’s area as they need to understand the language to carry out the task.
My students and I like warm-ups, energiser and cool-down activities consisting of videos, pictures, riddles, technology and verbal and non-verbal drama activities which engage them in the lesson against some distractions. All of these activities, I believe, activate the limbic system, visual cortex, Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Although it might seem from how I used to teach before WBT that I could manage to activate many parts of the brain I understood that it wasn’t enough, though. There’s “Before WBT and After WBT” periods of my teaching history. I realised that how massive room there is to grow in their brains and what different tasted –shaped- coloured fruits there are to grow. I would have to say that I neglected to get a whole- brain workout. It was high-time to face it! I used to have times I ignored some chitty-chatters, challenging students or ‘closed shells’ prior to my introduction to WBT. My ‘alphas’ have already been there with me. No problem! What about my challenging students? I had to reach them, indeed. Then, boom! After I started to use Class-Yes, I managed to draw these kids’ attention activating their prefrontal cortex. They started not to get distracted easily as they are very busy with teaching their peers, enjoying 5 class rules and get concentrated with Hands and Eyes, Switch and Mirror which activate five brain areas involving mirror neurons in the brain, focusing the visual and auditory cortex and appealing to Brocaians and Wernickites.
Looking back to my WBT-free teaching days, I could see that I ignored to use gestures effectively which activate the Prefrontal and visual cortex and didn’t include enough repetition which help the dendrites grow.
I also admit that I had a tendency to talk much while teaching, oh sorry, lecturing time to time which means as I didn’t give enough time or chance to students to practice the language I was least likely to activate Broca’s area. Also, because of not giving them enough chance to be more creative and autonomous I was least likely to activate their Prefrontal cortex.
Now, after my introduction to WBT, I’m teaching in peace because I’ve got enough motivation to remember to activate all parts of the brain!
Pinar, It sounds like you are ready to make some great changes in your classroom as you lecture less and activate more areas of their brains! Watch out for run on sentences in your writing. Here are 20 certification points!
I am a kinesthetic learner so I naturally incorporate movement, songs, gestures ANYTHING that requires action into my classroom lessons. It doesn't make sense for me to teach any other way since this is how I learn best. Sadly, there is no college course to date explaining the effectiveness of this tactic. Little did I know that by teaching in this manner, I am actually triggering areas of the brain. It really wasn't until recently that I even became aware of Whole Brain Teaching. Watching WB in action has been the biggest "A-Ha!" moment in my teaching career. To have my lessons backed by science has motivated me to learn more.
Having my students dramatize stories and providing visuals for my ELL learners, not only engages their motor and visual cortex but it makes the lesson meaningful because they are actively involved in it. At first, I was not too sure how I would be able to tap into Wernicke's and Broca's area since many of my students are learning English while others have speech delays. However, using WB techniques, I realize I can engage them all. Using the attention getter, Class Yes, I am able to quickly help everyone focus. Hands and Eyes was another great attention getter as the students are now able to follow social cues and imitate what the others are doing until it became an automatic response. This tells me I am activating the Hippocampus since I am involving different brain areas by having the students move and repeat short responses.
I also have a feeling that the Limpic system would be underutilized in my instruction. In some ways it may seem far fetched for me to assume that my students will be emotionally involved in learning. As I dig further, I think of course they will! Rule number 5 clearly states Make your dear teacher happy. Their motivation and connection to lessons will at first be associated with making their teacher smile, but over time, I would like to see them be intrinsically excited to challenge themselves and actually want to learn more.
Everything about WB maximizes their learning. Each method is a fun new approach. I wish my own teachers used WB instead of the lecture type technique so prevalent in our school system. All I can do is re-shape teaching, one classroom at a time.
Jannelle, I love your statement Watching WB in action has been the biggest "A-Ha!" moment in my teaching career. " WBT in action will really transform your classroom! "Oops, there was a tiny typo "Limpic system" (Limbic system). Here are 20 certification points!
When speaking of the parts of the brain most often used in my classroom before WBT, I believe I most often used Broca and Wernicke’s areas, as well as the motor cortex, auditory cortex, and some usage of the limbic system. How do we learn to teach? I think most of us use what we have experienced and seen in our past, regardless of how effective it is because that is all we know and is what we believe works! When I look back on my teachers and mentors, just about all of them at their core were lecturers. I know I was prone to lecturing as well when I first began teaching, so Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the auditory cortex were those parts I most relied on. I also often incorporated singing with (*ahem* poorly executed) dance moves/gestures to get topics across to my students. For example, to the tune of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” we would sing and gesture to learn the different types of angles in mathematics. Since the kids were following along by gesturing, singing, and had big smiles on their faces, I was activating the motor cortex, auditory cortex, and limbic system. I felt like I was doing a great job at the time, but until I found Whole Brain Teaching, I didn’t realize how cringe-worthy some of my methodology was in the past.
I am a Spanish teacher that has tried a variety of methods and pedagogy. One of my favorites is TPR (Total Physical Response) it goes very nicely with WBT. When my students are doing vocabulary practice, conversations, and storytelling with gesturing, it helps them memorize and internalize the vocabulary quicker. They are activating the motor cortex by gesturing, the visual cortex by watching their partners, and the limbic system because of their engagement and enjoyment. I was elated to read that “repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning”, this is exactly how I believe language is acquired. To finish it off with the “mirror neurons” is like frosting and is the best! I firmly believe that my first year language learners are babies or parrots, requiring repeated mirroring from the teacher and each other.
Becky Loftus Spanish Oberon Middle School CCFLT President-Elect
As an eighth year teacher I am already adept at activating the prefrontal cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. I have used a variety of methods to gain student attention with the prefrontal cortex. It has been important to change the attention getters throughout the year as students begin to ignore them. Class-yes is already a powerful attention getter tool that the students love. I use Broca’s area with the Think-Pair-Share method. Students are verbalizing their learning, however, they are often with very specific questions or too much information presented by myself. The Wernicke’s area is the easy part of teaching. It is easy to talk too much as a teacher and I want to change that within my classroom. I am also adept at activating student limbic systems. I require students to make connections to lessons and content. I also have implemented a class marble jar throughout my teaching years.
In the next few weeks I plan to challenge myself as an educator to integrate Brocaians and Wernikites and utilize mirror neurons. I need to ensure that all students are engaged using Teach-Okay instead of the Think-Pair-Share. I like to believe that Teach-Okay is far more effective because it focuses on content in a deeper way. I also want to utilize the Mirror method of teaching. I think this will be my largest challenge because I will be using more motions and shorter talking moments than I am used to. 30 seconds will be a challenge but it will be a far deeper learning tool than my several minute speeches.
Veronica, You are right, it is challenging to change from being the one doing most of the talking to let the students take on that role, but it is very rewarding! You will see their understanding soar as they implement the teach/okay with the mirrors. Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
Until reading chapter 5 of Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Students, I often felt frustrated in the classroom transitioning my students from one subject to the next because of the noise level in the room. I knew that the students were on task with their discussions, as I was observing and circling the room quickly; however, they were so passionate about what they were talking about that they often didn’t hear me give directions or other pertinent information. This hot mess frustrated not only myself but also the kiddos who did hear me and did what I asked. Reading chapter 5 helped me to realize that I was not activating the prefrontal cortex of my student’s brains. When the prefrontal cortex is activated, the students are then able to focus their attention and can make decisions that lead to their engagement (learning). Class-yes was a great addition to my transitions in the classroom. The Whole Brain Teaching strategy I do best is Hands and Eyes thus activating my student’s frontal cortex. This awesome strategy helps my students to eliminate distractions. Laurisa Fling
Laurisa, Transitions can be one of the most frustrating part of any teacher's day. You might try having them teach/okay your transition procedures, or your instructions each time to make sure they are each fully aware of your expectations. Nice job, here are 25 certification points!
I began teaching at the very beginning of this testing craze. For many years, I have done a majority of the talking. My students have left the classroom with super strong Wernicke’s areas, while my Broca’s area has gotten a workout. With the introduction of a document camera, I have been able to increase stimulation of students’ visual cortex, but, due to instructional imbalance, my limbic system is often activated by students who are not engaged and do not retain simple information! As I completed the process necessary to gain National Board certification, I became keenly aware of the fact that I need to take back control of my teaching. If I want my students to perform well on the required assessments, I must not let the content of those assessments dictate my instructional practices. Cue Whole Brain Teaching! At the end of the 2013-14 school year, a local foundation indicated interest in investing in our school system. Through my research, I learned about Whole Brain Teaching. As I read the information on the website, I began to become encouraged and inspired. Within a week, I implemented “Class, Yes” and “Hands and Eyes”. Students became more engaged and, through stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, ready to learn! I look forward to implementing all parts of the Big 7. I am excited to see the difference in my teaching and student learning when we all use our whole brain.
Elisabeth, I know you will be thrilled with the changes you see in your students, but also in the changes you will feel as you implement each new WBT step! It is a wonderful method that allows you to have fun teaching again! Nice job (make sure you put your full name on all of your future posts), here are 25 certification points!
I am an “up-out-of-your-seat” teacher. I want my students constantly moving about the classroom and staying engaged. I believe that I activate two parts of the brain: the visual cortex and the limbic system.
I activate the visual cortex by modeling actions, gestures, etc. to my students, then giving them time to do those actions, gestures, etc. My students do not want to sit and listen to me lecture for 30 minutes about prepositional phrases, so instead we make paper airplanes, fly them around the classroom, and record their locations using prepositional phrases. Just like in the ever so popular phrase, “Monkey-see, monkey-do,” my students are going to activate that area in their brain and mimic my actions. I believe that kids are more likely to remember something and stay engaged in an activity if they are using movement and visuals to aid them in their discovery of information.
I also activate the limbic system by telling personal stories, relating to my students, and allowing them to discuss personal things with me and their peers. Teaching in a high poverty district has taught me that these kids just want to be heard. They just want someone to listen to them and relate with them. Allowing them time to show emotion and talk about things going on in their lives has proven to be an effective way to not only get through to a challenging student, but also to combat bullying and misbehavior. The limbic system is an area that I bet most teachers activate every day in their classrooms.
Teach-Okay is one of the best ways for me to get those physical jitters out of my students during a painfully long lesson. I use visuals to teach short parts of the lesson, and then the students teach each other. This is a great way for my students to stay engaged and, more importantly, it allows for students to discuss a topic if they are unsure of it with one another. Students also feel more comfortable talking with one peer rather than entire class of their peers. It puts them at ease and allows for more open and honest discussion.
Hannah, Great post...I have the feeling there is no underuse of the motor cortex in your classroom either! I love the airplane activity! Here are 25 points and a 10 point Bonus!
Reading chapter five was very interesting. I was surprised to learn that the brain has so many different parts, and that each of them has a different function. Thinking about my own teaching tendencies before Whole Brain Teaching, I would use a lot of hands-on games and activities to engage my students in lessons. I tried to make activities fun and interesting based on the objectives I was trying to get my students to master. Never did I think to specifically plan lessons that would address those brain areas which are supposed to be engaged in the learning process. I engaged the pre-frontal cortex because I had to obtain my student’s attention before beginning the lesson. Their motor cortex and visual cortex were engaged, most of the time, during the lessons which incorporate my student’s movement (gestures sometimes) and visual senses (modeling and anchor charts) to help make the lesson enjoyable.
I would have to say that the limbic system was the area that was neglected the most during my students lessons. After many failed attempts of trying to create lessons which the students would be excited about, I can see how the scorecard can generate these emotions for students. Learning the techniques used in Whole Brain Teaching, I can now more effectively engage my students in learning. The use of “powerpix” and “mirrors” allows my students to not just move during lessons, but use gestures as reminders of their learning through muscle memory. The Teach-Okay also allows them to gain the repetition needed to ensure maximum learning of the concepts being taught. These new methods are so exciting, and WBT has made learning in my classroom more meaningful.
Megan, I agree, WBT does make learning more meaningful! Your students will appreciate the addition of the limbic system activities in your lessons! Happy students = happy teachers! Here are 25 certification points!
Before learning about and implementing Whole Brain Teaching strategies, my instruction was not balanced utilize all areas of the brain. I believe that I have always been fairly strong at targeting the visual cortex. I know that so many people are visual learners, so I always would show pictures, assemble slideshows, check out books from the library that included many visual representations, etc. I never used enough repetition in my lessons to strengthen dendrites. Teachers often ask: “Why do I have to keep repeating myself?” But Coach B has it right when he says, “Teaching is repeating!” Repeating is what studying is, reviewing material again and again. That’s how we learn! Also, I always thought that I was catering to kinesthetic learning my allowing them to move around, do jumping jack while they counted by 5s, etc. But the movement was never connected to the content. The use of gestures and brainies in Whole Brain Teaching actually links the movements to the content, which is the goal of kinesthetic learning. Before practicing WBT techniques, I tried accessing different learners and different parts of the bran, but I never had a solid understanding of how to do so to maximize learning. I like that in Whole Brain Teaching you have a formula and guide to follow. Whole Brain Teaching is a systematic approach to targeting all learners and all parts of the brain.
Megan Vescio Copeland Goldfarb Elementary School Las Vegas, NV
Megan, Don't you love having the WBT guideline Coach B. has provided, to help up make sure we target all of those brain areas? I agree, teaching is constant repetition, but adding our mirrors, teach/okay, and gestures sure can break up the monotony. Oops, you had a couple of small error "my instruction was not balanced utilize all areas of the brain" (utilizing), and do jumping jack while" (jumping jacks). Here are 20 certification points!
A few weeks ago, I gave the morning devotional message at Home With A Heart, a residential Christian drug and alcohol rehab facility for men. Judging from that experience, my teaching had a strong effect on the reticular activating system (sleep center) of at least three members of my audience.
Perhaps I'd do better talking about Spot, my ten-year-old literacy pupil.
When I began teaching him, he knew the alphabet and little more. I didn't need his mom to tell me how much it devastated him that his younger siblings could read and he could not. Therefore, near the beginning of each session, and often in the middle of the session, I have Spot assume a couple of power poses and to verbalize one of them as "ready for anything" and the other as "because I am mighty." Proprioceptor signals go to the Brodmann 3a area of the brain, and the power poses in particular raise testosterone (confidence hormone) levels and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels. (Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy partnered with Dana Carney to test the power pose theory. You can see a good explanation for lay persons here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc ) Speaking (Broca's area) and hearing his own verbalization (Wernicke's area) reinforce the power poses. I do this to raise Spot's confidence (limbic system) and overcome the feelings of defeat he has had in the past.
While I do not use, Class/Yes with Spot, I do address him directly by name. (prefrontal cortex)
In the lesson proper, I point to a picture (visual cortex) and say, "This is a man, say 'man.'" (Wernicke's area, Broca's area) "This is the word 'man.' Read 'man.'" The drills on the rest of the page break down the linguistic components -- "This is the part of the word that says, 'an.'" -- repeating and recombining each component to aid memory. (hippocampus) We also review with flash cards (hippocampus)
Since I learned about mirroring, I usually have Spot mirror my actions as I point to pictures and words. (mirror neurons scattered throughout the brain)
I have always had my literacy students teach parts of lessons back to me. Now, I try to have Spot teach me at least a small portion of each lesson. (visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca's area, Wernicke's area)
Very early in my literacy work, I learned the value of sincere praise of correct answers -- good! great job! excellent! good work! etc. -- as positive reinforcement. (limbic area)
Although it's not something that I do, per se, the curriculum I use has red print on a yellow background. In a discussion with the curriculum's developer, Bill Kofmehl (PhD, linguistics), he told me that the red on yellow combination travels on a path directly to the right side of the brain. The objective is to recruit more of the brain into the reading process.
Doing this exercise has led me to see that I could do more to activate the prefrontal cortex, and also the gestures that I have him mirror (mirror neurons) are really limited. I need to work on both of those.
In addition, I now think that I have the tools to keep my whole audience awake the next time I speak at Home With A Heart, if I'm willing to restructure the way I make my presentation.
Craig, Another excellent post! I stopped midway and watched the video and I agree, it goes well with WBT strategies! I can't imagine anyone falling asleep during one of your messages! Here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus!
Craig MuttonMay 24, 2015 at 11:38 AM Thanks, Michelle. I appreciate the fact that you accept my work as I try to apply WBT to my own situation and engage it from my particular perspective. If these exercises have done one thing, they have led me to own each facet of WBT by inspecting, analyzing and then synthesizing it into my circumstance. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Thinking about my own teaching tendencies, I wish to activate all brain areas that promote learning. I most likely would choose the right side of the brain incorporating the arts into my teaching. I least likely wish to activate the emotional part of the brain unless it is because my students are overwhelmed with happiness.
As an artist and a musician, I have grown to learn the importance of advancing my instruction with the arts on the right side of the brain incorporating kinesthetic movement, singing, dancing, and acting answers out. I love whole brain teaching! I also try to make my students into thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci using the prefrontal cortex: reasoning, planning, and decision making. Taking their thinking further by physically acting out their thoughts with movement would use the motor cortex along with other chosen areas.
When my children choral read, they are using the visual cortex to see, Wernicke’s area to understand language, and Broca’s area to speak. To move the lips and mouth, they use the motor cortex. If I have my students incorporate hand gestures, they will use kinesthetic movement dominated by the motor cortex. This is utilizing more of the brain than just a single student reading and the class following along.
Simply, I wish for my students to use the whole brain and not overuse any specific parts because I value the arts. I, however, love building dendrites all over, sometimes favoring the right side of the brain, because of my love for the arts.
Regina, Adding the various activities to stimulate all the varied parts of the brain helps the students as they experience repetition, movement, fun (limbic system) and critical thinking! Your background in music and art will fit in well with the whole purpose of WBT! Here are 25 certification points!
The human brain is the most important and fascinating organ of the human body. Understanding how the brain works is imperative to teachers in supporting students in the classroom, since the brain is where the learning happens! Thinking back to my own educational experience as a child, I vividly remember the teachers that positively impacted my life. I feel that these teachers understood the human brain and worked continuously to improve their knowledge in that area. From learning how to play the recorder in order to learn fractions in 2nd grade, dissecting ocean creatures to learn about cells and organs in 5th grade, to cooking gourmet foods in order to learn about measurements in home economic class in 7th grade, these lessons are memorable to me today because my teachers took the time to involve me in the educational process. The different areas in my brain were fully activated and the lessons were engraved into my long-term memory, and they molded me into the teacher I have become today. This chapter inspired me to further analyze my own teaching tendencies, and reflect on what I can do differently in the classroom to help activate all areas of my students’ brain.
As a teacher, I feel I have effectively activated the Visual Cortex of my students’ brains. I am a visual learner myself, and I believe that many teachers teach the way they learn themselves. Before Whole Brain Teaching, I activated the Visual Cortex in my students by providing them with pictures, PowerPoint, graphic organizers, a print-rich environment, anchor charts, highlighters, colors/colored pencils, and videos to enhance lessons. Another area of the brain I feel I effectively activated was Wernicke’s area. My students used this area when they were reading and listening. Even though I do not feel I effectively activated the other areas, I know I tried, but it was not done consistently. I would attempt to teach as much as I could in a short period of time, not giving my students sufficient reflective opportunities in the classroom and time for repetition in order to store information into their long-term memory.
Now, as I have implemented Whole Brain Teaching strategies into my lessons, I feel I am activating every area of my students’ brains consistently. In addition, I have been focusing more on the quality of my lessons versus the quantity. I have learned that if I want new learning networks to develop in my students’ brain, I need to give my students ample processing time. As Chris Biffle states, “Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning.” Many parents have shared that their children love going to school because I make learning fun. That in itself shows the effectiveness of Whole Brain Teaching and the impact the strategies have in the developing brain. My wish is that I am to my students what some of my former teachers were to me: an inspiration. This chapter motivated me to continue to research the human brain so that I can better understand my students.
Motor Cortex: Making Gestures, Teach/Okay!, and The Five Classroom Rules, Mirror Visual Cortex: Seeing Gestures, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Hands and Eyes, Mirror Pre-Frontal Cortex: Class-Yes!, Teach/Okay!, and The Five Classroom Rules Broca’s Area: Speaking, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Switch Wernicke’s Area: Listening, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Switch Limbic System: The Scoreboard, Having Fun
Gricelda, Well done! Allowing that processing time and implementing the repetition activities will most certainly bring the lessons up several notches and allow for more understanding. I'm glad you were motivated to continue the research, it is so interesting to learn about the brain! Here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus!
As a visual, kinesthetic learner myself, I often create hands on, engaging lessons and activities in which the students learn by doing. Even before discovering WBT, I often used TPR, total physical response, as the core of my Spanish lessons. Using gestures, and physical connections between the target language and the body, the students created lasting associations between new vocabulary and meaning. With the addition of WBT to my teaching repertoire, I have added Mirrors, Teach-Ok, and Switch to reinforce and maximize vocabulary instruction and student involvement. Additionally, the students use picture cues, T charts, interactive notebooks, and semantic maps labeled in Spanish to correspond to the vocabulary. With certainty, I activate the motor cortex, visual cortex, and Broca’s and Wernicke’s area.
At the start of each school year, I ask each student to complete a survey that best describes his/her learning style. I am cognizant of the wide range of abilities and learning preferences and have always tried to hit the multiple intelligences in my lessons. At the closure of each unit, the children work in stations that require group work, reasoning, planning and decision making in a variety of formats. In this way, I activate the prefrontal cortex and allow the children to apply new vocabulary in meaningful ways. Examples might include, planning a vacation to a Spanish speaking country using Spanish vocabulary about the weather, clothing, money, food, etc…, or creating a Spanish review game. It has been my personal experience that the more I engage the “whole learner”, the more effective the lesson proves to be. The lesson offers repetition and reinforcement in a variety of ways; therefore, the children are met with far more success.
Bethann, Nice job! It sounds like you have a fantastic classroom and I imagine the children love being in there! I like your ideas to active the prefrontal cortex in your vocabulary instruction! Here are 25 certification points.
Thank you Michelle! I am excited to continue using WBT to enhance my lessons. I will be starting a book club in my own school to kick start WBT within our district. Many teachers have expressed an interest in learning more after seeing how effective the techniques have been.
In my classroom I am most likely to activate the visual cortex. I attribute this to the fact that I am such a visual learner. I often activate the motor cortex as well. I can see this through my love of “teach-okay!” I enjoy giving my students gestures and asking them to teach a classmate. I think that activity has really increased engagement in my class and helped those students who are very chatty. I believe that I am least likely to activate the prefrontal cortex, controlling decision making, planning and focus of attention. I need to focus on making sure that I am doing “class-yes” so that I can gain my students’ attention before I move on to something else. I think this will help keep everyone in my classroom on the same page and help my students make better behavior decisions. I love that Whole Brain Teaching incorporates the entire brain so that there is no extra room for misbehavior. I need to make sure that I am activating the different areas of the brain so that I can fully take advantage of this program. -Courtney Wood
Courtney, Good job! You can challenge yourself this year to focus on activating the prefrontal cortex! You will be amazed at the leaps in growth that you will see in your class! Here are 25 certification points!
I use a lot of songs as a means to teach language and vocabulary. I always add a lot of gestures and movement to ensure both understanding and fun!
Several years ago, I discovered a learn-to-read program “Bien Lire et Aimer Lire”. The woman who developed this program had struggled with learning to read in her youth. As an adult, she noticed that her two children were following in her footsteps. In this program, she assigned a gesture for every sound in the French language. I was amazed at how well my students were able to retain the letter names and sounds as soon as I added a gesture to the lesson!
After reading Chapter 5, I realize that I already activate several areas of the brain. In using gestures and movement, I have been activating the motor cortex and the visual cortex as well as both Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Furthermore, I have always strived to make school fun. In the light of what I learned in this chapter, I can also say that I regularly activate the limbic system.
Despite the fact that I can honestly say that I activate all of those areas of the brain, I don’t think that I do it consistently all day, every day. I don’t activate the prefrontal cortex first in order to maximize learning. I don’t give them the opportunity to reteach to their peers to confirm their knowledge and understanding. I don’t have the students mirror enough.
I think the fact that I had already started using gestures and movement in my class is part of what made WBT attractive to me. I see WBT as a natural enhancement to my own teaching tendencies.
Christina, It appears that you have a good grasp on the elements of WBT and a great plan to maximize them this year! Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
I have been using Whole Brain Teaching since I started teaching in 2008. I tend to be very active in my teaching, using gestures and having the students teach each other, but I am most likely reaching the motor cortex and visual cortex the most. Especially when I taught 1st grade, these areas were covered! I even think that I do a pretty good job of getting that ‘limbic system fun’ in there! The students teaching each other activates Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area as they speak and listen to each other. We do a lot of cooperative learning throughout the day and their conversations definitely play a big part in how much they absorb and retain. However, the prefrontal cortex is the area that I need to really engage more as I have now moved to teaching fourth grade and they are required to think so much deeper and with much higher thinking skills. I am excited about learning more and experimenting more with the ‘Lecture Sketch’ that was introduced at the conference. I think that ‘Mirror Words’ (and all the variations) is fantastic, but I love the idea of having a few key terms on the board, speaking quickly about them with examples, and then having the kids paraphrase their understanding immediately of the concept. Especially when they have to explain it ‘forwards, backwards, and inside out’!
You will see that 4th graders will need the limbic system stimulated in order to get them to buy-in to anything you ask of them. They become emotionally driven at this age and you seem to have some great ideas on how to do this effectively. Here are 25 certification points. I can't wait to hear how your year goes in 4th grade!
Prior to any Whole Brain Teaching my classroom was that of a chaotic unorganized mess. I often spent time saying things like I’ll wait until you are ready and clip down. Many of my lessons were teacher lead with various turn and talks but there was a lack of hands on experiences and group work. These teaching tendencies primarily utilize the Wernicke’s area and the Broca’s of the brain. I would often find myself using the smart board for videos and presentations, which utilizes the visual cortex part of the brain. Even though smart boards were meant to be interactive mine was always breaking and the touch didn’t work so my students lacked the opportunity to interact with the technologies. But by the time Christmas came I realized that many of my students were off task and lacked engagement in the content. As a beginning teacher whose school focuses on scripted lessons, it wasn’t until whole brain teaching that I realized the importance of utilizing all parts of the brain even if it means changing the scripts to fit the needs of my students. With whole brain teaching my students now are able to utilize all aspects of the brain and my administration is amazed with the difference it has made in my classroom! When I use attention grabbers like Class, Yes! Or Tootsie Roll Lollipop I am activating the prefrontal cortex of the brain for my students. When I have my students use teach okay or mirror words my students are storing their newly learned content into their long-term memory. No matter what aspects of the Big Seven or WBT you are using, you are giving all your students the chance to engage and therefore utilize all aspects of the brain, even those that are often left forgotten.
Nicole, It seems as if you have a pretty good idea of the areas of the brain that you activate. I have seen many teachers look for the structure and engagement that you are talking about. It is amazing that the Big Seven impacts students in such an amazing way! Here are your 25 certification points.
Over the years my teaching style has evolved. Study of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences early on made me a believer in the value of addressing students through multiple modalities to better engage them in the learning process. Unfortunately, just a belief in the value of this approach has not resulted in effectively implementing as many modalities as I would have liked.
My natural teaching tendencies most commonly activate students’ visual cortex and the Wernicke’s Area of their brains. The visual cortex is activated through the use of visual supports and models. Often these take the form of anchor charts or the use of manipulatives. My use of lecture activates students’ Wernicke’s Area due to its correlation to hearing and language comprehension.
Due to the surprising lack of common sense that seems to plague our society, I highly value an educational process that engages a student’s pre-frontal cortex. I have been working to incorporate more opportunities for decision-making and personal accountability in my classroom, thereby helping students to grow more dendrites and learn more in the critical areas of reasoning and decision-making. WBT is the perfect complement to this focus, helping to raise student awareness of how their behaviors and decisions affect themselves and others.
Finally, the other brain area that I struggle to activate in students is the motor cortex. I know how valuable and effective it is to use movement in learning, I just have less experience teaching in this way. I look forward to increasing my students’ fun and learning by more frequently (and effectively) activating the motor cortex. WBT’s approach will make this an attainable goal.
Traci, Adding the mirror/words and the gestures will get the motor cortex moving and the smiles will follow! Your class will love these strategies! Here are 25 certification points!
When thinking about my teaching tendencies in relation to the different areas of the brain, I would say that my I am more likely to activate the visual cortex and Wernicke’s area. I teach an elementary sped group of students that typically benefit from everything being visual. I also activate the Wernicke’s area more so than other areas of my student’s brains. When I give them information, either visually or verbally, I expect that they are taking that information in a will process and respond appropriately. Unfortunately, there are areas of the brain that I probably don’t activate when teaching lessons. When I teach, I don’t activate the hippocampus as much as I need to. This year, my plan is to get my students up and experience the lesson in a variety of ways. Also, I don’t think I activate the prefrontal cortex enough. I just give directives. While that is ok, I would love to begin to offer some more moments to work on decision making and also emotional regulation. I think that teachers are in the classroom to help produce lifelong learners that can go and contribute to society later in their life. At this point, I feel that our students are not really ever given moments to make true decisions. We tell them every step, every direction, and even what to write on. Really their only choice is whether or not they will comply with our directions.
Jana, Since your students like the visuals, make sure you check out Coach B's fantastic ebooks on the main website. They are full of colorful slides! As you pointed out, getting your students up and moving and focusing more on critical thinking will empower them! Nice job, here are 25 certification points!
If I am thinking about my current teaching, without WBT, I am most likely to activate the visual cortex, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. I feel that I learn best with visual things and that is what is easy for me. I use a lot of visual graphics, computer slide shows, and anchor charts. I do a great job of talking to my class so the Wernicke’s area was well utilized in my students. I realize now that I probably lectured too much to my first graders. The limbic system was well utilized by my challenging students this year when they had a hard time controlling their emotions. I activate these areas in isolation and not as a cohesive unit. I am least likely to activate the prefrontal cortex and the motor cortex. I teach first grade and I don’t always wait for them to make their own decisions or problem solve to their full ability. I used to think that I did a good job of using the motor cortex but that will be something that I improve upon when implementing WBT. I plan to have a lot more movement in my class this year. Charisse Norton
On reflecting upon my years of teaching, I realize that while teaching kindergarten I did an excellent job of having my students learn using their whole brains. We used our motor cortex, our visual cortex, and the Broca and Wernicke areas. We were having so much fun our limbic area and prefrontal cortex were definitely engaged. While we were repeating, mirroring, and using our arms and legs to move to songs, our whole brains were engaged. We worked in groups and partners. Our work was hands-on, and exploratory. I even used the five whole brain teaching rules, and “Class.” When I was moved up to a second grade classroom I let go of most of these great activities. We did work in partners frequently, but often that work ended up being more disruptive than productive. I was faced with a group of children with some real behavior problems and my reaction was to become more rigid. This resulted in more control but the teaching and learning were definitely not fun for anyone. My students were using their visual cortex for seeing and remembering. We were accessing both the Borca and Wenicke areas as we discussed vocabulary. Certainly some behavior mirroring went on. But things could have been so much better. As I implement whole brain teaching this year I am looking forward to engaging the whole brain of my students. I am expecting my students and I will once again find learning to be fun and engaging.
Susan, How wonderful that you have had the opportunity to see what a huge difference WBT really does make in the classroom! I'm excited for you as you head into this year with all of your tools in your back pocket to help bring the "funtricity" back into your classroom! *You had one spelling error in the second paragraph (Broca). Here are 25 certification points!
With background and degrees in both Art and Literature, I tend to lead instruction with a combination of visual and auditory teaching styles. I connect Literature to songs, artwork and videos frequently. (Surprise! I'm a right-brain learner/teacher!) About five years ago, another teacher and I were discussing our learning styles as part of the National Writing Project. I realized that my classroom was overflowing with visual stimuli. I convinced my janitors to change my white walls into “cafe latte” and promised that I would only hang a smattering of art prints permanently on the plaster walls in place of the chaotic, plastic-coated rainbow that covered my room. It’s been calmer ever since. I still utilize posters, videos, diagrams etc, but they are used in direct correlation to my lessons, not randomly tossed on a wall because the space needs filled.
The area of my instruction that I still need to work on is meeting the needs of my kinesthetic learners. My use of WBT methods last year helped me see the benefits of adding more gestures and movement in the classroom. My kiddos moved throughout the classroom and small groups more easily after repeat, modeled movement. Gestures helped them connect with the auditory and visual stimulus and helped them be actively involved in their learning. There are few pre-printed WBT resources available for 7th/8th Literature and Language Arts so I rely on my knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) --and the online dictionary reference-- to create gestures to match key components of my lessons. The kids also like to make up their own gestures and I plan on using their artistic abilities to create the Power Pix for our vocabulary wall this year. I love how movement is becoming a more integral part of my classroom!
Juliann, Using the ASL reference to help make your own gestures and Power Pix will be helpful as they learn content! Adding more movement will not only activate their motor cortex, but also their limbic system!! Here are 25 certification points!
As a veteran kindergarten teacher , I have seen all kinds of bandwagons that have been jumped on. There has been letter people, whole language, letter a week, text books and even various PHONICS curriculums! My favorite literacy piece (besides WBT, of course) has been the wonderful world of Jolly Phonics. I have used this for the past ten years. It is a program used to teach reading and writing where the kiddos learn 42 sounds. The magic in this is there are actions, songs, posters and stories that go along with each sound. BABAM!.... right there we tackle the motor, visual, Wernicke, and Broca cortex and areas. That is why the Jolly Phonics program has been so successful in our kindergarten day. The more brain areas that are engaged the more awesome learning happens. The kids just get it!!! We repeat each song and action a day and then introduce another so they are dipped in dendrite growth like crazy. It is awesome. It goes hand in hand with what WBT is promoting. I would say over the years the least activated area of the brain in my room is the limbic system. My babes are happy and get along well, but I haven't associated the brain function of the SIW and the Scoreboard until today. I think it is great to get emotions working in your favor for positive classroom management and growth. I plan to continue using all of the WBT strategies that I have implemented. I saw great things with the Genius ladder and the oral writing we did in the beginning!! using the gestures there was key to the transfer to paper. I love it to pieces!!!! What a great thing:)
I teach second grade and I love drama and acting, so I incorporate a lot of movement and acting out concepts into daily lessons. I try to give students a little bit of information then a movement activity. I believe that the motor cortex is the area of the brain I feel that I am most likely to activate in my students. I feel that the limbic system would be the one part of the brain that I need to ensure I am activating more. I feel that the way I teach is fun and engaging, but sometimes days can get long and boring too. Activating the emotional center of the brain can help my students to make the information more concrete into their brains.
Geni, That's wonderful that you are including a lot of movement in your lessons! Using the gestures to reinforce core content is a great way to tie that movement in with your lesson. Using other WBT techniques will help activate the limbic system - it's fun and educational! Here are 25 certification points!
Chapter five really educated me on different parts of the brain and how they work. The prefrontal cortex is in charge of our decisions and why we make them. The visual cortex in the back of the brain is also known as the “seeing brain” and helps us remember so much information because images are stored there. The motor cortex is what amazes me the most. This is the brain’s most reliable memory area. This is why I can still remember entire routines I learned in high school on the dance team. Practicing the over and over caused them to be stored in my motor cortex. Reading this information and connecting it to my own life during my reflections made me realize that I need to get my students using gestures and movements to learn big concepts I want them to remember. There is not one part of the brain alone that is dedicated to memory. All parts must work together for the best memory and learning to take place. Last year, before I learned so much about Whole Brain Teaching, my students did a lot of “turn-and talks” which is similar to “teach, ok!” without the movements. Because of this, my students were only storing information in their auditory cortex. This year, I am incorporating much more movement in the classroom. We come up with motions for vocabulary words, and math strategies. When we do “teach, ok” the students are expected to use gestures and motions while teaching their partner about a concept. This way, more parts of the brain are activated including visual, auditory, and motor. I have noticed a huge difference in my student’s learning since I have integrated more movement in the classroom. They are more engaged, and everyone happily participates because it is fun!
Brooke, Isn't it amazing how much more your students will recall just from talking, repeating, and using movements? Not only are they engaged in the conversation, you will also notice less off task behavior and unmotivated students. It doesn't matter if you have the perfect gesture or if you just have your students make up movements as they go, the movement is the key! Here are your 25 certification points.
Reflecting over a typical day in my classroom and the interactions my students have with me and with each other in the learning environment, it becomes increasingly clear that I am most likely to activate my students through their visual cortex and some of Wenicke’s area. Basically, my students spend the majority of their time seeing and listening. Sure, I pepper in some kinesthetic activities based in the logic of mirror neurons, and occasionally I have them “turn and talk” to discuss an answer with a peer, but both are the minority activities. Knowing that “the more brain areas [that are] involved… the deeper and more lasting the learning [is],” it becomes painfully obvious that I am doing my students a disservice and using, on average, less than half of the brain areas available! Good thing realization is the first step toward correcting that mistake!
Catherine, Adding the limbic system (Funtricity) and implementing the Teach/Okay are good beginning steps as you activate more areas of the brain. As teachers, we tend to talk more than needed and the kids love having the opportunity to do the teaching themselves! Here are 25 certification points!
The areas of the brain that my students are most likely to activate would be the visual cortex and the Wernicke’s area. Students activate the visual cortex when they are reading in their books or reading what is written on the board. The students activate the Wernicke’s area when they are listening to me lecture. I now realize that I am not activating as many parts of the brain as possible within my students. As a result, students are having a difficult time paying attention, grades are going down, and behavioral problems are going up. It is vital that I target the areas that I need improvement on as a teacher so that I can help my students use their whole brain during learning. The areas that I am least likely to activate in my students is the Broca’s area and the motor cortex. I tend to discourage students from using the Broca’s area because typically it is being used when students are talking out of turn in class. I love the “Teach-Okay” strategy because it gives the students the opportunity to talk to one another with permission! They are also given the opportunity to play the role of the teacher as they teach their peer a concept. The motor cortex is an area that I do not activate enough within the classroom. Giving students the opportunity to move around instead of sitting in their desk for each period would help keep them awake, focused, and energized. I believe that “Teach-Okay” and “The Five Classroom Rules” are two, wonderful ways to activate the motor cortex. Now that I have reflected upon my own teaching practice, I can now make the changes to ensure that students are using their whole brain during learning instead of just a part!
Hannah, Your students will love having more opportunity to talk in class (Broca) and activating the limbic system (fun/emotions) will help them look forward to your lessons everyday! Here are 25 certification points.
Since introducing my students to Whole Brain teaching methodologies nearly two years ago, I am more aware of the impact these practices have on the brain. Understanding how the brain takes in information and how various activities affect it are truly amazing. Within the classroom arena, my strong teaching abilities lie in the area of applying five out of the Big Seven powerful Whole Brain Teaching techniques. My weaker areas lie with the “The Scoreboard” and “Switch”. In stating that, I know that during the course of a day I am helping to activate major parts of the brain. The students’ prefrontal cortex is activated when I ask for their attention through either “Class-Yes” or “Hands and Eyes”. Both of these strategies require their attention which occur through this decision making part of the brain. When they are asked to teach each other a concept through “Teach-Okay” the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, as well as the limbic system are activated. These areas include seeing, movement, verbalizing, hearing, and emotional wellness. When our classroom rules are reviewed, either at the beginning of the day or when needed throughout the day, all five of the major areas of the brain are activated, including the mirror neurons which play an important role in overall learning. These neurons are also activated when the students mirror my actions and words. As the weeks have progressed, my ability to guide my students through these activities has become more developed. At this time I find myself still struggling with “The Scoreboard” which is directly linked to the limbic system. While I now understand that this strategy affects their emotional center, I know that I need to further develop this skill. And while my students can manage “Teach-Okay”, an official switch of partners does not always happen. Is this because partners are not always looking and listening when their partner is teaching? This area requires further investigation as well, and may need reteaching and remodeling. Upon reflection and understanding of how the brain works and how I am supporting my students’ learning every day, I realize how far my teaching has progressed with the addition of Whole Brain techniques. I shudder to think about past years that did not include any of these strategies, but will keep my eyes focused on my target - Whole Brain Teaching perfection!
Excellent response, Nicole! Understanding which specific parts of the brain are impacted by our instructional choices helps us better reach our students' needs. Make the Scoreboard one of your goals on your card on the Super Improvers Team...students love that even the teacher has a card on that wall, even though they don't know what goals you have set for yourself! When your class is not participating at the level you expect, use Right Way/Wrong Way to model your expectations. If it is the same two to three students having difficulty, you might seat them with partners that will inspire them. You may also set a personal goal for a student on the Super Improvers Team. Here are 25 points!
Thank you so much, Nancy! As I always do, I will refocus for Monday and make some changes within my room. I so appreciate your thoughts - I truly desire to use WBT effectively throughout my day.
Tonya Hackett As I read Chapter 5 from Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids by Chris Biffle about the different parts of the brain involved in learning, I was reminded of Eric Jensen’s book, Teaching With the Brain in Mind, and how important it is to teach to as many of those learning styles as possible. I love how Biffle added to my understanding of how the different brain areas synergize in order for deep understanding and memorization to work. Up to this point, I have mostly taught lessons that engage the motor cortex brain area - especially if I was in a crunch for time - because somewhere along my education journey, I learned that most students are kinesthetic learners. I now see that deeper understanding outweighs skimping on teaching to multiple learning places in the brain just to save time. “The more brain areas involved, the more dendrites are grown, the deeper and more lasting your learning.”-Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids By keeping all this in mind while lesson-planning using the WBT Big Seven, I will reach all these brain areas, including the Broca’s area (crucial in speaking) where in past, I have neglected the most. I am most excited about using the teaching technique, Teach-Okay, to get kids using metacognition; talking about their thinking and teaching what they are gaining a deeper understanding for. I love that this is done with the whole class at the same time. One student isn't doing most of the talking and Teach-Okay eliminates the "we don't have enough time to listen to everyone" problem. Why is it that new “teacher” knowledge is almost always followed by an overwhelming sense of guilt for former students? I will keep the powerful image of a tree creating many roots to remind me of the importance of reaching each brain area. I am thrilled to now have tools from WBT to grow dendrites!
Tonya, Using Teach/Okay will transform your classroom! It is one of my favorite WBT tools. It keeps every child engaged and allows you to move quickly throughout the room assessing their understanding. Great post! Here are 25 certification points!
I’ve been using Whole Brain Teaching for a few years and was trained more thoroughly during last summer’s conference. In addition, I have had teacher training through the Ron Clark Academy. I feel I do a pretty good job of engaging all areas of the brain a lot of the time. After reviewing Chapter 5, I see my strengths are using the learning strategies of Class-Yes (prefrontal cortex), Teach-Okay (all areas of the brain), and Mirror (mirror neurons, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, limbic system). When I honestly reflect on my teaching, I feel my weakest area of focus would be the limbic system and motor cortex. I fail to utilize The Scoreboard to its highest potential. By improving my use of this strategy, I would add more fun to the class and use the limbic system more effectively. In addition, I need to enforce use of gestures (motor cortex) when students are teaching one another. I have some students who dislike using gestures and I let them slide when I know they are teaching accurate information with their words. After reviewing the functions of the brain, I see that all students could benefit from using gestures. I can use the Scoreboard to reinforce the use of gestures!
Kimberely, So happy that you've been able to attend the national conference AND the Ron Clark ones....super wonderful! It sound like you are doing a great job implementing the program in your classroom! Keep up the great work! Here are 25 certification points!
Note to reader: Please be aware I am from Scotland and therefore certain words have UK spellings. For example, I will write revolutionised instead revolutionized, and colour instead of color.
Class-Yes was the first Whole Brain Teaching tool I employed, and it is still my most used classroom management tool. It is an effective switch to turn on the pre-frontal cortex, the brain’s boss, and there is no finer sight than all those eyes laser beaming into mine, ready for learning.
The rules rehearsals in my class are wonderful brain activators. These regularly stimulate the visual and motor cortices, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and the brain’s mirror neurons. It is wonderful to see the beneficial effects mirroring positive behaviour has on my dwindling clique of rebels. The mirror neurons of my children are also highly active when I use ‘mirror-words’ and, more recently, ‘magic mirrors’ (woo!), during a lesson. Off task behaviour is eradicated with this truly whole brain engagement technique.
Teach-Ok has revolutionised the levels of engagement in my class, and has beyond doubt enhanced the student transferal of information from short to long-term memory. This method activates all the same brain areas as the rules rehearsals. I must strive to continue planning lessons where I micro lecture then use Teach-Okay, and be careful not to slip back into talking too long, as this would only leave areas of the brain disengaged and ready to dream up off task behaviour.
The area of my students’ brains I need to activate more is the limbic system. This is because I have not been working through the levels of the scoreboard properly. I have not been using this perfectly honed WBT creation to its full potential. This has resulted in habituation among my students and a dip in scoreboard enthusiasm. I will refresh my knowledge of the scoreboard’s many levels by watching Coach B’s webcast and remember to use more fun bursts to really jack up the fun and energy.
Quentin, Once you get into the habit of using the scoreboard on a regular basis, it will become one of your favorite tools! Coach B talks more about it in his 2nd book, pages 41-48! Nice job, here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus (per email).
Chapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brian Teaching July 6, 2016
Reflecting on my own teaching tendencies I would definitely say that the visual cortex would be my most likely area to activate in my students. I teach kindergarten and for EVERY lesson I use either an anchor chart or Biffy Tunes. I love using the Biffy Tunes because it is a visual that I can put up all year long and refer back to for different lessons. I know that I am a visual learner so maybe that is why the visual cortex is easiest for me to activate in my students. My other strength in my classroom would be utilizing the “mirror words” and in turn, activating the Brocas area that produces language. I find speaking in short amounts of time and having the kids repeat my words to their partner transfers that information from short term memory to long term memory with repetition. The part of the brain I am least likely to activate in my students would have to be the motor cortex. I love using motions when I teach and I activate the motor cortex well during the 5 rules at the beginning of the school day. However, as the day goes on my motions start dwindling while teaching. My kids are great at repeating during “mirror words” but show little/no motions during that time. I have tried giving smiley face points and even stars on their behavior cards. I know that if I would be more consistent every day I would see improvement. I can’t wait for the next school year to begin and start making these changes in my classroom!
Britta, You will love the results you will see when activating the motor cortex during the day! It will keep you on your toes, and the kids will love the energy in the lessons! Here are 25 certification points!
As a new-comer teacher, I do a lot of gestures, visuals, and repetition. Motor cortex is active in the brain because of making gestures and visual cortex is engaged by seeing gestures. I use gestures and visuals for all subjects. I see my students using gestures and visuals around the room on a daily bases. I love how “Mirror-Mirror” helps students learn by mirroring the gestures and activities of others. Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning. I try not to talk much because I know I will lose my students. So more my students repeat lessons using descriptive gestures, the more students are engaged. The part of the brain that I am least likely to activate is the limbic system in my lessons. I need to connect more from the limbic system to the prefrontal cortex. I feel like I don’t give enough emotional content in my lessons. I love how the scoreboard helps with the limbic system. When I mark a Smiley or a Frowny on the scoreboard, students feel a small, positive or negative feeling. At the highest level of the scoreboard, challenging kids can’t fail because there’s no failure involved. The brain on whole brain teaching helps with techniques that help with challenging students and their brains. I can’t wait for the school year to start so I can better implement the powerful Big Seven teaching techniques.
Katlen, Chapter 5: Using the limbic system will become second nature to you very quickly~ you will find it makes your day more pleasant and the kids will be more engaged/connected during your lessons. Nice job, here are 25 certification points! **See note above for chapter 4 points
My instinctive teaching tendencies lean towards the very old fashioned lecture and direct instruction. Therefore, the brain areas I was reaching the most were the visual cortex, as I expected them to look at me, and the Wernicke area, as I expected them to listen to and understand my spoken words. Since I teach first grade, I do make use of some videos for singing and dancing during brain breaks. I also make use of some coloring, cutting, and gluing activities. These things reach the prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, and the limbic system. Unfortunately, my use of them was neither frequent enough nor consistent enough. And none of these things contributed to better classroom management or to improved student behavior. I became aware of WBT near the beginning of last school year, and I was hesitant to enact much of it due to lack of confidence. Last year was my first full year of teaching, and I was still struggling with virtually every aspect of my day. Before Christmas I limited myself to implementing class-yes, mirror words (all three mirrors), and teach-ok. After Christmas, I added the Super Improver Wall and the scoreboard. In April last year I introduced some oral writing gestures. This is when I first felt the full power of WBT. The kids initiated aspects of WBT more than I did, and more areas of the brain were reached more often. Ken Dukes
Ken, I love that the kids initiated WBT! It will be a game changer in your class this year if you start it slowly and just keep adding the techniques as the year progresses! You will gain confidence quickly as you see what a difference it makes! Here are 25 certification points!
When considering how I taught prior to using Whole Brain Teaching (WBT), I realize that I failed to tap into many areas of my students’ brains. Most often, I utilized the visual cortex, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area through lecture and discussion. I even was able to meet the needs of the limbic system at times by trying to make the content interesting and using expression as I taught. However, most of the time, even those parts of the brain were used separately—rarely ever all at once. I failed to use the motor cortex much at all as well as the prefrontal cortex. Students didn’t get an opportunity to reason. We did use partners frequently, but looking back on those days, I know that even those experiences were not as beneficial as they could have been. My poor students must have been bored out of their minds! I don’t remember much repetition in my years prior to WBT. I bet my students’ dendrites were stagnant much of the time. They didn’t have the opportunity to share information with each other or express their understandings. I love that Teach/Okay offers the opportunity to share and repeat understandings and activates so many parts of the brain! I know now that the more areas of the brain involved in learning, the more dendrites are going to grow. When I reflect on those years prior to WBT, I see how stressful that time was for me. With WBT, I’ll never end another year feeling as hopeless as I once did. -Ashley Woody
Ashley, Those dendrites will be growing and your kids will be hopping with excitement as you activate all these areas! Your lessons will be more engaging and your kids will shine! Here are 25 certification points!
Replies to previous posts not yet scored:
ReplyDeleteKimberly GandrupSeptember 8, 2013 at 3:49 PM: Great job incorporating WBT techniques to increase your student’s breain engagement! Here are 25 CP for you!
mochalalaSeptember 8, 2013 at 4:09 PM: Karlyn, nice job! You have a good handle on how the brain works, and a plan for improving as you move forward. Be careful with writing errors, there are several in this piece. Here are 10 CP for you!
Cathy GibsonSeptember 8, 2013 at 4:45 PM: Cathy, glad to hear that your year with WBT is starting off on the right foot! You have many writing errors in this piece, and didn’t fully respond to the prompt. Unfortunately you won’t earn any CP for this, but keep trying!
kristi suarezSeptember 8, 2013 at 7:24 PM Kristi, great job! Reflection is key to growth. It sounds like your students are really going to benefit from your drive to improve using WBT techniques! Here are25 CP for you!
Debby Parker
ReplyDeleteWhole Brain Training
Assignment 2
After reading chapter five I was surprised to learn that there are so many different parts of the brain and that they all have separate functions. The prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain that I activated frequently in my students. I taught kindergarten for many years and I used various strategies to gain the attention of my students so we could begin an activity quickly and lose as little instructional time as possible. I used hand signals along with my verbal instructions.
My students were given the opportunity to do a lot of cooperative learning and workstations. When I was doing small groups my students were peer teaching. When students are teaching each other they are using five areas of the brain, the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s are and the limbic system. Whole Brain Teaching shows us that the more teachers talk the less students listen. Students need to repeat lessons with gestures and this allows the new information being taught to stick into student’s long term memory. I involved my student’s limbic system when rewarding classroom behavior but I did not include the opportunity for them to respond orally when we used our classroom “scoreboard”.
Debby,
ReplyDeleteYour students will enjoy the "Mighty Oh, Yeah!" and "Mighty Groan" with your scoreboard, I hope you give them a try! Here are 25 certification points!
Considering my own teaching tendencies, it’s likely I activated some parts of my student’s brains more often than others. For example, I am a problem solver, decision maker and very rational. These qualities made me very comfortable with inquiry based lessons and discussions about making good decisions and rational choices. Therefore, it’s likely my student’s prefrontal cortex received the most attention. I’m also a visual learner who appreciates a structured conversation to help make sense of ideas, so my student’s visual cortex and Broca’s area were not being slighted. However, before WBT strategies, I think I was just teasing these parts of the brain. We didn’t do enough to fire up the mirror neurons, so nothing was really long term. Then, there are brain areas I probably didn’t activate much at all until WB. For instance, Wernicke’s area and the limbic system were completely neglected. Thankfully, Mirror, Teach-Okay, the five classroom rules Scoreboard and Switch can compensate for my weaknesses. Using the WB lesson template ensures that these strategies are considered, included and placed properly in lessons to help student move ideas into their long term memory.
ReplyDeleteIt’s also important for me to mention that WBT has finally presented me a means to be able to reward students in a constructive way. I always struggled with trying to find a system for rewarding students. In the past, nothing ever seemed valid in terms of teaching and learning. Now, with the WB system everything is about teaching and learning. With that being said, it’s clear to me now, I never knew how to activate the limbic system. I’m so grateful.
Rebecca Murphy
www.wbteaching.blogspot.com
Rebecca,
DeleteGood analysis of activating the parts of the brain and your teaching methods! Here are 25 certification points!
I believe that my teaching tendencies are directly correlated to my learning tendencies. I learn best by being immersed in a topic, writing, touching, moving, reading, speaking, making; essentially by doing. Therefore, I think my teaching tendency would lean towards activating brain areas that correspond to these activities. For example, if I were teaching a unit on Rocks and Minerals I would have my students handle various rocks and make observations, work with a partner to chart, compare and contrast these observations. I would display an anchor chart about important features of Rocks and Minerals. Students might make a brochure about a certain type of rock and present it to their class. These activities would activate multiple brain areas, including the Prefrontal Cortex, Motor Cortex, Visual Cortex, Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area.
ReplyDeleteThe area of the brain I may have failed to activate throughout all these activities is the Limbic System. Teaching students to have an emotional connection with Rocks and Minerals is next to, if not completely, impossible. This is the beauty of Whole Brain Teaching! Emotions may not be easily tied to inanimate objects but they can certainly be stirred during the instruction of these objects. Making gestures that correlate to Rocks and Minerals, teaching their peers about specific characteristics, or mirroring my gestures while I explain how rocks are formed, creates an emotional investment in the study of Rocks and Minerals for my students. This emotional investment is what will ultimately activate the Limbic area of the brain. Making it possible to activate all areas of students’ brains, even while teaching about unemotional topics such as Rocks and Minerals.
Elizabeth Ross
Libby,
ReplyDeleteNice post! Yes, WBT can even bring out the Limbic system when teaching about ROCKS! I teach that unit, and mine always "ooooo!" when they realize they are touching something that may be a million years old! Here's 25 points for you!
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ReplyDeleteAs an active person, I feel that my teaching strongly activates the motor cortex for my students. Before using Whole Brain Teaching I made sure my kids were physical in their learning with a lot of hands on activities. It was amazing to me to see the difference in my teaching once I started using gestures to help them remember concepts.
ReplyDeleteBefore utilizing Whole Brain Teaching, my kids didn’t have enough opportunities to use Broca’s area. They sometimes turned and talked to each other, but not enough to get the information into their long term memory. Often times, their conversations would take a different direction and have nothing to do with what I was teaching. Using Teach-Okay has been amazing! The students are able to teach each other important concepts. I can visually see if students are engaged and on topic with a glance around the room. I can come back to these concepts at a later time and the students remember the gestures and the words that go with them!
I used to gain my students attention by asking them to give me five! I honestly can’t remember what all five of the items were, but it took a long time to get there to begin my instruction. Once I got to five; I’m pretty sure my students’ prefrontal cortex was no longer engaged! Using Class-Yes and Hands and Eyes instantly grabs my students’ attention. Their prefrontal cortex is engaged and when I need their attention for something really important Hands and Eyes works wonders!
Suzanne St. Laurent
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Give Me Five! Those were the dark ages, before WBT. I bet we shave at least 3 seconds of time off our attention grabber by using Class/Yes instead! Imagine all those 3 seconds added up! Whoo-Hoo! More learning!
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteI agree, Teach/Okay is the BEST when I want to have a quick assessment of overall comprehension! Then, add in the Class/Yes, Hands and Eyes, and Mirrors and it is a happy day! Here are 25 certification points. (Save each post in a document to submit later).
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ReplyDeleteBefore this year, if anyone had asked me whether or not brains were working in my classroom, I would have answered, "Of course!" After being introduced to Whole Brain Teaching, however, I realize how false this statement would have been. Now, thanks to Class-Yes, students are activating their prefrontal cortexes multiple times a day! Mirror is used often in my classroom, especially now that students have begun using "magic mirrors." Mirror allows me to teach otherwise boring concepts in an exciting and memorable way. Students recall vocabulary and concepts for weeks at a time thanks to the gestures they use during Mirror. Teach-Okay has become one of my favorite Whole Brain Teaching tools. When students are teaching each other with big gestures, I can immediately tell who is involved and who needs further instruction. Since this technique involves five brain areas (visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the limbic system) at once, it’s no wonder students enjoy this technique too! Teach-Okay has taught me to keep my teaching short so as not to let students become disengaged. Before, I lectured for far too long, which was too much for the short-term memory of my students.
ReplyDeleteOne area that I need to improve on is the Scoreboard. This involves the limbic system of the brain. We utilized this tool heavily in the first quarter of the school year, but as Whole Brain techniques continued to create "teacher heaven," I would forget to mark Mighty Oh-Yeahs and Mighty Groans! Students were following procedures beautifully, but I realize now that they still need to engage their limbic system in order to have fun and stay engaged. After watching a webcast on the Scoreboard, I began to switch up the rewards and “amp up” the Mighty Oh-Yeahs and Mighty Groans! Doing this enabled me to rejuvenate student interest in the Scoreboard quickly. I plan to incorporate the “Mystery Road” soon. Even when things are going well in the classroom, I need to remember to continue techniques that engage the limbic system so that students continue to enjoy school.
Madeline Mahan
Madeline,
DeleteWonderful post! Isn't it wonderful to watch your classroom turn into teacher heaven as you implement WBT? Here are 25 certification points!
When reflecting on my own teaching, prior to my introduction to Whole Brain Teaching, I would have to admit that I had a tendency to lecture and talk for far too long, which primarily utilizes Wernicke’s area of the brain. Sometimes, I would have students “pair share,” which involves Broca’s area (speaking), which includes the motor cortex that activates the lips, tongue, and vocal chords. I have an interactive white board in the classroom, and when students view a presentation, I am reaching the visual cortex. Although the whiteboard is “interactive,” students aren’t given enough opportunities throughout a typical day to actually, physically “interact,” although I try.
ReplyDeleteI have a Response to Intervention classroom, and I have an instructional assistant with me. We implement small-group instruction for reading, spelling, grammar, and mathematics. During these small-group sessions, we are again, primarily focusing on Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area of the brain. We make use of personal whiteboards throughout the day, both in whole-group instruction and in our small groups; now, we’re reaching the visual cortex, and the motor cortex. Sometimes, students are given a choice of assignments, which involves the prefrontal cortex, used in decision making. I also implement song and motion whenever I can; this activates Broca’s area, the motor cortex, and, perhaps most important, the repetition of the song is building those delightful dendrites (which equals learning)!
Largely overlooked, the area of the brain I would least likely activate was (sadly) the limbic system (including the almighty amygdala). “Funtricity” was lacking. Since I began implementing Whole Brain Teaching strategies in my classroom, we are “limbering up” our limbic systems, and we are attentive to our amygdala, largely through the use of the omnipresent Scoreboard. Can I get a “Mighty Oh Yeah?”
By implementing the “Big Seven” throughout the course of the day, I am reaching different parts of students’ brains, most notably the oft overlooked motor cortex. Through mirroring and repetition, we are building bushy dendrites. I am learning techniques to not only help the challenging students learn, however, through enthusiastic implementation of Whole Brain Teaching strategies, I am building an effective classroom where all students are learning. With dogged determination, by year’s end, we hope to be drowning in dendrites!
Jacqueline Nessuno
Jacqueline,
DeleteVery nice job! Here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus!
In my pre-Whole Brain Teaching days, I tended to use hands on games and activities to engage my students in lessons. I tried to make activities fun and interesting based on the goals I was trying to get my students to reach. Never before did I specifically plan for lessons which would address those brain areas which are supposed to be engaged in the learning process. Obviously, I engaged the pre-frontal cortex (whether effective or not) because I had to obtain my student’s attention before beginning my teaching. Their motor cortex and visual cortex were engaged during the lessons as I designed lessons which incorporate my student’s movement and visual senses to make lessons meaningful to them. Because my students are special education students, many of them have language delays, so I tried (sometimes unsuccessfully) to engage Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area in lessons, but this was difficult, especially with non-verbal students or those with severe speech impediments.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that the limbic system was the area that was neglected the most in my planning and delivery of lessons. Although I tried to create lessons which the students would be excited about, this does not always correlate to an emotional connection with the content. I can see how the scorecard can generate these emotions for students, especially those positive emotions which special education students do not always get to experience in a regular education classroom. In learning the techniques used in WBT, I can now more effectively engage my students in learning meaningful lessons. The use of gestures and mirroring allows the students to not just move during lessons, but create prompts for themselves to use as reminders of their learning through muscle memory. The Teach-Okay allows them to gain the repetition needed to ensure maximum learning of concepts. These new methods are so exciting!
Amanda Blum
Amanda,
DeleteGood reflection on your strengths and weaknesses! Activating the limbic system will bring you as much joy as it does your students! Here are 25 certification points!
I feel that as I reflect upon my own teaching I am most likely to activate two distinct parts of the brain. The first is the visual cortex. I am a visual learner so I have always been big about allowing kids to “see” what I was trying to teach them. Sometimes it means I start a lesson with a popular movie clip or commercial. Other’s it means I use visual tools, like a balance scale, to demonstrate more complex ideas like the commutative property of addition.
ReplyDeleteThe second area of the brain I think that I am likely to activate is the limbic system. Being a very effective literacy teaching I have had great success with provoking deep empathy in my students to characters in stories and books. I have been able to make them cry, laugh and even get mad at the way that I have taught them to evaluate literature and characters at a deeper level.
The areas I am least likely to activate are probably the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex. Unfortunately, I have done a lot of “telling” in my day and not always allowing my first grade students to reason or make their own decisions about things. I also have always been surrounded by educators who have their students sitting quietly in their desk looking like model students. I was always fearful that if students were moving around my room would look like chaos in passing. This year it all changes.
Candice Phipps
Candice,
DeleteI'm quite certain that you will LOVE the changes when you implement WBT! It is wonderful to hear the academic chatter in the classroom! There was a small editing error "Being a very effective literacy teaching I". Here are 20 certification points. Save this in a document to turn in later.
I think that I am most likely to activate students’ visual cortex and Wernicke´s area because I use a lot of visuals in my classroom and I talk a lot. Unfortunately, I have become used to talking more than my students and I do not motivate them enough to use other areas of the brain like the motor cortex and Brocas area. Students get a lot of visual and auditory input and are expected to process the information they receive completely.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, students use their Brocas area during oral expression exercises or debates, but shy students are less likely to participate. Mirror is a great tool that gives students a “safe” way to practice oral skills without being embarrassed in front of the whole class. Furthermore, the Teach-Ok and PPL allow the students to practice with a partner and discreetly ask the teacher questions and make corrections.
I am least likely to activate their motor cortex. Before reading the WBT book, I always thought that my classroom was too small to do anything requiring movement. However, I can activate students´ motor cortexes by using gestures and ensuring that they use gestures during the Teach-Ok.
Adrienne,
DeleteNice analysis of your strengths and weaknesses! You will love the increase in attention and motivation as you activate these other areas of the brain on a regular basis! Here are 25 certification points to save in a word document to submit later.
Since starting with Whole Brain Teaching my teaching techniques have changed dramatically. By using the techniques I have learned I feel that I am better able to activate several areas of a student’s brain.
ReplyDeletePrior to using Whole Brain Teaching, I think that the areas of the brain I am most likely to activate in my students are the visual cortex and the limbic system. I think I was drawn to the visual cortex because it is how I learn the best which makes it the easiest and most natural way for me to teach. I think the limbic system is the next most likely area I would activate. I teach Kindergarten and the limbic system has been an easy part to activate in 5 and 6 year olds. They respond to several rewards both tangible and intangible.
I think the least likely area I would activate would be the prefrontal cortex. I think this is the area that I don’t often think of small children using. I think that, prior to learning about Whole Brain Teaching, I was so focused on being a leader that I “instructed” students rather than letting them problem solve and reason out ideas.
Now that I am using Whole Brain Teaching I feel that I am activating all areas of the brain and reaching all of my students rather than just the ones that learn the way I do.
Nichole,
DeleteIsn't it amazing to see the difference when the kiddos are activating the various areas as they happily learn?! Here are 25 certification points to save in a word document to submit later.
I believe that my teaching tendencies directly correlate with my learning style. I am a tactile learner. I have to be completely immersed into an idea to firmly grasp it. I need to see it, touch it, hear it, and experience it (if possible). I like to bring this into my classroom. Using “class- yes” and “teach- okay” are two major staples in my teaching regime. Using these methods activates the prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s Area, and Wernicke’s area of the brain. For example, using the “class- yes” attention getter focuses the class and readies the students for learning. After a brief instruction, using “teach-okay” emphasizing energetic, instructional gesturing, you engage numerous brain areas. For example, let’s take a look at a lesson on the value of money. Students will handle real coins and distinguish the features of it. Later on, students will use play money to set up a class store to practice using money to buy things. Students can apply what they are learning to real world situations. In this specific example, the Limbic System is activated. The students are giving emotional content to a lesson.
ReplyDeleteThe Limbic System in my opinion is the hardest to activate. It is difficult to give emotional content to certain topics presented in the curriculum. This is where Whole Brain Teaching comes into play! When students can take a dry topic and teach their peers about it or apply it to a real world situation, it now has meaning and they can connect with WHY they are learning these specific topics. The students have an emotional connection to even the driest of topics! Hooray for Whole Brain Teaching!
Caroline,
DeleteNice job! You might consider using the Brain Toys is an easy way to activate their Limbic System in all subjects! I love your enthusiasm for WBT, keep up the good work! Here are 25 certification points!
I have been teaching for nearly 30 years. I have mastered lecture style teaching through much repetition. This style is now engrained in me. I have introduced Whole Brain Teaching to my class this year as I am aware that the lecture style was no only boring but ineffective. I have found that it is hard to change my habits of lecture style teaching. I have found myself talking much more than I should. This all confirms what is said in Chapter 5 about the ieffectiveness of repetition. Luckily, Whole Brain Teaching is a lot of fun. It activates the limbic system that controls the motor cortex of reasoning. When lecturing, I can say to myself, “I’m not having fun, I need to change my ways!”
ReplyDeleteOf course, I want to activate the limbic system for my children. I want them to have fun while learning. As a first grade teacher, I want to build a strong, positive emotional foundation for learning. Using the gestures, activating the motor cortex, introduces another element into the lessons that are new and exciting for all. I am particularly happy with how my Special Education students react to the use of gestures. They are able to recall much more quickly when I use a gesture. The smile on their faces represents the pride they feel as they recall something that they would not have been able to using just verbal and visual cues.
John Medina in Brain Rules states the importance of using several areas of the brain at the same time to foster the growth of dendrites. Whole Brain Teaching does this- putting teachers in Teacher Heaven and students in Student Heaven. That is a Mighty OhYeah!!
Liz Howard
Liz,
DeleteI love the fact that after 30 years you are open to changing your methods and reaching the kids in a new way! You are so right, activating the limbic system makes all the difference in the world! Oops - there was a tiny typing error "lecture style was no only boring". Great post though! Here are 25 certification points!
When I think of my own teaching tendencies pre-WBT, I would say I activated the Wernikites and pre-frontal the most, with the motor cortex coming in close behind. I liked to do the teaching and having the students listen. I would often employ hands-on activities to deepen the understanding. The area I activated the least in students would be the Brocaians area. I never could figure out why everyone did not learn from this model...
ReplyDeleteAfter watching WBT videos and reading chapter 5 of ‘Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids’, I have successfully used these new-to-me strategies in my class with huge success. I believe I am now activating the pre-frontal, motor, limbic, visual, Wernikites, and Brocaians parts of my students’ brains.
Using the ‘Big Seven’ has increased my students’ engagement and learning outcomes. From the day I introduced these strategies, my students have been engrossed with them. Who ever thought something as easy as saying, ‘Class Class’, could bring your students eyes to you and quiet their mouths!? Well, Coach B obviously did. My students love doing the ‘Mirror with Words’ and ‘Teach Okay’ with the ‘Switch’.
In the past, when I taught my students nouns, adjectives, and verbs, about 5% would remember the definitions for next time. This year, by introducing them by speaking for less than 30 seconds, using big gestures, ‘Mirrors’, and ‘Teach Okay’, I had 95% of my students remembering what they are and leading the class in review. Their Wernikites area is briefly activated along with their pre-frontal and visual cortex, while I speak and then all their areas are activated when they are repeating, teaching, and listening.
“Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning.” (pg. 19) All educators and administrators need to read this. Having the students repeat short phrases with gestures over and over to each other allows them to ingrain it into their memories. This year has clearly shown me this in all areas of the curriculum.
Last week, my student teacher finished her 5 week placement with me and I asked if she learned anything. She said the ‘Class Class’, ‘Scoreboard’, and ‘Teach Okay’ were the most valuable tools she had learned all year. She used the example of the class playing ‘Mind Soccer’ on Friday afternoon. One of my very low students answered ‘What is capacity?’ perfectly, using gestures. Even my student teacher recognized that this would not have been possible using traditional teaching methods.
Bonnie Marvin
Bonnie,
DeleteIt has got to be a huge motivator for you to see your student teacher learn such meaningful lessons. It has been for me. What do you think will be the hardest part of the brain to consistently activate? Here are your 25 certification points.
That's a tough question. I guess I would have to say the Brocaian's area. I know I am activating it far more than in the past, but it is still a learning process to let students talk so much - although rewarding to hear them 'teaching'. ��
DeleteI have a tendencie to activate the limbic system first . I am very passionate in what I engage myself into and teaching English as a Second Language motivates me to try to make my students fall in love with a foreign language and its culture. It is also very important to activate Wernicke´s area to help the students understand sounds, the motor cortex in writing as well as training lips and tongue to create letter sounds , Broca´s area in pronunciation and fluency and the prefrontal cortex to reason a culture and the origin of a language different from their mother tongue. The introduction of WBT in an ESL class has been wonderful because we engage all brain cortexes to have them see, hear, speak and enjoy the process of learning on a long term memory basis.
ReplyDeleteEvery time we repeat class/yes, teach/okay, the five classroom rules, the scoreboard, Hand and eyes, switch and mirror, it involves a continuous repetition on both knowledge and pronunciation, reason and fun, making a wonderful and satisfying experience to feel dendrites growing in English! And it has a great reward to see the happy faces of my students lighting up when understanding of the language finally sinks in!
Fabiola Macias
Fabiola,
DeleteI'm so glad you are using this in your ESL classes! Repetition will really help as they conquer that second language, and with WBT it will be fun too! Watch out for spelling (tendencie), editing errors (prefrontal cortex to reason a culture and the origin of a language different from their mother tongue) and run on sentences. Here are 10 certification points for you effort! Save all of your posts and points in a word document to turn in later for certification.
Ch. 5
ReplyDeleteThe Brain on Whole Brain Teaching
Which areas of the brain are you most likely to activate? least likely to activate?
I think my teaching style has typically activated the visual cortex, the motor cortex, and the Wernicke’s area with the way that I have taught in the past. I know the Broca’s area is activated through speech and we do talk in the classroom, but I am very visual and hands-on with learning. For myself, I have to “do it” in order to retain it. My weakest area is the prefrontal cortex. I want to help so much that I often make all the decisions for my students. I am a control freak and giving them more room to do the decision-making makes me nervous, but I know that they need it. I’ve had the most fun this year with involving the limbic system! Who knew math could be so emotional! Of course, I had to become emotional first and then the kids followed. Now, the kids that once hated coming to school to learn math are looking at one another and yelling, “This math is awesome!” I owe it all to Whole Brain Teaching. I can’t wait to learn more!
Jackie Rabin
Jackie,
DeleteI love to hear that "math is awesome"! Adding the limbic system really makes a huge difference! I agree, it is really hard to give up some of the control, but they do become stronger critical thinkers when we allow them more freedom to think for themselves! Here are 25 certification points!
In my teaching, I always try to remember write it, say it, and do it. I remembered reading somewhere that students should practice a skill three different ways and this strategy was a suggestion. This strategy activates the visual cortex (seeing), Broca’s area (speaking), and the motor cortex. I was missing activating all areas of the brain at the same time. My students were not engaged because the majority of their brain was not active.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have enjoyed about WBT is that the prefrontal cortex is woken up by a simple class-yes. Teach-ok engages the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. It blows my mind that one strategy triggers five areas of the brain! This strategy also forces my students to be engaged in the lesson. No one can be a passive listener because we will keep practicing until everyone is engaged. An area of the brain that I have not covered yet is the limbic system. Whole Brain Teaching has allowed me to tune in to this area through The Scoreboard. Students love yelling a mighty oh yeah for a smiley or a mighty groan for a frown.
After reading chapter 5, I am looking forward to watching my students grow as we activate all areas of the brain.
Ashley,
DeleteIt is amazing how effective Teach/Okay is! You won't have to repeat directions to ten different kids anymore. Best of all, they are actively engaged! Here are 25 certification points!
Music performance is said to be an art that activates all parts of the brain. It is an obvious oral art form the involves the process of perceiving sound stimulus, interpreting its meaning, and tying the meaning to an emotion. Various neural pathways are activated during music making. The first and most widely used sector of the brain is the auditory cortex. While reading music involves the visual cortex, how a person plans to play or sing any note or rhythm is controlled by the prefrontal cortex. And like mentioned earlier the limbic system is involved with emotional attachment that accompanies playing or listening to music. However when it comes to music performance in the classroom setting I find I personally focus on using two sensory parts of the brain; the auditory and motor cortexes.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge kinesthetic part of teaching elementary music. The students learn more through a total immersion in the musical arts then they ever could in a lecture setting. To develop an inner sense of beat students must be physically involved in music making. They must be able to move their entire bodies in a free and uninhibited way. They must be able to move isolated body parts with ease. When a student is able to control and express free movement they will have a stronger sense of beat. Another benefit of using the primary motor cortex in music classes is its connection to other areas of the cerebrum. When students are using kinesthetic motions to act out the lyrics of a song, the brain will remember the lyrics better. It also helps the brain recognize the basic patterns of the songs the students are performing. I also begin to notice a connection between chordal harmony and the motor cortex. In my 5th grade lessons I teach basic rock and roll chord sequences. The students learn basic chord progressions from many different musical artists. I first attempted to teach these chords through paper and pencil and game up with not a lot of success. After taking advantage of the learning power of the motor cortex, my students were able to successfully play simple and complex rock and roll chord progressions. To do so we came up with more motions that represented the various chord symbols and functions.
Motor cortex is a fabulous tool to use for memorization, but the ultimate area of the brain music teachers wish to use is the auditory cortex. Many music teachers strive to reshape the auditory cortex to our liking. In music we play many “active listening” games which requires the students to use their “ears” at a high level. We want the students to process music using their entire brains to enhance the music experience. Upon pairing these games with whole brain teaching strategies I discovered that, when enhanced and activated, the auditory cortex can accomplish musical goals that were not possible. Using activities like teach ok, many young elementary school students can now identify and sing the tonic note of songs in various tonalities. This is due to the fact that they are using the auditory cortex more through whole brain teaching structures.
-Jason Thomashefsky
Jason,
DeleteWhat an exciting music class you must have! You have a great understanding of the various brain areas and how they work together to activate learning! Watch for those tiny errors "I first attempted to teach these chords through paper and pencil and game up with not a lot of success". Nice post! Here are 25 certification points!
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteThe brain area that I am most likely to activate with my students is Broca and Wernicke area. I am more prone to verbalize a lesson to my students. This is something I really need to work on because I feel that I talk entirely too much. I am hoping to change this with Teach-OK.
The area that I am least likely activate with my students and going to work on is auditory cortex. I am going to do as much hands-on and repetitive practicing as possible this year because I believe students who do, learn.
Karen,
DeleteThe repetition of directions, teach ok, etc. (auditory) and the hands on (motor cortex) will really increase the level of comprehension in your classroom! In the future, try to share more details, thoughts, reflection etc. in your posts. Here are 25 certification points.
The brain areas I activate in my students most frequently are the "Visual Cortex" and "Wernicke's Area". I believe other areas are activated, but I would like to focus on these for this response. I've identified the "Visual Cortex", because I frequently use gestures in my teaching. Secondly, I've identified the "Wernicke's Area" because it controls listening. By identifying this as one of the most activated areas of my students' brains, I've also identified my own weakness. I need to work on micro-lecturing and move away from my love of hearing my own voice! I am guilty of talking too much and too long!
ReplyDeleteOne area I believe I need to focus on more for this upcoming school year is the “Hippocampus”. Unfortunately, it is the area of the brain that is least likely to be activated during my instruction. I need to get in a better habit of having students repeat, repeat, and repeat again. Repetition is key in moving information from short term memory to long term knowledge!
Shila,
DeleteI agree, we are all often guilty of talking too much and too long! Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am very verbal, so lecture comes very natural to me. Therefore, I would have to say that before being introduced to Whole Brain teaching, I most frequently activated the Wenicke's Area in my students' brains. I do have a lot of ELL students in my class, so I use a lot of "realia" while I am lecturing. This activates my students' visual cortex. I also know the importance of movement (activating the motor cortex), so I have always tried to include some sort of movement in the teaching of every concept. I have not, however, been as purposeful as I should be in this area. My biggest weaknesses have always been activating Broca's Area and the Limbic System. I have always run a very structured classroom, so I am sad to admit that I have not allowed opportunities for a lot of conversation. Apart from pair and share and structured games or partner work, the students have not had a lot of time to talk about what they were learning. I have always known how important this is, especially with ELL students. I was just overly concerned about off-task behavior. I didn't know how to structure the conversation. Whole Brain Teaching with "Mirror Speak" and "Teach Okay" has changed all of that. My students are constantly talking and activating Broca's Area, and I still have the structure that I feel comfortable with. I love it. Whole Brain teaching has also dramatically increased the frequency with which I activate my students' LImbic System. Prior to Whole Brain teaching, my preference for lecture did not do a lot to emotionally engage my students. In addition, my management system was more negative than positive, and it did not tie directly to my instruction. Students now love to learn, and it is great to see how easy it is to create meaningful rewards that are tied directly to instruction. I can honestly say that now my students whole brains are engaged!
ReplyDeleteJoyce,
DeleteIt sounds like you have made some positive changes to your methods of instruction! I am very structured too, so I can relate to the struggle of learning to allow the students to have that conversation time. But, the more you use the WBT techniques, the easier it gets! Here are 25 certification points!
I loved reading Chapter 5 and realizing that there is a scientific basis for such common-sense practices. It just makes sense that a student who is engaged (prefrontal cortex is switched on), actively teaching and gesturing (motor cortex, visual cortex, Broca's and Wernicke's areas), and growing dendrites with newfound knowledge is going to learn and progress at an amazing pace.
ReplyDeleteThe areas that I will definitely stimulate in my student's brain are the ones I just mentioned and especially mirror neurons! I am a school administrator so I have a mixture of children and adult students. I love to do mirror words. For one thing it forces me to be clear and succinct, because if I am not they cannot repeat my words back to me.
I also love to play guitar and sing to groups of kids and adults. I find music engages many parts of people's brains. I actually wrote a song based on the five rules. Most of the students and adults at my school have the song memorized. They moved the song and the rules into long-term memory.
The one whole brain technique I struggle with is scoreboard. I keep forgetting to use it!!!!
Anyway, I hope to have many more opportunitites to practice engaging all parts of my students' brains.
Carl Rust
Carl,
DeleteWhat a wonderful idea to put the rules to music! You should definitely send a video of your song to Coach B.! He would love to see it! I agree, mirror words does make us really think about how we are speaking. Here are 25 certification points!
Finally got around to putting a video together for the rules song. Let me know what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPrQVZgxeHI&list=UUuYqUI7AQ2yvYBPEfekxmIw
DeleteCarl,
DeleteWow! I love your video! What a great idea (and you have some super cute kiddos helping you out!) Keep them coming- and share with us!
As I was reading chapter 5 I was able to think back on the area of the brain I am most likely to activate and the area I am least likely to activate. I came to this conclusion: Broca's area focuses on verbalization, getting students to talk, and interact through meaningful conversations. I believe this area is easiest to activate because students are natural verbalizers, at least most of them are. I currently teach 5th grade and as many are aware, 5th graders love to talk. They love to talk when the time is right and when the time is wrong. Once I realized how important Broca's area is in WBT, I soon figured out I have to teach my students the right and wrong time to activate their Broca's area. I know, with the use of WBT and each component that comes with it, I can positively activate this area so my students are verbalizing during more appropriate times in the classroom, times such as "Teach-Okay", the 5 classroom rules, the scoreboard, and "Switch".
ReplyDeleteThe area of the brain I am least likely to activate in my students is the Limbic System. This area focuses on emotions. 5th graders are very emotional as it is. They are going through a tough change, not only physically with puberty, but also mentally and emotionally with having to move from a classroom setting of 20+ peers to a multi-class setting of 300+ peers. It can emotionally exhaust them. The reason I feel this can be the hardest area to activate is because it is already highly activated with body changes and preconceived notions about middle school. So much is already happening in this area of the brain that it can be difficult to get some students to break their emotions away from that and transfer their emotions more positively. With that being said, I know as I work my way through implementing WBT I will find strategies that will positively benefit my students' emotions so they can learn to break free of the emotions that can seem negative and enjoy emotions that are more positive. Emotions attached to the scoreboard, the 5 classroom rules, and "Teach-Okay" are just a few examples of times when positive emotions are activated in WBT.
Ellen,
DeleteNice work! You will find that 5th graders love the WBT strategies such as the Crazy Professor, Brain Toys, Mind Soccer etc. Activating the limbic system will help them have positive behavior and even learn more because they are having fun! (I teach 5th grade too and have seen it work wonders!). Here are 25 certification points!
I love this chapter! It really brings to light why whole brain teaching works! Many of us do have teaching tendencies that only activate one or two parts of the brain at a time. By using the Whole Brain Teaching's Big Seven you will activate many parts or all parts of the brain with each teaching technique.
ReplyDeleteBefore using Whole Brain Teaching, one area that I activated regularly in my students was the prefrontal cortex. Having taught first grade for many years before transitioning to third grade, I used many different strategies to obtain student attention quickly with visual and verbal cues.
An area that I was least likely to activate before using Whole Brain Teaching was the Wernicke's area. This area is important in hearing and understanding language. Part of the problem was that I was talking too much and the kids were not talking enough. I would also give short, simple, and easy directions, yet many students still had difficulties following them. After using Whole Brain Teaching over the past year I noticed a big change. By implementing the Teach - Okay strategy, I was not only activating the Wernicke's area, but four other areas as well. Using the Teach - Okay strategy, students were actively teaching others, using their voice and gestures. My students were able to follow directions 100% better using this method than using other techniques I had used in previous years.
Again, Whole Brain Teaching techniques allow all parts of your brain to work at once. This results in a superior management system!
Heidi Baird
Heidi,
DeleteYou are right, it does result in a superior management system! Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
For years I’ve known that many students learn best by doing something and by seeing something (nonlinguistic). So I have had students moving around the room doing hands-on projects and generally trying to make concepts as concrete as possible. I also use a lot of visuals and multimedia on the Smartboard. Students are singing, constructing, discussing, and actually manipulating text or images on the Smartboard themselves. The use of images and multimedia activate the visual cortex. Hands-on projects and movement bring the motor cortex to the fore. When students are touching the Smartboard, both the visual and motor cortexes are involved.
ReplyDeleteAn area of the brain that I haven’t taken advantage of enough is Broca’s area, the speech center. I didn’t have students talk to each other about their learning. Over the past few years, as I’ve using more WBT methods, the use of this part of the brain has improved. But, I need to incorporate more speaking opportunities.
This year, as I fully implement WBT strategies, my classes will flow more smoothly and student achievement will improve because we will be making full use of their brains.
Sheryl Larson
Sheryl,
DeleteNice job! Don't forget the importance of the Limbic system as you bring the FUN of learning to your students with WBT strategies. Here are 25 points for you!
After reading Chapter 5, I feel as though I now have a clearer understanding of the brain and its complex makeup. The way Coach B. “dissected” and explained each component of the brain, along with its primary function, has caused me to reflect on my personal teaching style. One of my favorite statements that Coach B. shared at the national conference this summer was, “When every part of the brain is being used at the same time, there is no space left for any knucklehead ideas.” #sotrue
ReplyDeleteAfter 18 years of experience as an elementary teacher, I would say that I have typically been a “lecturer” type of teacher. As a result, the most common brain areas activated by my students in my classroom were the visual cortex and Wernicke’s. I would have to say that the area that was least likely activated during instruction was the motor cortex. Before attending the conference and reading Chapter 5, I would have agreed that using the motor cortex during instruction could have distracted the students’ neighbor(s) or even been a disruption to their own learning process. I have now come to realize how important it is going to be for me to adjust my teaching style so that every student in my classroom activates his or her WHOLE brain during instructional times. Although I have always been creative and highly energetic when delivering my lessons, I have now discovered that no matter how much I prepare or how much energy I put into my lessons, those challenging students probably were most likely not engaged. This also clarifies why those students typically had unsatisfactory grades and behavior.
My goal when I start the 2014-15 school year is to apply these powerful teaching techniques that are explained throughout this chapter. There is no doubt in my mind that when I put in place "The Big Seven", I will be able to say that I have gracefully entered “Teacher Heaven”!
Kelly Avery
Intern 2014
Kelly,
DeleteNice! Yes, "Teacher Heaven" is possible, even with a class of challenging students! Here are 25 points for you!
Kelly,
DeleteI agree with you about the "The Big Seven" leading to "Teacher Heaven," because your story sounds a bit like my own. I was afraid of "losing control" of the kiddos during things like "Teach! Okay!" . However, what I found is that the structure and engagement allowed the kids themselves to gain control over themselves. I gained a synchronicity with the class like never before. I'm excited for you to see the magic of "The Big Seven". Signed Jim Hobley, Wholebrainer
I had no idea there were so many parts of the brain. I am sad to say that before I began using Whole Brain Teaching I ignored most of the parts. I mainly engaged the Wernicke’s Area and the Visual Cortex. I engaged the Wernicke’s Area the most because I love talking. However, my students do not always love hearing me talk. As Coach B says, “The longer teachers talk, the more students we lose.” During my undergraduate work, my professors stressed the importance of saying directions and writing information on the board. For example, if I told the students to turn to page 32 I should say turn to page 32 and then write the number 32 on the board. I also know it is important to engage the visual cortex because many people are visual learners. However, there are many other important parts of the brain.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about Whole Brain Teaching I began using the “Class-Yes” and “Teach-OK!” These activities engaged many areas of my students’ brains and my brain as well. Students still used the Wernicke’s Area because they were listening to some information from me. However, they were also using the Broca’s Area because they repeated definitions and information to a partner. They used the motor cortex, “the brain’s most reliable memory area,” because they moved their body to talk with a partner and included specific hand movements to help them remember specific information. The more brain areas the students engage the more memories they make.
When I matched these Whole Brain Teaching activities with songs, jingles, and just plain fun the students and I entered “Teaching Heaven.” They remembered important information, we were having fun, and we enjoyed learning together.
Amber Hartzler
Nice post, Amber! The brain is so under-utilized in a traditional classroom. Your professors would be amazed how far you took that page number on the board! Wahooo! Here are 25 points for you!
DeleteBefore I learned about Whole Brain Teaching, I made up chants, rhymes, songs and gestures to help my students remember important information. I had fun doing this but more importantly my students did too plus they retained much of the information. Some of my colleagues thought I was over the top and at times I questioned myself, until I came across a Whole Brain Teaching video! As I was watching it, I immediately felt validated and after reading the chapter: “The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching” I felt motivated and inspired as I learned this type of teaching can be backed by brain science.
ReplyDeleteThe brain areas I consistently activate in my students are the prefrontal cortex and the Wernickes area. I activate the prefrontal cortex when I want my students' attention. I always do an attention getter, whether it’s “Class Yes, or hocus pocus everybody focus”. Also, when I’m ready to introduce an important point, “I use hands and eyes” or “posture check (which looks like hands and eyes).” Once I seize their attention, I activate my students’ Wernickes Area by verbally explaining the lesson.
The brain areas I’m least likely to activate in my students are the Broca’s area and the limbic system. I like it when my students teach each other, however I’m overly concerned with the loudness it brings forth and the disturbance it may cause our neighboring classrooms. Also, I personally enjoy showing a lot of excitement and emotion in my teaching and I smile when my students do the same, but once again my students get so excited that the noise level gets out of control. However, after reading this chapter, I know how important it is to activate these areas that I’m willing to do it more often. My plan is to have “short bursts” of loudness then silence. Hopefully my colleagues and myself could handle that and even better, maybe my colleagues will be wondering what I’m doing that they’ll want to join me in my Whole Brain Teaching journey!
Arlene Snyder
Arlene,
DeleteYou sound like a fun teacher! You might watch Chris Recksted's WBT Crazy Professor YouTube video, he has a neat way to control how loud the kids get during WBT activities by using a volume control meter. Great job! Here are 25 certification points!
After reading Chapter 5, I have a whole new outlook on the brain. I have never bothered to research how the brain works. Chapter 5 does a great job of condensing information about the brain into laymen’s terms.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a minute to think about my teaching style and which parts of the brain are activated throughout the day. Since I already use some of the Whole Brain Teaching strategies, I can say that the prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and limbic system are most commonly activated when I use Class-Yes and Teach-Okay. I could see light bulbs clicking on and learning taking place immediately.
Although the limbic system would be activated during Teach-Okay, it could have been activated more by using The Scoreboard. I tried the marble system, and it only worked for a short period because the students were trying to reach a long term goal that may have lasted months. With The Scoreboard, their limbic system is stimulated constantly on a daily basis. This will assist in providing a conducive learning environment. My goal is to use the Big Seven teaching techniques all year long since I’m familiar with them now.
Sherry Thompson
Sherry,
DeleteI'm glad to hear you will be adding the Scoreboard in your class! You are right, it will activate the limbic system and add Funtricity to your day! Here are 25 certification points!
This topic was hard for me to write about at first. I really had to think about it. I felt like I stimulated all areas of the brain. In reflection – I do all of them, some more consistently than others. I think consistency will be the key for me this year.
ReplyDeleteOne area that I think that I did consistently well was activities that activate and engage the prefrontal cortex. I used many different strategies to obtain student attention quickly with visual and verbal cues. One thing Whole Brain Teaching did is simplify the process. I no longer had to come up with any catchy call-backs or stunts to keep them from getting bored. A simple Class-Yes is all it took to keep their attention. The Variety came in how I delivered the Class-Yes. They never knew which voice, pattern or style that I was going to use. Some students would even request their favorites.
The area that I need to work on the most is activating the Broca’s area. Instruction to stimulate Broca's area focuses on verbalization, getting students to talk, and interact through meaningful conversations. I need to talk less frequently in class. I was not giving them the opportunity to have conversations about what we were learning. During the last two years, I have really been working on this area. When I read this chapter, I was so excited to see that by using Teach-Okay, I could not only stimulate the Broca’s area but also involve four more areas at the same time. What a deal!!!!!!! Last year, I tried to implement Teach-Ok. I had some success with it; however I did not use it consistently. Planning will be the key for success. If I plan out what they are to talk about, then it will help stay me on track.
Using all of the Big Seven consistently will be my goal this next year. Teacher Heaven, here I come!
Kim Kirkpatrick
Kim,
DeleteYou are so right, consistency will make a world of difference as you activate even more brain areas! Here are 25 certification points!
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ReplyDeleteJuly 29, 2014 Chapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching
ReplyDeleteThinking about your own teaching tendencies, which brain areas are you most likely, and least likely, to activate in your students?
Before I read Whole Brain Teaching last summer, you would not catch me trying to deliberately engage the motor cortex during learning. There might be a break between lessons to get kids moving in order to help them focus during learning, but I never encouraged movement during instruction. I didn’t know how to make it happen. I have always leaned toward firing up the prefrontal cortex by pushing students’ thinking, whether about academic content or reflecting on behavior. Imagine my delight when I realized and later witnessed how the motor cortex of my student could be his friend and mine! This is especially so for the second graders that I had for the first time last year. Laying on the carpet? Are you kidding me? This was new territory for a former upper grades teacher. However, by calling Class!Class! and having students turn AND respond was a dream come true. I had my little second graders sit on the carpet for much of instruction. When we did Teach!Okay! Wernicke’s Area and Broca’s Area were switched into play. They turned either 90 degrees or 180 degrees. Motor cortex… activated. It’s not like the lights went off then. While one student taught, what was the other student doing? Sometimes she was mirroring. Good morning mirror neurons. I was often so impressed with the results, I would hoot “Give me an OH YEAH! for nice mirroring. I could almost see the limbic systems light up with their excitement.
Furthermore, with a box of brain toys at my disposal, I was able to make use of what I learned while studying learning and memory earlier in college: the more you elaborate an idea, or the more different ways that you process information, the better chance you have of recall. Brain toys do just that. They engage the learner, who has to elaborate an idea and make new connections (perhaps with a “because clapper” ). The outcomes of WBT are results I have always hoped for, and saw scattered here and there, but never found in one place. Not to mention, wherever else I have encountered smart ideas about learning, memory or classroom management, they have nearly always been devoid of fun. My limbic system and those of my students thank you Coach!
Signed Jim Hobley, Wholebrainer
Jim,
DeleteI love your enthusiasm! Adding the motor cortex really takes the level of learning to new heights! What fun your students will have learning! Here are 25 certification points!
Thank you Michelle.
ReplyDeletePrior to my discovery of WBT I was using 1-2-3 Magic as my classroom behavior model. When I created lessons the students engaged their Prefrontal Cortex through the use of music as an attention getter and transition cue. They engaged their Limbic System through use of a behavior system that was not only individual but as a group as well.
ReplyDeleteOnce I started doing parts of WBT in my first grade classroom 2 years ago I started to engage more areas of their brains through use of 5 of the 7 teaching techniques. I never deliberately used switch or mirror in my classroom. I occasionally had the students repeating what I said, but now that it was explained by the areas of the brain that are activated by these techniques I will be adding these to my lesson plans immediately! I love the sentence in the book "Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning. Repeat that sentence over and over so that your learning produces bushy dendrites." Now that I am a Music teacher this is a "no brainer"! Practice, practice practice, but make it interesting so habituation doesn't set in!
Mitzi,
ReplyDeleteI am happy you are able to see the proof of how amazing the WBT process is at activating all parts of the brain. I am only able to award 10 points to you for this post because you missed the second part to this prompt "...which brain areas are you most likely, and least likely, to activate in your students?" You have scored well on the past prompts so "It's Cool!" I look forward to reading your future posts.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brain Teaching
ReplyDeleteWhich areas of the brain are you least likely to activate? Which areas are you most likely to activate?
Before studying Whole Brain Teaching, I usually only engaged the students' visual cortex (seeing) and Wenicke's area (language understanding). The areas I was least likely to activate were Broca's area (speaking), and the limbic system (feelings and emotions.)
After studying Whole Brain Teaching and the brain, I have worked harder to engage the limbic system. I found that if I have students write about topics that they are interested in when teaching grammar, their limbic system is involved and they remember the concepts because their feelings were involved. One student last year loved skateboarding. He would write sentences using any grammar topic I taught about as long as he could write on his favorite topic. Then later, he could apply his learning to the new topic about which he was writing.
Last year, I used Class-Yes to activate the prefrontal cortex which controls focus of attention and decision making. Another powerful teaching technique is Teach-Okay. This engages five areas of students' brains including the visual cortex (seeing gestures), motor cortex (making gestures), Broca's area (verbalizing a lesson), Wernicke's area (hearing a lesson), and the limbic system (giving emotional connections to the lessons.) As the students teach each other with words and gestures and the partner mirrors, both students are storing the information into their long term memory. Using the five classroom rules, scoreboard, hands and eyes, switch, and mirror also helped with engaging the students. It also ensures me that their whole brains are engaged in learning and adds funtricity to our classroom. By helping their whole brains to be involved in their learning, it is "teacher heaven" for me as they are storing their learning in their long term memory.
Hannah Palmer
DeleteHannah,
DeleteActivating all these brain areas helps students produce higher quality learning! Oops, there was a tiny spelling error "Wenicke" (Wernicke) in the first paragraph. Here are 25 certification points!
As I get ready for diving into Whole Brain Teaching with my 2014/2015 class, it’s easy to see where I will be activating the “Whole Brain” with my teaching. However, reflecting on my past teaching I realize that I didn’t make enough use of the Visual Cortex. I never thought of myself as a visual learner, and it was always a struggle for me to remind myself that many students need to have the visual to help them learn. Adding gestures into my teaching will help engage the visual cortex, along with posters and Power Pix.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I always ran a TRIBES classroom. We had our own set of “rules” to make our classroom feel more “community” based. Every morning during our “Community Circle” we would review our “classroom agreements” which involved the brain’s “Mirror Neurons.” I also engaged the prefrontal cortex getting my student’s attention by singing the old song “Hands Up, baby hands up” with my students to get their attention. Yes, I had their attention, but I guess I spoke too long and lost their attention. I am hoping Hands and Eyes, and limiting my speaking to 30 seconds will change that.
I am just thrilled to start my school putting WBT into action right from the first day of school. I am excited to see the difference all 7 parts of WBT makes in my challenging classroom. I used parts of WBT two years ago, but I have been away on maternity leave for the entire school year that passed. I'm heading back fresh and rejuvenated about my teaching career!
Lisa Rebecca Goldberg
Ontario, Canada
Lisa,
DeleteI can feel your excitement as you begin your year with WBT! It really does transform a classroom into teacher heaven! Here are 25 certification points!
The brain is such a fascinating organ that should be studied by all educators. Brain science instruction from my college days has long been forgotten, therefore I was grateful for this refresher course. However, the information pertaining to mirror neurons was new to me.
ReplyDeleteAs a preschool teacher and a tutor for struggling learners, I employ multiple techniques when teaching my students that cover all areas of the brain. In our classroom we sing,move, and do motions to the concepts being taught. Due to the fact that my children have such a short attention span, they require constant movement. During these activities we engage the visual cortex (seeing the gestures), motor cortex (making the gestures), Broca’s area (verbalizing through singing), Werniicke’s (hearing the singing), and the limbic system(giving emotional content to a lesson). Creating mirror neurons is my goal with each lesson, although I did not realize that was what it was called before reading this chapter.
The prefrontal cortex is an area that I need to engage more often. I need to increase opportunities for my student to use reasoning, planning, and decision making. Using class yes will allow my children to engage this portion of their brain.
Melissa,
DeleteYour pre k kiddos will love using the teach ok technique! It sounds like you are excited about using these new strategies! Have fun with it! Here are 25 certification points!
I realised my own learning tendencies when I first learned about multiple intelligences. From that moment, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.(Confucius)” has been the most impressive physilophy in my teaching life. Yes, I was a kinaesthetic learner who can learn the best by doing the task in action. Then, I found myself preparing lesson plans based on moving activities students are to take part in the lessons actively, which activate their prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, Broca’s area as they have to speak to each other, Wernicke’s area as they need to understand the language to carry out the task.
ReplyDeleteMy students and I like warm-ups, energiser and cool-down activities consisting of videos, pictures, riddles, technology and verbal and non-verbal drama activities which engage them in the lesson against some distractions. All of these activities, I believe, activate the limbic system, visual cortex, Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.
Although it might seem from how I used to teach before WBT that I could manage to activate many parts of the brain I understood that it wasn’t enough, though. There’s “Before WBT and After WBT” periods of my teaching history. I realised that how massive room there is to grow in their brains and what different tasted –shaped- coloured fruits there are to grow. I would have to say that I neglected to get a whole- brain workout. It was high-time to face it! I used to have times I ignored some chitty-chatters, challenging students or ‘closed shells’ prior to my introduction to WBT. My ‘alphas’ have already been there with me. No problem! What about my challenging students? I had to reach them, indeed. Then, boom! After I started to use Class-Yes, I managed to draw these kids’ attention activating their prefrontal cortex. They started not to get distracted easily as they are very busy with teaching their peers, enjoying 5 class rules and get concentrated with Hands and Eyes, Switch and Mirror which activate five brain areas involving mirror neurons in the brain, focusing the visual and auditory cortex and appealing to Brocaians and Wernickites.
Looking back to my WBT-free teaching days, I could see that I ignored to use gestures effectively which activate the Prefrontal and visual cortex and didn’t include enough repetition which help the dendrites grow.
I also admit that I had a tendency to talk much while teaching, oh sorry, lecturing time to time which means as I didn’t give enough time or chance to students to practice the language I was least likely to activate Broca’s area. Also, because of not giving them enough chance to be more creative and autonomous I was least likely to activate their Prefrontal cortex.
Now, after my introduction to WBT, I’m teaching in peace because I’ve got enough motivation to remember to activate all parts of the brain!
Pinar,
DeleteIt sounds like you are ready to make some great changes in your classroom as you lecture less and activate more areas of their brains! Watch out for run on sentences in your writing. Here are 20 certification points!
I am a kinesthetic learner so I naturally incorporate movement, songs, gestures ANYTHING that requires action into my classroom lessons. It doesn't make sense for me to teach any other way since this is how I learn best. Sadly, there is no college course to date explaining the effectiveness of this tactic. Little did I know that by teaching in this manner, I am actually triggering areas of the brain. It really wasn't until recently that I even became aware of Whole Brain Teaching. Watching WB in action has been the biggest "A-Ha!" moment in my teaching career. To have my lessons backed by science has motivated me to learn more.
ReplyDeleteHaving my students dramatize stories and providing visuals for my ELL learners, not only engages their motor and visual cortex but it makes the lesson meaningful because they are actively involved in it. At first, I was not too sure how I would be able to tap into Wernicke's and Broca's area since many of my students are learning English while others have speech delays. However, using WB techniques, I realize I can engage them all. Using the attention getter, Class Yes, I am able to quickly help everyone focus. Hands and Eyes was another great attention getter as the students are now able to follow social cues and imitate what the others are doing until it became an automatic response. This tells me I am activating the Hippocampus since I am involving different brain areas by having the students move and repeat short responses.
I also have a feeling that the Limpic system would be underutilized in my instruction. In some ways it may seem far fetched for me to assume that my students will be emotionally involved in learning. As I dig further, I think of course they will! Rule number 5 clearly states Make your dear teacher happy. Their motivation and connection to lessons will at first be associated with making their teacher smile, but over time, I would like to see them be intrinsically excited to challenge themselves and actually want to learn more.
Everything about WB maximizes their learning. Each method is a fun new approach. I wish my own teachers used WB instead of the lecture type technique so prevalent in our school system. All I can do is re-shape teaching, one classroom at a time.
Jannelle,
DeleteI love your statement Watching WB in action has been the biggest "A-Ha!" moment in my teaching career. " WBT in action will really transform your classroom! "Oops, there was a tiny typo "Limpic system" (Limbic system). Here are 20 certification points!
When speaking of the parts of the brain most often used in my classroom before WBT, I believe I most often used Broca and Wernicke’s areas, as well as the motor cortex, auditory cortex, and some usage of the limbic system. How do we learn to teach? I think most of us use what we have experienced and seen in our past, regardless of how effective it is because that is all we know and is what we believe works! When I look back on my teachers and mentors, just about all of them at their core were lecturers. I know I was prone to lecturing as well when I first began teaching, so Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the auditory cortex were those parts I most relied on. I also often incorporated singing with (*ahem* poorly executed) dance moves/gestures to get topics across to my students. For example, to the tune of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” we would sing and gesture to learn the different types of angles in mathematics. Since the kids were following along by gesturing, singing, and had big smiles on their faces, I was activating the motor cortex, auditory cortex, and limbic system. I felt like I was doing a great job at the time, but until I found Whole Brain Teaching, I didn’t realize how cringe-worthy some of my methodology was in the past.
ReplyDeleteBrianne,
DeleteYour last sentence made me chuckle! We all feel like that at times! Great job! Here are 25 certification points!
I am a Spanish teacher that has tried a variety of methods and pedagogy. One of my favorites is TPR (Total Physical Response) it goes very nicely with WBT. When my students are doing vocabulary practice, conversations, and storytelling with gesturing, it helps them memorize and internalize the vocabulary quicker. They are activating the motor cortex by gesturing, the visual cortex by watching their partners, and the limbic system because of their engagement and enjoyment. I was elated to read that “repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning”, this is exactly how I believe language is acquired. To finish it off with the “mirror neurons” is like frosting and is the best! I firmly believe that my first year language learners are babies or parrots, requiring repeated mirroring from the teacher and each other.
ReplyDeleteBecky Loftus
Spanish
Oberon Middle School
CCFLT President-Elect
Becky,
DeleteNice job! Here are 25 certification points!
As an eighth year teacher I am already adept at activating the prefrontal cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. I have used a variety of methods to gain student attention with the prefrontal cortex. It has been important to change the attention getters throughout the year as students begin to ignore them. Class-yes is already a powerful attention getter tool that the students love. I use Broca’s area with the Think-Pair-Share method. Students are verbalizing their learning, however, they are often with very specific questions or too much information presented by myself. The Wernicke’s area is the easy part of teaching. It is easy to talk too much as a teacher and I want to change that within my classroom. I am also adept at activating student limbic systems. I require students to make connections to lessons and content. I also have implemented a class marble jar throughout my teaching years.
ReplyDeleteIn the next few weeks I plan to challenge myself as an educator to integrate Brocaians and Wernikites and utilize mirror neurons. I need to ensure that all students are engaged using Teach-Okay instead of the Think-Pair-Share. I like to believe that Teach-Okay is far more effective because it focuses on content in a deeper way. I also want to utilize the Mirror method of teaching. I think this will be my largest challenge because I will be using more motions and shorter talking moments than I am used to. 30 seconds will be a challenge but it will be a far deeper learning tool than my several minute speeches.
Veronica,
DeleteYou are right, it is challenging to change from being the one doing most of the talking to let the students take on that role, but it is very rewarding! You will see their understanding soar as they implement the teach/okay with the mirrors. Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
Until reading chapter 5 of Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Students, I often felt frustrated in the classroom transitioning my students from one subject to the next because of the noise level in the room. I knew that the students were on task with their discussions, as I was observing and circling the room quickly; however, they were so passionate about what they were talking about that they often didn’t hear me give directions or other pertinent information. This hot mess frustrated not only myself but also the kiddos who did hear me and did what I asked. Reading chapter 5 helped me to realize that I was not activating the prefrontal cortex of my student’s brains. When the prefrontal cortex is activated, the students are then able to focus their attention and can make decisions that lead to their engagement (learning). Class-yes was a great addition to my transitions in the classroom. The Whole Brain Teaching strategy I do best is Hands and Eyes thus activating my student’s frontal cortex. This awesome strategy helps my students to eliminate distractions. Laurisa Fling
ReplyDeleteLaurisa,
DeleteTransitions can be one of the most frustrating part of any teacher's day. You might try having them teach/okay your transition procedures, or your instructions each time to make sure they are each fully aware of your expectations. Nice job, here are 25 certification points!
I began teaching at the very beginning of this testing craze. For many years, I have done a majority of the talking. My students have left the classroom with super strong Wernicke’s areas, while my Broca’s area has gotten a workout. With the introduction of a document camera, I have been able to increase stimulation of students’ visual cortex, but, due to instructional imbalance, my limbic system is often activated by students who are not engaged and do not retain simple information!
ReplyDeleteAs I completed the process necessary to gain National Board certification, I became keenly aware of the fact that I need to take back control of my teaching. If I want my students to perform well on the required assessments, I must not let the content of those assessments dictate my instructional practices. Cue Whole Brain Teaching! At the end of the 2013-14 school year, a local foundation indicated interest in investing in our school system. Through my research, I learned about Whole Brain Teaching. As I read the information on the website, I began to become encouraged and inspired. Within a week, I implemented “Class, Yes” and “Hands and Eyes”. Students became more engaged and, through stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, ready to learn!
I look forward to implementing all parts of the Big 7. I am excited to see the difference in my teaching and student learning when we all use our whole brain.
Elisabeth,
DeleteI know you will be thrilled with the changes you see in your students, but also in the changes you will feel as you implement each new WBT step! It is a wonderful method that allows you to have fun teaching again! Nice job (make sure you put your full name on all of your future posts), here are 25 certification points!
I am an “up-out-of-your-seat” teacher. I want my students constantly moving about the classroom and staying engaged. I believe that I activate two parts of the brain: the visual cortex and the limbic system.
ReplyDeleteI activate the visual cortex by modeling actions, gestures, etc. to my students, then giving them time to do those actions, gestures, etc. My students do not want to sit and listen to me lecture for 30 minutes about prepositional phrases, so instead we make paper airplanes, fly them around the classroom, and record their locations using prepositional phrases. Just like in the ever so popular phrase, “Monkey-see, monkey-do,” my students are going to activate that area in their brain and mimic my actions. I believe that kids are more likely to remember something and stay engaged in an activity if they are using movement and visuals to aid them in their discovery of information.
I also activate the limbic system by telling personal stories, relating to my students, and allowing them to discuss personal things with me and their peers. Teaching in a high poverty district has taught me that these kids just want to be heard. They just want someone to listen to them and relate with them. Allowing them time to show emotion and talk about things going on in their lives has proven to be an effective way to not only get through to a challenging student, but also to combat bullying and misbehavior. The limbic system is an area that I bet most teachers activate every day in their classrooms.
Teach-Okay is one of the best ways for me to get those physical jitters out of my students during a painfully long lesson. I use visuals to teach short parts of the lesson, and then the students teach each other. This is a great way for my students to stay engaged and, more importantly, it allows for students to discuss a topic if they are unsure of it with one another. Students also feel more comfortable talking with one peer rather than entire class of their peers. It puts them at ease and allows for more open and honest discussion.
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteGreat post...I have the feeling there is no underuse of the motor cortex in your classroom either! I love the airplane activity! Here are 25 points and a 10 point Bonus!
Reading chapter five was very interesting. I was surprised to learn that the brain has so many different parts, and that each of them has a different function. Thinking about my own teaching tendencies before Whole Brain Teaching, I would use a lot of hands-on games and activities to engage my students in lessons. I tried to make activities fun and interesting based on the objectives I was trying to get my students to master. Never did I think to specifically plan lessons that would address those brain areas which are supposed to be engaged in the learning process. I engaged the pre-frontal cortex because I had to obtain my student’s attention before beginning the lesson. Their motor cortex and visual cortex were engaged, most of the time, during the lessons which incorporate my student’s movement (gestures sometimes) and visual senses (modeling and anchor charts) to help make the lesson enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that the limbic system was the area that was neglected the most during my students lessons. After many failed attempts of trying to create lessons which the students would be excited about, I can see how the scorecard can generate these emotions for students. Learning the techniques used in Whole Brain Teaching, I can now more effectively engage my students in learning. The use of “powerpix” and “mirrors” allows my students to not just move during lessons, but use gestures as reminders of their learning through muscle memory. The Teach-Okay also allows them to gain the repetition needed to ensure maximum learning of the concepts being taught. These new methods are so exciting, and WBT has made learning in my classroom more meaningful.
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DeleteMegan,
DeleteI agree, WBT does make learning more meaningful! Your students will appreciate the addition of the limbic system activities in your lessons! Happy students = happy teachers! Here are 25 certification points!
Before learning about and implementing Whole Brain Teaching strategies, my instruction was not balanced utilize all areas of the brain. I believe that I have always been fairly strong at targeting the visual cortex. I know that so many people are visual learners, so I always would show pictures, assemble slideshows, check out books from the library that included many visual representations, etc. I never used enough repetition in my lessons to strengthen dendrites. Teachers often ask: “Why do I have to keep repeating myself?” But Coach B has it right when he says, “Teaching is repeating!” Repeating is what studying is, reviewing material again and again. That’s how we learn! Also, I always thought that I was catering to kinesthetic learning my allowing them to move around, do jumping jack while they counted by 5s, etc. But the movement was never connected to the content. The use of gestures and brainies in Whole Brain Teaching actually links the movements to the content, which is the goal of kinesthetic learning. Before practicing WBT techniques, I tried accessing different learners and different parts of the bran, but I never had a solid understanding of how to do so to maximize learning. I like that in Whole Brain Teaching you have a formula and guide to follow. Whole Brain Teaching is a systematic approach to targeting all learners and all parts of the brain.
ReplyDeleteMegan Vescio Copeland
Goldfarb Elementary School
Las Vegas, NV
Megan,
DeleteDon't you love having the WBT guideline Coach B. has provided, to help up make sure we target all of those brain areas? I agree, teaching is constant repetition, but adding our mirrors, teach/okay, and gestures sure can break up the monotony. Oops, you had a couple of small error "my instruction was not balanced utilize all areas of the brain" (utilizing), and do jumping jack while" (jumping jacks). Here are 20 certification points!
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBummer! I keep finding finding errors. I've got to do a better job proofreading.
DeleteA few weeks ago, I gave the morning devotional message at Home With A Heart, a residential Christian drug and alcohol rehab facility for men. Judging from that experience, my teaching had a strong effect on the reticular activating system (sleep center) of at least three members of my audience.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'd do better talking about Spot, my ten-year-old literacy pupil.
When I began teaching him, he knew the alphabet and little more. I didn't need his mom to tell me how much it devastated him that his younger siblings could read and he could not. Therefore, near the beginning of each session, and often in the middle of the session, I have Spot assume a couple of power poses and to verbalize one of them as "ready for anything" and the other as "because I am mighty." Proprioceptor signals go to the Brodmann 3a area of the brain, and the power poses in particular raise testosterone (confidence hormone) levels and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels. (Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy partnered with Dana Carney to test the power pose theory. You can see a good explanation for lay persons here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc ) Speaking (Broca's area) and hearing his own verbalization (Wernicke's area) reinforce the power poses. I do this to raise Spot's confidence (limbic system) and overcome the feelings of defeat he has had in the past.
While I do not use, Class/Yes with Spot, I do address him directly by name. (prefrontal cortex)
In the lesson proper, I point to a picture (visual cortex) and say, "This is a man, say 'man.'" (Wernicke's area, Broca's area) "This is the word 'man.' Read 'man.'" The drills on the rest of the page break down the linguistic components -- "This is the part of the word that says, 'an.'" -- repeating and recombining each component to aid memory. (hippocampus) We also review with flash cards (hippocampus)
Since I learned about mirroring, I usually have Spot mirror my actions as I point to pictures and words. (mirror neurons scattered throughout the brain)
I have always had my literacy students teach parts of lessons back to me. Now, I try to have Spot teach me at least a small portion of each lesson. (visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca's area, Wernicke's area)
Very early in my literacy work, I learned the value of sincere praise of correct answers -- good! great job! excellent! good work! etc. -- as positive reinforcement. (limbic area)
Although it's not something that I do, per se, the curriculum I use has red print on a yellow background. In a discussion with the curriculum's developer, Bill Kofmehl (PhD, linguistics), he told me that the red on yellow combination travels on a path directly to the right side of the brain. The objective is to recruit more of the brain into the reading process.
Doing this exercise has led me to see that I could do more to activate the prefrontal cortex, and also the gestures that I have him mirror (mirror neurons) are really limited. I need to work on both of those.
In addition, I now think that I have the tools to keep my whole audience awake the next time I speak at Home With A Heart, if I'm willing to restructure the way I make my presentation.
Craig,
DeleteAnother excellent post! I stopped midway and watched the video and I agree, it goes well with WBT strategies! I can't imagine anyone falling asleep during one of your messages! Here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCraig MuttonMay 24, 2015 at 11:38 AM
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle.
I appreciate the fact that you accept my work as I try to apply WBT to my own situation and engage it from my particular perspective. If these exercises have done one thing, they have led me to own each facet of WBT by inspecting, analyzing and then synthesizing it into my circumstance. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Thinking about my own teaching tendencies, I wish to activate all brain areas that promote learning. I most likely would choose the right side of the brain incorporating the arts into my teaching. I least likely wish to activate the emotional part of the brain unless it is because my students are overwhelmed with happiness.
ReplyDeleteAs an artist and a musician, I have grown to learn the importance of advancing my instruction with the arts on the right side of the brain incorporating kinesthetic movement, singing, dancing, and acting answers out. I love whole brain teaching! I also try to make my students into thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci using the prefrontal cortex: reasoning, planning, and decision making. Taking their thinking further by physically acting out their thoughts with movement would use the motor cortex along with other chosen areas.
When my children choral read, they are using the visual cortex to see, Wernicke’s area to understand language, and Broca’s area to speak. To move the lips and mouth, they use the motor cortex. If I have my students incorporate hand gestures, they will use kinesthetic movement dominated by the motor cortex. This is utilizing more of the brain than just a single student reading and the class following along.
Simply, I wish for my students to use the whole brain and not overuse any specific parts because I value the arts. I, however, love building dendrites all over, sometimes favoring the right side of the brain, because of my love for the arts.
Regina-Champagne Babin
Regina,
DeleteAdding the various activities to stimulate all the varied parts of the brain helps the students as they experience repetition, movement, fun (limbic system) and critical thinking! Your background in music and art will fit in well with the whole purpose of WBT! Here are 25 certification points!
The human brain is the most important and fascinating organ of the human body. Understanding how the brain works is imperative to teachers in supporting students in the classroom, since the brain is where the learning happens! Thinking back to my own educational experience as a child, I vividly remember the teachers that positively impacted my life. I feel that these teachers understood the human brain and worked continuously to improve their knowledge in that area. From learning how to play the recorder in order to learn fractions in 2nd grade, dissecting ocean creatures to learn about cells and organs in 5th grade, to cooking gourmet foods in order to learn about measurements in home economic class in 7th grade, these lessons are memorable to me today because my teachers took the time to involve me in the educational process. The different areas in my brain were fully activated and the lessons were engraved into my long-term memory, and they molded me into the teacher I have become today. This chapter inspired me to further analyze my own teaching tendencies, and reflect on what I can do differently in the classroom to help activate all areas of my students’ brain.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I feel I have effectively activated the Visual Cortex of my students’ brains. I am a visual learner myself, and I believe that many teachers teach the way they learn themselves. Before Whole Brain Teaching, I activated the Visual Cortex in my students by providing them with pictures, PowerPoint, graphic organizers, a print-rich environment, anchor charts, highlighters, colors/colored pencils, and videos to enhance lessons. Another area of the brain I feel I effectively activated was Wernicke’s area. My students used this area when they were reading and listening. Even though I do not feel I effectively activated the other areas, I know I tried, but it was not done consistently. I would attempt to teach as much as I could in a short period of time, not giving my students sufficient reflective opportunities in the classroom and time for repetition in order to store information into their long-term memory.
Now, as I have implemented Whole Brain Teaching strategies into my lessons, I feel I am activating every area of my students’ brains consistently. In addition, I have been focusing more on the quality of my lessons versus the quantity. I have learned that if I want new learning networks to develop in my students’ brain, I need to give my students ample processing time. As Chris Biffle states, “Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning.” Many parents have shared that their children love going to school because I make learning fun. That in itself shows the effectiveness of Whole Brain Teaching and the impact the strategies have in the developing brain. My wish is that I am to my students what some of my former teachers were to me: an inspiration. This chapter motivated me to continue to research the human brain so that I can better understand my students.
Motor Cortex: Making Gestures, Teach/Okay!, and The Five Classroom Rules, Mirror
Visual Cortex: Seeing Gestures, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Hands and Eyes, Mirror
Pre-Frontal Cortex: Class-Yes!, Teach/Okay!, and The Five Classroom Rules
Broca’s Area: Speaking, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Switch
Wernicke’s Area: Listening, Teach/Okay!, The Five Classroom Rules, Switch
Limbic System: The Scoreboard, Having Fun
Gricelda,
DeleteWell done! Allowing that processing time and implementing the repetition activities will most certainly bring the lessons up several notches and allow for more understanding. I'm glad you were motivated to continue the research, it is so interesting to learn about the brain! Here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus!
As a visual, kinesthetic learner myself, I often create hands on, engaging lessons and activities in which the students learn by doing. Even before discovering WBT, I often used TPR, total physical response, as the core of my Spanish lessons. Using gestures, and physical connections between the target language and the body, the students created lasting associations between new vocabulary and meaning. With the addition of WBT to my teaching repertoire, I have added Mirrors, Teach-Ok, and Switch to reinforce and maximize vocabulary instruction and student involvement. Additionally, the students use picture cues, T charts, interactive notebooks, and semantic maps labeled in Spanish to correspond to the vocabulary. With certainty, I activate the motor cortex, visual cortex, and Broca’s and Wernicke’s area.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of each school year, I ask each student to complete a survey that best describes his/her learning style. I am cognizant of the wide range of abilities and learning preferences and have always tried to hit the multiple intelligences in my lessons. At the closure of each unit, the children work in stations that require group work, reasoning, planning and decision making in a variety of formats. In this way, I activate the prefrontal cortex and allow the children to apply new vocabulary in meaningful ways. Examples might include, planning a vacation to a Spanish speaking country using Spanish vocabulary about the weather, clothing, money, food, etc…, or creating a Spanish review game. It has been my personal experience that the more I engage the “whole learner”, the more effective the lesson proves to be. The lesson offers repetition and reinforcement in a variety of ways; therefore, the children are met with far more success.
Bethann Barneman
Bethann,
DeleteNice job! It sounds like you have a fantastic classroom and I imagine the children love being in there! I like your ideas to active the prefrontal cortex in your vocabulary instruction! Here are 25 certification points.
Thank you Michelle! I am excited to continue using WBT to enhance my lessons. I will be starting a book club in my own school to kick start WBT within our district. Many teachers have expressed an interest in learning more after seeing how effective the techniques have been.
DeleteIn my classroom I am most likely to activate the visual cortex. I attribute this to the fact that I am such a visual learner. I often activate the motor cortex as well. I can see this through my love of “teach-okay!” I enjoy giving my students gestures and asking them to teach a classmate. I think that activity has really increased engagement in my class and helped those students who are very chatty. I believe that I am least likely to activate the prefrontal cortex, controlling decision making, planning and focus of attention. I need to focus on making sure that I am doing “class-yes” so that I can gain my students’ attention before I move on to something else. I think this will help keep everyone in my classroom on the same page and help my students make better behavior decisions. I love that Whole Brain Teaching incorporates the entire brain so that there is no extra room for misbehavior. I need to make sure that I am activating the different areas of the brain so that I can fully take advantage of this program.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Wood
Courtney,
DeleteGood job! You can challenge yourself this year to focus on activating the prefrontal cortex! You will be amazed at the leaps in growth that you will see in your class! Here are 25 certification points!
I use a lot of songs as a means to teach language and vocabulary. I always add a lot of gestures and movement to ensure both understanding and fun!
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, I discovered a learn-to-read program “Bien Lire et Aimer Lire”. The woman who developed this program had struggled with learning to read in her youth. As an adult, she noticed that her two children were following in her footsteps. In this program, she assigned a gesture for every sound in the French language. I was amazed at how well my students were able to retain the letter names and sounds as soon as I added a gesture to the lesson!
After reading Chapter 5, I realize that I already activate several areas of the brain. In using gestures and movement, I have been activating the motor cortex and the visual cortex as well as both Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Furthermore, I have always strived to make school fun. In the light of what I learned in this chapter, I can also say that I regularly activate the limbic system.
Despite the fact that I can honestly say that I activate all of those areas of the brain, I don’t think that I do it consistently all day, every day. I don’t activate the prefrontal cortex first in order to maximize learning. I don’t give them the opportunity to reteach to their peers to confirm their knowledge and understanding. I don’t have the students mirror enough.
I think the fact that I had already started using gestures and movement in my class is part of what made WBT attractive to me. I see WBT as a natural enhancement to my own teaching tendencies.
Christina,
DeleteIt appears that you have a good grasp on the elements of WBT and a great plan to maximize them this year! Nice job! Here are 25 certification points!
I have been using Whole Brain Teaching since I started teaching in 2008. I tend to be very active in my teaching, using gestures and having the students teach each other, but I am most likely reaching the motor cortex and visual cortex the most. Especially when I taught 1st grade, these areas were covered! I even think that I do a pretty good job of getting that ‘limbic system fun’ in there! The students teaching each other activates Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area as they speak and listen to each other. We do a lot of cooperative learning throughout the day and their conversations definitely play a big part in how much they absorb and retain.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the prefrontal cortex is the area that I need to really engage more as I have now moved to teaching fourth grade and they are required to think so much deeper and with much higher thinking skills. I am excited about learning more and experimenting more with the ‘Lecture Sketch’ that was introduced at the conference. I think that ‘Mirror Words’ (and all the variations) is fantastic, but I love the idea of having a few key terms on the board, speaking quickly about them with examples, and then having the kids paraphrase their understanding immediately of the concept. Especially when they have to explain it ‘forwards, backwards, and inside out’!
You will see that 4th graders will need the limbic system stimulated in order to get them to buy-in to anything you ask of them. They become emotionally driven at this age and you seem to have some great ideas on how to do this effectively. Here are 25 certification points. I can't wait to hear how your year goes in 4th grade!
DeletePrior to any Whole Brain Teaching my classroom was that of a chaotic unorganized mess. I often spent time saying things like I’ll wait until you are ready and clip down. Many of my lessons were teacher lead with various turn and talks but there was a lack of hands on experiences and group work. These teaching tendencies primarily utilize the Wernicke’s area and the Broca’s of the brain. I would often find myself using the smart board for videos and presentations, which utilizes the visual cortex part of the brain. Even though smart boards were meant to be interactive mine was always breaking and the touch didn’t work so my students lacked the opportunity to interact with the technologies. But by the time Christmas came I realized that many of my students were off task and lacked engagement in the content. As a beginning teacher whose school focuses on scripted lessons, it wasn’t until whole brain teaching that I realized the importance of utilizing all parts of the brain even if it means changing the scripts to fit the needs of my students. With whole brain teaching my students now are able to utilize all aspects of the brain and my administration is amazed with the difference it has made in my classroom! When I use attention grabbers like Class, Yes! Or Tootsie Roll Lollipop I am activating the prefrontal cortex of the brain for my students. When I have my students use teach okay or mirror words my students are storing their newly learned content into their long-term memory. No matter what aspects of the Big Seven or WBT you are using, you are giving all your students the chance to engage and therefore utilize all aspects of the brain, even those that are often left forgotten.
ReplyDeleteNicole,
DeleteIt seems as if you have a pretty good idea of the areas of the brain that you activate. I have seen many teachers look for the structure and engagement that you are talking about. It is amazing that the Big Seven impacts students in such an amazing way! Here are your 25 certification points.
Over the years my teaching style has evolved. Study of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences early on made me a believer in the value of addressing students through multiple modalities to better engage them in the learning process. Unfortunately, just a belief in the value of this approach has not resulted in effectively implementing as many modalities as I would have liked.
ReplyDeleteMy natural teaching tendencies most commonly activate students’ visual cortex and the Wernicke’s Area of their brains. The visual cortex is activated through the use of visual supports and models. Often these take the form of anchor charts or the use of manipulatives. My use of lecture activates students’ Wernicke’s Area due to its correlation to hearing and language comprehension.
Due to the surprising lack of common sense that seems to plague our society, I highly value an educational process that engages a student’s pre-frontal cortex. I have been working to incorporate more opportunities for decision-making and personal accountability in my classroom, thereby helping students to grow more dendrites and learn more in the critical areas of reasoning and decision-making. WBT is the perfect complement to this focus, helping to raise student awareness of how their behaviors and decisions affect themselves and others.
Finally, the other brain area that I struggle to activate in students is the motor cortex. I know how valuable and effective it is to use movement in learning, I just have less experience teaching in this way. I look forward to increasing my students’ fun and learning by more frequently (and effectively) activating the motor cortex. WBT’s approach will make this an attainable goal.
Traci Katz
Traci,
DeleteAdding the mirror/words and the gestures will get the motor cortex moving and the smiles will follow! Your class will love these strategies! Here are 25 certification points!
When thinking about my teaching tendencies in relation to the different areas of the brain, I would say that my I am more likely to activate the visual cortex and Wernicke’s area. I teach an elementary sped group of students that typically benefit from everything being visual. I also activate the Wernicke’s area more so than other areas of my student’s brains. When I give them information, either visually or verbally, I expect that they are taking that information in a will process and respond appropriately. Unfortunately, there are areas of the brain that I probably don’t activate when teaching lessons. When I teach, I don’t activate the hippocampus as much as I need to. This year, my plan is to get my students up and experience the lesson in a variety of ways. Also, I don’t think I activate the prefrontal cortex enough. I just give directives. While that is ok, I would love to begin to offer some more moments to work on decision making and also emotional regulation. I think that teachers are in the classroom to help produce lifelong learners that can go and contribute to society later in their life. At this point, I feel that our students are not really ever given moments to make true decisions. We tell them every step, every direction, and even what to write on. Really their only choice is whether or not they will comply with our directions.
ReplyDeleteJana Greer
Jana,
DeleteSince your students like the visuals, make sure you check out Coach B's fantastic ebooks on the main website. They are full of colorful slides! As you pointed out, getting your students up and moving and focusing more on critical thinking will empower them! Nice job, here are 25 certification points!
If I am thinking about my current teaching, without WBT, I am most likely to activate the visual cortex, Wernicke’s area, and the limbic system. I feel that I learn best with visual things and that is what is easy for me. I use a lot of visual graphics, computer slide shows, and anchor charts. I do a great job of talking to my class so the Wernicke’s area was well utilized in my students. I realize now that I probably lectured too much to my first graders. The limbic system was well utilized by my challenging students this year when they had a hard time controlling their emotions. I activate these areas in isolation and not as a cohesive unit. I am least likely to activate the prefrontal cortex and the motor cortex. I teach first grade and I don’t always wait for them to make their own decisions or problem solve to their full ability. I used to think that I did a good job of using the motor cortex but that will be something that I improve upon when implementing WBT. I plan to have a lot more movement in my class this year.
ReplyDeleteCharisse Norton
Charisse,
DeleteAdding that extra movement will make your class exciting and full of engaged kiddos! Here are 25 certification points!
On reflecting upon my years of teaching, I realize that while teaching kindergarten I did an excellent job of having my students learn using their whole brains. We used our motor cortex, our visual cortex, and the Broca and Wernicke areas. We were having so much fun our limbic area and prefrontal cortex were definitely engaged. While we were repeating, mirroring, and using our arms and legs to move to songs, our whole brains were engaged. We worked in groups and partners. Our work was hands-on, and exploratory. I even used the five whole brain teaching rules, and “Class.”
ReplyDeleteWhen I was moved up to a second grade classroom I let go of most of these great activities. We did work in partners frequently, but often that work ended up being more disruptive than productive. I was faced with a group of children with some real behavior problems and my reaction was to become more rigid. This resulted in more control but the teaching and learning were definitely not fun for anyone. My students were using their visual cortex for seeing and remembering. We were accessing both the Borca and Wenicke areas as we discussed vocabulary. Certainly some behavior mirroring went on. But things could have been so much better. As I implement whole brain teaching this year I am looking forward to engaging the whole brain of my students. I am expecting my students and I will once again find learning to be fun and engaging.
Susan Abrahamse
Susan,
DeleteHow wonderful that you have had the opportunity to see what a huge difference WBT really does make in the classroom! I'm excited for you as you head into this year with all of your tools in your back pocket to help bring the "funtricity" back into your classroom! *You had one spelling error in the second paragraph (Broca). Here are 25 certification points!
Reflection #4
ReplyDeleteChapter 5
Juliann Caveny
With background and degrees in both Art and Literature, I tend to lead instruction with a combination of visual and auditory teaching styles. I connect Literature to songs, artwork and videos frequently. (Surprise! I'm a right-brain learner/teacher!) About five years ago, another teacher and I were discussing our learning styles as part of the National Writing Project. I realized that my classroom was overflowing with visual stimuli. I convinced my janitors to change my white walls into “cafe latte” and promised that I would only hang a smattering of art prints permanently on the plaster walls in place of the chaotic, plastic-coated rainbow that covered my room. It’s been calmer ever since. I still utilize posters, videos, diagrams etc, but they are used in direct correlation to my lessons, not randomly tossed on a wall because the space needs filled.
The area of my instruction that I still need to work on is meeting the needs of my kinesthetic learners. My use of WBT methods last year helped me see the benefits of adding more gestures and movement in the classroom. My kiddos moved throughout the classroom and small groups more easily after repeat, modeled movement. Gestures helped them connect with the auditory and visual stimulus and helped them be actively involved in their learning. There are few pre-printed WBT resources available for 7th/8th Literature and Language Arts so I rely on my knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) --and the online dictionary reference-- to create gestures to match key components of my lessons. The kids also like to make up their own gestures and I plan on using their artistic abilities to create the Power Pix for our vocabulary wall this year. I love how movement is becoming a more integral part of my classroom!
Juliann,
DeleteUsing the ASL reference to help make your own gestures and Power Pix will be helpful as they learn content! Adding more movement will not only activate their motor cortex, but also their limbic system!! Here are 25 certification points!
As a veteran kindergarten teacher , I have seen all kinds of bandwagons that have been jumped on. There has been letter people, whole language, letter a week, text books and even various PHONICS curriculums! My favorite literacy piece (besides WBT, of course) has been the wonderful world of Jolly Phonics. I have used this for the past ten years. It is a program used to teach reading and writing where the kiddos learn 42 sounds. The magic in this is there are actions, songs, posters and stories that go along with each sound. BABAM!.... right there we tackle the motor, visual, Wernicke, and Broca cortex and areas. That is why the Jolly Phonics program has been so successful in our kindergarten day. The more brain areas that are engaged the more awesome learning happens. The kids just get it!!! We repeat each song and action a day and then introduce another so they are dipped in dendrite growth like crazy. It is awesome. It goes hand in hand with what WBT is promoting.
ReplyDeleteI would say over the years the least activated area of the brain in my room is the limbic system. My babes are happy and get along well, but I haven't associated the brain function of the SIW and the Scoreboard until today. I think it is great to get emotions working in your favor for positive classroom management and growth.
I plan to continue using all of the WBT strategies that I have implemented. I saw great things with the Genius ladder and the oral writing we did in the beginning!! using the gestures there was key to the transfer to paper. I love it to pieces!!!! What a great thing:)
sorry.. wendy edwards
ReplyDeleteWendy,
DeleteIt sounds like your phonics program is a perfect fit with WBT methods! Nice work, here are 25 certification points!
I teach second grade and I love drama and acting, so I incorporate a lot of movement and acting out concepts into daily lessons. I try to give students a little bit of information then a movement activity. I believe that the motor cortex is the area of the brain I feel that I am most likely to activate in my students. I feel that the limbic system would be the one part of the brain that I need to ensure I am activating more. I feel that the way I teach is fun and engaging, but sometimes days can get long and boring too. Activating the emotional center of the brain can help my students to make the information more concrete into their brains.
ReplyDeleteGeni,
DeleteThat's wonderful that you are including a lot of movement in your lessons! Using the gestures to reinforce core content is a great way to tie that movement in with your lesson. Using other WBT techniques will help activate the limbic system - it's fun and educational! Here are 25 certification points!
Chapter five really educated me on different parts of the brain and how they work. The prefrontal cortex is in charge of our decisions and why we make them. The visual cortex in the back of the brain is also known as the “seeing brain” and helps us remember so much information because images are stored there. The motor cortex is what amazes me the most. This is the brain’s most reliable memory area. This is why I can still remember entire routines I learned in high school on the dance team. Practicing the over and over caused them to be stored in my motor cortex. Reading this information and connecting it to my own life during my reflections made me realize that I need to get my students using gestures and movements to learn big concepts I want them to remember. There is not one part of the brain alone that is dedicated to memory. All parts must work together for the best memory and learning to take place.
ReplyDeleteLast year, before I learned so much about Whole Brain Teaching, my students did a lot of “turn-and talks” which is similar to “teach, ok!” without the movements. Because of this, my students were only storing information in their auditory cortex. This year, I am incorporating much more movement in the classroom. We come up with motions for vocabulary words, and math strategies. When we do “teach, ok” the students are expected to use gestures and motions while teaching their partner about a concept. This way, more parts of the brain are activated including visual, auditory, and motor. I have noticed a huge difference in my student’s learning since I have integrated more movement in the classroom. They are more engaged, and everyone happily participates because it is fun!
Brooke,
DeleteIsn't it amazing how much more your students will recall just from talking, repeating, and using movements? Not only are they engaged in the conversation, you will also notice less off task behavior and unmotivated students. It doesn't matter if you have the perfect gesture or if you just have your students make up movements as they go, the movement is the key! Here are your 25 certification points.
Reflecting over a typical day in my classroom and the interactions my students have with me and with each other in the learning environment, it becomes increasingly clear that I am most likely to activate my students through their visual cortex and some of Wenicke’s area. Basically, my students spend the majority of their time seeing and listening. Sure, I pepper in some kinesthetic activities based in the logic of mirror neurons, and occasionally I have them “turn and talk” to discuss an answer with a peer, but both are the minority activities. Knowing that “the more brain areas [that are] involved… the deeper and more lasting the learning [is],” it becomes painfully obvious that I am doing my students a disservice and using, on average, less than half of the brain areas available! Good thing realization is the first step toward correcting that mistake!
ReplyDeleteCatherine,
DeleteAdding the limbic system (Funtricity) and implementing the Teach/Okay are good beginning steps as you activate more areas of the brain. As teachers, we tend to talk more than needed and the kids love having the opportunity to do the teaching themselves! Here are 25 certification points!
The areas of the brain that my students are most likely to activate would be the visual cortex and the Wernicke’s area. Students activate the visual cortex when they are reading in their books or reading what is written on the board. The students activate the Wernicke’s area when they are listening to me lecture. I now realize that I am not activating as many parts of the brain as possible within my students. As a result, students are having a difficult time paying attention, grades are going down, and behavioral problems are going up. It is vital that I target the areas that I need improvement on as a teacher so that I can help my students use their whole brain during learning.
ReplyDeleteThe areas that I am least likely to activate in my students is the Broca’s area and the motor cortex. I tend to discourage students from using the Broca’s area because typically it is being used when students are talking out of turn in class. I love the “Teach-Okay” strategy because it gives the students the opportunity to talk to one another with permission! They are also given the opportunity to play the role of the teacher as they teach their peer a concept. The motor cortex is an area that I do not activate enough within the classroom. Giving students the opportunity to move around instead of sitting in their desk for each period would help keep them awake, focused, and energized. I believe that “Teach-Okay” and “The Five Classroom Rules” are two, wonderful ways to activate the motor cortex. Now that I have reflected upon my own teaching practice, I can now make the changes to ensure that students are using their whole brain during learning instead of just a part!
Hannah,
DeleteYour students will love having more opportunity to talk in class (Broca) and activating the limbic system (fun/emotions) will help them look forward to your lessons everyday! Here are 25 certification points.
Nicole Desrosiers Weare, NH
ReplyDeleteSince introducing my students to Whole Brain teaching methodologies nearly two years ago, I am more aware of the impact these practices have on the brain. Understanding how the brain takes in information and how various activities affect it are truly amazing.
Within the classroom arena, my strong teaching abilities lie in the area of applying five out of the Big Seven powerful Whole Brain Teaching techniques. My weaker areas lie with the “The Scoreboard” and “Switch”. In stating that, I know that during the course of a day I am helping to activate major parts of the brain. The students’ prefrontal cortex is activated when I ask for their attention through either “Class-Yes” or “Hands and Eyes”. Both of these strategies require their attention which occur through this decision making part of the brain. When they are asked to teach each other a concept through “Teach-Okay” the visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, as well as the limbic system are activated. These areas include seeing, movement, verbalizing, hearing, and emotional wellness. When our classroom rules are reviewed, either at the beginning of the day or when needed throughout the day, all five of the major areas of the brain are activated, including the mirror neurons which play an important role in overall learning. These neurons are also activated when the students mirror my actions and words. As the weeks have progressed, my ability to guide my students through these activities has become more developed.
At this time I find myself still struggling with “The Scoreboard” which is directly linked to the limbic system. While I now understand that this strategy affects their emotional center, I know that I need to further develop this skill. And while my students can manage “Teach-Okay”, an official switch of partners does not always happen. Is this because partners are not always looking and listening when their partner is teaching? This area requires further investigation as well, and may need reteaching and remodeling.
Upon reflection and understanding of how the brain works and how I am supporting my students’ learning every day, I realize how far my teaching has progressed with the addition of Whole Brain techniques. I shudder to think about past years that did not include any of these strategies, but will keep my eyes focused on my target - Whole Brain Teaching perfection!
Excellent response, Nicole! Understanding which specific parts of the brain are impacted by our instructional choices helps us better reach our students' needs. Make the Scoreboard one of your goals on your card on the Super Improvers Team...students love that even the teacher has a card on that wall, even though they don't know what goals you have set for yourself! When your class is not participating at the level you expect, use Right Way/Wrong Way to model your expectations. If it is the same two to three students having difficulty, you might seat them with partners that will inspire them. You may also set a personal goal for a student on the Super Improvers Team. Here are 25 points!
DeleteThank you so much, Nancy! As I always do, I will refocus for Monday and make some changes within my room. I so appreciate your thoughts - I truly desire to use WBT effectively throughout my day.
ReplyDeleteTonya Hackett
ReplyDeleteAs I read Chapter 5 from Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids by Chris Biffle about the different parts of the brain involved in learning, I was reminded of Eric Jensen’s book, Teaching With the Brain in Mind, and how important it is to teach to as many of those learning styles as possible. I love how Biffle added to my understanding of how the different brain areas synergize in order for deep understanding and memorization to work.
Up to this point, I have mostly taught lessons that engage the motor cortex brain area - especially if I was in a crunch for time - because somewhere along my education journey, I learned that most students are kinesthetic learners. I now see that deeper understanding outweighs skimping on teaching to multiple learning places in the brain just to save time.
“The more brain areas involved, the more dendrites are grown, the deeper and more lasting your learning.”-Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids
By keeping all this in mind while lesson-planning using the WBT Big Seven, I will reach all these brain areas, including the Broca’s area (crucial in speaking) where in past, I have neglected the most. I am most excited about using the teaching technique, Teach-Okay, to get kids using metacognition; talking about their thinking and teaching what they are gaining a deeper understanding for. I love that this is done with the whole class at the same time. One student isn't doing most of the talking and Teach-Okay eliminates the "we don't have enough time to listen to everyone" problem. Why is it that new “teacher” knowledge is almost always followed by an overwhelming sense of guilt for former students? I will keep the powerful image of a tree creating many roots to remind me of the importance of reaching each brain area. I am thrilled to now have tools from WBT to grow dendrites!
Tonya,
DeleteUsing Teach/Okay will transform your classroom! It is one of my favorite WBT tools. It keeps every child engaged and allows you to move quickly throughout the room assessing their understanding. Great post! Here are 25 certification points!
I’ve been using Whole Brain Teaching for a few years and was trained more thoroughly during last summer’s conference. In addition, I have had teacher training through the Ron Clark Academy. I feel I do a pretty good job of engaging all areas of the brain a lot of the time. After reviewing Chapter 5, I see my strengths are using the learning strategies of Class-Yes (prefrontal cortex), Teach-Okay (all areas of the brain), and Mirror (mirror neurons, visual cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, limbic system). When I honestly reflect on my teaching, I feel my weakest area of focus would be the limbic system and motor cortex. I fail to utilize The Scoreboard to its highest potential. By improving my use of this strategy, I would add more fun to the class and use the limbic system more effectively. In addition, I need to enforce use of gestures (motor cortex) when students are teaching one another. I have some students who dislike using gestures and I let them slide when I know they are teaching accurate information with their words. After reviewing the functions of the brain, I see that all students could benefit from using gestures. I can use the Scoreboard to reinforce the use of gestures!
ReplyDeleteKimberely,
DeleteSo happy that you've been able to attend the national conference AND the Ron Clark ones....super wonderful! It sound like you are doing a great job implementing the program in your classroom! Keep up the great work! Here are 25 certification points!
Note to reader: Please be aware I am from Scotland and therefore certain words have UK spellings. For example, I will write revolutionised instead revolutionized, and colour instead of color.
ReplyDeleteClass-Yes was the first Whole Brain Teaching tool I employed, and it is still my most used classroom management tool. It is an effective switch to turn on the pre-frontal cortex, the brain’s boss, and there is no finer sight than all those eyes laser beaming into mine, ready for learning.
The rules rehearsals in my class are wonderful brain activators. These regularly stimulate the visual and motor cortices, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and the brain’s mirror neurons. It is wonderful to see the beneficial effects mirroring positive behaviour has on my dwindling clique of rebels. The mirror neurons of my children are also highly active when I use ‘mirror-words’ and, more recently, ‘magic mirrors’ (woo!), during a lesson. Off task behaviour is eradicated with this truly whole brain engagement technique.
Teach-Ok has revolutionised the levels of engagement in my class, and has beyond doubt enhanced the student transferal of information from short to long-term memory. This method activates all the same brain areas as the rules rehearsals. I must strive to continue planning lessons where I micro lecture then use Teach-Okay, and be careful not to slip back into talking too long, as this would only leave areas of the brain disengaged and ready to dream up off task behaviour.
The area of my students’ brains I need to activate more is the limbic system. This is because I have not been working through the levels of the scoreboard properly. I have not been using this perfectly honed WBT creation to its full potential. This has resulted in habituation among my students and a dip in scoreboard enthusiasm. I will refresh my knowledge of the scoreboard’s many levels by watching Coach B’s webcast and remember to use more fun bursts to really jack up the fun and energy.
Quentin Dalrymple
3/4th Grade
Perthshire, Scotland.
Quentin,
DeleteOnce you get into the habit of using the scoreboard on a regular basis, it will become one of your favorite tools! Coach B talks more about it in his 2nd book, pages 41-48! Nice job, here are 25 certification points and a 5 point bonus (per email).
Chapter 5: The Brain on Whole Brian Teaching
ReplyDeleteJuly 6, 2016
Reflecting on my own teaching tendencies I would definitely say that the visual cortex would be my most likely area to activate in my students. I teach kindergarten and for EVERY lesson I use either an anchor chart or Biffy Tunes. I love using the Biffy Tunes because it is a visual that I can put up all year long and refer back to for different lessons. I know that I am a visual learner so maybe that is why the visual cortex is easiest for me to activate in my students. My other strength in my classroom would be utilizing the “mirror words” and in turn, activating the Brocas area that produces language. I find speaking in short amounts of time and having the kids repeat my words to their partner transfers that information from short term memory to long term memory with repetition.
The part of the brain I am least likely to activate in my students would have to be the motor cortex. I love using motions when I teach and I activate the motor cortex well during the 5 rules at the beginning of the school day. However, as the day goes on my motions start dwindling while teaching. My kids are great at repeating during “mirror words” but show little/no motions during that time. I have tried giving smiley face points and even stars on their behavior cards. I know that if I would be more consistent every day I would see improvement. I can’t wait for the next school year to begin and start making these changes in my classroom!
Britta Hartman
Britta,
DeleteYou will love the results you will see when activating the motor cortex during the day! It will keep you on your toes, and the kids will love the energy in the lessons! Here are 25 certification points!
As a new-comer teacher, I do a lot of gestures, visuals, and repetition. Motor cortex is active in the brain because of making gestures and visual cortex is engaged by seeing gestures. I use gestures and visuals for all subjects. I see my students using gestures and visuals around the room on a daily bases. I love how “Mirror-Mirror” helps students learn by mirroring the gestures and activities of others. Repetition equals dendrite growth equals learning. I try not to talk much because I know I will lose my students. So more my students repeat lessons using descriptive gestures, the more students are engaged.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the brain that I am least likely to activate is the limbic system in my lessons. I need to connect more from the limbic system to the prefrontal cortex. I feel like I don’t give enough emotional content in my lessons. I love how the scoreboard helps with the limbic system. When I mark a Smiley or a Frowny on the scoreboard, students feel a small, positive or negative feeling. At the highest level of the scoreboard, challenging kids can’t fail because there’s no failure involved.
The brain on whole brain teaching helps with techniques that help with challenging students and their brains. I can’t wait for the school year to start so I can better implement the powerful Big Seven teaching techniques.
Katlen Downey
Katlen,
DeleteThere seems to be a glitch in chapter 4 (it's not saving my score for you) so here are 25 certification points for your chapter 4 essay.
Katlen,
DeleteChapter 5: Using the limbic system will become second nature to you very quickly~ you will find it makes your day more pleasant and the kids will be more engaged/connected during your lessons. Nice job, here are 25 certification points! **See note above for chapter 4 points
My instinctive teaching tendencies lean towards the very old fashioned lecture and direct instruction. Therefore, the brain areas I was reaching the most were the visual cortex, as I expected them to look at me, and the Wernicke area, as I expected them to listen to and understand my spoken words. Since I teach first grade, I do make use of some videos for singing and dancing during brain breaks. I also make use of some coloring, cutting, and gluing activities. These things reach the prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, Broca’s area, and the limbic system. Unfortunately, my use of them was neither frequent enough nor consistent enough. And none of these things contributed to better classroom management or to improved student behavior. I became aware of WBT near the beginning of last school year, and I was hesitant to enact much of it due to lack of confidence. Last year was my first full year of teaching, and I was still struggling with virtually every aspect of my day. Before Christmas I limited myself to implementing class-yes, mirror words (all three mirrors), and teach-ok. After Christmas, I added the Super Improver Wall and the scoreboard. In April last year I introduced some oral writing gestures. This is when I first felt the full power of WBT. The kids initiated aspects of WBT more than I did, and more areas of the brain were reached more often.
ReplyDeleteKen Dukes
Ken,
DeleteI love that the kids initiated WBT! It will be a game changer in your class this year if you start it slowly and just keep adding the techniques as the year progresses! You will gain confidence quickly as you see what a difference it makes! Here are 25 certification points!
When considering how I taught prior to using Whole Brain Teaching (WBT), I realize that I failed to tap into many areas of my students’ brains. Most often, I utilized the visual cortex, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area through lecture and discussion. I even was able to meet the needs of the limbic system at times by trying to make the content interesting and using expression as I taught. However, most of the time, even those parts of the brain were used separately—rarely ever all at once. I failed to use the motor cortex much at all as well as the prefrontal cortex. Students didn’t get an opportunity to reason. We did use partners frequently, but looking back on those days, I know that even those experiences were not as beneficial as they could have been. My poor students must have been bored out of their minds!
ReplyDeleteI don’t remember much repetition in my years prior to WBT. I bet my students’ dendrites were stagnant much of the time. They didn’t have the opportunity to share information with each other or express their understandings. I love that Teach/Okay offers the opportunity to share and repeat understandings and activates so many parts of the brain! I know now that the more areas of the brain involved in learning, the more dendrites are going to grow. When I reflect on those years prior to WBT, I see how stressful that time was for me. With WBT, I’ll never end another year feeling as hopeless as I once did.
-Ashley Woody
Ashley,
DeleteThose dendrites will be growing and your kids will be hopping with excitement as you activate all these areas! Your lessons will be more engaging and your kids will shine! Here are 25 certification points!
Ashley,
DeleteI received your email and awarded you 25 certification points for Chapter 4 as well! Sorry for the temporary glitch on that chapter!