Whole Brain Teaching for SLPs

So….what is this new phenomenon and how can SLPs and intervention specialists use it? You can find everything you need to know on Whole Brain Teaching at their site, http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/ or even purchase the book to learn more.  There’s also a ton of pinterest and TPT ideas out on utilizing Whole Brain Teaching.

In a nutshell, Whole Brain Teaching is a classroom management system of attention-getters, focusers, and teaching strategies that I’ve found to work especially well for students who have trouble focusing, both in small groups and large groups. Any names come to mind….?  I first saw it being utilized in one of my first grade classrooms by a fellow blogger and friend, Sugar and Spice.  Her classroom looked perfect. All 25 little pairs of eyes were on her and they were ENGAGED. I was curious-okay, downright envious-and so asked her. That’s when she introduced me to Whole Brain Teaching.

It’s the beginning of the year so this is the perfect time to try something new with your students. I started implementing this last year and was amazed at how quickly the kids pick up on it.

There are a lot of strategies that Whole Brain Teaching uses. Here are the ones I choose and use regularly in my room:

1. The Scoreboard. In my room, I have a dry-erase board that I use with my kiddos. If you have one, great. If not, a piece of paper will work. In the corner of your board, you are going to draw a simple scoreboard, one side having a smiley face, the other having a frown face (simple, easy visual for our students). When your students perform well, you will raise your marker to the board, pause making sure they are watching you and will reward them with a mark on the smiley side. The students then say “Oh yeah!,” and can sometimes include a fist-pump for fun (mine do). However, if your students are not paying attention or meeting expectations, again you will pause, getting their attention and mark the side with a frown. The students then groan loudly. This is NOT a student/teacher competition. Instead, students are working with each other and you to earn the more smiley faces than frown faces. The important thing to remember is that you should not let the difference between smiley marks and frown marks exceed three. If you reward too much, students stop caring. If you penalize too much, they become resentful.

Here’s an example of my whiteboard:

This simple scoreboard is the reward. There is no giving prizes or candy if they get more “smileys” than “frowns.” They are motivated simply by seeing the marks on the board. The scoreboard is then used with the other strategies.

2. Class-Yes (Speech-Yes)

This is the attention-grabber. When you need your friends to focus because say, they are talking, walking around, or crawling under the table (not that we ever have any of those…:-), you say “class” or in my case, “speech” and then kids must say “yes.” Here’s the catch: They must say “yes” in the way you said “speech.” So…if I whisper “speech,” they must whisper “yes.” If I say “speechity, speech, speech, speech,” they must say “yesity, yes, yes, yes.” If I say “speeeeeech” with my voice getting high at the end, they must say “yeeeeeees” in the same way. Make sense? It’s amazing after a few practice rounds at how quick this will gain your groups’ attention, especially when you pair it with the scoreboard. When students stop and say “yes” right away, they will be rewarded with a smiley. Be prepared: all eyes WILL be on you. 🙂

3. Mirror.

I’ve found this technique to be one of the most useful, especially for our kiddos, who need to move and learn visually and with their hands. When you say “Mirror” and hold up your hands, students are expected to copy your motions. So…when I say “Mirror” and are teaching opposites and synonyms, I always use the sign-language for “same” and “different.” This helps them remember it so much more.

4. Teach-OK

This is great when you want to find out how much your students are learning and understanding and works especially well in larger groups. Students are paired up with partners, preferably matching your highest students with your lowest students. After you teach a small amount of information, clap twice and say “Teach!” Students respond by clapping twice and sayings “OK!” They then turn to their partner and teach them the information they just learned. After a few minutes, say “Switch!” and the partners switch in their teaching and listening roles.

Below are a few videos from one of my favorite online teachers: Freundlichteaching. You can search other videos of her on youtube but these demonstrate Whole Brain Teaching perfectly. 

Here, she’s teaching math concepts. (And I love her fun leggings, but that’s for another post).

 

Here’s another one on inferring.

 

Tell me, do incorporate any Whole Brain Teaching concepts in your room?