2013 with wbt in Wise One

A new year and a new class name. After so much preparation and day one finally arrived. We had severe winds and heavy rain in the lead up days, some places have been flooded and some have experiences tornadoes.  This morning I woke to sunshine and blue sky.  What a relief and an answer to prayer!  A great start to the new school year.

The children and parents arrived and it was all systems go. I had a teacher assistant up until lunch time today.  I now have all the books labelled and on the correct shelf, the children have set up their own tidy trays and the tissue boxes are ready for those coughs and sneezes that come during the year. The parents left after a few quick words about no homework or parent helpers this week and it was time to launch into wbt. I had watched the Day one webinar last night just to make sure I had things clear in my mind before the day started.

We started with class, yes and the electronic scoreboard. For the first time I had a child say class back to me but I was not really surprised, as Coach B did say that may happen. The children love the scoreboard and so do I. In the past I was always looking for a whiteboard marker or on the wrong side of the room. Now I just get a child to tap the Ipad and they love it. We then moved onto rule 1 and used mirror words and gestures. Fun burst worked really well. They also really liked it when I demonstrated what follow directions, was not going to look like. The children were rewarded with some free play time when the happy faces won.

I was able to incorporate two lots of small group talks about different topics and already the children have the idea, that I expect them to be doing what is asked. They were not so thrilled when the odd sad face scored a point. Some other techniques used today were ‘’hands and eyes’’ and  ’’ it’s o.k.” I only taught the class up until lunch time so tomorrow will see us add in rule two, teach/o.k and our first power pix. My Super Improvers wall is on display but no child has made a comment about it yet.

In conclusion, day one was amazing and I know the children were using their whole brains. I am also amazed by what you can learn about a group of individuals in one morning. I look forward to day two. To the stars, hoot, hoot!

Whole Brain Teaching and Australia Zoo

On Wednesday the 25th of July our Prep, Year One and Year Two class went to Australia Zoo. Before we headed up to catch the bus, we made time to review the Power Pix for prediction.  We used mirror words and actions to recall the question and answer. Students then responded to Teach ok and told their knee buddies what they thought they would see. Critical thinking was happening right at the start of the day. Students were then given the opportunity to draw what they thought they would see. Making decisions to participate, enjoying what they were doing, looking, listening, talking and moving, all in the first 40 minutes of the day.

We had a spectacular day out. The students and I arrived at school the next day tired, but ready for more learning. Again, we reviewed the Power Pix for prediction. The use of mirror words, actions and teach okay all helped focus the students back to our lesson from the previous day. Students went back to their desks to check their predictions and mark yes next to something they did see and no next to something they did not see. A very practical example of the use of prediction.

Next on our daily plan was writing time. We used a poster on Recounts to help us focus for mirror words and actions, question and answer. What is a recount? The strategy of teach oaky was then used to teach their knee buddy what a recount was. We then used our airboard braintoy to help us review the three parts of a recount. After more use of teach okay to discuss the sequence of events, it was time to write. The children worked well getting their ideas on paper and then conference their writing.

At the end of the day we used cotton buds to help us paint something we saw at the Zoo. In conclusion the students used critical thinking throught the day as they made decisions about their work and how to communicate their understanding of our Australia Zoo excursion. Expressing their opinions about their experiences revealed some interesting facts. It is so simple and effective to use Whole Brain Teaching techniques to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.