Whole Brain Teaching- Crazy Professor Reading Game

Have you heard of the Whole Brain Teaching strategy the Crazy Professor Reading Game?

I first tried the Crazy Professor Reading Game last week and it completely transformed my students' comprehension of the weekly story. I saw so much progress in their scores on the weekly test. Almost every student passed this week (compared to my normal of only having about three fourths pass).

It is a variation of Buddy Reading the improves reading comprehension. Since we are still learning it we have been doing it as a whole group. We will slowly start transitioning to doing it as Buddy Reading.

There are different ways to play; we have only played the Dramatic Reading way.

Dramatic Reading- reader reads dramatically and the listener makes gestures

Paraphrasing- reader reads in dramatic tone AND makes gestures while the listener silently mirrors; the reader should be paraphrasing what the story was about

Q and A- questioner and answerer BOTH use gestures and a dramatic tone

Connecting- any connection between reading and anything known/imagined is a good connection; students clap hands together every time they make a connection; when first practicing do it as a group with students saying "connection" and clapping hands whenever a connection is made

Silent Skimming- students move one finger down the page as they skim ahead for key information; this one should not be done aloud

Silent Reading- students make gestures as they read silently

Silent Summarizing- students silently or quietly tell story to themselves while making gestures

Crazy Professor- students are loud and energetic; use wild gestures and a dramatic tone; props should be used as well


Last week I read our weekly story selection in a dramatic tone and my students were encouraged to make BIG gestures. I enticed them by telling them I was looking for students with the best gestures to come up and lead the class. That made their gestures even better. This practice helped my students to better understand the story and we had so much fun with it!