I am in the middle of my third snow day this week after being off since December 20th. I am ready to get back to teaching with my kiddos.
All this time has helped me to stick to my resolution of blogging, making more products for TPT, and researching Whole Brain Teaching.
I have been researching all break and am so excited to try again with WBT. I tried it at the beginning of the year, but had a hard time sticking with it because I was trying to focus on all of the components. I have discovered the 13 Week Master Class that was started back in September. The purpose of it was to focus on just one component at a time and to slowly build up to reaching Teacher Heaven. I am going to start with week one as soon as I get back to school. If you are unfamiliar with Whole Brain Teaching you should definitely check it out and if you are interested in starting I would recommend doing the 13 Week Master Class.
Week 1's focus is Attention Getters. Here is the video:
Attention Getters.
I am going to try to at least master the Rookie level, which means I have a goal of using a variation of Class, Yes! to get the students' attention at least 20 times a day.
Class, Yes! is used to start lessons, reduce the hubbub of the classroom, for crowd control, before entering/leaving class, or to interrupt an activity. It works by you saying a variation of Class and students responding with the same variation of Yes and immediately look at you with their hands folded. If they don't remember to fold their hands you remind them and practice, practice, practice until it becomes natural. Students have fun doing this which helps to get the part of the brain involved with emotions going. The goal of Whole Brain Teaching is to have the Whole Brain activated in order to get the best learning.
This is one feature I use a lot still, but I do not feel like I use it as much as I should. I will start tracking how many times I use it so that I am holding myself accountable.
Some variations I use are:
~Class, class
~Classity, class
~Class-a-doodle-doo
~Oh Class
~Class
~(whisper) Class
~(squeaky) Class
~(deep voice) Class
~Class (clap)
~Class Oh Class
I am still looking for some more ideas. Feel free to share your own versions with me.
If I master the Rookie level before the week is over I will move on to the Pro level. The Pro level is to you use Class, Boom! variations at least 10 times per day. This is the same as Class, Yes!, but there is a boom added at the end.
Some variations are:
~Class, Boom
~Class-a-Boom
~Class-Chicka-Boom
~Class-Boom-Sha-Boom
~Class-Ba-Ba-Boom
The final level is the All Star level. In this level you ask a question that students need a lot of practice with (for third grade an example would be multiplication facts) then say boom. Students respond with the answer and boom. In the All Star level you should be using all three types equally at least 20 times a day.
The main thing with Attention Getters is to rehearse often! This is a major key factor in success. I will keep you all posted on how my progress is going. I will also update weekly on the focus of the week based on the 13 Week Master Class.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On another note, I have posted another set of brag tags to my TPT store:
These are brag tags that can be given out each month for perfect attendance for the month. I have more brag tags to come over the next few months.
These are at my introductory price of free for a limited time. Grab them before they have a price, but remember to leave some feedback.
