AH, Summer!

I have slept in, planted flowers, sent my children to camp and generally lazed about for the last couple of weeks. I am enjoying summer this year as a time to rest but I can't help thinking about new crew members! I think being a teacher is a lot like being a parent. Even when you are not thinking about your kids...you are thinking about your kids. I am going to a Whole Brain Teaching conference in a couple of weeks and I am so excited to use what I learn while I am there in the classroom. I began using WBT strategies in earnest for the 11-12 school year. We had a phenomenal year! Those kids made incredible gains and we were able to cover so much more content because of the five rules and scoreboard that are central to WBT. Follow directions quickly was like a challenge to them. My students anticipated what I was going to have them do next so their team could earn a tally mark. It was like magic to unlock the door after lunch and watch them speed to their desks and open their reading books to the the next story every Monday before I can put my lunchbox away. I never said anything about it after the first few weeks. I only gave tally marks to each team that had all crew members on the right story by the time I made my way to the scoreboard. They started using self made bookmarks to be able to earn that tally mark! Talk about problem solving in second grade. I never even suggested it. I taught them to use the table of contents the first weeks of school so that I never had tell them what page to open the book to but that wasn't fast enough to my students so they made bookmarks. I still marvel at how the magic of those five simple rules caused them to work together. Google Whole Brain Teaching and be amazed by the way your school year can be transformed in the first week!

Mrs. H