WOW Moment - WBT!

I'm a little late for WOW Wednesday, but I still wanted to share my WOW moment for the week.

I mentioned once before that I was beginning to dive into this book:

 

Well, I'm absolutely loving it!  I have a hunch that Whole Brain Teaching might just change my whole classroom dynamic.  I happen to have a pretty wonderful class this year - SO smart, rarely a behavior issue (minus the typical chatter on holidays or days that it snows, ya know).

As I began reading, I thought I'd let all the WBT goodness sink in and then decide if I wanted to try it all out next year or not.

 

Then I thought, wait till next year?! What kind of teacher can hold out that long on such awesome ideas?!

Not me!

I just HAD to try it right away!

 

I started out by downloading these adorable posters from Christina DeCarbo to remind my kiddos about our new "class rules."

These are introduced with gestures that really make the kids giggle AND motivate them.  We practice these rules often - in the morning, before lunch, after recess...

I can already see a BIG difference in the number of kiddos who attempt to interrupt my small group lessons, or get up to use the restroom (they're in our room) while we're working.

One poor kiddo was even working at a station while I was teaching a small group and had his hand up for almost 5 minutes before I noticed.  He knew he wasn't supposed to be moving around or talking without permission, so God bless his little heart, he just waited patiently!  But then said, "I'm sooo glad you finally called on me.  My arm was going to get stuck like that!"

 

Georgia Grown Kiddos has an awesome overview of WBT here.

 

So far this week, we've covered:

*Class-Yes!

*Classroom Rules

and

*Teach-Okay!

 

I've also been incorporating more gestures into my teaching, especially during writing.

 

Beginning to use and feel comfortable with these teaching strategies THIS year will hopefully help me feel more confident to kick off next year with them on day one! *Sprinkles!*

I'm really just beginning this WBT adventure, and I can't wait to see where it takes me!