I have finally experienced the WBT National Conference. I first learned about Whole Brain Teaching last summer as I joined in the weekly webcast on wholebrainteaching.com. I tried it out in my classroom starting with “Class-Yes!” and the 5 Rules. Those lasted all year. I also tried “Teach-Okay!” and the Scoreboard. I found that my problem was being inconsistent and lack of diligent planning the Whole Brain way.
There was a wondrous day when we had an all-school assembly and the students were really chatty. I went to the microphone and calmly said, “Class, Class?” and they all responded with “Yes-Yes!” My principal later emailed me and asked me what I said that got them all quiet.
Seeing Coach B and the others in action at the conference in Pineville, LA has spurred me on to try the whole thing. I do have to tweak it a bit to fit my classroom but I've got some time this summer to give it a try with planning. At the conference, I was actually able to get 2 lessons from my Music TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and I am looking forward to teaching them the first week or so. One is on the 5 voices for kindergarten and the other is dynamics in music for 1st graders. With both K and 1st classes last year, we started oral writing, but in my class they have to sing in complete sentences. Can’t wait to add the spicy sentences. I will be adding more oral writing to 2nd and 3rd grade this year.
I have also spent the past few days working on my own version of the 5 Rules. You can find them in my store on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT.)
Be looking for more in the coming weeks as I go through the Music Standards. If anyone can help me figure out some hand gestures for the music standards, I would really appreciate it. Leave suggestions in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
Debbie
