Hi Whole Brainers!
I'm looking for suggestions on how to bring hesitant and shy kids out of their shell with Whole Brain Teaching. These kids, out of fear of looking silly (or out of unwillingness or doubt) silently refuse to participate in call and response moments (Class-Yes, Gimme an "Ooo", Mighty Groan, Rules Review, e.g.) as well as Teach OK's, and the whole method doesn't seem to work as well when everyone's not bought in.

Aternatively, some kids reject the method by mocking it through kid humor (i.e., making silly, unrelated gestures, answering "no" when the response is "yes", saying the opposite of the rule during rules review: "Don't follow directions quickly; HAHA!").

How can we motivate the shy ones, correct the rejectors, and gather group cohesion from moment one?

What age/grade are you teaching?

Jeff,

I also anticipate running into some of the same problems with doubters and disruptors as I begin WBT this year for the first time. I will now be teaching mostly 8th grade social studies (plus some 7th). I taught all of these students as 7th graders last year. This group as a whole was extremely difficult and uncooperative. I feel sure that many of them are going to resist this new method. But I fully intend to follow this through and not give up no matter what their reaction.

For students you absolutely expect to rebel, would you recommend starting right off with the industrial-type strength WBT? It was so hard to get through the shell of negative peer pressure last year. I want to begin next week by breaking into that shell immediately and effectively and get them in the right direction early on.

Thank you!

Jeff--
I'm teaching 3/4 combo, and some fifth grade groups. I thought at least the 3rd/ 4th graders would be with me from the start, but was surprised to find so much unwillingness on day one! I've got great groups, but I really want to see them fly with WBT.
Suggestions/ reflections?

Mike
Berkeley, CA

This is what I did when I taught third grade:
Okay--this may sound harsh--but really I use the Scoreboard as my tool to get the group going. I give the students plenty of time to practice the routines, at first, of course. Then if I don't get full class participation or inappropriate response (Which I believe, also breaks rule number #5) , then I will put a point on the Sad face side. You don't want to get the whole group down, so you can "ping pong" the students back and forth by giving them a chance to try again so you can reward with a Smiley point (if on the next try around you don't get that reluctant student--pick out a student that is doing a great job and say "This point is for Jason--because he did a great job of participating for our class"), but then always end again on the sad side (you can do another practice round "let's see if everyone can participate like Jason"--or you can just simply ping pong it back by saying "This point is for Jason--because he did a great job of participating for our class (this is the point you put on the smiley side)", and then say "But we still don't have everybody (and put this point on the sad face side).
I find that the more opportunities I give the students to "mini-practice"--the better response I get. Ping ponging them back and forth keeps them on the edge of their seats--they never know what is coming and that is key!
Then, when they lose (which they will when you're not getting the response you want)--I will hold a "Boot camp" for the minutes that they are losing for recess. We call this our "Practice Boot Camp" and whatever technique they are least participating in (or participating inappropriately in) we just practice over, and over, and over again until they are absolutely sick of it. My point with them is that if they do it incorrectly during class--then I assume that they must need some more practice to learn how to do it correctly. And being the loving teacher that I am I want to give them that extra practice time! I don't scold them or get angry--I am "rewarding" them with extra time to practice. This usually gets most or all of your class on board.
Your shy ones at this point will be trying to at least do the minimum--even if they are shy they still usually want to please the teacher.

Then all you should be left with is those few rebels--and that is when you move to the Independents group. Once you have broken up the "rebel click" you should have little to no trouble--but if you do still have a student or two giving you trouble--move to the Bulls Eye game.

Hopefully this helps. It helped me. But let me tell you that there were definitely lulls in the year--so we may do good for a few months (or weeks;) ) and then we might start slipping again and so I might have to bring back the "Practice Boot Camp". But I will also tell you that Variety helps--so if they seem to be getting used to it and not as enthusiastic change things up and add some variety--either in your Class! Yes! or Scoreboard or something like that!

Thanks for the advice Andrea. You have some really good strategies that I will use.