HEY ALL!
I had a question posed and I know from my experience what my answer was.....BUT....well, I just may be partial so let's see your answer:

"How do you have time to use WBT and teach everything you are supposed to for the day? Don't you run out of time when you teach this way all day?"


Now my answer was that when I teach using WBT as my instructional delivery, I am actually able to cover MORE. Why? Since my students are actively engaged in the lesson, plus they are well managed, AND because I am chunking the lesson and they are teaching their neighbors using gestures, I find that:
*Students are retaining information more quickly, sooooo....
*I don't need as much (or generally any) time for reteach, and...
*They are getting the basic, rote material so quickly~ I can easily and quickly move into critical thinking aspects of the material I am covering, as a result.....
*Students are gaining a deeper understanding of the material I am teaching and we are learning more than ever before.

WBT experts: Opinions????

I agree with everything you said.

Like any good procedures, it does take extra time the first few weeks of school. But it more than pays off for itself in the long run!

Because of the page number procedure, class yes, lines-lines-lines, etc. we have MORE class time. With the teach-okay and mirror you can maintain their attention longer and they end up actually learning the material faster!

I also agree that you invest time in the beginning to save a TON in the end. I would also point out that teaching the WBT way will help you meet more of the new Common Core Standards in a timely manner, especially the new Speaking and Listening Standards. I am very excited to see how on track WBT is with the CCS www.corestandards.org/

Andrea,
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said! I would add that when using WBT, we are continually assessing, so we can monitor and adjust during the lesson, and not wait until the end of the lesson to find out who did, and did not get it! This actually saves time in the long run~ because we can differentiate immediately and catch errors early on, before sending a student for practice, only to discover later that s/he "practiced" the wrong way! For example, in the early grades we teach letter formation. I can not count the number of times we practice starting the letter "o" at the top, and circle left. I have seen teachers give students a worksheet to practice tracing the letter, but the student is writing and rewriting it incorrectly! If that teacher had taught the letter formation using WBT techniques, s/he would have noticed (through the use of gestures) which students needed more careful, guided practice before being sent off on their own. Also, the techniques and procedures used in WBT save so much dead time! That time adds up quickly, which pays off in maximizing instructional time.
We also know that when you understand material well enough to teach it to someone else, you REALLY know it! WBT raises up student leaders who are teaching their peers. At the beginning, it may only be at the memorization level. But later, we encourage them to paraphrase the material, and ultimately, apply original thinking as they teach their partner. What an amazing learning experience we are guiding our students in! True learning...that will stick with them not just until the test, but for a lifetime!
Deb Weigel
WBT Arizona

Andrea and others,

I am by far not an expert at WBT, but have been around the "biz" for a long time. WBT, by far beats out any and all the "methods" I have been exposed to (and confused by). As a professional WBT respects my energy teaching style, allows me to engage students, assists me in behavior management, addresses all my IEP and ELL students and I can assess quickly if I am effective.

If you are good at what you do, and all of you I have met are, the state standards and your district requirements are covered using WBT, so power to the teachers!

Annette

I LOVE the insights! Thanks for the input everybody!!!

You guys ROCK!

This is the single greatest question and objection I get from the Vietnamese teachers and especially from the Vietnamese administrators where I work (in Vietnam). The Vietnamese curriculum is dictated down to the number of pages to be taught in a class period and it is content rich while concept poor. They all say that they don't have the time to do WBT because there is too much memorization to be done. Your insights here have put into words what I have been trying to tell them all along.
I will definitely use your words as support -- Oh Yeah!

THANKS!
Jason

Very cool, Jason......

PS~ What exactly do you do???? Training vietnamese teachers???? Tell us more!!!

Andria,

I am on the run with only a few minutes so this will be the short version.

I am the head principal of a modest school system in Southern Vietnam that has a blended curriculum - 65% Vietnamese (state mandated curriculum) 35% international curriculum taught in English.

While my duties are wide spread as an administrator my personal goal is to assist the Vietnamese bring their teaching methods into a more active participatory learning/teaching process. The education system to include becoming a teacher is deeply entrenched in direct passive learning.

Until recently,(and now only in the more progressive schools are things different) asking the teacher a question was considered an insult because it implied that the teacher did not do a good job of teaching. Almost all of our Vietnamese teachers grew up in that system. Students do not know how to even ask a question, much less be engaged or responsible for their own education.

I am slogging my way through the morass of management and teacher defenses bringing in WBT to the teachers.

Two years ago I began introducing WBT to the foreign and Vietnamese teachers on a voluntary basis. It was met with huge resistance. This year I made it mandatory for the foreign teachers on one campus as a pilot program and had great success in the classrooms.

Next year it will be mandatory on three campuses for both Vietnamese and foreign teachers. I will be doing the training for all teachers - that is why I have read every single forum entry and read almost every word in every page and book on the website.

Of course as results come in I'll post them. In the past I have not wanted to focus on the exceptionally difficult process of convincing them to do something so radically different so have not posted much regarding the day to day struggles.

Jason

Wow! That is exciting and a huge responsibility. I'm so glad you are supporting WBT with these teachers. What a great way to make postive changes for students and teachers. They are very lucky to have you.

Susan

Jason~ WOW~ that is INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear about the results and how it went/is going.

PS~ how long have you been over there? What made you go? etc? Am I nosy? hahaha

Andrea,

We have been here 5 1/2 years. "We" as in my wife and I - foreign living is best with someone you love and understand because while traveling is exciting even often awe inspiring living in a culture as different as most Asian cultures is from the American culture can be at the very least confusing and for most people difficult and angering. Being very flexible is not just important, it is critical to be successful emotionally as well and functionally.

Everything takes four, five or six times longer than expected with more unrelated obstacles and often unseen obstacles than you can imagine. Except when it happens at lightning speed and too fast to catch up with.

It has taken five years for me to understand how to function within the culture and business systems here.

The education system is locked in a very archaic process that is so culturally embedded that they can not change it from within and certainly not at the local level. The very top government officials, who travel world wide, see the problems but from just below them down to the classroom teacher the culture drives things.

The good news is most teachers realize that they need help. I did a modest research last year questioning 60 teachers. They ranged from fresh graduates to retired from north to south Vietnam and from K through senior high. All but two (retired primary teachers) wanted to learn new methods for the classroom. 70% had heard of the learning modalities. Only one teacher could name the basic three modalities and had no idea of how to implement using them in her instruction. Learning modalities and in some cases multiple intelligences are being taught in Education university - one class session, no practicum.

The bad news is most managers are dead set against any change.

As to why are we came and have stayed? It is who we are. While wholly unsatisfactory that is the best answer I have. Where others are driven crazy we thrive, where others are satisfied and happy we molder - different drummer and all that. You can see a bit into the personality by looking at my photo here and then going to my wife's site: www.pjaestanley.com/?section=photos

Do I suggest that others come over? Most certainly, just with an open mind as to how things "Should Be". One administrator went ballistic when he found out that all the students drank out of the same cup at the bottled water stand. That is standard practice everywhere in every walk of life here. Get over it and deal with what can be dealt with - enjoy the rest. You will drink from the same cup that a hundred or thousand others have drank from since it was last washed, if ever. Disrupting a school over something like that is not productive.

Wish me well as tomorrow I start training the Vietnamese teachers and administrators at the first of the three campuses slated for WBT this year. And, yes, these administrators are strongly supporting the changes so I expect training to go well.

As for application, that will have to wait until July when the students return.

Jason

Jason,
Thanks for sharing a bit of your story. My husband and I taught in Penang, Malaysia in the early 90s. The experience was enlightening! I didn't get to Vietnam, but have many friends who did. My heart is for teachers and students, regardless of location or economic status.
Thanks for making a difference in SE Asia!
Deb Weigel

Hey Andrea-

I am also far from an expert at WBT, but I'm learning more everyday. I thought this was a very interesting topic, and I have to agree with everything you said. I started fully implementing WBT in my classroom at the beginning of this last school year, and I felt had great success! At the beginning it did take a bit more time going over procedures, but as my students became more familiar with how our classroom was going to run, everything flowed so smoothly and ran very quickly. We were down to passing out papers in 24 seconds in a third grade classroom with 26 students! I think that is pretty awesome! I also feel that WBT allowed me to review concepts more frequently for quick refreshers throughout our week. We would be reading our shared reading book on the carpet and discussing cause and effect that week, but I could also review, title, author, illustrator, and several other concepts while reading the book. For example, in word work that week, we might have been working on contractions, so I could also review that while still covering our big topic of cause and effect! A second grade teacher that came in and observed a lesson found it amazing that we were able to cover and review so much in a 30 minute time frame and that my students understood what they were learning about because she heard and saw them teach each other! WBT continues to amaze me and others and is proving to be so successful for our students, which is the most important thing!

Thanks,
Staci Glass
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Andrea, I agree with your assessment completely. Using WBT also allows me to quickly assess whether specific students are getting the material and identify misconceptions in the formative stage without having to wait and get sumative data through a quiz or test. This way I can give directive feedback a lot faster while the info is fresh in the students mind.

Jason,

I am so inspired by what you are doing. My hat is off to you and your wife. I will pray for your continued success. I know that what you are doing is making a huge difference for both the teachers and the students there. Thanks so much!

Susan Floyd
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Jason,
That is just incredible! What a blessing you and your wife are! So you are slated to train teachers and then will you both be coaching the teachers when they go back to the classroom to apply the strategies?
Andrea

Jason,
That is just incredible! What a blessing you and your wife are! So you are slated to train teachers and then will you both be coaching the teachers when they go back to the classroom to apply the strategies? And how did the training go? Were they responsive? How exciting!!!!
Andrea

Jason,
That is just incredible! What a blessing you and your wife are! So you are slated to train teachers and then will you both be coaching the teachers when they go back to the classroom to apply the strategies? And how did the training go? Were they responsive? How exciting!!!!
Andrea

Andrea,

The process is that I directly trained all of the regular full time staff to include teachers, TAs, program officers (academic counselors/sometime substitutes). They will then take the information / system directly into their classrooms. This group is mostly primary teachers - 1st through 5th.

The training was three days from 7AM to 5PM (2 hour lunch) - that would be about one full day of training in the States without the delay of active language and often cultural translations.

It went very well. On the first morning the teachers ranged from outright skeptical to extremely skeptical. By the end of the third day they were all working as a team, helping each other with concepts and the basic commands strung together in mock teaching drills.

Next step is a refresher training at the end of the summer a few days before school starts. Then at least monthly follow-up short training/coaching depending upon needs that are found when I observe the classrooms. I am the only one actively involved with training, coaching, evaluating etc in the Vietnamese program. Fortunately I have a very good translator who brings his heart to the job.

The biggest problem for understanding was how this approach can be used in literature or history type classes. They agreed that it can be used with the Read/OK and Work/OK process but remained cautious.

At the end of the training evaluation everyone agreed that they will use WBT in their classrooms and were excited about getting the training and what they learned.

Bottom line, the training was a huge success! I am now guardedly optimistic about implementation. I left them with the challenge of which team will have the greatest results. This group of primary teachers, or the other group of 33 teachers at a high school in a different city. I will do the training of the high school teachers later in the summer.

My last comment is, OMG! after several years of mostly driving a desk, my feet, legs and back were killing me by the end of the first day, the second day was torture even with lots of aspirin and the third day felt like it took at least a week to complete - I forget how much energy it takes to be in the front of the room all day! HATS OFF TO ALL TEACHERS!

Jason