So, many of you have just started school or are getting ready. My kids will be back after labor day. So, wibbies that makes you the trial and error group or the control group. Please share the things you needed to fix and change as your students started using WBT. Like, was the scoreboard access able? Did the genius ladder work, where in the room did you put it, and so on. Thanks

The scoreboard worked great just make sure you use it a lot in the first few weeks put frownies for any behavior you do not want- like kicking under the desk or playing with name tags. Reward for anything you do like raising hands, being good listeners. I have not used the ladder yet, so far i have just been talking about nouns and the different kinds- person, place thing, animal. we will start the ladder this coming week. i also have started the teach okay which seems to be going pretty good we had to practice it a lot though. i tried the crazy professor and that went okay with prompts some are just shy so it will take awhile before they get out of that but i'm sure they liked it and will come around. mirror is going okay some kids do not want to join in so i give frownies and the "stare" but mention no name. I found that doing the mirror in different ways like slow motion and then really fast seems to help. what i have been struggling with is the power pics when i do the yes no way kids will say no way when it's yes and yes when its no way so i reteach but it still seems to be the same i do have to say when we do the qt test and they put there heads down with no looking i am able to pick out the ones who understand the concept and the ones who don't. guess i will just have to keep working on it. practice makes perfect everything doesnt always work out but i guess as we keep applying it we get better. try it and try it again then try it again soon you'll get great at it don't give up.

Thats right dvickers!! Rehearse,rehearse,rehearse! One other thing I remembered, after being at the conference on Saturday, was that teacher always gets the point first on the scoreboard. It's a nice way to keep the students on their toes. In regards to the power pic wall, how many power pics do you have up? I'm curious because I teach Third grade and I have about 7 up per each side. my students are doing well at it but we practice every day in the morning. I pick a leader to call out the pics, while I do lunch count and take roll. It takes about 5 minutes of my time.

Heather Hansen

Wbt Intern
2011/12;)

Annette, I put the genius ladder up at the front of the class. It works wonderful! The students practice with the blah sentence, or the sentence that the teacher does not want! Then build on that sentence with a spicy sentence, extendor complexor, and finally genius paragraph. I love it and I see so many light bulbs going on while I teach!! I wish you a great first week back and let me know how the genius ladder works for you:cheer:

Heather Hansen
WBT Intern
2011/12