I was recently introduced to Whole Brain Teaching and I am really looking forward to trying some of the techniques out in my classroom.

However, I teach at a school that focuses on creating and maintaining intrinsic motivation in students (a la Alfie Kohn if you're familiar). Therefore, we try to minimize rewards and punishments as research has been shown that rewards indeed deplete intrinsic motivation over time. My focus then, is on long-term social / moral development, not on short-term compliance(although cooperation is always nice!). It isn't to say that I encourage my students verbally, I just stay away from empty praise and tangible reward systems.

My questions are:

Has anyone attempted to use the instructional strategies of Whole Brain Teaching without rewards and incentives?

Is this a pedagogical tool that can be modified to meet the needs of various classes? I ask only because I haven't heard or read anything about the program being flexible and adaptable to various teaching styles / philosophies.

Thanks in advance for your comments!
Melissa Mayes

Hey Melissa
The heart of the program is that it is completely adaptable to any teaching style the originaters encourage you to take and use the parts that work for you and impliment them at your own pace. If the scoreboard game with its inherent incentives does not fit in with your style then don't use it or adapt it to your needs. Try out some of the other stratigies such as, the "teach, ok" ideas and the gestures, which really help students grasp the concepts your teaching.
Jason Mills

If your school focuses on intrinsic motivation, then I would think the students are accustomed to the concept of winning for the sake of knowing they did their best and had a great day, and not neccessarily for a prize. So, you can still utilize the scoreboard game simply for the game itself. Big, fun, mighty cheers and the satisfaction of seeing how well they've done throughout the day may be all it takes if they are accustomed to pure, intrinsic reward. In addition, you can look at some of the academic games as goals for them to work toward. Pose it to them not as a 'prize' but as a 'goal'. Explain that if we use our time wisely, then we have time to play...you can use super-speed, crazy professor, beach-ball baffler, and mind soccer as academic games. You are increasing fluency and/or reviewing class material and they are having a BLAST doing it. If they win, it is a sign to everyone that the class has used their time wisely, so you then say, "Well look at that...now we have time for _______." It demonstrates for them the benefits of using time wisely...you have more time for the activities you enjoy.

I'd love to hear more on how this goes for you, I think it's an intriguing topic to work into our Whole Brain Teaching discussions.

Hi Jackie and Jason,

Thanks to you both for your responses! Very helpful and great to know that I can adapt the program to meet my needs and enrich the curriculum for time well spent with academic games without undermining their motivation.

Take care and I'll be keeping you posted as to how it goes!

Thanks,
Melissa

Using the Superspeed is also a great intrinsic reward because the students are trying to beat their own personal record. Talk about self-motivation and personal determination! Another strategy to try would be having the whole class set and beat records for classroom behaviors: for example: how long can we go without forgetting rule #2 (Raise your hand for permission to speak!); or how quickly and efficiently can we pass out papers, line up in lines, get to our seats, etc. The key here is not to reward them because they beat their record (but maybe letting the joy out in a one second party might not be too much reward?, but just allowing them to see their own improvement. You can print out the classroom management signs and put a post-it up for each of the records. Then, they can practice beating their own records. And I definitely consider praise regarding how well students are following directions and classrooms and procedures as absolutely beneficial for students. Because let's face it, for some of our students just being able to make it through a whole day without shouting out IS a cause for celebration!