I would like to hear from elem music teachers who use WBT in their music classrooms when they only see the students 1x (or less) each week. Thanks.

There were several of us in that category at the conference this summer in Louisiana. I know that Diane Woodward and I (both in Shreveport) are definitely in that category. Would love to correspond with you. So far this year (after only 1 week) my kids are looking forward to music classes. I am at a new school, and have VERY limited wall space due to being in half a portable building with 6 huge windows - those are on 2 opposite sides of the room, flanked by lockers on one end and a half wall covered with a chalkboard on the other. I covered 2 of the windows just to have some space for a WBT wall and place to project images. Still struggling to come up with a location for my Power Pix. Yes, I see students once/week. PreK-5th. They love being able to interact and have the whole brain involvement in my class. Unlike previous experiences, so far, my best classes have been the 4th and 5th grades. I saw on your other post that you only do 4th and 5th grade music. Wow! So tell me about you!

My husband is using it. He teaches music after school to small groups (10students). He came to the conference with me and fell in love with it. I will try to keep you posted about his progress. I am going to ask him to start a blog

Good luck music people!!!!!

Roxi,
WBT Intern, 2011-2012
wholebrainwithroxishayne.blogspot.com

I am so glad to hear such enthusiasm about WBT.  I wanted to gather my thoughts before responding and of course, have been super busy trying to get ready for day one.

I teach in South Jersey, 4th and 5th grade general music, in a very large school - 1200 students.   There is another music teacher and we split the population. I run a fairly tight ship so don't have a lot of problems but am not enjoying the process as I should which means of course the kids aren't having as much fun as they should.  So, my hope is that with a change in how I run my class, I can find more fulfillment and that will surely trickle down.  Yes?...

I was a bit confused about how to use the posters (power pix?) and some of the other suggested activities but after some thought I think I could:   Use WBT rules as class goals - I have separate general rules posted.   I thought I would designate a CLASS LEADER to lead the review  of the goals each week at the beginning of class.

Of course, I plan to use "class, yes!', Teach! OK! And maybe hands and eyes. But the line- up thing I don't get yet (use this with 11-12 year olds?) how does that work?

 Also, how would I be able to implement a scoreboard.  I can't give them extra recess....other suggestions?

Well, that's it for now... Thanks so much for your help.

Lisa in NJ

Hey musicmav,
With WBT you will definitely see fulfillment “trickle down” !!!
I was a little apprehensive about changing my rules to the WBT rules… I teach in an academy so we all have the same set of rules. Get to class on time, respect, follow rules of handbook… boring!
So I decided this year to use the 5 from WBT. It is so much fun reviewing the rules each day – quickly- like 30 seconds. The major part about the rules- the students correct each other. I just give the call out “rule # 1” and they say it.
Also, I felt like the rules that we had before were more like expectations , you know?
As for lining up thing- if you don’t ever line up as a class you don’t need it. I teach 13-17 year olds and we do hands and eyes ( I make it funny) but they know I really need their attention if I use it 
Scoreboard… so far I have just used it for HW. I am using a new reward for scoreboard and a new brain toy each month. So next month I will introduce Mind Soccer and that will be the reward. The next month I am thinking about using it Super Speed reading time.

I hope some of these ideas help, and good luck with your new year!!!

Roxi,
WBT Intern, 2011-2012
wholebrainwithroxishayne.blogspot.com

To our music and itinerant teachers I too go from class to class and the scoreboard is the best way to keep the motivation going. I offer a music minute for students. Students get to listen to their favorite music (song) if they get their required number of mighty oh-yeas. Just an idea