In kindergarten, I know there will be those students who do not want to go with the flow. Do any of you use 1,2,3, Magic or another consequence type system with Whole Brain Teaching? I have a stop light, but also use 1,2,3, Magic because it avoids argumentative interaction between the teacher and the student. I have had great success with both systems, but feel Whole Brain Teaching would be a wonderful asset because of the Whole-Brain approach. What do you do with students who may have to have time-outs? I am new to Whole Brian Teaching...so many questions.

I teach a Junior Kindergarten class and only use Class/Yes and the Scoreboard. We did some practice with Teach/Okay, but it was a little tricky for them. It just took some time.

What is 1,2,3 Magic?

1-2-3 Magic is a counting method to use when a student is making the wrong choice. It reminds them they have three chances to redirect their behavior in a positive way. I had two ADHD kids last year who would argue, or not transition to the next activity with the rest of the class. I would say: That's 1...(wait)That's 2...(see it they redirected their choices), and That's 3--Take 5 (student knew to go to their seat or the time-out/thinking area for five minutes. It was and is a successful way to deal with students who make the wrong choices, or refuse to do what everyone is expected to do. The book is in paperback and available used at amazon.com
I have had it for two years, and though it is not the answer for everything, it works amazingly well with "repeaters". By the second week of using it, I may only have to count That's 1...and the student would tell me he/she was ready to participate. Not getting to be with the group during a fun activity was something they didn't like, so it really worked. I use a stoplight for individuals who may need time-out at recess in addition to the counting. I am a bit rusty on the research behind 1-2-3 Magic, but find it very effective on pre-k and k age kids.

Maggie
www.maggieskindercorner.com

Question? What does your Score Board look like? I haven't seen a good close up pic of one.

Mine is kind of boring. I've been trying to see the one used by Andrea Schindler in the Kindergarten video. I just have 2 columns, one for and one for . When we get 10 , we play a game or dance to a song. I didn't even put a for the first few months. My kids were SO easy this year. Then they got a little too comfortable with the rules, so we made it exciting. I started putting a few and turned it into a real competition. We kept score each day. They'd get so scared if the got ahead. LOL I told them if the get to 10 first, there would be no blocks, no playing, no snack, just water. They figured I wasn't serious, but didn't want to take any chances!!

Now, for the individual student who just is a constant distraction....I am open to ideas. Sometimes the scoreboard wasn't enough to inspire him to settle down. I always hate to stop the flow of a lesson or story to "deal" with one child. I like the 1,2,3 idea... or sometimes I would just ask if he wanted to stay with the group or go sit alone for a while to collect himself.

I read something once about using a time out chair for positive behavior. So you get to sit in the chair if you've made good choices. What do you think?

I forgot one thing....for each that goes on the scoreboard, we would do a cheer. Depending on the season, or what we were learning; for a couple of weeks leading up to St. Patrick's Day we would go like this- me- Oh, Class! them- Oh, Yes! me- One Second Party!...all together - Top of the Mornin' To Ya! as we tipped our hats in the air.

I don't think I'm using the cheer correctly, though. I have to go back and watch the videos.

Gee, I'm glad you are on tonight. Sooo, do you let the smilies mount up to ten each day and have a daily "celebration", or do the smilies happen over the course of a week? It sounds like you have a handle on the cheers to me! Love the March-themed idea. I am guessing you can erase the smilies and frownies each day at the end of the day? What are the points at the bottom? Do you tally the smilies and frownies in their columns at the bottom to keep a running total? I wish the video were more clear. You can almost make out what is on her board, but not quite. Thanks for all your input! G'night!

I'm still up! The Yankees are playing the Red Sox and my house is wide awake...

I originally thought that the 10 had to add up in one day. I didn't think 5 year olds could handle a weekly kind of reinforcement. But it was fine. We would usually get a couple of each day, sometimes more, sometimes less. I draw little in the column instead of tally marks at first. We count up the score each morning and then do the rules. So they stay from day to day until we reach 10 and then I erase and start over.

I would try to catch them doing random acts of kindness, or using nice manners. Sometimes they would give me an especially enthusiastic "Oh, Yessity Yes!" and I would put up another . Then there were days when I didn't give any. Not because they didn't deserve a couple of , but I just forgot. I teach a half-day class and it goes by in a blink.

Oh, rats. Yankees lost again! I can go to bed, now. Keep in touch.

For what I've learned so far, Whole Brain Teaching is related to doing things that work to keep your students in track and active.
Chris Biffle once told me that WBT was built up from trial and error throughout the years, so if you have any other techniques or methods that work, combining them with WBT should be a good idea.

About time-outs, what I usually did (with WBT I didn't need time-outs any more...) was converting their age in minutes, and that would be the amount of minutes for their time-out.



I would be careful with that. If they find out there's no such punishment, they might start getting off-track. I think being serious and consistent about the punishments we say is one of the keys of WBT. In this case, punchinello, you are very lucky to have a good group that is easy going, but in other cases, this could lead into havoc.

Best,

Edward

Oh wow! Edward, you hit that one right...about them not taking it seriously if you don't follow through. Last year was the year from hell as far a behavior issues went. I had 20 students, five of which were constantly off task. The 1-2-3 Magic method was my primary way of dealing with them, and to a point, it was very successful. Out of the five, two were started on medication in March (kind of late in the game--wonder how much they would have learned had they had that kind of focus in August?), and the other three were constant movers who had as many modification techniques as I could muster until school was out. Two of them would push the bar to the limit, so the response from me had to be immediate. After a couple of weeks, all I had to do was silently hold up 1,2, and sometimes 3 while reading a book, writing a class story, teaching math, etc. After a month, the student would quietly go to the time-out chair without further disrupting my lesson. I am anxious to implement Whole Brain Teaching in my class, but know I will need these other backup practices to keep individuals in line with what is/should be happening in class. Thank you for your input as well!
Maggie

If 1-2-3 is a technique that you love I would not give it up... unless you found something you loved better, we love this system because it should work for anyone, and should enhance your current system.

Have you looked at Jay Vanderfin's card practice system? Email me if you are interested, and I will give you a run-down of the program.

Hello.
This is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. I haven't had time to review the card practice system, but would love an email. I just spent an hour making my own discipline chart cards for showing which rule was ignored by a student (students will have numbers--card will go by student's number as a reminder of which rule or activity he/she chose not to do). Is this what you are referring to? I felt that the card file in the download section was more for middle school or high school level. I found more "elementary" pictures for rules and activities in my room.
Thanks!
Maggie

I'm sorry Sara, I am not seeing your email addy. Mine is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Maggie

Aren't the card systems so much work, though? For the teacher, I mean. Are they worth the effort? I have never used a system like that.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but my classes seem to respond best to good old positive reinforcement. Even when they get a little kooky, I manage to get them back on task pretty easily.

On any given day you may only have two or three students who have one card by their name or number. Some days maybe no cards will be placed. By using pictures for the cards, it isn't too hard to walk over to the chart and move a card. Students have a pictorial reminder. If a student has three cards by his/her name, we will have a short talk at recess about which rules he/she chose to ignore, then off to recess. If it is something serious, a student may have time-out while others play. For students who respond well to positive reinforcement, a card may never be needed as a reminder. Ten years ago I had wonderful classes and smooth days. Kids are a lot more of a challenge now, so a variety of management tools is needed. This is why I will not stop using 1-2-3 Magic, or Love and Logic. I really think Whole Brain Teaching will help focus those students who would otherwise have a card in the chart. I am anxious to see the results this fall.

Here is the basic idea of how we use rule cards in Whole Brain Teaching (our new name).

Make a card pocket chart with each student's name, or number on it. Make a stack of white labeled cards, one stack for each rule. We have five classroom rules, so one stack will be all 1s, another stack all 2s, and so on. Whenever you think a student needs to be reminded about a rule he/she is having trouble with, don't scold ... continue with your lesson but put a rule card in the student's pocket. We never give more than two cards to any student per day ... each card will "cost" them 2 minutes of rule practice at recess. At recess, we set a kitchen timer in front of a child, set the timer to the number of minutes of practice, and then have the student silently practice the rule and the gesture associated with the rule. A note goes home with the student asking the parents to help the student practice the rule at home. The rule card stays in the student's pocket, until the note comes back signed from home (unless we know that the parents are too unreliable to follow through.)

We make another set of cards, purple ones, exactly like the white rule cards and these we use to indicate a student is doing a great job with a rule. A purple card cancels a white card. If the student ends up with one or more purple cards at the end of the day, and no white cards, then a positive note goes home to the parents.

We have found this system to be EXTREMELY POWERFUL, fun and effective for K-6 students.. The scoreboard addresses behavior issues for the class as a whole; the rule cards address the behavior of individual students. For what it is worth, we think the 1, 2, 3, is too slow ... and gives the student no practice in following rules. Another problem, is that you have to stop teaching and say "1, 2, 3" ... with rule cards, you continue presenting your lesson and let the card placed in the pocket send its own silent message.