Are Whole Brain Teaching techniques something you write into you lesson plans? I'm a student trying to become a certified teacher in Texas. In most of our courses right now the instructor's are adament about writing good lesson plans that use the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS. I'm sure other states have similar guidelines.

The attached LP is one I wrote and recieved an A on. I used the template the instructor provided and wrote the plan based on one of the TEKS for Social Studies for second grade. I'm just wondering if Whole Brain Teaching is something you write into you lesson plans, or if it's just something you do while teaching your lesson?

Any sample lesson plans you Whole Brain Teachers could provide would be greatly appreciated!

I am currently experimenting with this as well. I would find it very easy to do gestures with any vocabulary lesson since the gesture matches up with the word you are trying to define. Today's lesson was on a surveying and data collection I had no ideas what so ever other than to make tally marks in the air. What I would do is if you are doing total physical response is to have the motions you are doing in writing so if you needed a sub to teach the terminology they could do so.

I'm also experimenting and sometimes cannot think of gestures quickly. I will ask the students for gestures and there are times when my gestures don't match exactly how I want them to, but it still works!

I agree that good lesson plans are essential, particularly for substitutes. (I love your plan, by the way!) Perhaps teachers could attach a reference page to each lesson plan (or the lesson plan book) defining in simple terms, what each of the Whole Brain Teaching terms/procedures you are using. Then, place those terms into the lesson plan each time you feel appropriate. I think you need to have that visual cue for yourself.

The parts of Whole Brain Teaching that really show up in a lesson (as opposed to management routines) are gestures and Teach-OK. Gestures are a natural with vocab, as already discussed, but don't forget that you teach vocab in every subject. For example, nearly every math lesson has at least one vocab word in associated with it, so definitely use gestures there too.

I also include where I plan to Teach-OK in my plans. This can really help you visualize the pacing of a lesson while writing it. Check out this thread for some discussion on chunking difficult concepts. I'm definitely finding that figuring out the "Teach-OK-able" (OK, I realize the jargon is getting ridiculous) chunks prior to a lesson is helpful.

As for sub plans, I definitely agree that putting a quick primer on some of the simpler Whole Brain Teaching strategies with them would be a good idea, but if your sub is unfamiliar with Whole Brain Teaching, it probably wouldn't be wise to expect them to use gestures and do Teach-OK. Class-Yes, rules, and Scoreboard should be easy enough for a sub to pick up though.

My administrator is familiar enough with what I do to where my using the terms "teach-ok", and "gestures" are obvious to him. They match with the typical terms you hear in teaching workshops... Teach-Ok = "Think-Pair-Share"... Gestures = Non-linguistic representation, or TPR (Total Physical Response). I'm not sure what other parts of Whole Brain Teaching you'd specifically write in your lesson plans...of course if you're doing Super-Speed, Crazy Professor, or other games you'd want to write those in.

A word of caution...if a sub is not familiar with Whole Brain Teaching, I would give the sub a different management strategy than the scoreboard...if a sub doesn't read carefully (which some don't) and doesn't grasp the real idea behind the scoreboard and the +-3 rule, your students could end up with a very 'off' day. (Example: I brought a teacher to a WBT seminar, and the following Monday I asked her how it went. She said, "Oh, not very good. I ended up with about 30 points and they only had 3."
Oops. Even some teachers miss the whole point behind the scoreboard. Without hearing / reading WBT 'philosophies', most teachers won't understand that the scoreboard is a tool to keep them on their toes, and that YOU CONTROL IT.

I do give my subs the class-yes as the attention signal, and the Rules are posted and listed in the plans.

That's a good point about the Scoreboard. Keeping control of it is harder than you think. It just sucks to stick a sub with a completely different plan, as that almost guarantees an "off" day. I remember when I used to sub that the farther I got from the students' normal routine, the worse my day would be.

That gives me an idea. It could be cool to have a standardized "Whole Brain Teaching Sub Sheet" that gives the quick-and-dirty of what a sub would need to know, along with a modified management plan like you talked about... What do you think?

Giving directions for specific rituals in the classroom takes place all the time. For example my day begins with all students meeting me at the door and shaking hands with a "good morning Mr.G or "good afternoon Mr. G" The ritual is done every day and with substitute teachers it is required for the student to shake their hands and introduce themselves by name. I write in my sub plans if they do not introduce themselves to send them to the end of the line. If the Whole Brain Teaching is part of the ritual and ingrained procedures of the classroom then the students can assist with the rules, scoreboard where the sub has to be instructed on the expectations of the 5 rules, stickies and such. I agree a 1 page sheet to put in the front of the lesson plan would be a great help not only for subs but for any teacher who is working towards Whole Brain Teaching mastery.

Quick question
You refer to stickies.
Can you explain what stickies are and how they are used?

busybeec wrote:


Yeah, I'm interested in that too.

I think a good way to plan how we are going to Whole Brain Teaching a lesson would be attaching a mind-map to the lesson plan. You have the lesson plan with the objectives, content and stuff, and you have another page in the shape of a mind-map including the keywords that will enable you to follow your lesson plan. There, you can include both when you plan to use "Teach-Ok", and short descriptions or images of the gestures you plan to use, so you don't have to think about them in the class.

Of course, following comments in other threads, if you cannot come up with a gesture, you could include a note saying that you have to ask the class for help!

Best.

Edward

Chris and others on the thread,

This thread has not been active in a while, but it is an important topic (I read it carefully for all information when I first joined the forum)so I thought I would add some updated information.

In the recent webinars (2010/2011) Chris B. introduced a 5 step lesson plan format. Each step starts with class yes, has content, ends with teach okay.

The 5 steps are: 1. Ask the Question, 2. Give Answer with gesture, 3. Expand answer and give/get examples, 4. Evaluate using yes/no way, QT test, 5 Critical Thinking - Sentence Frames.

risekinder posted a great example of a real lesson plan using this format.
To see it go to Forum; go to WBT Teaching Discussion, go to Critical Thinking, go to Critical Thinking Language Arts. It is the first post on that thread. There is a link on the post that has the complete 5 page lesson plan.

I missed the webinar but did see risekinder's lessons. Here is the template/Cheat Sheet I made from RiseKinder's lessons post, lnutini's post on lesson plans and ChrisRekstad's post on Brain Toys:

This is a great tool. Thank you so much for sharing.

Hey Scrapbunny,
This is a wonderful resource for implementing WBT classroom model, in the beginning! Thank-you so much for sharing!!


Heather Hansen
WBT Intern
2011/12

I have often thought of this problem. This week my administrator had me submit three days of lesson plans to the office. I put the WBT basics with in the lessons. I was also told that I was aloud to pick my sub if I am out. Our district has a system called sub-finder, where I can get on the computer from home and select my sub of choice, if they are available. I thought I would contact a few of the subs and teach them the basics, as it is concerning that my students would lose a day of WBT structure.

Heather Hansen
WBT Intern
2011/12

Scrapbunny,
Can you tell me or explain what the equity sticks are?


Thanks!!
Heather Hansen
Wbt Intern
2011/12

Heather,
Your students are a great resource for a sub. My student leaders pretty much set up the class routines, then pointed to the sub to teach! Sooooo funny!
Also, do you have the WBT sub plan cheat sheet? If not, I can locate it and upload it again for easy access.
We are already back in school, and I love hearing the students teaching each other as I go from room to room.
Woo Hoo!
Deb Weigel
Co-Director, WBT Model Classrooms

Deb!! That's too funny!!!
I would love the wbt sub plans!!!

Thanks!!!
Heather Hansen
Wbt intern
2011/12

Heather- equity sticks for random calling. they are sticks with student names on them that you place in a cup, you pull a few names to check if students understand what is being taught and if they are paying attention. We are required to use them at my school.