This morning as I was incorporating vocab candy into my reading lesson, our Superintendent just happen to walk in and took a seat. After watching about 10 minutes, he quietly left. At the end of the day, he phoned my classroom because he wanted to tell me how impressed he was with my lesson. He couldn't believe how organized it was and how I never lost a single students attention! Very impressive. I told him that my third graders also deserved some credit because they are so eager to learn. The second factor is that WBT is just so amazing!! Just thought I would share.

Way to go! What an amazing testimonial to the power of WBT - every child engaged!!! Hope that one day my class will look like that.

Awesome job!

Way to go!! It's great when the higher ups get on board!

Susan floyd
WBT Intern
2011-12

WBT is awesome!!! My grade 6 classes are engaged and on task. It is shocking that they are so quiet and respond so well to all my commands. I just can't believe it! I must be in TEACHER HEAVEN!

Rebecca, Way to go! Woo Hoo! Keep up the great work! Your students are learning so much this year!
Did the big NorEaster hit you? Keep warm! (It was mid 80s here today.)
Have a great week!
Deb

Yes, Deb. We had a some strange weather yesterday. I woke up to huge, white flakes falling on top of my yellow and red leaves. I think we got about 2". It is pretty much melted today though because temps have gone up to the 50's.

It was a great day when the Super came in. On Thurs., I used the same group of students to video for YouTube and my blog. They all were camera shy! It was like pulling teeth for ideas on Genius Ladder, and in the 5 step lesson plan, they could not grasp the lesson. I have not yet viewed the video, but I will to see if there is anything I can salvage. Whole Brain Teaching is wonderful, but it doesn't mean that all students will act like "Genius" everyday! We will review the lesson and keep on plugging away:P

Rebecca, I am getting ready to do a video and i have the feeling as good as my group is the minute they know I am taping it will become different. Any suggestions. Thanks Annette.

I am getting ready to make our YouTube video soon and I am worried about my students as well. So, I began taping them awhile back and we view the tapes together. As we watch, we stop and talk about what is going on with the students, who is on task and following directions, who is not on task and following directions, are students using gestures appropriately, what can we do differently next time, and what is our goal to improve for the next taping. By using this process, my students are comfortable with the taping situation and can focus on the lesson. Practice makes perfect, so my students will be shining stars for their YouTube debut!

Any other helpful hints to share?

Thanks,

Laura Caisse
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Temperatures in South Korea are similar to New York. So today our high will be 72F and our low will be 46F. Thanks Deb

Video Reviews are very important for students to get an idea how to behave in class. As a warm up, I will show one of WBT videos that demonstrate what I expect of them. But now that I have over 100 videos, I will show students their videos too. I ran into two recording problems not enough battery life and memory space. For battery life, I would replace my rechargeables after two recordings. For memory space, I would record 4 classes using 4Gb of memory and transfer them on to my hard drive. My Sony Cybershot H1 camera stores mpg file format which records about 800Mbs per 40 minute class. I use a camera stand so I can get a proper view. I hope this helps. Laura, I love your idea of the class reviewing the video. Let me know how it goes.

I was teaching a lesson in reading comprehension using WBT when the superintendent walked in to observe unannounced. I got a letter in the mail the next week thanking me for my outstanding student engagement and energy!