Hi all,
I wanted to share how nice my first week was with WBT. I got really lucky this year because apparently I have a big group of 7th graders who already know most of the WBT procedures. We have a few 6th grade teachers at our school using it and it made such a huge difference.
I noticed the first day when I had them taking notes on class/yes, teach/okay, and the rules. Before I was ready to practice I saw a couple kids already using the gestures. They picked it up like riding a bike. Even though not all the kids knew it, having some who did made the others really comfortable. Usually at the middle school level, takes kids a week or two to get really comfortable with talking and using gestures (it feels pretty goofy at first for teenagers). By the end of the week, my kids were already learning new concepts using teach/okay, switch, and doing it well.
Way to go 6th grade teachers!!!
P.S. For all you secondary teachers, I would really suggest using notetaking skills to learn WBT methods with your kids in the beginning. It sets a standard for both quiet work and interaction. Take notes on one portion, then practice aloud. Continue with each concept. Then students can be held accountable to actually go home and study the WBT procedures so they are ready to use them in class.

Taking notes on WBT while you teach WBT and making it part of the class curriculum ... brilliant!!! double, behind the back, 10 finger woo!

Angela, I love the idea of teaching notetaking skills using WBT. Can you elaborate a bit on your process? This will be my 10th year teaching, first year teaching with WBT and first year teaching 6th grade social studies - have been a science teacher for a long time. So, with those two firsts, I am trying to get as many ideas on how to start as possible. Thanks, Bobbi

This is generally how I use note taking in class with WBT.
First I teach the main concepts I will cover using gestures. To start, I may not expect them to totally understand, just do the gesture and repeat the concept or term back to me.
Example: "Class here is our gesture for first person point of view. Say first person. Now make this gesture while you say first person." I get them to learn the term with the gesture and next we move on to our notes. Students copy what they need from the board or handout. Next we review it and I explain while students mirror gestures. I give examples if necessary. Next is Teach/Okay. Students can teach the definition and my example. Next I call on students to share their own example. (reapeat teach/okay if necessary) If it seems like they got it, I have them add an example to their notes. Finally repeat the whole process with the next concept.
The process will go as follows: 1) concept & gesture 2) notes 3) teach/okay 4) examples aloud and in notes 5) repeat with new concept. At the end of the lesson we review using our notes by having students teach their partner again from the notes.
Hope this helps!

Angela,

WoW! It sounds like you really have this dialed in...could you elaborate on the hand gestures you are using? do you try to use the same gestures as the 6th grade teachers do? I was also wondering if you have the students draw the gesture or something to that affect as they take notes? As I'm typing this the idea of taking pictures of the gesture and making it a poster or visual of some sort might help...

I am so excited to start using this program.....

We all use the same gestures for the rules and basic things like that. As far as content gestures, I am not sure.
As far as the notes goes, I use cornell notes style which is where the kids write a concepts down and then turn it into a question on the left hand side of the paper. However, I usually add a column on the right where students choose to either draw a picture or write their own comment on the concept that will help them remember. This way when there is an important gesture they can draw what it looks like. I let them choose so some students were drawing hands making gestures and others were writing things about their own experiences with that concept such as "same as 6th grade" or putting it into their own words.

Thanks for the good information. I started middle school ELA this year, and now I can see how to incorporate the Cornell notes and WBT.

I will start on Monday.