Changes

Teachers all have a different philosophy on how they teach. They all have different techniques and ways they believe are the best to reach students. My sophomore year of college a lady came into one of my education course and talked about this thing called "power teaching". I was SO engaged! I had to learn more! I was so ready [or so I thought at the time] to use the techniques in classroom that very second! During my student teaching I used a couple of the concepts from what I had remembered back from the presentation my sophomore year. When I started structuring how I would teach this year I knew that I wanted to learn more about it, and practically use it in my classroom. I learned that the technical name for it is Whole Brain Teaching. I literally spend all last Saturday watching videos on YouTube and hopping from blog to blog of teachers using it in their classroom. I got so many practical ways to use it in my class. I printed out a few posters and tried the techniques in my class this week. I learned: MY KIDS LOVE IT! I have never seen my kids so engaged in my whole lessson. As much as I want to think that I am the best teacher that walked the planet and in no way would my kids ever get bored of my teaching, I know that's not the reality. I'm far from being "the best", as it should be! (It is only my first year!)

Their favorite part of whole brain teaching? The Mirror exercise, especially paired with talking. Mirror is when I clap two times and say "mirror". The students clap two times and say "mirror". Then I move my hands and head all around as I am giving directions of what they need to do. I often do this during transitions. This helps them to focus on me and what I am saying, instead of looking out the window, talking to a neighbor, fiddling with a pencil, etc. Their most favorite is when I say "Mirror, Talk". They have to not only mirror my actions, but they have to repeat what I say. I take this time to change my voice so that it is more memorable. They love repeating me when I talk with a deep voice, or a high pitch voice. The next thing I want to add is the scoreboard. I'll give you more on that once I use it in the class. :)
Another thing I added to my class is the what do we need checklist. I noticed that many of my students would ask me tons of questions on what they could use or what they needed to do with their paper when they were done when I gave them independent work. I found this list online and even got a free print of it from Pinterest! :) {pretty much my obsession right now!}

(If you click on the picture it will open it up a little bigger)

The students actually beg me to let them be the one to check or X! And look out if I don't do it before they start! They will let me know in 2.3 seconds! :)

One of my favorite additions to my classroom is my Boggle board! Of course I found it on Pintrest! :) During free time, they are allowed to read a book, or now, play boggle! I wasn't sure how they would react, but about 70% of my class LOVES IT! This is a win-win for me. Not only does it build their vocabulary, but they LOVE to do it so they WANT to do it! They beg for more Boggle time! I found a math one too, but it was for addition, so I have to see how I can work it for multiplication. Anyways, here was my inspiration:

And how my finished product came out:

 

 

In Cayman you have to get creative with what you have to put on the walls, because they are solid concrete for hurricane protection. This means all the stapling I'm used to is a no-go. So for my board I chose to use clothespins to attach the letters to. I love how it came out. Of course, if I was in the States I totally would have added some ribbon bows to the clothespins, but I worked with what I had, and I think it came out great!

 

I also made a new behavior chart {thanks to Pinterest!} but I haven't taken a picture of it yet, so I will post that later this week.

 

Happy Saturday!

 

Love and Hugs,

Mrs. Rodgers