Super Improvers Wall

I think one of the things about Whole Brain Teaching that I am most excited about is the Super Improvers Wall.  I am a firm believer that every child (AND adult) has something that they can improve on. I love that all interactions with the Super Improver Wall are positive. 

For those of you not familiar with WBT, a Super Improvers Wall is part of their year long classroom management system.  There are ten steps to the SIW, which you can name whatever you want.  There are some really cute sports themed steps in the book, or you could just use colors.  Your SIW wall should have all the steps laid out for the students, and each student also needs to have their own individual card on the wall to chart improvements.  All students start out on the first step, which I am calling beginner.  Then they have a goal for improvement and each time you see them improve they get a star.  When a student gets ten stars, they take home their card to show their parents and they get a new one that correlates with their new level.  From what I understand, you can change the goal for improvement as you see necessary, but should only focus on ONE thing at a time.  The best part is, it doesn't have to be a behavior that you are focusing on.  A student's goal could be to return homework on time, improve sight word fluency, or anything else academic that a child needs to work on.

I am so excited to put the SIW up in my classroom, of course mine has animal print!

A student would have to make 100 improvements throughout the school year to achieve living legend status.  I plan on having a permanent place in my classroom to display pictures of students who have made living legend status throughout the years.

You can snag my Super Improvers Wall posters in my TPT!

Click here to go to my store!

Whole Brain Teaching...Getting Started

I have started to read the Whole Brain Teaching Book, which so far has been amazing and eye opening.  I must say, I wish that I started reading this at the beginning of August so I could jump in and get started sooner.  It all sounds so perfect on paper, and I can only hope it works as well in the classroom as they say it does.  I know going in that I am going to be making A LOT of changes in how I do things and it is going to be a lot of work up front "training" them.  I don't like using the word training, but in essence when it comes to routines, that is what we are doing.

 

 

 

The idea of WBT is to engage the child's whole brain in learning so there isn't any mental area left over for challenging behavior.  The book gives some pretty detailed explanations on how to do that.  On top of the book, which is awesome, they have an amazing website with a plethora of resources. One of the thinks that stood out in the introduction to me was when the author pointed out that no adult really wants to punish a kid, we punish because we don't know what else to do.  I don't know about you, but this is very true for me.  I get to the point where I am pulling out my hair and I don't know what else to do sometimes. I can't wait to try the ideas outlined in this book and put them to use this year.  I want to leave you one final quote from the introduction today.  This quote is so extremely true, and I need to remember this when I get to that frustration point at home and in the classroom.

 

Ps.  I took my little cuties camping last weekend.  Despite getting 8 inches of rain the two days we were there, we had a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

Whole Brain Teaching

Holy cow, it is hard to believe that June is already halfway over.  Why oh why does summer have to go by so fast?  So far this summer I have spent A LOT of time outside with my girls.  They are fish and would spend all day, everyday in the pool. 

 



Over the past year, thanks in large part to pinterest, I have heard and seen a lot about whole brain teaching.  The little bits and pieces that I saw intrigued me and I want to learn and know more.  I love trying new things in the classroom and I am really stoked to try this out next year.  I got the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids by Chris Biffle.  I find it interesting that the little things they are suggesting you add to your routine can make such a big difference in motivating children and getting them to be productive.  I have to say, I am a bit skeptical as the author claims that this has been tested and worked in grades k-college.  I am not too far removed from college and I don't think that I would have bought in to this system.  But, I think it is perfect for elementary, especially first grade. 

 

 

Here is a seven minute video to show whole brain teaching in action.  A-MAZING!

 

I love how organized this teacher is.  She has everything planned out and ready to go and the kids are so focused.