First Week

So, I've had 2 1/2 days with my new class of kiddos so far.
They are a chatty bunch, let me tell you.
And very obviously unused to raising hands.

I think I say these exact same things about every bunch of kids the first few days of school.  :O)

But, undaunted by the chattiness or the inability of some of the kiddos to raise hands and stay in seats, I thrust forward into the realm of Whole Brain Teaching.  And let me tell you, I am SO GLAD THAT I DID!

There are two 2nd grade classrooms: mine, and my grade level partner, Amy's.  We got a fairly even mix of kids, meaning neither of us got all of the challenging kiddos, or the brightest kiddos...it's pretty even.  And don't get me wrong, Amy is a FANTASTIC teacher who has very strong classroom management skills.  But both of us (and I can include her in this statement because she has even mentioned it over the past 2 1/2 days) notice that WBT is making a HUGE difference in the volume and amount of chitter-chatter happening (or not!) in my classroom.

The kids are really engaged, and most of them are eating up the methods that I'm using to teach them.  So far, the class has become extremely comfortable with the following:
Class/Yes! (The first thing I taught my kiddos!  They love it.)
Mirrors (They really like the mirror check.)
Mirrors and Words
Hands and Eyes (A little challenging for about 2 of my kiddos, but it really helped to immediately pinpoint those kiddos that have trouble focusing for even 5 seconds.)
The 5 Classroom Rules (I did 3 rules the first day in the morning, and the other 2 rules in the afternoon of the first day.  They love doing the gestures, and nearly all of my students have the rules memorized completely.)
Scoreboard (Wow, they really work hard for an extra minute of recess time.  I have it on a small whiteboard so I can take it with us when we walk through the halls.)

On the third day we started Teach/Okay!  Most of them seem to get the idea, and I'm sure it will become more solidified as we use it over, and over, and over throughout the year.  They really liked it when I added in "Uh oh!  Switch!"  They seemed to like pulling down a magical lever to make the switch from "teacher" to "gesturer"...my explanation for their roles during Teach/Okay.  Here's a VIDEO showing what I want my class to look like soon.

We've also worked on procedures for passing out papers, lining up, coming to the carpet, and going to their seats, as well as writing down names, dates, and keeping their voice level volume at an appropriate level.    Here's another awesome VIDEO that shows some of these procedures done beautifully and seamlessly.

I wonder what these teachers' classes look like first few weeks of school.  That would be something really useful to see!

Here's to another upcoming week of fully implementing WBT in my classroom and seeing some amazing student engagement as a result!