Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids: (and the rest of your class, too!)

I've been teaching for over a decade and am so happy to have found Whole Brain Teaching. My favorite techniques are the Class-Yes attention signal, mirror, teach-okay, the rules, the super improver chart, and the power pix. I started implementing the WBT strategies about 3 years ago and found them so effective. Here are a reasons I fell in love with these strategies. 1. Class-Yes - I use this countless times a day. It works with a classroom of students and also a whole grade level. No more bells, whistles, or yells--using a spirit of fun and a smile to get instantaneous quiet and attention is amazing. 2. Mirror/Teach-Okay: Just using these to make sure students have heard and remembered instructions is fantastic. Students mimic the teacher and then teach a classmate what was just said. So simple, yet so effective. 3. The rules - Students love when it's their turn to lead the rules. Imagine students actually complaining that they didn't get to lead the rules practice when there was a sub! 4. The Super Improver system - It's all positive. Students can help set goals for themselves. These can be academic and behavioral goals. It's truly like a video game as they work to move up a level. Several students mentioned that this was a favorite in their end of the year writing. 5. The Power Pix - Students have fun practicing vocabulary and academic concepts. Seven-year-olds can tell me the difference between a proper noun and a pronoun. Imagine students begging to review these concepts. Imagine actually having to tamp down the excitement as students practice telling what a noun is, so that we don't disturb the classes next door! The Coach, Chris Biffle, constantly mentions "teacher heaven," but I've come to realize he is not joking. I've seen it. This book lays it out so clearly. You need it!

I stumbled upon the Whole Brain Teaching videos on YouTube while I was looking for ideas for brain breaks about 6 years ago. The WBT methods have been a game changer for me. I love looking out on 25 energetic, excited, and engaged students while I am teaching using the methods. I've adapted many and made them my own. For those that think that this is a rigid way to teach, that is not so. You get to read, watch others in action online, and practice the techniques in the privacy of your own classroom as presented. Then, see what matches your own teaching style. From my own experience, WBT has made a huge impact on my teaching. I've gone from "sage on the stage" teaching to engaging students in short micro-lectures, having them practice paraphrasing what I've said, checking for understanding, then having students apply what they've learned. The thing that I've enjoyed the most is the classroom management parts. I'm free to teach and I'm not constantly managing behavior. After a few years of just using the management pieces, I began using the oral writing. WOW! I've never had such strong writing since I began teaching 21 years ago. The conventions of writing are taught using "brainies" ... These are gestures that go along with the rules of writing (capitalization, punctuation, end marks, quotation marks, apostrophes, indenting, etc.). The class practices orally first, then we write. As I'm walking around helping individuals, all I have to do when I see something missing is make the gesture with the accompanying sound and the student knows what to fix. It's brilliant! I have also incorporated several other "games" such as the Super Improver Wall (works on individual improvement in anything from behavior issues to academic success), the Super Speed Reading (works on sight words), Super Speed Grammar (works on grammar rules), Smoothy Bumper Planet (works on the 17 tricky numbers 1-100 ... esp. the teens), and Mind Soccer (a high energy review game). This book covers mainly the classroom management side of things. Once you realize how well your class can run using these methods, you will want more. For that, check out the new book: 122 Amazing Games and the website. There are endless resources out there for WBT and, other than the books, they are all FREE!!!

I can't say enough about Chris Biffle or this awesome book. I first learned about Whole Brain Teaching in 2002 when it was known as Power Teaching. I was in my second year of teaching in a very tough urban neighborhood. Our school was adjacent to the projects and the area had graffiti, vandalization, gangs, illicit drugs, domestic violence, etc. My colleague was a past student of his and dragged me to out to his free Saturday morning classes sponsored by our district. He also came to our school and demonstrated strategies in my own classroom. I am forever grateful for all the strategies I've learned as without them I wouldn't have survived teaching. Eventually I came to present on Power Teaching a few times at Charter School Conferences and once with Mr. Biffle himself in a break out session for third grade teachers, all because I wanted to help spread the word. My current school uses many of his techniques with success. Class, class is used an attention getter in all classrooms, assemblies, and in our after school program. Many teachers also use the happy/sad points as I do. I've had great success with all the strategies for challenging students including independent scoreboard, rehearsing rules, and the Bulls Eye Game. I also use SuperSpeed reading games to increase fluency and Concept Pixs for a review of standards using Jeopardy and a hanging chart. I just began incorporating the Super Improvers board I learned at the last Whole Brain Teaching presented by Co-Founder Chris Rekstad and I blog about it here. As as a mentor teacher to new teachers I've also imparted the wisdom of his ways to them and it has saved some struggling teachers from either quitting or getting canned for poor classroom management. Whenever I'm able to head back to my hometown area and catch another Whole Brain Teaching free workshop I gather up more teacher friends to go with me, and we come away with even more great strategies.

I heard about this on a chat line and decided to investigate! The book is such an amazing resource and a wonderful staring point to this program. It is backed up by a raft of videos and printables that make implementing the ideas easier in a busy teachers life. I found a group of like minded Australians with whom I could share the ideas raised in the book and discuss the forms and againsts. The wording of the last rule was inappropriate for my situation so I adjusted it, the energy level is high so not recommended that you read this when you are feeling frazzled. Read over the longest of your holidays and you will be inspired, I guarantee it!

Chris Biffle is an amazing and creative teacher. Teachers provide You Tube videos online in which you can view children and teachers using his techniques in classroom management. You might want to watch them just to smile, because it is so cute to see a little first grader presenting to her class or to see a sixth grader working with other students and mirroring the instruction. The class videos are on You Tube and his instructional sessions are in his webcast. I teach high school kids. I saw some of these techniques on his webcast and in the You Tube videos and I have begun using some of them with my eleventh grade students during summer school. I am very pleased with the results so far and I intend to use these techniques with my ninth, tenth honors, and eleventh grade students this Fall. I have been teaching for sixteen years and I have never seen a set of techniques that created an environment in which students are so engaged with what they are learning. I don't talk as much now and the kids are actively learning instead of sitting and staring at me. I still have a long way to go in learning this, but I already feel like I am a more effective teacher and I see that my classroom is more fun and interesting to the students. I am still reading the book, so I haven't completed it yet, but it is supported with many free and very helpful examples and instruction online.

This book simply rocks! Do you need ideas to help making your teaching more engaging? Engagement stops behavior problems in its tracks. This great book covers a super attention getter called Class Yes, which combines with the scoreboard (points the class earns for making good choices and poor choices or simply not quick enough) to help keep children on task. The book also includes Hands and Eyes a great way to focus students, 5 terrific classroom rules, Teach-Okay and Mirror both of which have children using gestures to teach each other concepts, the Super Improvers Wall to help focus children in on wanting to improve instead of just rewarding your brightest students, and practice cards for your toughest students to keep them on the right track. The book also covers the brain research behind Whole Brain Teaching, Critical Thinking, The Five Step Lesson Plan, Writing ideas, and many other wonder teaching tips that will engage even your toughest students. I wish I had known about this amazing program when I taught some of the toughest students as I know this would have helped them greatly. Pick up the book and also do yourself a favor and hop on over to Whole Brain Teaching .com (no spaces) and check out the videos, free ebooks and more fun on the website! Brian Hopkins

The book is a must have for all teachers. I like having this bound version because it has all the components of the ebooks in one document. It makes it easier for me to locate specific information and I no longer have to worry if my printer is going to run out of ink. The book offers many useful tips to teachers who have just started or those who have been teaching for years. The kids have a great time learning and the teachers that I know who use it, have a much easier time managing. This book is NOT just a classroom management tool, but a teaching tool as well. The students are engaged and the kids are talking to each other about their learning. I feel that this is one of the most important aspects of WBT. Every child gets a turn to talk. It is not just those who raise their hands. There is no name stick drawn from a can. Every child is accountable. The other reason why you should get this book is that you can see for yourself how WBT vary greatly. You don't have to be loud to be a WBT. You need to find what works for you. There are some pages dedicated to showing the different types of WBT out there.

This is a must have read for any teacher who is passionate for the love of teaching whether you are a new or veteran teacher. It takes the method that is already fantastic and generates it to even a higher level. I absolutely love how they have made it even easier than before for the teacher and how they can stay on track to have their students achieve great things on that "important test" in the spring while saving their sanity and preparing their students for the real world in a fun and engaging way. As a veteran elementary and special education teacher who has worked with gifted to the severe behavior and mentally challenged I know from first hand all students can in their own way benefit from this method. It makes me get excited about the school year in a new way and it is only the middle of summer.

L' ouvrage correspond à mes attentes. Le contenu est intéressant, il me reste à expérimenter dans le contexte. Je conseille cet ouvrage.

I cannot over emphasise the importance of this book. It WILL become the world standard for teaching in general, in the years to come. It will help with your day to day lesson provision technique, and also give you numerous tried and tested Whole Brain techniques to keep your most challenging students engaged and behaving. Loads of linked videos on YouTube. It's all free. Your enthusiasm for the profession, if it is diminishing, will be rejuvenated. Don't eat or sleep until you've bought this. Power to the teachers.

Realmente no me lo he acabado, pero estoy cerca del final. El caso es que no sé si aplicado a secundaria seria del todo útil, cada profesor tiene que ver las necesidades específicas de cada clase. Sin embargo, los métodos me parecen muy dinámicos y creo que el libro da un montón de buenas ideas incluso para los que no quieren seguir el método al 100%

This is the most amazing program I've seen in more than thirty years of teaching. It's a comprehensive classroom management, teaching program, and student assessment protocol that can be used from the youngest students, right through college level. It's fun for both students and teachers alike and you won't believe the incredible things your learners will be able to achieve! The book itself is well layed out, easy to read, understand, and implement. In addition to the book, there are an incredible number of top-notch free resources including; instructional videos, videos of classroom teachers using Whole Brain Teaching, and downloadable materials and power points, which are available at: WholeBrainTeaching.com. Be sure to also check out Chris Biffle's latest, and newly released book:122 Amazing Games, for the latest developments in Whole Brain Teaching. You've got to get this book!!!

Oh my goodness. Where do the positive reviews come from? This book is full of behaviourist strategies that are repeated over and over (yes that is their mantra but is it really necessary to reproduce the images and associated strategies so many times?). The approach to management relies on extrinsic motivation and a lot of surface-level knowledge retention. Points systems in class? Really? More or less homework as a reward? Really? The main message from this book to me was to feel pity for those teachers in the US. The strategies and tactics seem out-dated and not appropriate for K-12 as suggested on the front cover. For an alternative, check out Bill Rogers' work ('Cracking the Hard Class' or 'Behaviour Recovery') - far more useful and effective.