Whole Brain Teaching and Super Improver Wall

 SUPER (teacher) HERO

So I'm living in Okinawa, Japan with my husband. We arrived on the Island June 10th, 2015. Although I'm loving it here, I'm in the teacher slump months of twiddling my thumbs with not much to do. Especially because I don't have a classroom to work on this Summer. I need a job! I've been researching the schools here, I've submitted my paperwork, and now it's just a waiting game for an interview and a shot at getting back into the classroom.

In the meantime, I'm using my time to explore new ways of teaching and exploring new classroom themes. My last classroom was centered around being a "Super Star". Most decor was centered around the movies and becoming a star. Now I'm thinking about exploring a different route. I think I've decided on having a "Super Hero" classroom. It is a good theme, because it can be used in many different grade levels. And since I don't have a classroom or grade level just yet, I'm preparing for 1st-3rd grade. Fingers crossed that I get a job and that it's in one of those grades.

In my research... I've been discovering some new classroom management systems. I'm ready to share one that I found! So read on about my super hero classroom, that doesn't exist... yet.

Classroom Behavior

Clip Chart no more... For 3 years now I've used a clip up, clip down chart. However, I recently came across a blog that gave an interesting alternative to the clip chart. The question is... Why would I consider stopping the use of the clip chart? Let's discuss the pros and cons.

Pros: 

• Students are able to move up for good behavior and down for negative behavior, making it easy for them to see how they behavior changes throughout the day. 
• The teacher can easily track student behavior daily. 
• The teacher can communicate with parents about student behavior by using some form of daily log.
• Every day students start back at green, allowing them to see that every day is a fresh start.

Cons:

• Often the same students are ending their day on what they consider "bad" colors.
• Tracking student behavior can take a lot of time, especially in the younger grades.
• Parents don't always like that their child's behavior is on display for the class to see.
• Unless a system is in place, punishment for ending on colors below green often depend on the cooperation and participation of parent follow through.

So I kept the pros and cons even on purpose. I have used this system for 3 years and although there are cons, it's worked and I've enjoyed using it. I'm not opposed to the use of it in the classroom, but I'm always up for trying something new!

Whole Brain Teaching

What is whole brain teaching? You could Google it, or you can just read what I found about it. Check out this blog for some in depth information: http://ashleytipton.weebly.com/whole-brain-teaching.html

This particular blogger defines it as: "Whole brain teaching is a new 'radical' idea to some, however it is nothing more than tried and true teaching practices, combined into a new approach. Whole brain teaching combines direct instruction, sharing and immediate feedback to become a new style of teaching.  Whole brain teaching surmounts to seven steps that a teacher incorporates into their everyday classroom."

You can read about those seven steps on her blog. What I found more interesting, were the 5 classroom rules. I've changed my classroom rules each year. Mainly because I've never found a set of rules that covered everything I expected from my students. So again it's time to try something new. I'm going to try the following whole brain teacher rules in my classroom. There are 5, and each rule has a motion to go along with it. I'm not a big fan of the ones they suggested, so I'm not sharing them.

Rules of Whole Brain Teaching (WBT):

#1: Follow directions quickly!
#2:  Raise your hand for permission to speak
#3: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
#4: Make smart choices!
#5: Keep your dear teacher happy! 

So after reading about the basics of Whole Brain Teaching, I came across an interesting blog that discussed how to use these rules in the classroom, as a behavior management system. I LOVE IT! You can read all about it here, and the packet is FREE! http://inspiredbykindergarten.blogspot.jp/2012/07/behavior-chartsheres-what-im-going-to.html

This teacher uses 6 rules instead of 5.  I like that she added using inside voices, and instead of "raise your hand to get out of your seat", she has "use helpful hands & words". This is also a good rule to have in the classroom, especially in younger aged classrooms.

Implementing Rules in the Classroom: 

So after teaching these rules in the classroom, what are the consequences for not following one of the rules? If a student is a repeated offender of one of the rules, they are then told to pick up a card that states the rule that they are breaking. They then take that card and place it behind their name in a pocket chart, like the one below. You might be thinking, how does this punish the student? Well first of all it allows the student to identify the rule that they are breaking, and in doing so independently revisiting the rule that was broken. 

 

Consequences: 

The student then has to take a few minutes (before recess, at the end of the day, whatever works for the teacher) to fill out a slip about what rule they broke, and how they worked on improving their behavior. I find this to be a wonderful way for the student to reflect. Now keep in mind, I haven't used this in my classroom yet, but I don't know why it wouldn't work fabulously! This note can then go home so that parents still feel involved in their child's behavior.

Rewards For Good Behavior?

My only question with this system of behavior management is, What about the students who don't break any rules? Many educators and parents believe that teachers should put more emphasis on rewarding positive behavior as opposed to punishing poor behavior. I understand this idea because I worked in a school that implemented a school positive behavior system, the second year I worked there. There was a drastic change in student behavior, and rewarding that positive behavior that students displayed, cut back on a lot of our behavior problems.

Back to my question... what about the students who follow the rules. There are many ways to reward student positive behavior, but what works best? I can't say I know what works best because there are countless ways to reward a student. In my reading about whole brain teaching, I came across a very exciting reward system. It is called a "Super Improvement Wall". How perfect that is is called SUPER, it will fit in nicely with my super hero theme.

Super Improver Wall: 

The Super Improver Wall looks like this. It has a "ladder" of words that seem to increase in importance. Each word is also a different color. All students begin at the bottom of the ladder. In this case, they would start at "beginner" and the color "white". Next to the ladder of words are individual cards that have each students name on them. On each card there are 10 stars. The goal for all students is to earn 10 stars at each level. Once they reach 10, they move up to the next level/color.

How are students rewarded with a star? This is what makes this reward system interesting. Students can receive stars for reaching personal goals that are set by the teacher, or by the student. These are not necessarily academic goals, they could also be behavioral. Here are some of the benefits of using this system in your classroom:

• It is differentiated because every student has individualized goals. 
• The wall motivates every child, no matter their academic ability
• It teaches students the life lesson of "beating personal goals"

Thanks to this teachers blog:  
http://missnelsonsgotthecamera.blogspot.jp/2014/03/super-improver-wall.html


You can get her free download here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-Improver-Wall-Level-Headers-Kid-Theme-814836

Although I love her rules and free download, I found one more fitting to my classroom theme here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-Heroes-Classroom-Management-Pack-1318160

Individual Card:

So here is an example of what one of the student cards can look like. The level is stated on the card and then there are 10 stars, just waiting to be filled in. There are a few ways to check off the stars. You could use a marker (but students could also). I think I'm going to use stickers. That way they can only come from me.  After the student gets 10, you can take it down and put up their next level card from the ladder. 

I can't wait to get a job. It'd be silly for a school not to hire me...