Book Review: Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids
If you are looking to “up” your classroom management game, there are many helpful, research-based resources on the market. They vary in approach, therefore you have to choose the one that you believe fits your classroom management style the best.
If you are looking to purchase a resource, read my book reviews with Big Ideas to determine which one is right for you. And of course, to get an overview of ALL effective Classroom Management strategies, purchase Chapter 2 of the How to Teach Elementary School series: Classroom Management.
Based on extensive brain research, the Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids method is based on activating various parts of the brain to maximize engagement and learning.
As a multi-sensory method, students will use gestures and repeat things out loud to practice and reinforce rules regularly.
The Whole Brain Teaching method involves a lot of game-based motivators based on the “Game Mind" and “Uncertain Rewards”. As with many other classroom management programs, Whole Brain Teaching is ALL about intrinsic motivation.
Have you ever seen a kid play video games? They are completely engaged. There are no tangible rewards. They don’t always win, in fact, they often lose (or die) and have to try again with the hope they improve the next time and learn from their mistakes. The classroom should be the same.
Some of the game-based motivators are Starries, the Super Improver Board, Scoreboard, and Bullseye. There are Social Emotional-based modules like Alpha Hawk, Red Bear Green Bear, and Daily Virtues. Whole Brain Teaching even includes games like Cheery Dice, Fiver, and Fiver Plus. There is no shortage of ideas to keep students engaged.
In my professional opinion, there are a lot of great ideas in the Whole Brain Teaching program. Unlike the other management programs I have reviewed, Whole Brain Teaching would be appropriate beginning in kindergarten.
I first learned about Whole Brain Teaching about 10 years ago and the teachers at my school use many of the multisensory methods in their classrooms. I wanted to learn more and will admit that while reading the newest edition there was A LOT of information and my brain was spinning!
I kept thinking, how does a teacher keep track of ALL these motivators and scoreboards and games? I believe the best approach is to pick a couple of strategies to implement in your classroom and then build upon those when you are ready.
The VERY BEST PART is that all resources related to Whole Brain Teaching are FREE in their Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Wow!!
There is SOOO much to learn, but a few highlights from the book are below:
Based on brain research, lectures cause our brains to shift to Task Unrelated Thoughts, we talk our kids into wandering. Within 15 minutes of a typical presentation, students have checked out.
Get students involved in every aspect of learning through multisensory activity: echoing and gestures.
When using Whole Brain Teaching techniques, the motor cortex and prefrontal cortex work together. When these areas are stimulated at the same time, it helps students to better understand and remember information.
Using more than one modality of the brain, multisensory teaching, we stimulate different parts of the brain which helps with memory and supports higher-level thinking skills.
Abandon the Treasure Chest. If you think extrinsic rewards are needed to motivate kids, watch them play video games. The reward for improving should be public recognition.
The kids who need to improve the most, should win the most praise and awards. Stop lessons frequently and ask students to point out to classmates who are improving the most.
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