What do you know about Whole Brain Teaching (WBT)? Until a few months ago, I didn’t have a clue, although I had seen the term several times. Then I started noticing that every time someone on my Facebook page asked a question about classroom management, at least a dozen people would respond with “Check out Whole Brain Teaching!”
I was intrigued, so one day I decided to pose my own question – “Who can tell me about Whole Brain Teaching?” Holy Cow! Hundreds of teachers responded with glowing reviews of the program! I started looking into it myself, and began to see why everyone loved it. WBT strategies are exciting and engaging, and they address the needs of teachers with challenging students. Best of all, the the WBT website is full of amazing resources that are absolutely free! Even their national conference every June is free!
I decided to reach out to Chris Biffle, the director and mastermind behind Whole Brain Teaching, to ask him if he would be interested in writing a guest blog post to help spread the word. Imagine how thrilled I was when he offered to write a SERIES of blog posts on the topic!
You might still be wondering, but what IS Whole Brain Teaching? In Chris’s words, “With over 4,000,000 views on YouTube and 100,000 registered members, Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) is one of America’s largest education reform movements. Based upon thousands of hours of classroom research over the last 15 years, WBT recognizes that students learn the most when they are engaged in lessons that involve seeing, hearing, doing, speaking, feeling … and substantial quantities of educational tomfoolery.”
Classroom-Transforming Rules Blog Post Series
An important component of Whole Brain Teaching is the Five Classroom Rules, so Chris will be writing a series of posts to explain each rule and how to introduce them to your students. These posts will be published about once a week with the last one ending in mid-August. As each post goes live, I’ll update this one with a link to the article. Here’s what you can look forward to in the coming weeks:
Rule 1: The Secret to Lightning Fast Classroom Transitions
Rules 2 and 3: Taming Blurters and Wanderers
Rule 4: The Ancient Secret for Wise Decisions
Rule 5: Halting Back Talkers in their Tracks!
These rules are so important that I created a free set of colorful posters you can print and display in your classroom. They are available in my TpT store by clicking my store link or the image above.
Whole Brain Teaching Resources
If you want to learn about these rules right now, you can purchase Chris’s book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids in which he explains everything you need to know about WBT. The book is easy to read, and once you get started, you won’t want to stop! In addition to learning about the five rules, you’ll learn the rationale for WBT and how the strategies activate different areas of the brain. You’ll discover step-by-step directions for implementing all of the strategies shared in the book. Click the image on the right to find it on Amazon.com.
You can also find a wealth of free resources on the Whole Brain Teaching website including 18 helpful videos. To access all of the content, you’ll have to register for the site, but the good news is that registration is free! Registering for the site will also allow you to participate in the online forum where you can share ideas with other fans of WBT.
Remember to check back tomorrow to read the first of Chris’s four blog posts on the five Classroom-Transforming Rules. His posts are fun and full of the “educational tomfoolery” that’s a hallmark of Whole Brain Teaching!
