Monday, January 10 marked our first day back from Winter Break AND our first day with hot and heavy WBT!!! We've been doing Class-Yes since the beginning of the year, but I was pumped up from the Phoenix conference on January 3, and ready to hit the ground running WBT style!
I was amazed at how engaged the kids were the entire day! We started the morning with the rules and repeated them throughout the day during transitions or when kids were getting off track. Today, even though it was just Day 2, I was able to hold up my fingers when a student was breaking a rule, and they new what to fix instantly. I explained and implemented the score board and, of course, they lost the first time (great idea Chris!!). They really didn't like being 3 minutes late to lunch, as they had to watch their peers go into the cafeteria while the whole class waited outside as I held the timer. I am really working hard on ping-ponging them back and forth, and I'm keeping the score tight so they're never "safe".
We added gestures and implemented Teach-OK! during vocabulary, grammar, and math. I was SO excited that the kids were able to recite each of the vocabulary words again today (word, definition, and gesture). I see the retention and it is so exciting!
I did have a challenging student, also one of my behavior contract kids, who ended up being an independent for part of the morning yesterday. I'm thinking he was just sleepy and not fully back from break, but he hopped on the train and ended up earning smilies for the whole class! I was so happy to have an immediate and easy tool to get a challenging kid to "play the game".
We covered the WBT style of paper passing which was very exciting for the kids because they were able to make noise and support each other. We also covered sockless hand puppets...this was AWESOME! I have kids every day who say "But Mrs. Campbell, I don't have a partner" and I have to hurry to find them a partner. NOT ANYMORE! I supported the use of sockless hand puppets with smilies for the whole group and verbally praising the students using the strategy. Today, I didn't even have to remind the kids, they whipped out their sockless hand puppets like it was second nature. We also covered Uh oh-Switch! and the kids were definitely engaged, excited, and kept on their toes. Of course, I had to give a saddy when kids didn't hop to face their partners, but they earned smilies when they fixed it ;O)
In the afternoon we introduced Mirror Words in conjunction with Teach-Ok! It was fun to watch the kids mirror me and then be able to teach their partners using the gestures. I did hear kids repeating exactly what I said, but I also heard kids explaining the concept in their own words which was exciting to see the expansion of the knowledge.
Overall, I feel like these past 2 days have been an amazing start to the new year! I was dreading going back to school and reteaching all of my classroom procedures, but WBT made the transition exciting and easy for both the kids and for me. I can't wait to see how this evolves, and I'm excited to add in more tools (I can't wait for action figures!!! I think the kid are going to go nuts!)
UPCOMING CONFERENCE!
January 22, 2010
9:00-3:00
Pueblo Elementary School
Yuma, AZ
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