I hate to report this...but I just came off the WORST. WEEK. EVER. I don't know WHAT happened to my students -- or ME -- but Room 302 spent this whole week talking, interrupting, and being off-task and super rude to each other (in fact, our whole 5th grade team was bombarded this week). I'm still using Scoreboard and trying to keep them interested -- an extra point on their reading test, lining up early, going to lunch early, free time at the end of the day. I'm ping-ponging them, praising them for following the rules and responding to Hands and Eyes. I went back to the Scoreboard and looked at the progressions and am committed to not moving too quickly through the levels. I just have a few students that have been incorrigible all year and are seeming to get WORSE instead of better. What can I do for these students? I have lots of students who are going along with WBT, but other students are getting sidetracked and getting dragged down.

I think one problem is that I used Teach-Ok much less this week...it seemed to work so well with my standards last week, but this week it seemed much harder to use it. I am still learning how to use it and it does take a lot of preparation and practice to incorporate it into lessons. I will be at the seminar in Yuma tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I can get some good ideas and be re-inspired for everyone's sakes on Monday!

Fellow WBTers, has the Worst Week ever happened to you? What should I do??

MIGHTY GROAN,
Alison

Alison,
You have some good self-reflection going on. After we have been using WBT, and we fall back into the routine of not using teach-okay frequently enough, we do experience the pain of too much teacher talk and too little student engagement. Dust yourself off, and start again! And, since it was your worst week ever, the only way to go is up!!! Ha ha!
Here are a few suggestion:
Remember to use the three steps in Teach-Okay: say "class", speak briefly, clap twice and say "teach".
You may need to begin level 2, the white practice cards, to assist with those tough individuals.
Now that your school had 34 people attend today's conference, you have a whole army of your peers to encourage each other when one is having his/her worst week ever! How cool!

I hope the seminar refreshed and inspired you. You did a great job presenting your mini- lesson!!!
Deb Weigel
WBT, AZ

Allison: We're always glad to help a true Wibeteer like you! Here are several suggestions:
1. Read chapters 4 and 5 of our manual "Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids" available as a free ebook above.
2. Post your ratings in this forum for the number of alphas, go-alongs, fence sitters and challenging kids ... this will give you a great snapshot of your baseline classroom management. Your goal is to only increase this average by .1 per month.
3. Post your ratings here for control of your tone of voice and consistency in following your management plan. Your MAIN goal is to keep this rating at 16 or above ... all you have total control over is yourself ... and if we can't management ourselves, we can never manage our kids.
4. Divide your Scoreboard, for your own tracking, into 4 quarters ... early morning, late morning, after lunch, afternoon ... your goal should be to record a total of 10 points, either Smilies or Frownies, in each quarter ... this will insure you're using the Scoreboard with regularity and frequency.
5. If you haven't already, give your kids a taste, a 1 minute taste with a kitchen timer, of Mind Soccer when they win by three points at the end of a quarter ... handle this right and they'll be begging for more ....and then don't give it to them too easily ...
6. Despite Deb's suggestion ... don't go to the Practice Cards yet ... let's see if we can get this unruly crew under a bit more control!
7. FREQUENTLY PICK UP YOUR TEMPO ... talk faster, look for Hands and Eyes, Mirror and Mirror words more frequently ... give these commands in a quick, snappy (not mean snappy!) fashion and reward or ding on the Scoreboard based on how quickly your class responds. In fact, you could even say, "The main rule I'm focusing on is Rule 1" ... and be sure you rehearse the rules with your kids at least 5 times a day ... and use student leaders occasionally to guide the rule rehearsal ... as much as possible all day must be fast, fast, fast ... give them no time to do anything but follow your whirlwind of directions ... "Get your papers out before I count to 5 go! Jose great job! Here's a mighty oh yeah for Jose ... oh now, table six is slow, a mighty groan for them ... 4, 5 ... hurry! Oh, no, did I hear a complaint? Drown out that complaint with a Mighy Oh Yeah! Not loud enough, here's a Frownie for you!" Get it? Then, when they are panting, you go to a slow, calm voice ... wear them out and they'll pay attention a little more intently.
8. If necessary, write out lesson plans with lots of Teach-Okay inserts.
9. Try all this and post the results here ...

Thanks Deb! I'm so glad we had the seminar when we did, because it was a WBT lifesaver for me. I understand the Scoreboard levels so much better now, which was something I was very curious about. I also understand the true beauty of Teach-Ok, and I know that not using it was my biggest mistake! Thanks for sharing your experience of putting tape on your floor to remind yourself of the three steps -- that's what I'm going to do first thing on Monday! Oh yeah!

Alison

Thank you for all the great self-reflection tips! Even before I knew about alphas, go-alongs, etc., I went through my roster to see who was following the rules all the time, sometimes, or not at all. I currently have 10 alphas, 12 go-alongs, 6 fence-sitters, and 5 challenging students for a total of 93 points. It makes me feel better to see which individuals I can help.

I could feel myself losing control this past week, so I would give myself a 7 for controlling my voice and a 5 for sticking to the classroom management plan, for a total of 12. It helps to have these two things to focus on for the upcoming week. My first week of WBT I was very cheery and didn't let anything get to me! I will work on getting back up to a 16.

As for the Scoreboard, I have been giving around 20 points during the whole morning and 20 points during the whole afternoon. I feel like I'm being pretty regular with this -- I've been using it instead of my previous clip chart motivator.

I just wrote out two math lesson plans using the class-yes/speak briefly/teach-ok pattern, which I think will REALLY help, since math is when I lose a lot of my students.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions! I'm so happy that I have expert WBTers guiding me through this!

Alison

Update on my SOS:

This week, I found out what my students will really compete for, so I have more students trying hard to follow the rules. In general, we had wonderful mornings, but not-so-great afternoons. I am still trying hard to stick to the classroom management plan and control my voice. I think this week I was about an 8 for sticking to the plan and maybe a 6 for controlling my voice. I still have a long way to go in this area.

On the bright side, I have a lot more alphas this week! 18 alphas, 12 go-alongs, 3 fence-sitters, and 2 challenging kids. I changed the seating arrangement and it helped some kids rise, but for every student that is doing fine, another student is getting into tiffs and being off-task. What a difficult group I have for my first year of teaching! I spoke with one of their 4th grade teachers (who uses a lot of WBT), and she said it's near impossible to find something that works for them.

I am going to do another week of Level One and then try the practice cards.