I am about to teach 4th grade in a school that is located in a very poor and crime ridden area. The student's first language is not English. I will be teaching English and science to 55+ students with different levels of ability and behavior. I just happened to run across WholeBrainTeaching on youtube and the light went off- I could use many of these techniques in my classroom. I wrote to Chris and he suggested I write into the Central America message center. I thought I was going to have to supply 10 teacher's names etc. but he reassured me that I could get assistance through the site. I also have copied and pasted many of the first steps and goodies from the site. I am excited! I have taught high school and middle school for many many years, so this year (Mar- Dec) is going to be a challenge for me. I will let you know how it goes.

It would be great if you'd start by telling us more about your school, the neighborhood it is in, what the area looks like, what is in your classroom, the attitudes of your colleagues and superiors ... and your background, how you came to teach there. Also, as you get to know your students, perhaps you could make up names for a few and describe how they react, as the weeks unfold, to Whole Brain Teaching.

School begins next Monday March 8th. This week we have had seminars, training sessions and room preparation.
I am teaching in one of the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods- maybe the worst. In the past I taught at'nice'private schools and this year I decided I wanted to do something different!
The English level is very low and some of the students have no English. I will be teaching English and science. I know it will be a change of pace for all of the students to incorporate some of the WBT methods. Some of the schools here have problems with old-fashioned teaching methods and punitive discipline systems.
I am planning on making posters this weekend the 5 rules. Any suggestions? Thanks.

It's always great to hear from teachers outside the U.S.

For students who are new to English, we've found our free downloads, SuperSpeed 100, Biffytoons and Kindergarten Power Pix work very well. For the youngest learners, look at SuperSpeed Letters. Of course for math there is no language barrier ... we'd love to hear your experience with SuperSpeed Numbers and SuperSpeed Math. Finally, the Crazy Professor Reading game would be fantastic when students are reading fiction or non-fiction in their native language. How about translating our five classroom rules into Spanish and posting them here?!

More updates!

Hi,

I enjoyed reading your post and the replies so far! I am actually doing a paper on Whole Brain Teaching after having had a training in the district I sub in. I am taking a "Children Around the World" course, and I am supposed to talk about how Whole Brain Teaching is good for different children from different cultures, socio economic statuses, etc.

I was wondering if you could tell me if, when you decided to use Whole Brain Teaching, what specifically made you choose it over other approaches, like Reggio Emilio for example.

Also, you already mentioned you are in a poor area. I also realize that today was your first day of school, so you won't have much experience to talk about, but how did it go over?

Is there anything culturally specific that makes Whole Brain Teaching more feasible?

Any information you can give me would be appreciated. My professor was so vague, I'm not really sure what other questions to ask, so hopefully I can compile enough for my paper. Also, if Chris reads this, if you have any information about using Whole Brain Teaching in different countries, I would SO appreciate hearing it. Thank you!

And I guess I didn't read the dates right...as this was a year ago and not a few days ago. So hopefully someone replies, darn!

Hola Gene.

If you can we would love an update from Panama !

Tamara Alvarado
WBT Intern
2011-2012