I just started WBT this week and am LOVING it so far, and most of my kids are really into it. So, here are my questions:

I have one kid who, very possibly, has a learning disability. Unfortunately, our school does not have the personnel to give him the personal attention he may need. He is incredibly inattentive, and he never seems to know what is going on. All of the other kids ostracize him, and constantly complain about the annoyance by his antics (provoking fights, making strange noises, not participating, etc.) His "teach-ok" partner was extremely frustrated with him today. The student was not "teaching" or gesturing. He just kind of stared at his partner and smiled a bit. I'm fairly certain that mental retardation of some sort is not the issue, but perhaps an attention and/or learning style problem. What should I do (especially during the teach-ok moments)?

I've got a few kids who are just aren't doing the gestures. They either get distracted by something else, or just plain don't do them. I find our teaching time being interrupted a lot by giving "frownie faces" because of these students (and giving smiley faces to keep up the +-3 thing going). Is there another way I should be handling this to get these kids to participate?

Thanks for your help!!!

For your super low student, can you use your proximity to influence him? Or maybe when you could make him a set of flash cards to help him along, so that when it is time to do teach/okay you could jot down some notes for him to teach... I am not sure what grade level you are teaching, but if the student could read off of the card maybe that would help him focus and feel more confident.

My students have been Whole Brain Teaching for a long time, and sometimes I still have to circulate and remind people to gesture or mirror their partners gestures. As long as they are trying and immediately start gesturing - I give them points. It is their first week so I would go easier on them with gestures - especially as long as everyone is trying to participate, then you are doing great!

You can also tell your students that the reason you want them to do big gestures and vary their voices is that it tells their brains it is important to remember then they actually need fewer repetitions to remember the information.

That means that if they do the gestures the way you ask it is LESS WORK FOR THEM! Woohoo!

If they are not enthusiastic it means you have to do a few more repetitions to make sure the kids who are not doing it right get enough repetitions of the information to make them able to remember it as well as the kids who are doing it right will be able to.

For the one who is slacking make that kid your partner for a little bit. They will need to sit near the front where you can see them easily, but you are their main partner. Make sure that kid is doing the teaching to you. This way if they really are struggling you can see that right away and help them correct that.

I hope this helps.

Another strategy may be to say "hands and eyes" to your students before you begin your gestures. This signals to your students that this is a big point you're about to make. Then say "mirror." When you say mirror your students should say mirror back and get their hands ready for gestures by placing them in the air in front of them. Utilizing these classroom management signals may help your low student to get on track because you're offering him/her several opportunities to jump on board. I would also agree with SReeves that proximity once "teach/ok" begins will probably help signal to the student that it's time to begin. Tell the student that is paired with the low student not to give up and to keep encouraging their partner. You could let the class know that you'll be giving points on the scoreboard when you hear encouragement from partners!