I love the program!!

I teach grade 1 and am wondering if you introduce all of the components of power teaching on the first day....rules, teach OK, switch, gestures, class yes, etc...
Also, what strategies do you use to get the teach! OK! working well at this level?

I started about a month ago, and before I started, I planned which days I would introduce what:

mypowerteaching.blogspot.com/2009/01/plan.html

I found that I moved faster than this though, as the kids catch on a lot faster than you would expect. One thing to remember is that even though Power Teaching is a whole program and it's difficult to pick and choose (you kind of have to do it all as things depend on one another), that doesn't mean it has to be perfect from day one.

After about a week you're going to realize you messed some things up and reverted to some old habits or whatever (make sure you keep in touch on here so that you do realize this). At that point you just tell the students "OK, you are doing pretty good with Power Teaching so far. Now you're ready for the NEXT LEVEL!" You can repeat this trick anytime you realize you've done something wrong, or you want to add new stuff.

Here is a video of Teach-OK with first grade (it says third grade but it's first):



With any grade, the key to good Teach-OK is keeping the time periods quick. You talk for no more than a few minutes; they share for around 15 seconds or less. Keep the rhythm going so they aren't having to talk or listen for too long.

Oh, and I blogged about my own Teach-OK Routine. I use it with third, but the same should work with first. Don't try the whole routine on the first day though (Switch should come a few days later probably).

Typically, even with a little older kids, I teach like this, assuming you start introducing the ideas on a Monday:

Monday: Class-Yes, The Five Rules, The Scoreboard Game

Tuesday: Lots of practice! Teach-OK, and explain why we do it.

Wednesday: More on the Teach-OK, Hands and Eyes!

Thursday: More practice, introduce the Switch!

Friday: Review everything.

That is just me, though. You might find you want to use a different order.

Thanks for all the insight guys! I am looking forward to starting these strategies tomorrow!! There are still a few questions plaguing me, as I try to get a sense of what it is going to look like when I get it all up and running......I noticed, Jared, that you said your kids had stopped engaging at one point last month....have you been able to re-engage them?? Do you power teach everything or only a few selected concepts each day? Also, does anyone have any tips on what to watch for or emphasize when students are working independently or in small groups on different projects or assignments after the power-teaching is done?

Basically the same things you would watch for anyway. On the Teach-OK if you are suspicious that a kid is not giving their attention to what you are teaching you can pull them up individually and have them teach to you. If they cannot repeat it then they do not know it.

If you pull them up one on one, then walk them through it until you are sure they have it. Have them reteach their partner, and maybe the next time you run through that with the class have them help teach.

Remember to use "It's Cool" or 'That's cool' or whatever similar phrase you want to remove any stigma for guessing wrong. Reward with a ten fingered woo once they have it.

Give them a time limit on the written work. Remember that you can always check the class and give them a couple extra minutes if they need it, but you can't un-waste five or ten minutes of class time if too many are goofing around.

The more specific you are about what they are supposed to learn at the beginning of class the more on top of them you can be about how much time they should be spending on a written assignment.

To help slower learners I generally give everyone an "objective sheet" with the major assignments I want them to do in the chapter. You can always add more, or allow a new assignment to substitute for an assignment on their objective sheet if you like.

That is off the top of my head. More questions? Keep 'em comin'

Jeff

cabt wrote:


I haven't really re-engaged them so much as I never lost them. I've found that their degree of engagement relies largely on my degree of planning and on my own mood. The tighter my plans are the better prepared I am and the less likely it is that I will hit "dead spots"--times when I break the PT flow. My mood is harder to control, but I watch my diet and sleep, and just generally try to pump myself up (the routines do this naturally to a large degree).

I do Power Teach everything in theory, but as I mentioned before when my planning lapses, so sometimes does the PT. That is not to say that you can't PT on your feet (vocabulary especially requires almost no planning once you've gotten the routine going).

For independent work, if you haven't already, check out this thread. Sara, Jeff, and Ross each have great routines for independent work (must be something about four-letter names...). Don't worry too much about that at first though. Just get the basics going (the ones you already mentioned), and independent work can be tweaked as you progress.

My name's Jason, BTW.

Sorry about that, Jason...I think I need some "gestures" to help my memory

I love Sara's SFT concept...my kids are in the middle of writing a collaborative short story in my grade 1 class tomorrow. After brainstorming and creating our next sentence or two, the students will transcribe what we've written onto paper as part of their 'printing practice'....I think the timed SFT concept, with specific outcomes explained before they begin, will really improve their enjoyment of this 'necessary evil'...especially for those who don't like to transcribe from the board!!

When introducing to first grade, I would break it down. Day one teach class/yes and rules. Day two add in hands and eyes. Day three practice teach/okay and switch. Focus on teach okay and switch for the next few days. It does take practice. I showed my students a video of other students doing the procedures; it really helped them to understand the teach okay method.

Below I left the quoted information that my question refers to. You list "and explain how we do it" on Tuesday. By "it" do you mean Teach-ok or WBT as a whole?

JeffBattle wrote:

With older learners I mean teaching why we use WBT as a whole. I show them the imperfect model of the brain and then explain how all the parts interact with each other to build memory and learning.