Hi, guys!

It's been over a year since I last posted, and I had quite a few adventures with WBT in my building. I'd like to share them with you, because I'd like to get re-invested in WBT, after not using it for nearly a year.

Why did I stop?
There are two main reasons why I stopped. The largest one was this: another teacher in my building mocked WBT infront of their class, with the YouTube video. The students that we shared came to my class afterwards, and completely undermined the work I had accomplished with them! They too, mocked the system, and then only complied out of snarkiness. It took the fun right out of it!

The other reason why I stopped (and this is more personal) was that I got stuck in a rut, and didn't diversify my techniques as much as I wanted to.

I will say, however, my current French II students remembered something I tried last year that they loved: Mind Soccer! (or "Le foot des Champions!") They have actually requested it a few times, so I plan to do it with then tomorrow (it was an every Friday thing for them).

So, I'm going to attempt to get things started again, WBT style. I'm not sure how many steps I'll teach tomorrow- I may do the first five or six... we'll see. Of course, it's super-chunked and so easy, they shouldn't get lost. Hopefully, all of the new (to me) kids will buy into it, and my French IIs will hop back into the learning fast lane!

As well- the one major problem I have with students is excessive talking, especially when I'm trying to teach them something! (My French IIs are the worst this year, followed by IIIs!) Hopefully the scoreboard will resolve this. I can also hook it into my behavior reward system (which I honestly do NOT want to use).

So, my biggest questions for you guys are:

1.) Any suggestions for keeping things fresh?
2.) How do I ask other teachers to stop undermining?
3.) Any suggestions for keeping it at just the right maturity level?
4.) What to do with kids who don't buy in?

Oh, and P.S. At the end of last year, I saw the five rules posted in a few other teacher's rooms at my school, so it's spreading!

That makes me so sad about the other teacher, what a bummer!! So sorry that happened.

1. Keep things fresh? Change up your Scorebaord game. Sometimes I'm the Royal Queen and my students are My Royal Subjects, or sometimes I'm Princess Fiona and they are all Ogres (that was their choice). Keep in mind, I am a 5th grade teacher so you will have to adapt a style to fit your high schoolers:) Chris Biffle posted a couple weeks ago about different Scoreboard ideas. I will find it and let you know where it is. But one thing I have done recently is change what I'm looking for. My first period I need lots of enthusiasm b/c they are seriously lacking in that department, so I put that I will give double points for enthusiastic behavior. I also do with Respect or something else I am looking for that day.

2. The fact that other teachers are undermining is just SAD. Sad they are not team players and have not discovered Teacher Heaven like you know to be out there!! You can't make them do anything, but you can make your class so much fun, no matter what other teachers do, what you are doing is sticking more. I say fun, but I mean fun+learning=teacher heaven! As hard as it may be, put your energy into what you can control, and unfortuanately, you can't control other adults. Remember that for every teacher you feel is not being supportive, you've got hundreds who will support you on here!

3. Keeping it at the right maturity level? Don't be fake. You know what your students will respond to. Don't act like Chris Biffle or anyone else from the videos, act like YOU. No disrespect for Chris B. He is a genius! But I've watched other WBT teachers, who aren't as zany, do just as good a job as the zaniest! Also model what is appropriate and not appropriate using the scoreboard:)

4. Kids who don't buy in? I am pretty sure there is an ebook on that.....and it may take time for some kids. Have your students be the leaders whenever possible. And mix it up who is leader. Sometimes giving your students jobs, even the students who act like they are too cool, makes all the difference. Definitely participate in the webinars!! That will get your blood pumping for WBT again!


Best Wishes! Keep us posted!

graphite_quill,

Wow, what a serious bummer. I am double sorry to say that we experienced the same problem two years ago when we first started WBT. This sounds self-serving, but it the truth of the matter. The best teachers of the school had great success with WBT, the weakest teachers didn't get it and made fun of it. Unfortunately they took it a step further and told the students that they didn't have to do it in the other classes.

Because we are an international school that naturally has a 50+% annual turnover of international teachers all of the low level teachers have either voluntarily moved on or their contracts were not renewed. But the damage with the kids at that campus remained. I did not bring WBT back to that campus for a complete year.

To combat it, I did two things.

1. I got 100% agreement with the new international teachers that they would all use it as a team before school started. Of course you can not do this, but you might be able to get a few high quality teacher to become a team with you. Truly, it was the very best teachers who took to WBT as soon as it was introduced to them. The good ones get it.

Make sure to tell the teachers that it is not a "personality driven" technique. Many teachers get the impression from the videos that they have to be zany and wild to do WBT. That is not true. It just so happens that several of the teachers in the videos are the zany type. Zany high energy people are more likely to make a video than their calmer lower energy counterparts so it looks like it is a zany movement. One of the biggest detractors of WBT at our school was the zaniest teacher on the team.

2. This is something you can do. Educate the students about the science of brain based teaching. The students now know that using gestures activates the most reliable part of the brain. They know that talking in teach / ok activates the language center while interacting with the listening memory, etc. They know that the front part of the brain is the managing director telling everyone else to pay attention, and that the emotion part of the brain is the CEO and can override all other decisions. Most of them don't remember the names of the areas in the brain, but all of them understand (and most tell their parents) that they are using all of their brains. I teach it as a point of superiority to use all of the brain.

I hope this helps. Best of success with getting back into WBT this year.

Jason