I often hear the question, "How can I use Whole-Brain Teaching with small groups?"
Whether you are a teacher wanting to use this magic even during centers / intervention groups, or whether you're a specialist who works specifically with small groups, you'll find there are lots of ways to use WBT, and use it effectively.

I am a Gifted and Talented specialist at two elementary schools, and I work primarily with small-groups during pull-out sessions. My caseload is approx. 75 kids total, with my largest group being 22 students and my smallest group being 6 students. At first, it felt a bit silly using WBT methods with small groups... there just isn't the same energy, is there? But, through trial and error, and some painful awkward silences... I've discovered that if I keep these things in mind, I can make WBT work magic on ANY group, particularly my small ones:

• Keep a portable whiteboard. This way I can sit with a small group and still utilize the Scoreboard wherever I am in the room.
• Remember that 'energy' does not necessarily equal 'volume'. You simply won't get that loud, chattery buzz that you get with a room of 30 kids, but you can still encourage high-energy. Energy is in the body, the face, the tone of voice. In fact, it's fantastic, because I find I can REALLY listen to what my kids are saying, and nobody 'slacks' because they know I can see every single one of them. Oh-Yeah!!
• Play them against each other! Yes... we are so devious. What better way to motivate a group of students than to suggest another group may be outdoing them? Have them choose names, mascots, whatever... just like table groups except THIS time, you're in control. You can choose to dangle the carrot, "The Jaguars were amazing this morning... you should have seen them... I don't know if I can give out any points until I see something that out-does the energy that those Jaguars gave me..." or not. You are in control.
• Be patient. Do not decide it is or isn't working until you've been consistent for an entire month. At first, it will not 'feel' like the videos you see, or like the big groups you are used to. At first, it will feel awkward, both to you, and to them...but the key is, you don't show it! Don't let them see if you're thinking, "This sounds so dumb with only 4 kids..." If I learned any lessons in 7 years teaching, it has been that *I* control EVERYTHING in the classroom! The mood, the energy-level, the buy-in... you name it.
  
• Use student leaders. This is a fabulous opportunity to train leaders who would otherwise be too shy in a large class, but have the qualities of a leader. The smaller the group, the more students respond to the leadership within the...

A popular behavior management process / system, in many schools is referred to as PBIS -- it stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support. In a nutshell, PBIS is centered around an idea similar to the Pyramid of Interventions model for meeting academic needs.

In everything that you do in your classroom, you should be explicitly teaching, modeling, and reinforcing desired behavior. This simple process of explicitly teaching, modeling, and reinforcing desired behavior should bring 80% of your class to the level of behavior that you expect from your class. Then, for those still outside the 80%, you move on to a second tier of more intensive positive behavior intervention that will meet the targeted needs of that specific group of kids, and that should reach an additional 15% of your class, bringing them to the desired level of behavior. Finally, that last 5% needs a third tier of intensive positive behavioral support which you personalize to each individual child's needs, eventually with the goal of those kids being able to function like the original 80% with your normal, everyday routines.

Like the popular PLC (Professional Learning Communities) model, this is most effective when it is done whole-school, and when teams and staff as a whole come together on an ongoing basis, collect data, look at the data, and see what's working and what needs to be tweaked.
It's clear why this process is a popular one-- not only does it jive with our common sense, but there's also alot of research to back up its effectiveness. Numerous studies show that when PBIS is implemented on a school-wide level, it increases student attendance, the students report feeling more calm and positive at school, teachers report feeling more calm and positive at school, the number of students who engage in disruptive behavior decreases, and the overall number of disruptions decrease.

If your school implements PBIS, or if you personally feel strongly about the effectiveness of PBIS but also want to use WBT strategies, let's look at Whole-Brain Teaching's behavior management process through the lens of PBIS:
Whole-Brain Teachers begin by explicitly teaching desired behaviors (The 5 Rules) and procedures (Papers! Books! Lines! Class-Yes! Teach-Okay! Mirror!), using the Teach-Okay! process to rehearse and check for understanding of these behaviors as they are taught, and then uses the Scoreboard Game and Practice Cards to reinforce the positive behaviors and to proactively nip negative behaviors in the bud. If done with a smile, a good sense of humor, and a love for your students, even the 'nipping of negative behaviors' with the Scoreboard Game becomes a positive reinforcement in itself, because the class is having so much fun. WBT classrooms always seek to give simple, positive reward and recognition, and even make it 'safe' to make mistakes with "It's Cool!"
This is expected to 'rope in' about 80% of your class.
Then, WBT has targeted,...

I often hear new Whole Brain Teachers ask the question, "How do I justify / explain Whole Brain Teaching to my administrator?". Although some administrators may not know much about WBT, when implemented properly, I've never known an administrator to refute the beauty and effectiveness of Whole Brain Teaching. Although it seems like a no-brainer, there are a few strategies that you can use to ensure that your administrators and colleagues see what you are doing as professional, research-based, stellar classroom management and classroom instruction.

1.) Steady and consistent gets the best results.
Don't try to implement everything at once-- plan your implementation strategy, and be consistent in whatever you do. This way, when others are observing your classroom, anything you do will appear smooth, routine, and orderly... Even if it's the loudest, silliest classroom they've ever been in!
The more you use it, the more it becomes a part of your classroom -- so take it slow, plan ahead, and whatever you use...use it consistently and use it all the time.

2.) Pay attention to what matters most to your administrators.
In one district, what mattered most to my principal was seeing students on-task every second of the period, and seeing explicit, direct instruction. I was excited to tell him about WBT, and when I sat in his office, enthusiastically explaining this wonderful collection of strategies and tools I had discovered, he merely smiled and might as well have patted me on the head! I'm sure he heard just another gimmicky thing that fresh-faced, young teachers get excited about, but he didn't really pay any attention. That didn't stop me from using it in my classroom. Although I used all aspects of WBT, I made sure to work my lessons in such a way that particularly highlighted those aspects of WBT that fit in with what our administration and our district was looking for at all times. He never asked me about it, or where I learned it, he simply loved what he saw going on in my classroom. I never once had to justify any of it, because he saw how effective it was. Later, he attended a WBT conference, and when he saw me there he asked, "So this is what you do in your classroom?? Why didn't you tell me about this??" I had to laugh. Sometimes you just have to see it to understand how effective it really is.
In another district, my principal valued the fun and simplicity of a classroom where students were happy and engaged. I made sure to work my lessons in such a way to highlight those aspects of WBT at all times, and when he observed us, he was thrilled, and all the things that he pointed out to me as the things he was most pleased with were ALL Whole Brain Teaching strategies, he just hadn't known it. That, of...

Collaborative learning (different from Cooperative Learning, which is a more formal group assignment) is a philosophy of interaction, where members benefit from one anothers' strengths and build each other up where they may be lacking or needing support. This way, everyone succeeds as a team, rather than competitively besting each other.
Many research studies support the effectiveness of these techniques, citing social and academic benefits. Studies dating back to the 1980s claim that collaborative learning promote positive attitudes, builds self-esteem, and turns errors into processes for learning rather than stressful moments of failure in a classroom. Increased retention of classroom material, higher grades, and the tendency to persevere are seen in classrooms that consistently use these methods. According to Vygotsky, much of this is attributed to the high amount of verbalization that occurs in collaborative / cooperative learning, claiming that through the process of constantly explaining and elaborating to group members, students benefit from constantly summarizing, which strengthens their original thoughts and validates their ideas.
When learners collaborate, they 'put their heads' together. They are learning from one another, and filling in the holes that the other may have in the knowledge that they have or have gained from a lesson.

Whole Brain Teaching, though not often centered around groups of more than two, still accesses many of these benefits while students work in teams of two or three. Let's take a look at Teach-Okay! in Whole-Brain Teaching. A teacher poses a brief chunk of information, tells the students "Teach!", students respond "Okay!", and then turn and engage in highly interactive review with their partner about what they just heard. (See these students using Teach-Okay! in a college classroom.)
Students are sharing thoughts with one another, and teaching, reteaching, and summarizing what they heard. Notice how students assist each other in completing thoughts / ideas that their partner may not have grasped completely.

Want critical thinking? The teacher poses a question or a critical task (such as compare and contrast, assess, evaluate, etc...), tells the students "Teach!", students respond, "Okay!" and then turn and engage in a highly interactive discussion in which they both contribute, build off of each other's ideas, and 'fill in the holes' when one partner is stuck or short on ideas. (Watch as a class of 4th graders engages in collaborative critical thinking)

By encouraging our students to collaborate as much as possible throughout our day, we are constantly giving them access to the many benefits of collaborative learning. Let this remind us as Whole Brain Teachers to use "Teach-Okay!" more, more, more....fitting it in wherever possible to build our students up, increase their retention, and solidify their ideas as they learn and form ideas. ...

Direct Instruction, which refers to a highly-scripted, regimented, fast-paced and interactive method of instruction, has been shown through research time and time again to be the most effective method of instruction. When compared with many other popular teaching models such as discovery learning, student-centered learning, cooperative learning, and others, Direct Instruction delivered the best results in study after study. Beginning with 'Project Follow-Through' in the 1970s, research has shown that students learn, understand, and retain more when Direct Instruction is used. Additionally, researchers find that students are even able to engage in critical thinking on a higher level and have more confidence in the classroom when engaging Direct Instruction is being used in the classroom.

Direct Instruction is often, much to our poor students' chagrin, misunderstood to be the classic 'lecture' model. Though many variations of Direct Instruction are used, it is often interpreted to look something like this:

• Introduce the objective (5 mins)
• Lecture (15-20 mins)
• Check for understanding (call on a few kids with their hands raised)
  
• Practice (5-10 mins)
• Check for understanding (walk around, or call on a few kids with their hands raised)
• The students then, of course, move into independent work for 20-30 mins or so.
  

Many of us began with the model above. And we all discovered that we lose far too many of our students in the process.


Now, those of you who know Whole-Brain Teaching already KNOW that it's fun, and KNOW that it's engaging-- it's just what we're looking for to keep our students awake and learning!

"Gosh... but my administrator wants me to use Direct Instruction in the classroom...they're pretty strict about it right now...."

Let's look at Direct Instruction in a Whole-Brain Teaching classroom:

Here's what we know -- The longer we talk, the more students we lose.
Here's how we break that cycle -- Micro-lectures -- talk for approx. 30 seconds at a time, then stop and give the students time to process, while you walk around and listen to what they understood and how well they understand it.

So now, let's look at the Direct Instruction model WBT-style:

• Introduce the objective (30 seconds)
• Students teach each other what we just taught them-- We say "Teach!" they respond, "Okay!" and turn to their partners, explaining to their partners what they just heard. (1 min) Teacher takes this time to listen and watch the students to check for understanding.
• Introduce first key point (30 seconds)
• Teach-okay! (1 min)
• Introduce next key point (30 seconds)
• Teach-okay!...