Life Changing Experience

Last summer, while going through my teachers prep program at Louisiana College, I was able to participate in a national conference held by Whole Brain Teaching. What a life changing experience this has been for me as an educator. It was so eye opening, so simple, but most of all so much FUN!

Chris Biffle and his team are simply amazing!

When school began this past school year, I decided to put some of WBT's strategies to the test. It seemed to good to be true! As the first few weeks went by, just incorporating the scoreboard, the Five Rules and the Class Yes!, I could not believe what I was seeing let alone experiencing. It was as if I was in a dream! My students were constantly engaged, their behavior met all expectations, and we were constantly having fun while learning.

As the year went on, I incorporated the Power Pix, the Genius Ladder, Biffy Toons, and the Mirror. It was the greatest year of my life. I was always excited to go to work and see my kids, but can honestly say that never once did I ever raise my voice. It was great! The best part was it was contagious. More and more teachers began using the tools I learned from WBT into their own classrooms.

By the end of the year, my students well exceeded Kindergarten Expectations. 90% of my students benchmarked on the end of the year DIBELS assessment (the other 10% missing by a few). I was absolutely amazed. The greatest part was that 1/3 of my class had exceptionalities. These strategies not only benefited my regular ed students but my special ed students as well! For this reason, administration has decided to Loop me with my students; we are all going to be First graders next year. So cool!

So I have decided to share my WBT experiences through this blog. I will try and post weekly on our successes, but also on the things that just didn't work as well.

Happy Summer,
Amanda