Whole Brain Teaching System

Part of being a good educator means always looking for new and better ways of teach our students.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not calling myself a good educator, yet, but I certainly hope to be able to call myself one SOMEDAY!  So I often find myself exploring the vast improvements that have occurred over the last few years. 

Education has been transformed over the last 20 years, but most of the changes have occurred because of legislation.  We have gone through programs like No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and now Common Core Standards.  All of these programs were drafted with good intent and with the students in mind.  However, as with most Federal Legislation, the programs were drafted by Lawyers.  While keeping the spotlight focused on education is not a bad thing, enacting programs that do not consider things like technology and changing demographics can be negative.  With that being said, just like always, teaches will adapt and overcome.  The programs they are given do not mater, teachers are renowned for their ability to get the job done. 

Using the best, most up-to-date, systems (teaching methods) can help overcome the legislated programs.  One such method is the Whole Brain Teaching System.  This system, based off of the brains method of processing and storing information, incorporates movement, vocalization, and visual references to systematically enhance the student’s ability to retain information.  The program is outlined in the book “Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids” by Chris Biffle.   Biffle is the Director of the Whole Brain Teachers of America.   The book is very thorough and provides step-by-step instructions as well as suggested scripts, classroom rules, and other useful tidbits.  While the program, in totality, may not fit into every school’s curriculum, some of the methods could be very useful. 

More information on Whole Brain Teaching can be found on their website:

                                                 http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/

Winds of change...

In my “downtime” since being laid-off I have grown to love my Kindle.  I don’t know what I would do without it.  One of the “features” I have grown fond of is the Amazon “Shorts”; I’m not sure if that is what they are really called, but that is the title I have given them.   These are short stories, usually between 10 – 50 pages, perfect for people with short attention spans.  They usually run anywhere from free and 2 bucks.  I’ve read stories on The Korean War, World War II, and the Revolution.   I’ve read stories on supply chain management, common core standards, and diversity in the classroom.  I’ve read shorts on acing a teaching interview, painting scale models, and writing a resume. Each one, short, sweet and to the point.  Now I am reading a short titled “Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere by Will Richardson.

"In times of great change, learners will inherit the earth, while the learned will be beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists" (Hoffer, Eric).  Are our schools ready to produce learners?  Objectively, producing a “learner” is the goal of the Common Core Standards.   That is the intention any way, yet we still have not figured out how to producing learners, after all our “factories” are tooled to produce the learned.  This is the deduction taken in the book. 

Will Richardson is careful not to call out teachers or school administrators, but the onus lies with us, the educators.  We have hidden behind the excuse of curriculum and shrugged off chances of improvement with contentious arguments against the new common core standards.    Why not now?  With the world of education being turned on its ear by the new standards, why wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) we?  The standards are changing and everyone (or at least most) has the proverbial fear of change.

Will states in the book “Plain and simple, the web and the technologies we us to access it drive those changes.  And those changes are in a word profound” (Will Richardson).  We as educators can set the level of profoundness of these changes.  Make yourself a promise for the upcoming school year…pledge to make an effort to create a blog, start a website, and digitize your classroom.  As Richardson states “today, if we have an internet connection, we have fingertip, on-demand access to an amazing library that holds close to the sum of human knowledge and, equally important, to more than two billion people with whom we can potentially learn”. 

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life"

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."  (Mortimer J. Adler) No one will argue about the power of reading.  Reading increases vocabulary and enriches our knowledge.  We have all progressed through school where we are forced to read “chosen” books.  Books that are written in Old English or portray topics we cared little about.  Forced to read, are we truly getting the full benefits of reading?  Are our children getting the full benefits of reading?

Common Core Standards for reading comprehension (LA.5.1.7.1) states the student will explain the purpose of text features (e.g., format, graphics, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps), use prior knowledge to make and confirm predictions, and establish a purpose for reading.  Establish a purpose for reading? Wait…what? Isn’t the purpose for reading because the teacher told me too? 

As we have all heard by now, common core is the wave of the future.  Do a Google search for “Common Core Standards” and see what you get; the topic is polarizing for sure.  I was introduced to the Common Core in a college class and while I have no direct teaching experience to date, I can understand why it is so polarizing.  While standards have changed over the years, the common core is a complete paradigm shift and many teachers fear the change.

So let’s get back to the reading and what the common core says about it.  “Establish the purpose for reading” to me gives much more flexibility to the student.  It allows them to seek out their own purpose, seeking out topics that interest them,  that peeks their curiosity, that opens their mind.  To me that’s a good thing.

Reading expands the mind and brings the world into view.  It allows us to assume any role we want.  It allows us to journey to the impossible.  It inspires us to greater deeds.  It provides us with the tools to a good life.