Whole Brain Teaching
Write a reflective summary about how you would incorporate Whole Brain Teaching steps within your teaching and explain why or why not it would be effective.
After watching the Whole Brain Teaching videos, the more apprehensive I got in think of how I would incorporate it into my classroom. In the video I watched were of college and high school students who were really engaged with their teacher, and seemed very enthusiastic at learning. I said to myself that would not work with my middle and high school students, who many of them have been expelled from regular school due to behavioral issues. However I asked myself “Why wouldn't I want my students to be excited and enthused about learning”? Then I realized that what was in the video was not the first day, it had taken over a period of time to develop and what I was watching was the outcome of the both the teacher and student participation. The more I read about Whole Brain Teaching the more I became sold that it really was still direct instruction, sharing of information and providing immediate feedback to students, and making teaching and learning fun.
I would immediately start by incorporating the Step # 5 “eyes and hands” of the Whole Brain Teaching method as part of my everyday classroom. This step gives instructs my students to pay very close attention to what I’m doing or say or mimicking my words or movements. This technique is very helpful when covering a key transition area in the lesson which I’m teaching. I would have to make a few modifications for some of my ESE students, such as differentiating my direct instruction through different modalities. By doing this I can still keep each students attention, and allows me as a teacher to dynamically engage each of my students in the lesson by integrating different teaching techniques into one lesson. I would also incorporate the Step # 7 “Switch”. This step will be very vital to me because it moves away from the traditional teacher lecture
After watching the Whole Brain Teaching videos, the more apprehensive I got in think of how I would incorporate it into my classroom. In the video I watched were of college and high school students who were really engaged with their teacher, and seemed very enthusiastic at learning. I said to myself that would not work with my middle and high school students, who many of them have been expelled from regular school due to behavioral issues. However I asked myself “Why wouldn't I want my students to be excited and enthused about learning”? Then I realized that what was in the video was not the first day, it had taken over a period of time to develop and what I was watching was the outcome of the both the teacher and student participation. The more I read about Whole Brain Teaching the more I became sold that it really was still direct instruction, sharing of information and providing immediate feedback to students, and making teaching and learning fun.
I would immediately start by incorporating the Step # 5 “eyes and hands” of the Whole Brain Teaching method as part of my everyday classroom. This step gives instructs my students to pay very close attention to what I’m doing or say or mimicking my words or movements. This technique is very helpful when covering a key transition area in the lesson which I’m teaching. I would have to make a few modifications for some of my ESE students, such as differentiating my direct instruction through different modalities. By doing this I can still keep each students attention, and allows me as a teacher to dynamically engage each of my students in the lesson by integrating different teaching techniques into one lesson. I would also incorporate the Step # 7 “Switch”. This step will be very vital to me because it moves away from the traditional teacher lecture