Whole Brain Teaching Freebie and Winners Announced!

As you know, I attended the Whole Brain Teaching Conference last week in Louisiana.  I'm super excited about sharing more about these teaching strategies with my school next year!

The first day of the workshop was all about Classroom Management, which is definitely the key piece {and most used piece} of WBT!  There are seven components to the Classroom Management piece, known as "The Big 7."  I used "The Big 7" in my classroom last year and fell in L-O-V-E with each of them!

As they introduced "The Big 7" at the conference, they went through each letter of "T-H-E-B-I-G-7" with some sort of "visualization" that was intended to help you remember each component.  I cannot explain to you how the letters connected with each component because it made ABSOLUTELY no sense to me.

I'm pretty sure they were trying to line them up in the order you should introduce them in your classroom, but the connection to the actual letters in the words "The Big 7" went completely over my head.  In fact, the connections were so obscure that THAT was all I could focus on.  My head was sitting there making its own connections and mnemonic devices that actually made sense {to me, at least!}

Within minutes, my friend Jennifer and I had completely revamped the "visualization" of "The Big 7" in a way that made much more sense to us!  And, since we are going to be taking this information back to teach to our staff this year, we think it will make much sense to them as well!
This morning, I whipped up some signs to show the mnemonic devices we created.  If you are interested in introducing Whole Brain Teaching to your school or fellow teachers, feel free to grab these signs and use them in your workshop!

{Click the image above to download the signs}
Classroom Freebies Manic Monday
Here's an overview of "The Big 7" mnemonic devices that we created.  I'll be doing a post on each of these strategies this week - starting tomorrow!

1. T - The Scoreboard {each side of the T represents one side of the scoreboard)
2. h - Teach! - Okay! {the tall stick on the "h" represents the teacher standing and teaching, the short hump of the "h" represents the students sitting and teaching each other what they have learned)
3. e - Class? - Yes? {the "e" is part of the word YES}
4. B - Mirror {the two humps on the "B" are mirror images of each other}
5. i - Hands and Eyes {the "i" is a play on the word "eye" - also imagine the "dot" of the "i" as an actual "eye'}
6. g - Switch {the two "circles" in the "g" could be "switched"}
7. 7 - The 5 Rules {7 is a number and there is a certain number (5) of rules for the classroom}

I hope these mnemonic signs help you (and your colleagues) remember these WBT classroom management strategies!  I can't wait to start a discussion on how I (and you) have used these in the classroom!  Come back tomorrow to start sharing!

And, CONGRATULATIONS to the 6 WINNERS in my Blogiversary giveaway!!! Emails are on their way to you right now!

Suzanne F. - Alex & Ani Wisdom Bangle Bracelet
Leann - Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener
Elizabeth P. - TC Unit of Choice (Christmas Around the World Unit)
Francheryl - LM Unit of Choice (Word Choice Unit)
Sarah H. - Scotch Laminator
Denise S. - $50 Target Giftcard




16 comments

  1. congrats to the winners! thanks for the wbt freebie, amanda!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love these! I wish I could have gone to that training too! I love WBT and what I have learned, I've learned from blogs and videos. Thanks for sharing and for linking up:)

    4th Grade Frolics

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the WBT freebie! I'm hoping to get to a conference soon!

    Brandi
    Success in Second Grade

    ReplyDelete
  4. There's no better feeling than taking an idea and improving upon it or making it "yours".
    Great sign.

    matt
    Digital: Divide & Conquer

    ReplyDelete
  5. These signs look great! I'm excited to learn more about WBT and hopefully make it to a conference someday, too! Thanks for sharing!

    Alison
    Eberopolis: Teaching Reading & Writing with Technology

    ReplyDelete
  6. thats a great way to remember!!
    Rachel

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks so much Amanda! The signs are awesome!

    Swimming into Second

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks so much for sharing! Interesting topic!

    Smiles,
    Sarah @ Hoots N Hollers

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great signs! Can't wait to read more posts on WBT. I am participating in the WBT book study.

    Erica
    Shepherd's Shining Stars

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm excited to learn more about WBT!! Thanks for the post!


    www.cantrellsgotclass.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for the signs! I wish I could attend a conference! So jealous! Everything I know about WBT is just through research and surfing the internet on my own. I can't wait for you to train us on your blog!!! :O)
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for sharing this wonderful freebie! I just ordered the WBT book and can't wait for it to come in the mail! I hope to start implementing some of the things into my room this year. Did you implement ALL 7 of these things your first year?!

    -Allison
    Adventures in Room 204

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looking forward to you WBT blog training this week! The mnemonic disconnect would have driven me crazy, too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. There were several teachers from my school that attended the same conference. I heard it was great and they learned a lot. I can't wait for them to come back and tell the rest of us about it. Thanks for sharing.

    Jamie
    Teaching Tidbits and More With Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awesome signs! So, what does each mean? I have never attended a conference. I'd love to hear about it - vzweibohmer@masoncityschools.org
    Kids of all ages respond better to visual cues, and so I love your strategy of visual cards!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing ideas! I love to read your comments. I like to reply back by email, so make sure you have that option enabled so we can chat! :)

Back to Top