Quick Jaunt to the Reserve

Have you ever wanted to sit close to wild animals and pet them? I had the rare opportunity here in South Africa today. It was an amazing time to see GOD's creatures up close and personal. The pictures don't tell it all, but they do give you some perspective. Yes I was that close....and they are real!

Headed out to a school tomorrow to talk more WBT...I'll keep you posted on how WBT works here in another part of the world!

Day 1 in South Africa

Today I learned many things about the nature of children. We take so many things for granted in the U.S. For example, I'm working with teachers today that can't access the internet because they are in a secluded enough location that they just aren't able. And yet...they are reaching the lives of children everyday. We can all learn from them as they struggle through the same things that other teachers across the globe all struggle with together.

They learned about the Core 4+ and the first few levels that will help them address the most pressing need that they have here in their types of schools...you'll never guess that need. Go ahead...try to guess!

OK you may have already, their most pressing need is dealing with Challenging kids! WOW...the same thing that we are facing in America and other parts of the world. We said it for awhile now, but it hit home today when I talked with these amazing teachers. Did I mention that they are all volunteers? Yes that's the best part, this is what they do because they are working so hard at making their communities better through the education process.

GOD Bless them all!

WBT in South Africa

I'm posting from the beautiful Black Eagle resort, www.blackeagle.co.za , in Johannesburg, South Africa. I'll be doing three conferences here this week and next and enjoying the surroundings! 

For the three of you that read this, hopefully you'll be in for a treat. ;-)  The teachers here are hungry for methods that will help them engage the kids in their classrooms. One thing that we do know for sure...there are challenging kids all over the world. 

I'll tell you this...when you come here, get a friend to drive you around because the driving on the other side of the road plus the steering wheel on the other side is too much to handle! 

Stay tuned for a story or two tomorrow about the underprivileged teachers of this area and how the are adapting to WBT.

Cheers 

It's Time...Practice Cards

Every year is different of course, but it has come down to this...I'm going to stay happy while teaching, so it's time for the kids to have more practice. Too often we get to this point and are frustrated because Sam isn't following the directions, or he keeps blurting out the answers while others are thinking.

Practice cards are the next step in a list of things that fill the WBT teachers back pocket. Check out our website for more on this, but I'm here to tell you tomorrow will be a great day for the kids and me. You see, I don't need to get mad, frustrated, red in the face...they just need to practice more. They practice at recess and then we send home a note that helps them practice more at home.

I remind them that they are not in trouble, they just need more practice! This way we all get what we want.

The newness is gone...so let's tweek it!

You know when it's time to change things up because the kids aren't responding like they used to in the beginning. That happened this week, like it usually does. This group of 4th and 5th graders are great, but they are also normal kids three and a half weeks away from Christmas break! It was time to "tweek" the scoreboard to get that same feeling we had back in September. With one small adjustment, it was all brand new.

We needed some extra practice with Rule 1 so that became our focus for this week. I wrote it under the Scoreboard so that they knew that this was the focus...and then...I revealed the big finish! I divided the Scoreboard in two parts, so that now there was a boys section and a girls section. The score is kept the same way, I'm just watching now for two groups. I would say "Class" and they would say "Yes" but there was some fidgeting going on by a few boys in the back, sad face mark followed by a groan. But the girls did it right, so they got the happy face and a cheer! That was all it took for them to see how this worked. It was on!

Of course the game was close all day and I still had some small rule breakers, but it was better. You see, it doesn't take a lot to refocus kids. Just the slightest tweek will do. Stay tuned for more tweeks to the scoreboard game as the year progresses! If you can't wait, you can check out the archived video library on the front page of wholebrainteaching.com and watch the Scoreboard video for more ideas.

Ahh...a new beginning!

The beginning is always so great! Sharpened pencils, new notebooks, crisp folders, and the smell of Crayola's. I love the first weeks of school because kids are so vibrant, and willing to do anything.

The past two weeks have been so awesome with the rules and procedures of WBT. Is it really possible to enjoy school this much? I do recall a time when I didn't know what to do in the classroom. The things that the University taught me had stopped working the third week into the year. What was I going to do now? I trudged on through the muck like everyone else. But alas, WBT began and I new teaching was what I was destined to do!

The beginning of the year has a new meaning for me now...a rockin' time of learning!

Stay tuned for more anecdotes of this teacher who can't get enough WBT in the morning!

Summer Conferences...Amazing time with Amazing Teachers!

The summer has been a time of relaxing with my family, and not doing any thinking about school. If you know me...summer, is summer. A time to sit around the pool, play cards with friends and do nothing.

The last few summers though, I've been with the WBT All-Stars traveling around our great nation spreading the WBT message in conferences from Louisiana to Missouri to northern California. Everywhere we go, we are seeing one thing...passionate teachers.

The last few weeks has been just like the other summers. A high energy time of teachers bouncing off the walls to please Coach B! What a time it has been. These teachers are pumped up to get in their classrooms, roll up their sleeves, and get the job done!

Power to the Teachers!