whole brain teaching series post #4: classy copyright

First up, copyright…All of my items were removed from TpT. I am hoping to be able to post here, but am seeking permission first. Stay tuned.
Today’s post is on one of my favorite aspects of wbt. Attention getters. I don’t know about you, but I like attention. And when I want attention, I better get it.
Here’s how I used to go about bringing the class back together again. I used to cross my arms, wait, stare with an irritated look until some of the kids caught one and nudged their peers to get quiet. It works, but it takes awhile and I demand attention promptly! Enter Class/Yes! Now when I need my little dears to quiet down, I say CLASS, they respond with YES. If they don’t, guess what!? Score one for me! But they always do. Why? It’s because of the way I say it. WBT.com calls it tomfoolery. I love that. You sort of trick the kids into thinking it’s fun to behave!

Here’s what I mean…transition time in the room. Ohhh, claaass, CLASS, class. Ohhh, yeeesss, YES, yes! they respond. They must match my tone and intonation. I love it! Sometimes I whisper, they whisper. Sometimes I use an accent, they use an accent. If I stretch out claaaaass, they stretch out yeeeesss. It works folks! I teach this day one.

Another great first step I do day one is Teach-OK. This is great for that perfect practice makes perfect I discussed yesterday. It’s great in my minilessons, too! Rather than droning on captivating my audience solo, I intro a concept, they turn to a partner sitting right next to them and repeat what I just said {gestures and all cause I am super handsy and I was completely unaware until I had to watch those National Board videos a hundred times!}. Then Classity-class. Yessity-Yes. We are back. If you think them turning and talking on their own is too much, then assign everyone to be a 1 or a 2. This way they turn and talk to another number.

at about 3:45 some teach-ok happens. Ok, I also commented back to the dear sweet parent that says their kid would be bored. I couldn’t help it, plus it’s under my 13 year old’s username! That little Lego Storm trooper must be a teacher in disguise!

I will also be doing a giveaway next week where the winner can choose any theme they’d like for a pack!