Sophie and Sadie's Scholarly Site

In my last post, Brain Breaks and FMAP: What Do They Have in Common?, I talked about ways that author and teacher Angela Watson uses active teaching methods to manage a classroom.  Whole Brain Teaching is also active, engaging, and brain-based. But be prepared: The kids aren’t sitting in rows  quietly doing workbook pages. It is at times LOUD and to some, it will look chaotic, but it’s not. And like most things in education, there is  at least one thing  that most of us who are teachers can learn from this method if nothing but to “jazz it up” a bit.

If you aren’t familiar with the idea of “whole Brain Teaching”, sometimes a picture  ( or a video) does indeed speak a thousand words! These sixth graders are awe-inspiring!

Sixth grade

The reasons WHY we need these brain-based, whole brain, and active learning strategies is explained by these fourth graders.

Fourth grade

And here’s the thing about Chris Biffle and Whole Brain Teaching: IT’S FREE. Go to WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING and you will see resources for all grade levels and abilities, and did I mention :It’s FREE!   Go to the website to get the details, and right now, there is an e-book on setting up a Whole Brain Teaching model classroom so please give them a look. It will get you thinking about how any grade or age can use some of these techniques. Even young learners respond well to these strategies.

Here’s a kindergarten class using Whole Brain Teaching.

Kindgergarten

And first graders using the same methods of learning through movement and brain-based activities.

First grade

And finally, third graders in a class using Whole Brain Teaching in a reading class.

Third grade

How could you use more brain-based learning in your classroom this year?

Over at the Organized Classroom Blog page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TheOrganizedClassroomBlog 

and other pages such as http://www.facebook.com/teachingresourcesbyshelleygray,

they ‘re discussing “brain breaks.”

I first really thought about “brain breaks” after seeing something similar on mspowell.com ( now http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/). Angela Watson calls these breaks  FMAP for  “Fifteen Minute, Active Participation” when being pro-active in both your teaching and in managing your classroom.

What do “brain breaks” have in common with FMAP? Besides just being a best practice in learning, keeping students actively engaged by moving, talking, and writing helps manage BEHAVIOR!  Active students are not off-task. Active students are interested, and active students are LEARNING which should be what we want our kids to do.

Here’s a real gem if you’re interested: Angela’s blog actually offers a webinar on her ideas.

Pro-Active Behavior Management

Other videos in her Cornerstone series may be found at her channel, also:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Cornerstone4Teachers

These webinars are based on the information from her book and blog, The Cornerstone. You may read more about FMAP in  a sample from that book here:

http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/free-resources/behavior-management/off-task

Check out the resources at her site and start thinking of what you can do as teachers to keep your students actively participating, their bodies moving, and their learning sticking by add more –brain-based tasks and breaks to your lessons.