WBT, COMMON CORE and MUCH, MUCH MORE!

Goodness!  It's been more than a month and a half since I last posted here! By way of explanation, the last month of school was filled to the brim with activity and unanticipated changes. (I'll be moving to second grade this coming year after teaching 3rd grade for the last six years.)  The last couple of weeks became a veritable whirlwind of tasks and responsibilities that just had to be completed in order to prepare for the coming school year.  Add to the mix, a bit of foot surgery, and planning for the visit of 4 of my 5 grandchildren, and things were decidedly hectic.

But before I get into catching things up a bit, let me ask.... did you notice the graphic at the top?  I need to offer up some thanks to one of my fellow Wibbiters, the dynamic Miss L, who has awarded this blog with the "Liebster Award".  I am sincerely honored as Miss L's blog is an inspiration in its own right (http://www.misslwholebrainteaching.blogspot.com).  Full of spirit, visually appealing, offering great info and resources, you'll definitely want to visit regularly.  (Coming soon to my sidebar will be a set of other WBT blogoshpere hotspots to whom I'll be passing on Liebster awards in the very near future.)

Next Year and Next Steps with WBT....


So....the sun had hardly set on the last day of school when I began to muse about the coming school year and WBT. My first step was to begin digging into the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs) and our system's version of them.  While our staff was given one or two PD sessions about the CCSSs, they were pretty cursory.  Everything I heard and read about them suggested that I really needed to study them carefully and reflect on their impact on my teaching practices. (ASCD offers a set of free webinars featuring Grant Wiggins of Understanding by Design fame that offer a useful framework for exploring the standards critically and for developing units of instructions that align to them. http://www.ascd.org).

My summer plans also include tucking into the WBT video archives and doing some self-paced PD on and review of several of the strategies and tools that I want to add to my WBT portfolio during the coming year.

My early musings on the mesh of WBT and CCSSs led me to begin working on a matrix that I hope will help me align, at least broadly to start, WBT strategies/tools with the standards.  The screenshot below captures only a bit of what I've come up with so far and is by no means exhaustive.  (As I commence unit planning I'll be identifying the specific WBT "arrows" I'll use to help my learners hit their learning targets.) There are quite a few signature WBT instruction and assessment tools that will be added to the matrix, e.g., Genius Ladder, Air Writing, State Test Prep, and Power Pix, to name a few that I need to get schooled in.

A DRAFT OF MY WBT/CCSS MATRIX

WBT assessment tools are formative in nature and as such will play a central role in my plans to use standards based grading this coming year.

It's worth noting here that the matrix doesn't include the management components that will work in tandem with the instruction and assessment pieces to insure that students stay happily engaged and focused on meeting the standards.  Mapping out how the WBT Levels can be used to weave that 'Golden Thread of Fun' into learners' work is another aspect of my summer planning I look forward to digging into further.


New Opportunities to Build WBT Linkages

   

Just how habit forming WBT can be was highlighted for me recently.  A couple of weeks before school let out for the summer I received word that my application to the Smithsonian's "Teach-It-Forward" Institute (TIFI) (www.smithsonianeducation.org) was accepted.  Funded through a wonderful grant from the A. James Clark Excellence in History Teaching Program, the institute assists selected teachers from around the metropolitan Washington, DC area in learning how to use museum tools and resources to teach students Social Studies/History and Science.

The first day of orientation was most exciting and the institute staff did a great job of engaging us and modeling the work they want us to do in our classrooms in the course of the coming school year. (NOTE:  I've been a regular visitor to museums over the years and it's great to see how these institutions have become model learning institutions -  from the way exhibits are selected and displayed to the incorporation of best practices in education, museums are transforming the way they, and we, see and interact with history.)

During the TIFI session I thought of quite a few ways WBT would support and enrich the work.  Visions of students engaging in the Crazy Reading Professor Game as they read biographies of historical figures... learners engaged in Power Pix that help them understand social studies concepts...young researchers producing well-written reports as a result of climbing the Genius Ladder. It will be great fun!  I am currently working on my first TIFI lesson plan that is to be video taped for the institute and that I'll share in an upcoming post.

The Flipped Classroom offers learners rigor and Higher Order Thinking

Another WBT linkage opportunity I'm really excited about is the Flipped Classroom concept. Developed by former Colorado science teachers Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, the idea offers teachers a way to spend more in-class time working closely with learners at the application level of learning.  How? By having the learners acquire their background and foundational knowledge independently via the use of technology/media-based material.  (I'm busy learning how to create interactive screencasts, a critical tool in the flipped classroom.)

In some cases, students access web-based videos of lessons at home.  The videos provide direct instruction and/or practice in content areas; students can view the videos as often as needed, and are thus provided great differentiation. In it's initial conception, following students' viewing homework they then come to class where they get to apply their understanding of the material with teacher guidance and facilitation.

Like WBT, how the flipped classroom looks from one classroom to another can be quite different.  There are any number of adaptations of the model being used around the country, highlighting the concept's adaptability and its usefulness for differentiation.  I'm especially intrigued by the range of student-centered learning approaches and practices the flipped classroom model can support, accommodate and enrich including Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Project Based Learning  (PBL), Inquiry Learning, and Mastery. The concept certainly offers learners great opportunities to engage in rigorous work and higher order thinking.  WBT's classroom management tools go a long way in creating a safe, ordered, and engaging environment for learners in a flipped classroom, not to mention the usefulness of WBT instructional and assessment tools in such a setting.



These are exciting times to be an educator and it's great to have WBT as a quality resource.  I have to say though that it's becoming a bit of a challenge keeping up with the resources that are pouring out of WBT!  There are more wonderful tools showing up like "Red Marker/Green Marker" (a tool for writing skills development that is much needed given the emphasis CCSSs places on writing). WBT has also launched a WBT Certification program that takes the concept of a professional learning community to new heights.  There are highly intelligent and wonderfully generous educators working on and with WBT and it's a wonderful community in which to be a part.

If you're interested in learning more about the gift that is Whole Brain Teaching and the new Certification process, navigate your browser on over to www.wholebrainteaching.com.  Also, stop by on Tuesday nights to view the WBT Webinar @ (8pm, EDT).  You'll have a wonderful time learning really useful stuff and connecting with outstanding educators from around the world!

Ciao for now!