Improved pictures for Power Pic Wall and Super improver Wall

The days have been absolutely flying by!  We have been so busy with the genius ladder, oral writing, and Super Improvers wall!  I see that the oral writing strategy is working well for Social Studies and Science!  The curriculum is written far beyond a 3rd graders vocabulary.  Also, I have 6 English Language Learners that seem to enjoy correcting others on their English.  Several, ELL students,  have corrected another student when they forgot to add their ZOOP!  Too wonderful!  And yes they received a Super Improver Star when they corrected those students.
 Furthermore, I made a grid, so that it was easier to locate each Power Pic.  I think it might be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye!  Hope you all enjoy!  By all means bring on the suggestions and  questions:)

Thanks!

Heather Hansen
Wbt Intern
2011/12

Super Improvers color code

Well this past week has been extremely exciting!  I had a wonderful time at the conference in Indio.  It was extra beneficial, in regards to the super improvers wall.  I love how coach Biff reconstructed the plan to make it last throughout the entire year.  I have been working diligently on my poster board and I've been having a blast doing it!  So....the end result is 10 colors, a color code, that students advance to through super speed record improvement.  Also, an extra bonus picture once they get through the levels and 10 stars per each level!  Traditionally, the only students that were rewarded were the alphas or the class elite.  Finally, a way to incorporate reward for everyone!  I think that the concept of breaking personal records is key, with respect to raising classroom moral.  Every student can finally come to school excited because, it is realistic, and  they know that they can always work at beating their own score.  I told one of my "Sulky" students that you just have to try a little harder each day and you have gained success!  It was the first time I saw her smile.  She likes the fact that she's not up against all the other students.  Furthermore, tomorrow, Monday, I will be watching very closely to see if I can put her up on my Super Improvers Wall.  It is students like her that you want to expose positive reinforcement because it is obvious that she lacks confidence in school.  I look forward to another day the WBT way!!!


Heather Hansen
WBT Intern
2011/12

Using Oral writing and the fear of public speaking

Every Friday students have to present their Monday Writing, by paraphrasing their paragraph and providing a tangible visual as they speak..  Oh my.... this is terrifying for third graders.  It is one of our third grade standards so I believe the more you talk the more comfortable you get with the group, not so much yet....For example, the first student I picked, yesterday, to come to the front of the class, looked like death had warmed over!  So, I thought...maybe I will have the students practice oral writing gestures as the students speak.  This worked wonderful!!  It eased the student, in front of the class because the students weren't just staring at them, they were helping them remember their topic sentence, their adders, and closing, in conclusion...  Wow!  I am so excited that I found another way to incorporate oral writing into the day!  I believe it to be very effective coupled with enjoyment.  Not to mention, every student was totally engaged during the students presentation.  In the past, I would notice a few students losing interest after they had presented.  Thats just not and option now!!  Hooray for oral Writing!!  Guess what I pushed at the end of the day???  Yes, the Wacky Fun star button!!  I sent home some very excited third graders to enjoy their peaceful and relaxing weekend!!


Heather Hansen
Wbt Intern
2011/12

First Day of school with WBT classroom model implementation!

OK.....First, I tried to get on livestream, for the web conference and it denied me access for 20 minutes!! STRESS!!  Otherwise the day was wonderful!  Heres how the daily schedule worked out...
First, I started with the rules.. broke each one up into 5 step lesson.  It went pretty fast.  Then, I introduced super speed reading for a minute.  The students loved that!  Follow up the reading with 10 minutes of the reading section of Prove It!  After this, the students are relieved to do a little Oral writing.  I started with a question.  How is your first day of school?  I informed students about mirror and they followed me, with My first day of school was beyond exciting!!  It was beyond exciting BECAUSE Clapper..  I learned about the wacky fun star button. Also, I earned more points than our teacher! This makes me want to come to school everyday!  In conclusion, (zoop)  today was one of my best days!
To introduce Math, I began with super speed Math and follow up with 10 minutes of Prove It!  Finally, the assigned chapter lesson.
universal access, this is where I have my ELL students grouped for instruction.  Finally Science coupled with oral writing.  The day concluded with a ten minute writing
It started like this:
Today I learned about _______and _______.  Many students plugged in even numbers and energy.  It was a great day with some powerful teaching going on.  I am still waiting to introduce the UMH.  I think that tomorrow will be a good day.  I want to be able to thoroughly break down the points.  They were so curious about the mind soccer posters today!!  They can hardly wait!!

WBT and combo classes

One more day and I can hardly believe it!  School has been a very anticipated event, thanks WBT!  I was getting a little feed back from a colleague.  She has been implementing WBT for a year in her classroom.  She uses it in a 2/3 combo.  I am very interested in following WBT and combo instruction. Many people, that teach combos, use WBT whole group.  Well... as we know you can't always practice whole group instruction while teaching a combo.  When I taught a combo I would try to mesh as much instruction as possible.  I even spent a week trying to type up and align all the 1st and 2nd grade standards.  As it turned out, I relieved the parents by telling them that it was basically a GATE class for 1st grade and a regular 2nd.  WBT would work when you can do that.  My colleague is not comfortable with that and thinks that, though WBT is wonderful, she can't use it as frequently as she would like because of the varied instruction.  She said that she gets one side going independently and then hops back over to the other side of the room. How exhausting, plus, I have a feeling that she may be losing some of her students with all of that down time.  You know, the daydreamer!  I was once one myself!    I know that we have to follow the curriculum and I agree that it is a very useful tool.  However, I don't understand why students can't read the same story and learn from the WBT classroom model book, with respect to writing and grammar.  It would work wonderful and cut back on all the confusion, with respect to teaching. I feel that the means goal end is to create an enlightened, well-rounded, educated, college bound individual......That loves to learn!!!:)  We can do it!!!

Classroom Bulletin boards are up!!

Woohoo!  Finally the vision has come to life!  It was somewhat easy this year using the WBT classroom model as a foundation to organize and create.  I truly enjoyed the experience and here are the pictures from todays results.  I put all of the power pics up for spacing, but I will be taking them down and putting them back up as I introduce each standard.  I can't wait to hear what you think!!  Any ideas???

Thanks!!

Heather Hansen

WBT intern

2011/12

Palmdale Hotflashers team

Well , I got my first assignment from coach Biff!  I have to get as many team members as possible!  It started off semi-slow.  Then....all of sudden a burst of followers came running to join the team!  I have many people interested in becoming a WBT classroom model.  I worked diligently on my classroom for two days now and I think its looks great!  I still have to get my genius ladder up.  I'm still not sure how I want to set that up.  I know that it needs to be on the whiteboard.  I would like the convenience to change it daily! I am also excited to see some of the pictures on the other blog sites!  I know that there is going to be some fantastic examples.  The forum has been really hopping with wonderful questions!  Every day that I get on there to participate there is a new follower from another state or even another country for that matter.

What a wonderful experience thus far!!  5 day count down!!

Heather Hansen
WBT Intern
2011/12