Sept, 29th, 2014 Getting started

I hope that my blog evoked a little bit of curiosity and maybe in the future my followers will ask me some questions they have while reading :)

There are many things I would like to write about but let me start from the very beginning of this school year.
Perhaps August is a better date, then I spent a lot of time investigating Whole Brain Teaching. 
First things that got my attention were You Tube streams of teachers involved in WBT. What was so special about it? Well, I saw a group of students following teacher's instructions without any disruptive behaviour (!!). Yes. That's what I saw. Next I saw students talking about Power Teaching and how useful and student-friendly method it is. Can you imagine students talking about YOUR teaching methods?? Nooooooo....
Next, I saw a teacher energizing the group. This group was having fun with learning and teaching each other. Is this convincing enough to read about implementing WBT into my classroom?  Hope so.

What were my first steps? I watched Coach B's intro on YouTube.

There he explained what should I do at the very first class in September. 
I took it for granted and said...
"Listen, this year is going to be unique. It's your last year in this school and you are going to pass an exam. I want you to pass it with flying colours. (I had in my mind to speak for about 30 sec, not more) That's why we're going to use Power Teaching. I will give you the power and you will use it to learn as much as possible." (Let me tell you that I teach in 3rd class Gymnasium where sts are about 14-15y.o.)Here my students were looking at me with their mouths opened. And asked: "OK, but how?" (I was waiting for some kind of response). I said: "Listen, however I say Class, you will tell me Yes. Understood?" They noddled. So: "Class! (Clap)Class! (Clap)" - I said that loudly like a general. They said "Yes! (some clapped) Yesss? (no clapping)". That made me laugh. We practiced that for about 5min with the variety of voice tones and cartoon characters. They decided general-kind-of-tone is the best for the time being. That's how my WBT class started. Next time I'll write abouth other tools used and were they really easy to implement on my lessons...

Oh! This is the time to say THANK YOU PETER DYER for your improvisation workshops!! (later I'll write on about my Drama adventure in Canterbury, England)

Bye for now!