Getting started.... in the middle of the year?!

After realizing, "This is just not working!" I knew something had to be done.  After looking through tons and tons of some of my favorite bloggers, I realized I would need a radical change.  I also needed a way to get the kiddies on board with this small big monumental change.

I started by watching some wonderful You Tube videos - of which there are quite a few good ones.  

My personal favorite:

Gosh, this one is just great.  It was so great, I showed it to my class.  Twice!

So, my super-mature firsties thought this seemed a tad hokey for them.  SO you know what?  I told them, it may look hokie, but these are some of the smartest firsties out there, and if you want to be smart, you'll have to learn to use your whole brain too!  But to help the buy-in, I also showed them this video of middle schoolers. 

 Now they are IN.  Capital I, Capital N.   You have to understand...  We are a k-8 school.  So the middle schoolers are the coolest thing since cupcakes.  When I told my firsties that even middle schoolers can learn whole-brain, they decided to give it a go!  Yay!

Intro

Welcome!  This is a blog to track my progress as I begin using "whole brain teaching."

Why?
This year I have been *blessed* (insert wink) with a highly animated class, that includes 14 boys...  and 6 girls.  It had become UGLY!

 I always thought of myself as a teacher with stellar classroom management.  Until.  This.  Year.  Was I just lucky in the past?  Or is there really something different with this bunch.

I have to say, that on an individual level, each of these kiddos are awesome.  But as a class?  NOT AWESOME.  not even a little awesome.  Unless your definition of awesome is like a train wreck or a car accident that is so intense you can't look away.  Ya, that's my class.

Realizing something had to change, I took to the internet and set my sights on whole brain teaching.  I have decided to go whole hog and jump right in.  Here we go!