As so many know....I absolutely love my job! I feel like teaching was definitely a calling for me and I take pride in creating the best learning experiences for my kids. I am always looking to find new and exciting g ways to keep my little ones engaged and focused while still having fun in the classroom. 2 years ago I saw a Farrah Shipley video on YouTube and I was floored by the way her kindergarten class was so engaged in her lesson. Here is the video http://youtu.be/Df7wWA1qyh4 .
I immediately began using
"Hands and Eyes " with my class. This single prompt made me the envy of all the other teachers. Ummmm hummm....I said it...they were super impressed, as well as my administrators , by how quickly I could get a class of 30 four-year olds quiet and focused on what I was going to say next. Ahhhhhhhhh.....it was a dream come true. The next year I introduced Mirrors, Class- Yes. This got all my students engaged and ready to learn. Wow!! For my formal observation last year I wanted to really blow my Principals mind by implementing Teach-Ok and Switch. My prekinders were trained and ready for show time. Watching a class of 25 " babies" teach each other sentence structure blew my mind, as well as my assistant who was watching and my administrator who was doing my evaluation!! I could hear the angels singing....it was a thing of beauty!
Many people say that Pre-k is full of cute babies! Well, these babies were the most focused and engaged and the results were huge. They not only learned, but my class met their yearly goals by January. This is not just any class, this is a 100% at risk class with the majority being ELLs . I teach in what the US Census has named " the poorest city in America" l so the odds were not in our favor.....but after implementing WBT in. Y class......I AM A BELIEVER! If you are thinking about getting started, just do it. My babies are proof that it can be done and it does work!
This year I am excited to have been chosen to be a model class in WBT, so I am going to start from day one, in one of the most challenging areas and help each one of you to see step by step how you can turn your class into a more productive, engaging, and focused class with little to no challenging behavior.
Here is a link to purchase the book if you haven't done so. It is worth it!!
Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids: (and the rest of your class, too!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984816712/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_sUJ-tb1E0Z44Y
Yours in Teaching,
Mrs. TL Garcia
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