Make Your Classroom Fun Again- Whole Brain Teaching Is the Answer!

I am an 8th Grade science teacher, with 16 years in the classroom. I have always thought of teaching as a calling more than a choice. After all, why would you choose a career with such a high stress level and such stringent requirements if it was not something your loved?

I have taught in a wide variety of settings- drug and alcohol rehab, mental health facility, public middle schools in three states, and community college.

I just knew that I would NEVER get burned out, not like some of the teachers I have taught with in the past. You know the ones I mean. They are always down, and seem beaten, defeated by the stress of facing the kids. If they hang around too long you can pick them out- the ones who always have something bad to say, and almost no positive feelings to share about what they do every day.

I KNEW I would never become one of them. I was too upbeat, too in love with teaching. I was really good at it, and loved what I did. I knew that would never change.

I was WRONG!

I have to admit I lost that battle. Between unreasonable parents, and the disrespect and apathy I was getting from the students, the lack of support, and obstacles thrown at me by administration, I found myself becoming disenchanted, and yes, I must admit, I burned out.
I was ready to leave the field of education entirely.

I actually quit and started looking at other industries. I felt an enormous sense of loss in the way I felt about education. It may be that some of you reading this are getting to that same place. It may be that some of you are already there.

If you have reached a point where you are ready to quit too I urge you to read on!

I know a lot of you who will read this know exactly what I mean, and have felt exactly as I did. You may feel that way still. I so badly wanted to love teaching again. I wanted to help my students enjoy it, but hold them responsible for their learning. I wanted to get rid of the apathy, and make my classroom manageable, and yet fun for both me and the students all at the same time. I despaired that it could not be done.

Then I stumbled on Whole Brain Teaching. A group of teachers in California started this grassroots movement based in educational tomfoolery which gives
you tools for classroom management that the students buy into, and tools to increase retention dramatically.

For example, science is heavy in new vocabulary, much of it daunting. With Power Vocabulary my kids rarely write vocabulary words. The effect is that I have gone from having 5 of 25 students getting ten
terms out of ten on a vocabulary quiz to having 18 of 25 getting ten out of ten. Weeks and even months later they can still tell me what the terms mean.

I never have to say "come on, guys you are getting too loud! Hush! Listen!" They know what I mean exactly when I ask them to get quieter. To get the attention of the whole class I say one word and they respond together with a smile, and often a giggle.

Does this sound interesting? To make sure that I can cover all the information, and at the request of other teachers, and the founders of this movement, I started a blog. Now the blog is a website that will help you go step by step through what you need to know to start using this amazing method.

In the website I explain all the basic steps in detail, how to use the components, and how to make them your own. I explain, as completely as I can, the process of learning Whole Brain Teaching, and adding to my now considerable arsenal of methods that make me a good teacher.

I will warn you there is one downside. My colleagues have begun to complain that our students are becoming annoying in asking why their classes are not as much fun as mine! They have begun to ask me if I could have a little less fun so they don't have to hear it.

Yeah. You know that is going to happen!

I welcome your input, and hope you will come now and learn about This lens introduces the basic ideas behind Power Teaching. For more detailed information, basic components, and how to become a Whole Brain Teacher, check out my website at Whole Brain Teaching. I promise you won't be disappointed!

See me in action!