I despise chaos and the last days of school always seem to be full of chaos! I tried to maintain as much structure as I could and WBT was a HUGE help.
As the students worked on a last day project, I just had to smile when I overheard the conversation of my two challenging students. Student A heard student B say something rude. Student A automatically said, "Rule number 3!" Student 2 quickly replied with, "Treat others the way you want to be treated!" Can you believe it? The two most challenging students happily correcting each other- that's what I call teacher heaven!
I usually stay away from giving too much freedom on the last day...like I said, I hate chaos! Today in the last hour, I let the kids choose games to play with friends. It worked very well in part due to the fact that I still had all the control I needed with the class-yes!
Before the class walked out the door for the last time we had one more class-yes for old time's sake! LOL :) I had students sincerely thank me. I had students beg me to join them in 3rd grade. Two sweet little girls left with tears in their eyes! Again, I know that this was an exceptionally sweet class, but I truly believe that I can attribute much of this year's success to the positive environment created with Whole Brain Teaching.
What a great post!!! Thank you for sharing!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!
ReplyDeleteI also do not like chaos. WBT definitely helped keep the lid on, but in a friendly way. That's what I love about WBT, it is so positive. Have a great summer!
ReplyDelete