Whole Brain Teaching: College: Classroom Management

The longer we talk, the more students we lose. College instructor Chris Biffle demonstrates micro-lecturing, the crucial Whole Brain Teaching classroom management technique that not only breaks information into understandable chunks, but also has a built in check for student comprehension. For 100s of pages of free downloads, go to WholeBrainTeaching.com

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• whole
• brain
• teaching
• power
• classroom
• management
• Biffle
• lecturing
• philosophy
• micro-lecturing
• college

[monji6]

i love this method of teaching! i implemented it with my summer school and they've done so well with it!

[Valeriesdog]

wbt teaching reminds me of a sales pitch rally

[Melissa91979]

Overall, this seems to be an excellent way to cultivate student interest during classroom instruction. In watching the video, I also wonder about those students that are more reserved when it comes to speaking openly in a classroom environment. What appears to be most beneficial about this sort of classroom exercise is that there are multiple opportunities for students to retrieve answers, from either peers or teacher.

[NCWBTeacher]

@mcvanskike

You are absolutely right. It works well at pretty much any level. Teachers modify the approach and can do more an more with it as they and their students become more adept at it.

The students really enjoy the interaction with one another, and the responsibility of helping teach their peers.

[NCWBTeacher]

@Truthinessify Variation based on needs

Actually, the approach with older learners can be very different from the approach with younger kids. It is up to the teacher to know their students well enough to know what needs to be modified to make it relevant to the students.

The portion in calling on students you denigrate, yet in my experience I see much the same thing even with middle schoolers. Frequently when I call on a student they gave me more detail than I supplied. Why is that a problem?

[mcvanskike]

This seems to be a good way to encourage students to pay attention during class. I wonder how this approach would work with the elementary grades or children who are shy? I like that the teacher uses a lot of positive feedback and encourages students to listen, repeat and summarize what was taught. When the student doesn't know, the teacher encourages the students to meet with their neighbor which is a great problem-solving tool.

[NCWBTeacher]

@J0sselyn

How the instructor uses this is very malleable according to their own personality, and energy level. For some college classes I have used the Scoreboard, and for others I have not. It just depends on the instructor and what they feel is necessary for their classes. One of the most powerful benefits of this approach is its flexibility for the teacher. The volume level is flexible for the teacher. The students are not miked and cannot be heard on the video unless they are loud.

[J0sselyn]

@NCWBTeacher , I agree that this method does have some great techniques in it. I like how engaging it is, as repeating out loud to fellow students can help concepts to "stick" in the brain better. This concept does encourage learning, but I feel it is almost too over top for the post secondary level. I do believe that it could be fun and engaging for elementary students. If I was in this class, though, and I had a migraine for example, I would literally leave the class, whereas I know with

[NCWBTeacher]

@J0sselyn

Do not be so quick to judge when you know so little so far. First, if I have a student who is actually sick I only ask that they watch, and listen, and do not require participation if it would not benefit them.

Secondly, 'oh sweet mama' is just a catch phrase to get attention. It is not scripted, and many different WBT teachers use different phrases. If you do not like it do not use it.

[dapbptunes]

Interesting to see that "Teach-OK" is not there yet, just "ready set go", and also "Class-Yes" is not present, rather it's "Let me see your faces."