WBT Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Seven Common Teaching MistakesPick two of the errors described in Chapter 3, pages 9-13, of "Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids" and write yourself a letter of advice about how you're going to avoid these mistakes in the coming year.  Include one or two useful quotes from the chapter.


Dear Self,You have just a few more weeks and then you'll be back to school. You have worked hard this summer studying and reviewing Whole Brain Teaching. I know you are very excited to continue growing as a second year Whole Brain Teacher. There are a few topics that I wanted to remind you about to ensure that you have a great year from beginning to end. First, remember that your future disruptive students are "round pegs that won't fit into your square hole" as Coach Biffle said. You need to be willing to choose those students as part of my leadership team as you have the class rehearse the procedures.

Another key idea to having a wonderful school year is to "invite students into your world; don't expect to find them already there," as Coach said. Many of your students will need differentiated lessons regularly and have varied interests from you. Please take the time to get to know each student and what topics are important to them in their lives and what their learning styles are. Yes, it will take time and your schedule will already be full, but you will have to make the time. It may work for you to have one student per day read and talk with you for a few minutes when the class comes back from special while the rest is the class reads silently. Be brave and keep working hard as a teacher. You learn more and become a better each year. Keep it up and it will be a year full of enjoyable learning for you and your incoming third graders.Sincerely, Hannah