Calvin Coolidge once said, “It takes a great man to be a good listener.” Whole Brain teaching has taught my students not only the importance of teaching one another but being active whole body listeners as well. In fact, I am guessing that if you are a teacher you have probably noticed that you have both chronic talkers and chronic listeners. You have those who just want to talk, and then those who are more reserved. Whole brain teaching “Switch” encourages the listeners to talk and the talkers to sit back and listen.
After mirroring what you want the students to teach one another, you will partner your kids up in ones and twos. The ones will teach the twos, and then when you say “Switch” the twos will teach the ones. According to whole brain teaching first steps, you are guaranteed that every student will both be equally speaking as well as listening.
When group members teach one another they both should be using gestures. Even the listeners use gestures as they are taught the concepts. This helps the listeners to stay on task and focused. During this process, the teacher should act as a facilitator and walk around the room and praise and prompt students for their efforts. When I circle the room with my class, I am able to quickly see if students understand concepts and if they are retaining the information given to them.
Teach-okay and switch have been extremely effective in my classroom. I deliver information to my students in small chunks at a time. I have students mirror both my words and gestures. When I say, “teach”, they are able to turn to their partner and teach them using big gestures. I love using “switch” because it assures that every student in the room is playing an active role in their learning.
luv2teachfirst 