First Post
Monday night, in a moment of desperation, perhaps the kind that only a first year teacher can feel (and probably a second and third year as well), I set on a quest to find the miracle solution to the rowdy, disengaged, and completely unconvinced Primary 4, 5, and Secondary 7 year students that walk into the international plus school in Medan, Indonesia that I teach at.
What I thought would be a voyage of weeks and weeks on end turned into a mighty conquering, especially since having internet that works is a blessing in itself. Can you guess what the Philosopher’s stone I stumbled upon that had the ability to turn student behavior into efficiency and learning greater than gold? I couldn’t have. This said philosopher’s stone is called Wholebrainteaching, and I believe is changing the way I teach and I’ve barely even started!!!
I suppose before I discuss the impact that Wholebrainteaching has had on this very FIRST day of implementation, I should explain the type of educational environment that I am in, as well as my own personal background. Being an American (North Carolina, to be exact) teaching English, Drama (got thrown into that one) and IPC (International Primary Curriculum) has been a challenge when teaching in an entirely different culture and even different “traditional” style of teaching. Did I mention that I am a FIRST YEAR TEACHER??? A first year teacher fresh out of college, eager to please, and yet aware of my very own naivety.
 As much as I learned from my professors, they did not and could not have prepared me to teach in a place where the first thing students do when you enter the classroom is parrot “Good Morning Miss Ward”, which to me feels like tiny little robots greeting me, eerily reminiscent of “You got Mail!” There are two main distinct types of teaching here that seemed to be divided into eastern versus western (much like everything else here, bread versus rice anyone?) I am not in either corner of this boxing match, because at the very least I am not entirely sure where the ring is. I see merits of both eastern and western: high expectations, hard work, respect, honesty, and diligence that comes with eastern ideals and the outspokenness, creativity, individuality and cooperation of western ideals. It seems that my destiny as teacher, if I am meant to aware of it, is to bridge these two worlds…..I AM CLUELESS.
Repeat….I AM CLUELESS (shhh….Please don’t let my students know. My principal already does.)
Now back to that Philosopher’s Stone!!!!
Today I implemented WBTing (Wholebrainteaching) aspects into my Primary 5, Primary 4, and Secondary 7 classes as follows:
Primary 5 English and IPC
Class. Yes.
Student versus Teacher
5 rules with gestures
Primary 4 Drama
Mirror
Secondary 7 English
Class. Yes.
Student Versus Teacher (and level one)
5 rules with gestures
Teach. Ok.Â
It seemed that these techniques have really prompted students who have difficulty participating and paying attention in class to really be focused and engaged. On top of all of this one of the other teachers really appreciated the 5 rules!Â