Reflection 1 

The school in which I observed has Whole Brain Teaching as the foundation to their school-wide management philosophy. In the room which I observed, there was the five main rules posted on the board where all of the students can see it clearly. Beside the rules, there is a scoreboard which is another vital component of the Whole Brain Teaching approach to classroom management. In the classroom that I am in I also observed the standard “Class! Yes!”, a component of Whole Brain Teaching. The other teachers also use this which makes it easier for the teachers, para-professionals, and specials teachers to keep the children on the same management strategy. I think that this helps because the management in which the students are exposed to is more consistent.

I think that this management style reflects the climate of the school and classroom to an extent. I feel as though the classroom is very engaging which correlates with Whole Brain Teaching, however, like many places that use this strategy, all components are not visible and they do not last the entire day. The teacher which I observed did not use this as the only management strategy in the classroom. The teacher in the kindergarten classroom which I observed also used a system where the child had to move their crayon to different colors if they got in trouble. This system is similar to the “pull a card” method. I think that it is helpful to combine a method like this with whole brain teaching because it allows the students to have an individual and group contingency.

I have had a lot of exposure to Whole Brain Teaching, and I feel as though this is a method that I can implement in my own classroom to a certain degree. The kindergarteners that I observed knew the rules but they were not mentioned as frequently as the model says they should be. I think that this is fine because that is not the only classroom management of the teacher. The teacher could possibly emphasize the scoreboard a little more, but I was also only there for one block out of the day and she may not use it that much in the morning.

Overall, I think that the teacher’s management style fit with the way she wanted her relationship to be with her students. She wanted to be engaging them. I also think that since a lot of the teachers in the school use this strategy it creates more cohesive school management. I think that since I already know the rules and some of the overarching aspects of Whole Brain Teaching, it will make my transition into the classroom easier during student teaching.