Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids

by Chris Biffle

Join the teaching revolution that's sweeping the U.S. ... and the world! 80,000 registered members worldwide, 3,000,000 YouTube views, 10,000,000 pages of free ebooks downloaded from WholeBrainTeaching.com, one of the world's largest, free, education websites! If your rambunctious kids are driving you batty, read this book. Guffaw with delight as your class, guided by the Guff Counter, halts back talking students in their tracks! Weep with joy at the power of the Independents that turns rebel cliques against each other. Gasp in awe as you discover Mirror, the simple technique that makes every lesson magnetically engaging. Chortle with merriment as the magical Scoreboard transforms classroom management into a living video game. Whole Brain Teaching, a grass roots, education reform movement, begun in 1999 by three Southern California teachers, has attracted an astonishing following among educators across the U.S. and in 30 foreign countries. Based on cutting edge scientific research, Whole Brain Teaching recognizes that students learn the most when they are engaged in lessons that involve seeing, hearing, doing, speaking and feeling. Join the revolution! Transform your students from passive receivers of information to dynamic creators of high energy lessons. "In my 38 years in education, I have never seen a more successful classroom management system than Whole Brain Teaching. It's simple, effective and powerful. Chris Biffle and his colleagues have developed a strategy that works for all students." Dominic F. Mucci, Superintendent of Schools, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Genres: Teaching, Education, Nonfiction, Professional Development, School, Unfinished, Self Help

292 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2013

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can honestly say I have very mixed feelings about this. Somethings I love (the aspects that address student engagement, procedures, ect), some things I absolutely hate (the 5 class rules - why, on earth, would one have a rule that says "ask permission to leave your seat" when you can just teach your kids to leave their seat when it is appropriate. As if I need a kid asking permission every time they need a material or to get a tissue...I prefer teaching my kids to self-regulate than inundating them with frivolous rules).

As such, there are things I will be borrowing and making my own to fit in with my classroom vision, and things I will forget.

[Ana Stanciu-Dumitrache · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foarte practica si utila, cu multe idei si resurse. Mi-a plăcut tare mult ca nu s-a ocupat de partea științifică, ci s-a concentrat pe metode si strategii. In teorie cu toții avem niste repere, ca sa nu zic chiar ca stim ce avem de facut, dar cand esti in fata clasei, lucrurile se schimba. Aceasta carte poate fi un ghid, pe care sa il folosești mereu.

[Kalysta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot of great gems in this book, but had to weed through a lot of not-gems. I appreciate some concrete strategies to make learning more fun for my students, but could do without all the scoreboard, shame-based, nonsense.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life. I have a degree in special education, inner-city teaching experience, a veteran teacher of a top-rated district, and a noted reputation for making learning fun. Last year was extremely rough for teachers in our district, and I was miserable and burned out. In April, I attended one of the most intense and exhausting workshops, so intense that neither my colleagues nor myself even wanted to breach the subject of the day with our spouses. The next day I showed up to school, and my life began to change because, on the previous day, Chris Biffle told us that we MUST implement SOMETHING from his workshop. My amazing class latched onto this new and exciting way of learning. IN APRIL! God bless you, Chris Biffle!

This is just the introduction to Whole Brain Teaching, and EVERY teacher can take something from this book, even if it's just a Class-Yes. It is very strange to teach with 100% student engagement - it's incredible and my kids love coming to school and actively participating. ANYONE WHO HATES THIS HAS NOT TRIED ANY OF THESE TECHNIQUES. Or perhaps The Haters have small classes or students with diligently supportive parents? I don't know anyone with a class like this. Who knows what the Next Big Thing in Education will be; in the meantime, I cry tears of joy not only for the positive influence this has had on my students, but also for myself.

[Sherry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Gimmicky, unsupported by research, and heavy on behavior modification. It is not a student’s job to make the teacher happy. These methods certainly do nothing to develop deep relationships or inspire higher level thinking. I kept envisioning Hitler Youth meetings.

I would have thrown this book across the room except I was reading it on my new iPhone Xs.

Read Lost at School by Ross Greene for effective ways to work with challenging students. Ironically, Greene’s book is mentioned, but the author apparently did not understand that working with kids is more than teaching them to chant and become compliant. Frankly, running this type of classroom amounts to child abuse.

[Joy Kirr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I abandoned this book at page 68. I think it would be good IF you had a classroom full of misbehaving young kids. However...

I felt that the "exemplar" teacher model was a more of a puppeteer than a facilitator of learning - focused on having CONTROL over the kids. Major management going on here. Some of it seemed like brain washing, and I was not comfortable with it at all. This book was not for me or my demographic of students.

My take-aways: 1) I need to come up with a sound to get students' attention back, not a visual signal. 2) I'd rather have a class where a few students act out than a class of robots who follow my orders.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for my MS in Education. I think the idea of Whole Brain Teaching is amazing and that is how we should engage our students. I thought many of the different tactics that were presented in the book however are not adaptable for all teachers. I think this book focuses on tactics that extroverted teachers will have a better time at displaying, where a teacher that is more meek might find it difficult to display these strategies. I do think a pro of this book was that once you decide on your classroom management format and how you are going to punish students, you need to be consistent with it.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is very little new under the sun. Essentially it is extreme pair-sharing and chunking. That's it. I just saved you a read.

I'm a middle school English teacher. This book insisted the ideas could be used in all grades, even in college. But the math teacher attempting it in our middle school is fighting against the students who think it is ridiculously elementary. For a book that insists it is a K-12 system, they spent the bulk of their time with elementary examples. Their conflict resolution program is so complicated, I'm not even sure I understood it. I believe it said you would need a hard stick, two markers, the SIX-step resolution board, and two game piecess, and then the bridge agreement. Um...wow.

They also insisted this could work in any school regardless of socio-economic status, but again, their examples were skewed toward schools with majority free lunch students. I teach in a middle to upper-middle class school. A very different environment. Our students have different needs and lives.

I don't know. I found ideas I liked and agreed with. (Mind Soccer review game seemed pretty great.) But overall, it wasn't my cup of tea. Just too young for me. And if a college professor had tried this on me, I would have walked out of class.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could, I would give it less that one star.

This is the first book I think I have ever abandoned. I have this weird thing about finishing every book I start, but I cannot finish this one (although I skimmed it pretty thoroughly).

I find the tone of the book degrading and offensive; and the language incredibly derogatory. Although there are a few nuggets that might be helpful in certain situations (for example, kids should be compliant during a drill), overall this book feel like a combination of Skinner's behaviorism and Pavlov's theory, which is a educational philosophy that I do not aspire to achieve. My students are not animals to be trained. Compliance is not engagement. The book quotes other notable theorists, but either incompletely or incorrectly.

I aspire to implement a classroom management and instructional framework that builds inclusive community, student agency, critical thinking skills, and knowledge. That is curious and joyful. That empowers students to be productive members of society and lifelong learners. This book is SOOOO NOT that!

[Tillie H · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book is great, with lots of ideas to implement in my classroom. I would love to chop off the entire second half. It was so scattered and a lot of the ideas and chapters were not great. My takeaway: I’ll take the ideas I like and use them. The rest I’ll forget.

[Anna Storey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - Leaving with some really great ideas. Really great for younger students (K-2) who would find most of these management techniques fun, but might be hard to get older kids behind it.

[Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very applicable and adaptable education book. I don’t think all of the practices can be used for every teacher/class, but I’m excited to try some of the techniques in the next year.

[Holly Loader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most influential books on my teaching practice as a whole!

[Kristin Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow…I’ve been wanting to learn more details about Whole Brain Teaching. This book was great-it included a lot of details on the philosophy behind WBT and covered all materials, games, and activities needed to implement WBT into your classroom. I found the visuals and sample scripts very helpful. There were some areas I skipped through as it didn’t apply to kindergarten (paragraph writing; state testing). My only reason for 3 stars was that the book was kind of overwhelming and I would have liked more visuals in color (needed for the behavior system). Also, though I like the pair-share model, the idea of giving directions for 30 seconds and having students repeat all day seems like it would take awhile (especially with 5 year olds). Like many reviews, there were some parts I loved and others that i had mixed feelings on. I know WBT has its set names for things, but I can’t see myself saying “gruff” or some other phrases. 😂

I’m looking forward to watching some videos online to observe how some of the WBT ideas are used in a kindergarten classroom. ;) I think this book covered sooo much, my head is spinning and seeing some examples would help better.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skimmed through this one for a class project.

Pros: a positive approach towards challenging kids; some potentially fun specific strategies to try; the idea that keeping kids busy with learning leaves less time for trouble making.

Cons: (1) The author claims his book is research-based, but what he really seem to mean is that he found a system that worked for him and then added in some neurological terminology to support his ideas after the fact. Very iffy. (2) If I imagine myself as a student, I think I could enjoy some of the methods Biffle recommends as a way to switch things up for a short amount of class time. But if someone tried to use them for a long time, I would be overwhelmed and overstimulated really fast. (3) In an effort to sell his methodology, the author suggests that bad teachers are the main cause of poor student behavior. I’m new to the field and already tired of teacher guilt. It’s a poor way to motivate caring professionals who are doing their best in a system that often works against them.

Bottom line: Get this book if you’re looking for some new ideas to freshen up your classroom management, but I don’t recommend Biffle’s system as a whole.

[Audrey Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading about ideas for teaching. However, through the whole book, I kept looking for ideas for someone like me - a computer teacher. I don't have students for a whole day, just one class period of 30 minutes. I can't take away recess or add to recess or add things like a classroom teacher might. I did try the "Teach - Okay" idea thinking that it might work for me, but I didn't prepare the students well enough or model it well enough. Most did pretty well anyway, but about a third of the class just didn't get it. I'll have to rethink how to work this for me.

A lot of these ideas are great for someone who likes a noisy classroom, but I don't function well in that environment. Don't get me wrong; I like the IDEA of the program and I am sure it works well for many people. I'll have to figure out some ways for this to work for a pull-out class rather than a classroom.

[Nicole Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the clear structure of this method and the fact that it can be implemented immediately. I had an issue with the "keeping the dear teacher happy" language as well as the way the scoreboard points were described. I think this is easily changed to "keeping the class environment happy/efficient/a place to learn" etc. I also feel like for the scoreboard, I would modify. I don't like the arbitrary giving and taking points for no reason other than the teacher feels like it.

Overall, a really helpful read for this veteran teacher and I look forward to implementing.

[Karen Kauo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve used many of the WBT multisensory strategies in my own class for years. I loved learning about the brain and how it controls various parts of student learning. I appreciate the overall message of intrinsic motivation with game based strategies to engage all parts of the brain BUT after reading ALL of the games, hand movements, Starries, AlohaHawks, and Happies my teacher brain is in overload. Every classroom is different and has different needs for their classroom culture. Whole Brain Teaching is a great resource for teachers looking to find options for student engagement.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teacher there are many ideas I really like from this book, though I definitely feel many would work more for elementary students/some are very silly and I am not sure would work with some populations of students. The book is also about 10 years old, so some material is outdated, but can easily be updated or supplemented. I think the concept of Whole Brain Teaching is great though, especially for those energetic students!

[Ruthie Planamenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with some colleagues for professional development, and we were all very impressed by how useful the ideas in this book are! Even the veteran teachers in the group said there were techniques here they hadn’t heard of before. I am excited to try out some of these techniques in my classroom next year!

[Jill VanWormer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts feel dated and some parts are even a bit problematic, but there are good ideas here. I wouldn’t tell someone not to read it, but I would recommend picking and choosing what works for you. I can’t jump on board with every aspect, but there are things I would incorporate into my classroom.

[Ashlee Stingel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fully believe everyone should look in to the WBT model. I’ve started using it my classroom after Christmas (first heard about it last summer) and it’s made a huge difference for my most difficult students. Being departmentalized, I’ve changed some things to fit my class; but I love the ideas and theories behind the model.

[Isabella Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Motivating!

I’ve been teaching 22 years. I’ve been a Dean of
Students (primarily addressing behavior) in a middle school for nearly a decade. I returned to the classroom by choice last year. Behavior management has always been my greatest strength. However, this book has rules and procedures that motivate improvements in learning and teaching! I can’t wait to use all of them!!!

[Carly Sipos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve been interested in incorporating whole brain teaching into my classroom as it fits within my personality and teaching style already. As with everything, take what you like and leave what you don’t. While I don’t think I’ll use WBT exclusively, I will definitely be incorporating some of the elements!

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an educator, I found the concept of whole brain teaching intriguing. I still do, after reading this book. There a pieces of this I find valuable, like changing the way I say my attention getters and the conversations that were had with students. However, I found some of the strategies to be belittling. Not high on my list.

[Natalie Shear · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is okay. There are some great ideas in it and some ideas that made me self-reflect. I just don't think that the book had realistic expectations for teachers. I honestly put it down because it implies that teachers should work after hours. I picked it back up later and was glad that I did because there are some great classroom management ideas in the book.

[Nicole Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I haven't been able to actually go to a workshop but this was the next best thing. I highlighted and tagged so many different strategies for my class. I even dreamt of using some of these strategies,.lol!!!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

You would probably only be interested in this if you are a teacher. And as I am a teacher, WOW. This touched on so many points that I have pondered myself and offered realistic and workable solutions. I am very excited to implement this!

[Jessica Nicole Abercrombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think every teacher should read this! This is a great classroom management strategy and teaches and and all kids! I love the flexibility of including as little or as much of it as you want throughout the school year and how often you add new pieces!

[Madison Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always struggle with nonfiction, especially professional development books, but this was engaging and so helpful! I can’t wait to start implementing the strategies in my classroom this upcoming year!