This document discusses the "Big Six" techniques used in Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) to engage students' brains and improve behavior and learning. It describes each of the six techniques - such as "Class-Yes" to grab attention and "Teach-Okay" for comprehension checks - and how they activate different areas of the brain. It also explains how the teacher evaluated their students' behaviors into four groups - Alphas to Challenging Students - and used this data to inform student groupings and seating arrangements during lessons. Implementing these WBT techniques has increased overall student engagement and positive behavior.

1. WHOLE BRAIN
TEACHING
B Y : J A I M E S P R A Y
The Big Six & student
evaluation

2. 1. THE ATTENTION
GRABBER
T R U E C H I C A P P A R E L
Class-Yes
I use this technique whenever I want to quickly gain the
attention of my class. For example, I use this call and
response method during transitions. For maximum effect, I
vary my tone of voice and add word endings to "Class" (i.e.
Classity-Class!). Class-Yes activates the pre-frontal cortex,
the reasoning center of the brain. This area functions as a
“light switch” that must be turned on for the rest of the brain
to process information.

3. FIVE CLASSROOM RULES
2. The organizer
I rehearse the five classroom rules and their gestures many
times per day (i.e. in the morning, after recess, lunch, etc.)
During instruction, when a rule is broken, I call out the rule
number and students, with gestures, respond in chorus with
the rule. This prevents students from receiving negative
attention for their disruptive behavior. The five classroom
rules engage seeing, hearing, saying, doing (the pre-frontal
cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, hippocampus, visual
cortex and motor cortex.)

4. 3. THE WHOLE BRAIN
ACTIVATOR
Teach-Okay
I speak briefly and then ask students to paraphrase, mirroring
my gestures, what I've said to a partner. I clap twice and say,
"Teach!" My students respond by clapping twice and say,
"Okay!". I move around the classroom to monitor students'
comprehension and delivery. Students have their pre-frontal
cortex engaged, activate Broca’s area as they listen, Wernike’s
area as they speak, the visual and the motor cortex as they
see and make gestures. This whole brain activity powerfully
stimulates the hippocampus to form long term memories.

5. 4. THE MOTIVATOR
The Scoreboard
I frequently reward positive behavior and penalize for
negative behavior. I observe the plus/minus 3 rule and keep
the positive and negative scores within three points so
students remain motivated. The results of the scoreboard
determine the positive and negative consequences to be
enforced for the whole-class the following school day (i.e.
+/-1 minute of extra recess). The Scoreboard keys directly
into the limbic system’s emotions and the amygdala which
registers pleasure (Mighty Oh Yeah) and pain (Mighty
Groan!) as students accumulate rewards and penalties.

6. 5. THE FOCUSER
Hands and Eyes
I use this technique whenever I want to maximize student
attention. Hands and Eyes focuses all mental activity on
seeing and hearing the teacher’s lesson. I say, "Hands and
Eyes!". Students respond by repeating back, "Hands and
Eyes!" while folding their hands in their laps and staring
directly at me. This technique is powerful and highly
effective, though not to be overused.

7. 6. THE INVOLVER
Switch!
I've counted off my class in A's and B's on our area rug
during whole-group instruction. I use this technique so that
every student has an opportunity to practice their speaking
and listening skills during Teach-Okay. While one partner is
talking, the other parter raises one hand to their ear, while
they swing the other hand in a circular motion to
encourage the response of their partner. Switch helps
students fully develop both their listening (Broca’s area) and
their speaking (Wernicke’s area) abilities.

8. The WBT classroom uses four measures to evaluate
each student’s classroom behavior. These measures
are: follow directions quickly, raise your hands for
permission to speak, stay on task, and turn in neat
work. I use these measures to determine the initial
behaviors of my students and divided my class into
the following four groups:
1. Alphas: Those students who are able to raise
their hands for permission to speak, follow
directions quickly, stay on task, and turn in neat
work. (5 out of 19 students)
2. Go-Alongs: These students would usually “go
along” with me. Go-Alongs usually, but not
always, raise their hands for permission to
speak, frequently follow directions quickly,
usually stay on task, and, in general, turn in neat
work. (4 out of 19 students)
WBT Evaluation of my
students' classroom behavior

9. WBT Evaluation of my
students' classroom behavior
3. Fence Sitters: These students can go either
way. One day they are close to being Alpha
students; the next day, they demonstrated poor
behavior. Fence Sitters inconsistently raise
their hands for permission to speak, often didn’t
stay on task, follow directions quickly or turn in
neat work. (6 out of 19 students)
4. Challenging Students: These students rarely,
if ever, raise their hands for permission to
speak, follow directions, stay on task, or turn in
neat work. (4 of out 19 students)

10. The results of my initial evaluation of my
students’ behaviors, in relation to the four
measures, has informed my students' assigned
seating on our area rug during whole-class
lessons and within their table groups during
independent work. During Teach-Okay, I have
paired students of different measures to engage
in cooperative learning (i.e. Alpha and
Challenging Student, Go-Along and Fence
Sitter). Using the data from my initial evaluation to
inform my student pairings has increased my
students' engagement during whole-group
lessons. I have observed that the overall level of
student engagement and positive behavior has
increased as a result of implementing the
techniques from the "The Big Six".
WBT Evaluation of my
students' classroom behavior

11. REFERENCES
T R U E C H I C A P P A R E L
1. Biffle, Christopher. Power Teachers Training Manual.
Yucaipa, CA: Whole Brain Teaching LLC, 2008. Web.
2. Biffle, Christopher. Whole Brain Teaching for
Challenging Kids (and the Rest of Your Class, Too!).
Yucaipa, CA: Whole Brain Teaching LLC, 2013. Web.
3. Biffle, Christopher. Designing Your Whole Brain
Teaching Model Classroom 2.0. Yucaipa, CA: Whole
Brain Teaching LLC. Web.