Guff Counter -- Oh, Sweet Mama, this is good!

Over Christmas Break, I spent time at wholebrainteaching.com reviewing material. Lo and behold, I uncovered the gem known as the Guff Counter. Wow, the students tell the class entertainer to "stop" instead of me! Oh, Sweet Mama, this is going to be good.

So last week I went back to class and rebooted my Scoreboard. This week, I added the Guff Counter. When I explained how it worked to the class, they all turned and looked at the student who had been the source of their entertainment. He was never disrespectful in tone or words; he was disrespectful by adding his narration to my instruction. To make matters even more interesting, the class really likes him and looks up to him.  In fact, they like him so much I wasn't sure if they would come through for me -- but, oh, sweet mama, they came through.

The first time our class entertainer added his narration to my instruction, I said, "That sounds like Guff to me." And -- presto, whammo -- the class turned in unison, held up their hand, and said, "Stop". He was mildly chagrined, and I went on with my lesson. 

A few minutes later, the Entertainer lapsed into his old habits and added his comments again.  Another, "That sounds like Guff to me", and the class sprang into action, "Stop".

And that was that. 

I was able to teach my lesson and play a review game instead of the buckled-down, bolted-down review style I had to use before to keep everyone on board.

Today, I was in Teacher Heaven. Thank you, Whole Brain Teaching.