Due to my busy schedule I am writing this post from the classroom while my students are in P.E. Interestingly, today my student had a lot of difficulty being respectful and cooperative in specials and he is filling out the “written up” form for us.  The form asks you to note the behavior that you did to get you written up and then to come up with better ideas of what you could have done differently.  Then you se a small goal for yourself and come up with a consequence when you don;t meet that goal.  Unfortunately I can’t get him to note anything besides “not paying attention to the teacher”.

The last couple of weeks have allowed me to learn more and mroe about behavior each day.  I think some students know exactly what is expected and they know how to not break rules.  I think my case study student has not mastered the self-awareness skills that you need in order to control your own behavior.  He has also been sick since he came to the United States and my CT and I sometimes wonder if lack of sleep and cold medicine could be a huge factor in self control. 

The end of my post from last week really sums up the feelings I’m having about my case study student.  He is brilliant academincally, but lacks the self-control skills to be successful daily.  Howwever, the more we target the behavior, the higher the chance of success. I’m feeling hopeful.

The first article I chose to read was “Praise, ignoring, reprimands” because I liked the title.  I thought maybe it would be a more specific way to deal with individuals in the classroom and thus would support my needs for this case study.  After I read the article I realized it was more of a general way to use praise, ignoring and reprimands in the classroom.  I really liked this article.  There were some really great points about the right and wrong way to use these teacher techniques.  I really like the table of effective v. not effective praises to give students.  This is something I have talked about with my CT because at first I was “good job”ing everyone!  It is really important that we be specific and direct with our student praise.  This again got me thinking about what I would have done differently with my case study student.  My case study student is new to this country and receives ELL services at the school.  He will take the EOG this year, but we are not worried because he is very smart and successful in academics.  I wonder if maybe we had collaborated with the ESL teacher and thought about ways to explain the specific behaviors that were not okay and then implemented a behavior contract at the beginning of the year if it may have gotten a lot better earlier.  I think at this point he has developed so much frustration that our BIP is less effective than maybe it would have been at the beginning of the year.

I was curious about other articles so I also skimmed the article “teaching students with diverse needs”.   As I mentioned earlier my case study student is excellent in academic areas so I was more geared to the general and behavioral suggestions.  I like the ideas: Relate class to personal real life skills and experiences; Limit expectations to two or three concepts per unit; Concentrate on student strengths and bring those strengths into the lesson; Use concise written and oral directions (spoken, written, and oral); Model assignment expectations, show an example of the product; use self-monitoring strategies; provide a structure for organization; help the student set and monitor personal goals; provide alternative work area; use private signal to cue appropriate behavior for more difficult times; teach skills of independence, i.e., paying attention;  provide definite purpose and expectations especially during unstructured activities;  prepare the learner for changes in routine.  This is a FANTASTIC article for ideas.  All of these specifics I listed are things that we should have done or done more of and I think it would have helped a lot.  Of course I was only here once a week in the fall so I only got a small view into what took place before January.  If you are reading this post I would recommend reading this article.  It is great for teachers and definitely has boosted my attitude heading into my last month of student teaching.  J

It is definitely hard to explain when you can’t see how we do it.  When we decided to implement this plan we had a conversation with the student about what would be a motivator.  We wanted something keyed towards his interests like extra drawing time, extra reading time, lego play, but instead he chose the money we use in our classroom behavior system.  He gets a penny for each smilie left.  The total amount possible is $3.08.  Usually he gets around 2.00.

This behavior plan has been in place for about 2 weeks.  So far his most successful day earned him 2.50. Although it seems like a lot of work it really isn’t.  It has helped us to determine better areas of the day and worse areas.  He loves reading so usually the reading hour is good with the exception of guided reading.  However, I can’t say that the behavior is improving overall.  I do think that it has helped him to view me as a teacher also and not just my CT.  I’ve seen glimmers of hope, but I think the issues are bigger than a behavior plan can handle.  We send home the smilie strips home so that his parents can see and we try to make notes why we took the smilies.

We decided on Friday to introduce a halved system – since he no longer needs 32, but should try 16 smilies per hour.  Therefore, he can still earn money just needs to behave better.  Thus improving behavior.  However, Friday him and another student kicked each other on the playground and spend the second part of the day in the assistant principal’s office.  We explained that fighting on the playground made the payoff zero for the entire day.

Obviously, because of what happened Friday I am writing this from a slightly unsuccessful perspective.  If I’d written this before I think I would have focused more on the slight improvements.

We’ll see what happens next week!

I especially gravitated toward the acceptable replacement behavior section at the beginning.  We do this a lot in PLC meetings where we look at disruptive behavior and think of other ways to supplement the student’s need.  For example, with one student who can’t keep his hands still we thought about a stress ball.  I really like this part:

“Students learn that engaging in prosocial behavior can achieve the same outcome or function as disruptive behavior, and that they are considered more favorably by their peers and teachers when they engage in prosocial behavior.  Assisting students in acquiring and demonstrating prosocial behavior results in more appropriate behavior and less disruptive behavior”

I’m hoping to help some of my students understand this concept, because I do not ever want an out of control behavior viewed by the teacher to translate into unfavorable opinions from peers (which I have seen happen).

I also really liked how the sections were broken down into sub-categories of difficult behavior.  I find my biggest difficulty comes when the behavior is a combination of all.  Furthermore when the student may be ELL and has trouble understanding and the background is unknown it can be extremely difficult.

Overall, I really like this article and I think I will definitely refer back to it once I am a first-year teacher.  Although I really don’t have that challenging of a class behaviorally, it still feels like it!  I’m learning little ways to improve every day.   I think this year will teach me tons of valuable knowledge about behavior.

Therefore, much of my behavior data collection is from observations and occurrences that happen in the classroom.  I have also heard what past teachers have said about the student’s behavior issues.

Despite my student’s behavior issues I will always advocate for him.  As I am learning more and more I am discovering issues outside of school as well as academic struggles.  My most insightful experience so far has been when my CT, TA, and I all got together and had a discussion.  When we began to get stuck we called in one of the resource specialists who gave some wonderful insights into how to stop problematic behavior.  I told her I will be calling her all the time my first year of teaching.  I will continue to observe and data collect.

A lot of what I read in the chapter reminded me in what I have seen take place so far in my placement.  We have had a couple disruptive behavior issues in my classroom.  In some cases we ended up seeking the counselor for her input and assistance (which is always very good).  Similarly, we defined the behavior, observed and recorded the behavior, had the child self-assess their own behavior, thought about relative socio-cultural factors, and perform behavior consequences/rewards.  I also see this behavior sequence in my classroom all the time, where we target the behavior and discuss with students.

This chapter also reminded me so much of education412 and the book we read over the summer.  I have occasionally expressed to Rhonda my behavior management issues and questions and she always tells us that you have to get the routines and procedures the first week.   I really liked reading this chapter because sometimes I get so focused on my students and classroom that I need a reminder of all the important factors into managing behavior that we’ve learned over the years.  Good stuff!

I believe my CT is very smart and good at managing behavior.  I was taken aback at first by the nature of paying students and having students pay for behavior.  I’m not sure whether I would continue this method with my future students, but I see benefits and successes every day.  Inevitably throughout the year students will change and have difficulties.  No behavior management system is perfect.  The kids are really testing me at this point so I hope to get more comfortable with my CT’s system so that I can have good behavior while I teach.  The nice thing about a system like money is that you can be consistent and firm, but it can be a little difficult to learn and maneuver.  I think the more time I spend in my classroom the more I will learn and be successful at managing behavior!

Since I have returned to the wonderful world of student teaching, I sometimes feel like behavior management is taking over my life.  When you are a student teacher, teacher assistant, etc. there are some points in the day that you need to monitor and help certain students that need more support while the classroom teacher is teaching.  At this point in the year, I feel like the most difficult students in my class to teach are those with behavior problems, and sometimes they are the ones that I spend the most one on one time with in the classroom.  Therefore, I am thankful for any support and advice on behavior management and improving knowledge and techniques.

I like how the article started off with the importance of promoting diversity and community.  I feel like a lot of classrooms promote diversity and have good behavior management techniques, but the community aspect is lacking.  I think that since the classroom is somewhere where we and the students spend so much time, it is crucial to promote community and friendships within the classroom setting.  The article noted that a positive, supportive, and community classroom environment minimizes discipline issues because students feel welcomed, safe, and supported.  I do however wonder sometimes how morning meeting, community meetings, etc. would fit into the time frames in most classrooms.

I also thought it was interesting how the article broke down messages being sent to students from classroom management techniques that are exclusive, unreliable, and unequal.  I haven’t really thought about how something like the behavior management technique of the school or teacher can send the message to students that they are not a “full and rightful member of the class”.  I like how Soodak notes, “acceptance of student diversity provides the groundwork for accommodating naturally occurring learning and behavioral differences among students.”

Basically I appreciated all of the other ideas in the article such as fostering friendships, encouraging collaboration between teachers and students (which I see a lot in my placement), creating a trusting environment for parents, interventions that reflect the values of inclusion, not losing sight of an individual’s history and context, and embracing natural consequences.  When I read this article I had a few of my most difficult behavioral students in my mind throughout, and at some parts I thought the easy solutions seemed a little bit too easy.  Behavior comes and goes and being aware, attentive, and thoughtful about our students is what helps us help them to be as successful as possible.  Although we may think we have an answer and we may see results, some behavior issues we encounter need constant changing attention and changing support throughout the year.

My case study student is a lot like DeAnna from the anecdote in the “identifying struggling readers and writers” section.  I often observe him distracted during independent reading time and do not know what to do.  I liked how she gave the suggestion of shared reading to model practices and focus on certain skills.  I feel like this would be helpful also for my case study student.

The instructional practices section was interesting because of the variety of ideas.  With my case study student we have tapped into his interests and background, but it hasn’t yet translated this year.  I think all of the components working together is the best idea for struggling students. The list of books for reluctant readers was great because it reminded me that there isn’t one way to get a student interested.  My case study student loves sports so he reads all these sports books, but I think it would be great to translate that into other books like sports stories and boy stories and similar genres. I also like the suggestion of directly modeling and thinking aloud for these students to follow.  The idea of an older buddy was really cool because I think students would be completely motivated and excited, but would also learn a lot.