Update on Project So Far April 12, 2010

I am writing this blog at a very bad time because my case study had a hard day today.  Overall I would say that the plan put in place for him occasionally works.  Whereas before we had no good days at all, now we are having about half good and half bad.  I easily get frustrated that he is not showing more progress but I have to remember that any growth is a step in the right direction.

My goal now is to try to come up with ways to make the better days more consistent.  I not only want him to use the strategies at school, but I would also like if they would carry over to home.  His mom tells me that things are not getting better at home.  He somehow forgets all of the anger management things we do at school when he goes home.  Any suggestions out there?

Article on Praise for Positive Behavior and Ignoring Negative Behavior April 6, 2010

I decided to read this article for a particular reason.  There is a child in my classroom that I decided to begin trying to ignore his bad behavior and only focus on the good.  Well, I started to try to do this and I am having a hard time trying it.  So, I decided it might be helpful for me to read this article to figure out exactly how to do this.  A lot was covered in the article, and I ended up focusing on more than what I had originally planned.  Instead of looking more at praising and ignoring behaviors, I focused more on setting appropriate rules and routines.  My supervisor has drilled three little words into my head throughout my time with her.  Those three words are rules, routines, and procedures.  I always knew that what she said was important, but it was nice to read about the research that really shows how important those three things are to a classroom.  Having rules, routines, and procedures in place at the very beginning of the year sets the standard for the children.  Not only do these things need to be in place, but they should be consistent and enforced.  This unfortunately was where I ran into some issues.  I believe since I have never been fully certain of exactly what my teacher wants for our classroom, I have never been comfortable with our rules, routines, or procedures.  I am very inconsistent and my students sometimes take advantage of that.  I know for sure though that next year, I will have all of my rules, routines, and procedures in place at the beginning of the year.

Update on Case Study!!! March 28, 2010

I have come against what I feel are like brick walls with my case study.  I don’t think I have shared with you yet about my case study, so before I go further I need to do that.  My case study is an excellent student, especially in math.  He really wants to do nothing but please his teachers.  His issue is that he is very, very annoyed by little things in the classroom.  His classmates cause great distress for him.  “So and so is coughing too much and is making me mad!”  “They just bumped my desk!”  “I think they are making a face at me!”  These are just some of the comments I hear from my case study during the day.  The problem is that he feels the need to come tell me these things that worry him in the middle of a lesson.  If I cannot come to him immediately to listen to him and try to help him, he gets extremely angry.  I mean cussing, hitting, and he can’t breath angry.

With all of that said, I decided that what my case study and I need to work on his self-coping skills and his immediate need to talk to me about things.  What we put in place is a ticket system.  I have given my case study a list of things to do to try to help himself calm down before he comes to talk to me.  He gets 3 tickets to tell me something that is bothering him throughout the day.  His goal is to only use the 3 tickets and not have to ask for more.  The hope is that he will be able to decide on his own what is important enough to tell me and what he can handle on his own with self-coping strategies.

It took a while for my case study to get use to it and he didn’t like me for a while, but eventually we began to see progress.  I would say things were better for about 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, my student is becoming frustrated with this system so I beginning to see regression.  I am now in the process of trying to think of something new to implement, so if you have any suggestions please let me know!  Thanks!

Specific Challenging Behaviors Article – Post 3/7 March 16, 2010

Hello again!!  Sorry, I am not keeping this post up to date.  I am forgetting about it more often now that we are full-time teaching.  But, anyways the article about the challenging behaviors was long but very informative.  I was skimming through the first time looking at headings and such, and every behavior I saw I thought “oh, yes that’s definitely so-and-so in my class.”  I felt like it was important for me to read what it said about each specific behavior.  Even if I did not have a child in my classroom right now that is exhibiting that behavior, I thought I would eventually come across it and would need to know how to handle it.

I did end up focusing in on two of the behaviors though, and they were noncompliance and aggressive behavior.  When I was picking a child to use in my case study, I had it narrowed down between two.  One has trouble complying with what we ask him to do, and the other shows major aggression to us as teachers and the other students.  He more so shows aggression towards himself.  I ended up choosing the child with aggression issues, but I still wanted to find a way to help the other child.

As I read about the noncompliance behavior, I determined that this child in my class is definitely passive in his noncompliance.  He never says anything to us, like he won’t do as we say, but he will just continue to do what we asked him not to do or he won’t do what we ask him to do.  To me, this is one of the most frustrating things to deal with as a teacher.  It is a major respect issue for me, and I find myself getting very frustrated with this child.  My goal is to try some of these interventions, see if it helps, and to not get so worked up over this behavior!!

Project Thus Far…. February 18, 2010

Well if I am going to be perfectly honest, my project is starting slowly but surely.  My teacher and I are still trying to determine which student I am going to collect data for and work with.  There is one child in particular that I would really like to work with but he is already receiving services for behavior.  The other child I am thinking about working with may be a better choice just because he is not receiving any behavior support yet.  He may benefit from some sort of structure in place.

Despite the fact that I haven’t fully decided on a child, I am collecting data.  Mostly, I am just taking and recording anecdotal notes on both students.  Since I am not full time teaching yet, I have more time to write full notes on the behavior I see.  I feel like more descriptive notes in the beginning of data collection will be good for me to have later.  I do not know for sure what type of behavior plan I will start, but I am in the process of tossing out ideas with my teacher.

My goal is to have only one student to focus on by Monday.  I am also trying to talk more with these two particular students so that I am building a deeper relationships with them.  Hopefully this will help me!!!

Salend: Chapter 7 February 10, 2010

In the very beginning of this reading, there was a story about the child named Matthew.  After reading this I section, I thought about all the children in my classroom.  It made me start wondering.  Why do they do the things they do?  Are there things that cause them to do stuff?  What can I do to prevent them from happening?  During the part about Matthew, I kept thinking ‘well why is he getting up?’  Sometimes we just assume they are misbehaving for no reason, but as teachers we have to really analyze what is going on in the classroom environment and see if it has anything to do with the way a child is acting.

Another section I liked was the data collection section.  When I looked at all of the strategy models, I was thinking that they are not practical for teachers.  As I read further I found where they gave more convenient ways to keep records.  My favorite strategy was moving a paper clip from one pocket to another every time the child does the specific action.  This seemed to be easier for a teacher to do during the course of the day instead of carrying a chart around all day.

One of the other very important parts of this reading for me was the section talking about relationship-building strategies.  We all know that when a teacher takes the time and effort to get to know their students as human beings and not just students that there are no limits for what the children can do.  Sometimes a good relationship between the child and the teacher is all that it takes to help the child succeed in the classroom.  Right now I am working on building this type of relationship with my case study.  I am hoping that the more I know about this child, the more I will be able to know how to help him feel comfortable and achieve success in the class.

CT’s Classroom Mangagement February 1, 2010

Classroom management is a major part of teaching, and I feel that my CT does an excellent job with this.  The way we manage the classroom is with a credit and debit system.  This works well because it actually aligns with the course of study.  Economics is a part of the 3rd grade curriculum and this is where my CT got the idea for this credit/debit system.  The kids in my class have a chart on their desks where they can tally up their credits/debits.  If my CT catches the children doing something good she will positively notice that behavior and mark on the child’s desk that they received a credit.  The opposite is also true.  If a child is doing something they should not, my CT will say “Johnny that’s a debit.  I already told you to not get out of your seat.”  At the end of the week, the children will count up their credits and debits and see how much money they will get to spend at the classroom store on Friday.

I believe that this system works well because it motivates the children to follow the rules, and it teaches them how to handle money.  Plus, on a side note, they love getting credits which helps us as teachers!!

Post #1 – Classroom Management in Inclusive Settings January 24, 2010

The very first thing in this article that caught my attentions was when after giving the example of the inclusive class, it said that the number of students in a classroom like this has more than tripled.  To think of the progress made is tremendous.  It is sad to think of all of the children that were not able to have the same experience in the past.  I loved when it was describing the purpose of the article that it posed three questions that one must ask when talking about inclusive classroom management practices.  I feel like these are the questions we should be asking ourselves about our classrooms.

1.  How do teachers create a sense of community in classes comprised of students who differ in their abilities and behaviors?

This is one of those questions that consistently challenges teachers.  I find that now that I am in the classroom full time that it is one of the most difficult things to find a solution for.

2.  How can teachers form a safe and responsive learning environment for all members of the classroom community using knowledge from two traditionally discrete fields (special and general education)?

3.  What considerations and accommodations need to be made at the building and district level to ensure there are explicit and fair expectations for all students?

Again, all of these questions really got my mind ready to read the article, but they also gave me things to think about for my own classroom.

When statement in the article that really summed up what inclusive education is for me was when it said, “inclusive education is primarily about belonging, membership, and acceptance.”   I really feel that if a teacher is doing there best to make the students feel like they are a part of the classroom community and in that community students are learning, then I think he or she is doing their job.

Something I learned from this article was the importance of parental involvement when you are working with children with disabilities.  I knew that in general it was good to have parents supporting you and your work, but I did not realize to the extent how much more important it was for inclusive classroom parents to be involved.  I think it is important to stress from the beginning of the year how much you as a teacher are willing to work with the parents so they feel comfortable.

As far as positive behavior systems go, I think they can work.  Most of the time I really feel it depends on the teacher and how they implement their system.  But, I though I do not see a problem with positive behavior systems I do think a balance between positive reinforcement and other types of systems are important.  For me, I do not want my children behaving correctly just because they think they will get a treat.  I want them to understand they are behaving correctly because it is the right thing to do.  Again, I think it is the responsibility of the teacher to make sure the students understand this concept.

Differentiated Instruction Blog December 12, 2009

http://www.plsweb.com/learningstyles_ca/

The resource I found to help with differentiation is more so for the teachers.  It is called ‘The Kaleidoscope Profile A Learning Styles Inventory.’  The purpose of this inventory is to discover how your students work best in with what learning style.  The three points that the website chose to put under the title are ‘easy to give, fun to take, quick to score.’  These are supposed to be like the selling points for the inventory.  From what I have read though these three points seem to be true.  One reason teachers really like to use this is it is more fun for the kids compared to other learning style tests, and it is really easy for teachers to score.  The Kaleidoscope profile is available in a couple of different versions so it covers a wide range of ages.  For students they have a version for grades 3-6 and then another one for grades 7-12.  They also have a version for educators to take and yet another for the workplace.
This inventory helps teachers better tailor their lesson plans to the specific learning needs of each student.  When the instruction time in a classroom will be more beneficial if the teacher is more aware of the way each student learns best.  The way the kids take the test is quite interesting and fun.  They respond to prompts by peeling off stickers that have phrases on them.  These phrases address specific learning and working styles.  The children love to peel the stickers off, and they are all color-coded.  Unlike some other test similar to the Kaleidoscope Profile, this test does not have lengthy questions are difficult words.
There are 12 individual learning styles and personality temperaments in four different categories.  Under sensory preferences (which are how you learn best) are visual, auditory, tactual, and kinesthetic.  Next there are organizational preferences (which are how you like to work) that are global and sequential.  Next are perceptual preferences (which are how you view the word) and they are abstract and concrete.  Lastly are the personality temperaments (who you are), and they are intuitive feeling, intuitive thinking, sensing judging, and sensing perceiving.  As a teacher, by having your children take this inventory you will know your students as learners and as people.  Having this information makes you a better teacher, but it also helps you know what to differentiate.

Pull-out Service Observation November 6, 2009

On October 7th, 2009 at 11:00 in the morning, I was able to sit in and observe a reading pull-out service.  From the moment I walked in the class, it felt like a different atmosphere then a regular classroom.  Of course the most obvious differences were the physical things.  The classroom itself was smaller.  There were two tables instead of individual desks.  The walls were covered in what I would call motivational material.  Everything was very uplifting and encouraging saying things such as ‘you can do it, I know you can.’  Other things on the wall were posters with information on them to support them.  There are lists of beginning sounds for words such as t-, ch-, sh-, numerous word walls, consonant clusters, and vowels.

The atmosphere in this classroom was really relaxed.  It seemed that they were like a little family and were very personal with each other.  The teacher showed a unique interest in each child, and I really felt like the children knew that she cared for them.

The first thing they did when they came in was go over ten spelling words.  The teacher would say the word and each child would spell out the word on their personal dry erase board.  They would collaboratively talk about each word after they spelled it.  Then they played a word game with these words.  Through all of this the teacher was attentive to each child and what they were doing.  She knew when to support them more and give them more assistance.  I feel like she knew when to do this because she knows each of the child’s needs.

They also had a reading group where they would read out loud when they were called on.  When the child struggled on a word the teacher would give them clues until they figured it out.  She also talked with them about how to read with expression.  She explained how this sometimes helps us understand what we read.

From this experience, I really saw how important know each and every one of a child’s needs.  When teachers know this about their students, they are better at giving them exactly what they need.  It is also important to make the children very comfortable in the classroom.  Learning should be a fun and enjoyable experience, and a lot of time children with special needs feel a lot of tension and stress in a learning environment.  The teacher I observed was wonderful, and I definitely learned some strategies I can bring in my classroom one day.