This semester, I’ve been going with my cooperating teacher to her meetings with the SST committee. Not entirely sure what SST stands for but its where teachers present their students that they see as needing testing and extra help. The teacher identifies the students with problem areas and bring them to the meeting. The members of the committee come up with strategies to use with the student to try and resolve the issues and if those behaviors do not work, then the student is referred for testing to identify some other problem. They’re not only behavioral issues but also academic issues. The reading that we did for this month really made me think about this SST referral process and the behavior system in the school.
You definitely see that the school wide behavior system is being enforced in the classrooms and it is a very uniform system. While in the meetings, the members are constantly asking, what level do they behave on most of the time, are there any special behavior contracts that you are using and so on and I think that it is really great that they can have that conversation and EVERYONE in the room knows what a student that acts on a level B 50% of the time means. This is one of the reasons that I like our schools discipline system.
I feel like with each reading we are doing all we talk about is this discipline without stress book and since all three of us are in the school, I feel like we might all have the same ideas… SOOO – here’s a question for you guys about the reading/school discipline strategies: do you think it is effective?
I think that the students tend to get bored with the reflections and simply fill them out to fill them out. The students that are going to end up writing them are more than likely going to write more than one and I think that they eventually get to the point of “ok here’s another one, let me write down what they want me to say.” Does this really set up a system that benefits the students and a system that they can learn from?? I don’t know… I think you make arguments for it being beneficial and not beneficial so what do you guys think?
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I think it is great that you have had several opportunities to go to SST meetings and observe the process of referall and coming up with strategies to help meet students needs! I had the opportunity to attend one meetiner where one of my students was being referred, and it will definitely be interesting to see how the strategies and resources presented to help my student out will be both implemented in the classroom and whether they will be beneficial or not.
ReplyDeleteI also like the fact that our entire school uses the same discipline system, it makes it much easier when everyone is on the same page. However, I agree that I'm not sure the punishment aspect of it is actually effective. While the system is designed with the ultimate goal for students to become self-disciplined and responsible, it doesn't provide the necessary punishment and rewards piece. The reflections have been given out quite frequently and while the D.C. trip is on the line if they get 5 this semester, I don't believe the reflections are enough, because it seems to be the same students writing them. I'm not sure what other punishment or reflective piece we could implement to encourage our students to make the right choices concerning their behavior, but I'm up for suggestions.
I think that it's effective for most of the students. I think that being positive and providing the students with the responsibility to act as they know they should is a very good motivator, rather than trying to strike fear into them to produce results or to only expect them to act as they should if they are going to get rewards. I think that eventually, scary things become less scary and rewards become expected and boring. I think that instilling in people that you should do the right thing becaus it's the right thing is a lot more effective and closer to reality.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think that sometimes rewards and punishments are needed as extra motviators, or for students who don't quite get the responsibility aspect. And then there are the kids in the 3rd tier, as we've talked about at staff meetings, who have behavioral problems that are due to disabilities or that are severe. I don't think this system works for them, and I think the school realizes this and is trying to put another system (PBS) in place to help teachers with these students.
I also think that reflections are good, but become ineffective when used too often.