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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Mike goes to Washington
So are our class prepares for our of so exciting trip to Washington, D.C. Mike has become VERY excited about the trip and very interested in what we are going to see when we go. He has checked out a book on Washington from the library and every time he turns to a new page he looks for either myself or the other teacher to show and ask if we are going to get to see this in Washington which means that he has been doing really well in social studies and he has been "reading" during reading time (he is reading the captions in the book but mostly just looking at the pictures... not the most stimulating reading but he is looking at a book and reading short captions). However, when it comes to his focus in math and writing - he is still struggling. The strategies that we are using (him getting up and the timer) are working pretty well but it's gotten to the point to where it is less self motivated and more teacher motiviated. When we see him getting frustrated and zoning out we implement the strategies where as a few weeks ago it was Mike that was doing it which makes me think that we need to find a newer strategy for him because he has become accustomed and familiar with the strategies that are being used now.
Mike's social behavior seems to be improving in the sense that there are fewer outbursts because he has a way to express his issues with other students all the time (the journal) and he is still talking to his friends about animated tv shows/books but other students still need to approach him - he rarely approaches them to talk to them on his own. He has become less withdrawn but he still has a ways to go to really come out of his shell and I fear that he will just be getting out of his shell at the end of the year and then go right back to the way that he was at the beginning of the year when he reaches middle school - hopefully that won't happen though!
Mike's social behavior seems to be improving in the sense that there are fewer outbursts because he has a way to express his issues with other students all the time (the journal) and he is still talking to his friends about animated tv shows/books but other students still need to approach him - he rarely approaches them to talk to them on his own. He has become less withdrawn but he still has a ways to go to really come out of his shell and I fear that he will just be getting out of his shell at the end of the year and then go right back to the way that he was at the beginning of the year when he reaches middle school - hopefully that won't happen though!
Effective Classroom Management
I read the article titled "Effective Classroom Management: Teacher Preparation and Professional Development." This semester I have really focused on classroom management and the importance of it. At the beginning of the semester, I had a difficult time getting the class to listen to me and a difficult time getting lessons completed because the students would not listen to me. This created a problem for myself since I couldn't teach the lessons, the students that wanted to listen because they became frustrated during the lesson with the other students that were not listening, and for the students that were not listening because they were not getting what they needed to out of the lesson. My teacher gave me a few articles about classroom management and I have really benefited from the suggestions that I have read over the past few months.
I really liked the section about class management preparation - especially when it talked about new teachers. It is so true that newer teachers have a much more difficult time when it comes to classroom management. The article talks about how as a younger and less experienced teacher, the first response to a student that is disruptive in the classroom is to send them out - however, the students that are most likely disrupting the classroom are the students that really need to be in the classroom for instruction. Teachers that have been prepared for these types of behaviors and have the training and instruction on how to handle these situations will have a better way of handling the conflict and both the students and the teachers will benefit from this.
It has been very difficult learning how to manage my classroom and I feel that I have recently grasped it in my classroom - however, that took about 1 or 2 months to do so. In my own classroom, that's just too much time to spend getting the class under control and too much instructional time wasted. I would really like to do more research about various management strategies so that I can be prepared for my own classroom next year!
I really liked the section about class management preparation - especially when it talked about new teachers. It is so true that newer teachers have a much more difficult time when it comes to classroom management. The article talks about how as a younger and less experienced teacher, the first response to a student that is disruptive in the classroom is to send them out - however, the students that are most likely disrupting the classroom are the students that really need to be in the classroom for instruction. Teachers that have been prepared for these types of behaviors and have the training and instruction on how to handle these situations will have a better way of handling the conflict and both the students and the teachers will benefit from this.
It has been very difficult learning how to manage my classroom and I feel that I have recently grasped it in my classroom - however, that took about 1 or 2 months to do so. In my own classroom, that's just too much time to spend getting the class under control and too much instructional time wasted. I would really like to do more research about various management strategies so that I can be prepared for my own classroom next year!
Monday, March 22, 2010
One step forward... two steps back...
Mike had really started to make progress academically and then we started a new unit and it was right back to how he was before. His social skills have also seemed to be going downhill as well. He has REALLY been zoning out these days – completely detached from any academic instruction and kind of standing back at recess. He still talks to the other students in the class but he will randomly start talking about another subject that the students were not talking about. When asked a question, he answers the question as though he knows the answer even though he is no where even close to the right answer. Usually his answer is on the same topic but it might be about something completely different from what we are talking about at that exact moment. The strategies that we have been using are still working somewhat but his inability to retain any information that was previously learned is becoming more of a problem.
We have been timing him in class and like I said earlier… sometimes he can accomplish the task and he is very happy and so are we but there are times that he cannot complete the task in the allotted time and he becomes very frustrated and defeated. The instances where he is completing the task in the allotted time have decreased and his frustration level has gone up a lot. He has also been lashing out against students recently. If someone says something to him that he does not like, his reactions escalate at an unnecessary rate and can sometimes end up yelling.
I really think that his behavior issues are the cause of his academic issues and something seems to be going on recently that has really changed his emotional state. His parents insist that nothing at home has changed and he rarely talks about his feelings. However, even when you can get him to talk about his feelings, he talks about a lot of nonsense and he rambles on. We are currently trying to get him to see the guidance counselor about his emotional issues and he has been recently tested for SST to qualify him for a learning disability so I guess we’ll see what that turns up but any ideas about what might be contributing to his recent behavior??
We have been timing him in class and like I said earlier… sometimes he can accomplish the task and he is very happy and so are we but there are times that he cannot complete the task in the allotted time and he becomes very frustrated and defeated. The instances where he is completing the task in the allotted time have decreased and his frustration level has gone up a lot. He has also been lashing out against students recently. If someone says something to him that he does not like, his reactions escalate at an unnecessary rate and can sometimes end up yelling.
I really think that his behavior issues are the cause of his academic issues and something seems to be going on recently that has really changed his emotional state. His parents insist that nothing at home has changed and he rarely talks about his feelings. However, even when you can get him to talk about his feelings, he talks about a lot of nonsense and he rambles on. We are currently trying to get him to see the guidance counselor about his emotional issues and he has been recently tested for SST to qualify him for a learning disability so I guess we’ll see what that turns up but any ideas about what might be contributing to his recent behavior??
Sunday, March 14, 2010
March Reading
While reading this article, it got me thinking about some of the students in my class. I tried to think of a student in my current class that would remind me – even just in the slightest – of anyone in my class and surprisingly… it didn’t. The students in my class do not have many behavioral or learning difficulties. There are four that I can think of out of my class of 27 that have severe learning disabilities that would require outside help or a lot of teacher attention. Only one of those has severe behavioral issues, the others truly try in class and their behavior is easily corrected with a teacher giving instructions to them.
I almost feel at a disadvantage that my class is so “good” and well behaved. Anna, I know your class is a bit… well… troubled… and I think I might go crazy with that class but at the same time, you have these amazing experiences where you get to see these behavior problems that you’re going to see later on in your teaching career and you have this experienced teacher that you get to observe handle these situations in the classroom. I think you’re going to be really prepared in the future for these students that you’re going to see. In my future, every student that does not want to read or complete their work, asking them to sit down and get focused is NOT always going to work.
This reading has a lot of great strategies and examples for teachers to read about. And reading about them is great, but I think I could get more out of them by having examples of them in my classroom and being able to apply these strategies from the readings in the classroom. However, I also don’t know how I would handle your class Anna where you see these students… and can apply these strategies… ugh.
Lets focus on Mike
So my case study student, let’s call him Mike, is a pretty interesting. He is not only struggling in academics but his behavior in class is odd. Mike will sit in class with this blank look on his face… like there’s no one home and then when you ask him to repeat directions, surprisingly, he can’t do it. In addition, Mike has this tick. You know when you’re hand is in your face and you shake your head to the side to get it out of your face?? That’s what he will do repetitively… however, he doesn’t seem to notice the tick and we’re not entirely sure what sets the tick off. Sometimes he’ll just be sitting in class and working on math problems or reading a book, sometimes he’ll be talking to the teacher and sometimes he’ll just be talking to friends. In addition to the tick, when he is writing (ignoring how bad his handwriting is) he’ll go over some random letters – almost like he is trying to put them in bold print – and they’re all over his paper. Any thoughts on what might be going on there??
We’ve tried a number of strategies with Mike so far, we’ve tried timing tasks for him to keep him focused on his work which works sometimes – he’ll get his work done and we’re all satisfied – however, when he cannot complete the task in the allotted time, he becomes incredibly frustrated and while he does not shut down and he does eventually move one, he seems very defeated in that moment. WE have also set up for him to receive tutoring at a local church which has done wonders for his homework! Not only is all of his homework completed on time, but he can explain what he did to get his answers and seems to understand that concept. However, while it is good that he can do his homework, he still does not participate in class and does not complete his class work and often misses out on new concepts that are being introduced. We have also begun sending him to the homework help in the morning, giving him check lists to complete tasks in addition to giving him one on one attention. He responds to these interventions at the time that they are given but he quickly forgets what was talked about during those times, the concepts that were gone over, and the sometimes even what we did during those times at all. He goes right back to zoning out and staring blankly off into space. Again… any thoughts on what to do to try and get Mike to focus and possibly even retain information??
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Chapter 7 response
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?
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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