Case Study Powerpoint

Case Study Part II

My Case Study Project So Far

As my full-time student teaching is coming to an end, I am observing more and more of my case study student’s behaviors during class.  It has been very interesting to watch and see how the SST referral process goes and just how many steps the classroom teacher must take just to get a student considered.  We have discussed my case study student at a few different PLC meetings, sharing strategies and possible solutions with other teachers who may have experienced similar issues with students.  My CT and I recently met with his mother who has raised some concernes about possible issues with his behavior, attention, and academics.  She has just put him on medication, so my CT and I have been keeping detailed anecdotal notes to keep track of any differences in behavior.  We have noticed some peculiar mood swings throughout the day…sometimes he will be extrememly fidgety and chatty and other times he will stare off into space, completely quiet and aloof.  I am interested to see how his treatment continues.  We have referred this student to attend summer school to help support his recent growth in academics.  My CT and I feel that he needs this extra boost of confidence in  order to succeed in he 3rd grade.  I think his parents have decided to enroll him in a private summer tutoring program to replace the public school option, which is fine as long as he is receiving the extra support.

I have grown quite close to this student over the past year and I am very sad to think that I won’t be seeing him every day anymore.  I think his overall attitude toward school has improved tremendously and he has become more confident in himself and his abilities in the classroom.  My case study student has made many friends over the year, and I hope that they will serve as good influences on him as he advances to 3rd grade next year.

While I have collected quite a bit of data and notes, I have not progressed very far on the actual project write-up.  I have my work cut out for me this weekend!

April Reading – “Rules, Praise, Ignoring, and Reprimands”

I recognize that I am truly lucky to be working with the group of students I have in my classroom this year.  There are very few behavior problems, and even those seem minimal compared to other classrooms I have been in.  I chose to read this article, because I wanted to learn more about how to more effectively praise and reprimand my students day to day.    I know that teachers can become too comfortable in the classroom, and can sometimes forget that even well-behaved and high performing students need attention in terms of praise and reprimanding.

Since my class is so well-behaved in general, I often find myself calling out the same 2 or 3 students over and over for disruptions and off-task behavior.  My stupervisor has called my attention to this, and I have since been trying to keep from saying their names more than necessary.  This article made me realize that ignoring disruptive behavior, although difficult, can sometimes prove to be the most effective way to discourage it. 

I also enjoyed reading about the importance of rules and expectations in the classroom, not only to smooth activities and transitions, but to provide students with a sense of security, organization, and structure in their day to day lives at school.  Sometimes I get caught up in the do’s and don’ts, but I really need to stop and think about WHY we have these expectations and why the rules are in place.  This is also a conversation that we can have with our students, as they more than anyone need to truly understand why we expect certain behaviors from them.

I am planning to implement some of the new strategies I have learned from reading this article, but I also think that reading it just helped me to put things back into perspective in terms of my role as a teacher in the classroom.  I need to provide constant support and constructive feedback, despite how overwhelmed I may be with the content of the lessons and the chaos of the day to day.

My Project So Far…

I took over “full-time” teaching this past week.  Whew!  It is so much different to not have your CT in the classroom with you.  It made me realize the importance of planning ahead and thinking on your feet.

As for my case study, it is going fairly well.  I still struggle to get my notes written down, even though I am continuously making observations about my student’s behavior. 

My CT and I are noticing definite imporvements in my case study’s daily behavior, but he continues to struggle with frustration issues.  His confidence seems to fail him when he is faced with a challenging activity or an instructional level text.  We want him to feel successful, but we also want to encourage him to grow.

We have recommended him so summer school classes, which I think will help to bolster his self-confidence.  Hopefully he can master many of the essential second grade skills that he will need as he moves on to third grade next year.

I think I will have much more time to reflect on his growth once I really ge thte hang of full-time teaching.  My CT, TA, and I do discuss his behavior on a regular basis and are constantly thinking of behavior management methods and best practices to implement to help him be more successful in the classroom.

“Specific Behavior Challenges” in my classroom

This article was quite intimidating, but I know how important it is for classroom teachers to have resources to draw from when dealing with behavior challenges in children.

When I started in my placement classroom, I was nervous about a few students’ “problem” behaviors.  I have realized, however, that my classroom is without many of the issues most teachers face.

First, I chose to read the section about Disruptive Behaviors.  I have a few students, mostly ELL’s who constantly disrupt lessons with excessive talking.  They aren’t talking to each other, but making comments out loud.  These comments are usually relatively on-topic, but they nevertheless disrupt other students’ learning.  A few of my students have expressed their frustration with “those students” who never raise their hands and who call out.  I was interested to read this chapter because I wanted to find more strategies to address this behavior, rather than just calling their name.

The article suggested the importance of teachers NOT reinforcing disruptive behavior.  Rather than calling students down and attracting attention to their misbehavior, I need to enforce approrpiate replacement behaviors.  I have always thought about my own behavior managmeent strategies as the teacher, but I hadn’t really grasped the idea of student self-management.  By 2nd grade, students definitely have the ability to manage their own behavior, and I need to expect them to do so.  I need to encourage these students to channel this energy toward participating in class discussions and working collaboratively with their classmates.

The article reinforced some of the behavior interventions we already have in place.  This made me feel much more confident in our classroom management skills.

While I haven’t tackled the entire article yet, I plan to save it as a resource to draw from during my teaching.

My Project Thus Far

Personally, I am finding it very difficult to collect data for this case study.  I am taking over more and more tasks each day, and I feel like every moment not teaching is spent working with students one on one or preparing for my next lesson.   I recognize that collecting the data is a crucial part of creating effective behavior plans for individual students, but it is overwhelming to think about collecting this data while full-time teaching!  It seems that specialists would be able to come in and conduct these assessments for teachers, but I guess they would not be able to come into the classroom often enough to gat meaningful data.

In the data I have been able to gather, I have seen some interesting focusing issues with my case study student.  He seems to be completely attentive on the carpet during read alouds, and math lessons, but activities such as word study and science cannot keep his attention.  He also struggles with working independently and is easily frustrated when working on something different than his classmates.  We try to keep this at a minimum, but some activities take him longer to complete than they take his classmates, therefore he is left to finish the assignment while other students move on.  This situation causes him to rush through or become frustrated with assignments that he would otherwise be able to handle independently.  This frustration can lead to aggressive comments, either to himself or toward his classmates.

It was a rather rough week  in general for our class.  Our new TA does not seem to have the behavior managment strategies necessary for handling our students on her own.  They have been coming back from lunch and recess all riled up and there are constantly “bad reports” from her.  She is a very sweet lady, but she needs to be more firm with them so that they respect her.  My CT and I discussed this with her this week and suggested some ideas for finding the balance between compassion and firmness.  We have implemented a “bean jar” which does not introduce any new expectations, but enforces those rules and procedures that have been in place all year.  I am hopeful that this strategy, paired with more effective behavior management techniques will result in a more cohesive and less confusing environment for the class as a whole.

My Response to Salend Ch. 7

Oh the Salend book.  So long, yet so full of insightful information.  After reading just the first story at the beginning, I could already identify it with a student in my own classroom (I will call him Ben).  The calling out of turn and chatting with classmates is a distraction to say the least.  Sometimes I feel that Ben’s behavior is partially due to the fact that he is not challenged enough by some of the material we cover.  It is like unless he is able to call out all of the answers he gets bored by the lesson.  We have identified the problem behavior, but it is the next step that we are having difficulties with.  We are not positive that his issues are interfering with his learning, but it is certainly interferring with our instruction and with others’ learning.  According to Salend, we need to start recording the misbehavior, which I can understand.  But it seems like an awfully time-consuming task that could take away for instruction even more.  Now, if we had a specialist come in to do these “latency” or “interval” recordings, I would be all for it.  Maybe my CT can do some of these during my full-time teaching.

It was interesting to read the section on socio-cultural factors, as I had never considered the fact that some of my ELL’s may have completely different concepts of time or styles of movement.  Because of our EDUC 629 course last semester, I had thought about how ideas about respect for elders or about individual vs. group performance could differ among ELL’s.  It is always good to have your knowledge and pedagogy reinforced through different texts, though.

I think Ben needs a behavioral intervention plan, even if it is just letting him put a sticker on his chart when he succeeds in not calling out.  We have some of these charts in place now for a student who is shy (to encourage her to participate) and one for a student who needs extra encouragement in turing his homework in on time.  These charts have 5 boxes on each row.  When a row is filled with stickers, that student gets to go to the treasure box.  This method really allows students to track their progress and gives them a constant motivational reminder to keep up the good work.  I’m not sure that this kind of incentive would work for Ben, though.  Maybe the behavior contract would be a better plan for him.

I like the idea of using humor to build strong relationships with our students.  But I wonder just how funny we can be as student teachers.  It is important for us to establish ourselves as authority figures and role models for our students.

I must admit that I am one very lucky student teacher, as the only behavior-related issues in my classroom are along the lines of calling out and focusing.  I know that the issues could be much more severe, and I made sure to think of the “big picture” of teaching while reading this chapter.  I am sure the strategies described will come in handy, which is why I definitely plan to keep this book around as a resource!

I hope yall had a wonderful snow-week (however many days you were actually in school!)

My CT’s Classroom Management

Although I had originally hoped to be in an upper-grades class (since I had never seen one before) I absolutely love my placement classroom.  The students are wonderful and we have very few issues when it comes to behavior.  The common behavior management strategy in my school is a flip-card system in which students flip their card from green to yellow to pink each time they break the rules or expectations.  It is a negative or a punishment system.  In our classroom, however, we changed the system around.  Ranther than punishing for misbehavior, we reward for good behavior.  Students are asked to flip their card when they are caught doing something good.  Stickers, certificates, and a trip to the treasure box are all rewards that come from this PBS system.  The students were rather confused at first because the system had been negative in their first grade classes.  They have gotten used to it though and seem to like the new behavior management system.

One of the only concerns I have about my CT’s classroom management is inconsistency.  Students who are always exceeding expectations and being “model students” are often overlooked.  Sometimes the expectations apply and are enforced and other times they go completely by the wayside.  Not only does this confuse me as a student teacher, but it obviously confuses the students as well.  Expectations were not clearly set up at the beginning of the year, so it seems that students are still “testing the waters” even in the second semester. 

I have spoken with my supervisor about this, as it makes me nervous for when I take over the classroom.  The only advice she could give me was that I needed to establish my own expectations as soon as I am the “teacher in charge” and do everything I can to remain consistent with them.

Classroom Management in Inclusive Settings

As inclusive education is becomeing more and more prominent, it is important for us as new teachers to be ready and prepared to reach these students.  I know it will be hard for me to change my traditional view of classroom management, but I will need to do so in order to meet my students’ differing needs.

It is interesting to think about how the term “classroom management” usually has a negative connotation, when effective classroom management should actually be a positive and proactive experience.  I am a strong believer in the importance of “community” within the classroom, fostering a sense of belonging, membership, and acceptance in all students.  But it is not enough just to put all of the children in the same classroom…they must be supported by the teachers, parents, and other school staff.  I really liked the way the article discussed how “some schools actively strive to fister friendships among children.”  It is so important for students to feel accepted and loved not only by their teachers, but also by their peers.  As we learned from the “Peter” documentary from last semester, ALL students can greatly benefit from interacting with students with special needs. 

It is important not to forget the influence of families on a student’s educational experience.  As parents must be given the opportunity to collaborate in decision making, they should also be involved in the everyday experience of the classroom.

My current placement classroom does not include any students with severe disabilities.  We do, however, have students with attention challenges and other focusing needs.  It has been interesting to see how my cooperating teachers has modified her teaching to meet these students needs.  I have realized that teachers don’t always need to develop a formal IEP or personal behavior plan.  Sometimes the modifications are made almost subconsciously.  I think this is a sign of an experienced, involved teacher who wants the best for her students.

I was glad to see that the article touched on supporting positive behavior in all students.  Punishment and expulsion are not necessarily the best techniques for changing behavior in children, and they can actually exclude students from the classroom community.  I firmly believe that positive, preventive interventions are more effective. 

My placement school does not have a school-wide Positive Behavior Support plan in place, but my teacher has just this year changed her classroom behavior policy from a negative to a positive card-flipping strategy.  At first this was a difficult concept for the students to grasp, since it was a drastic change from their experience the prior year.  But the students seem to be responding well to the new policy.

This article definitely helped me to look again at the “big picture” of inclusive classrooms.  As teachers we will have so many decisions to make every day that will impact the lives of our students.  It is crucial that we are well informed of the benefits and drawbacks of various classroom management techniques so that we can make the best decisions for our students.

Congratulations, Sterling!

 And the Tar Heels win it again!

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/northcarolina/story/228678.html