Rebekahstanley's Blog

Case Study PowerPoint

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:32:36 +0000

Case Study Update

Rebekah Stanley — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:59:06 +0000

Since my last blog, things have began to improve with Tiffany even though it continues to be a constant struggle. I have had another meeting with the mother along with the guidance counselor and my CT. We set up a more concrete plan for her to follow when she gets frustrated or annoyed. The first day after the meeting she was great, but I have to constantly remind her of our plans. I have had to have a lot of patience with this student and it is a constant battle with myself.

One thing that has been interesting is now that my CT has began to teach science again – he has had no problems with her. Before I picked up science he had no problems however the her teacher last year did have these types of issues. I wonder what it is that my CT does with her that is not working for me or did not work with her previous teacher. She does have some issues with ADD and I wonder if the changing of teachers threw her off after she had developed a relationship with my CT.

Another problem I am trying to work with her own is how to interact with her peers. She complains how she is being picked on but at the same time I consistently see her picking on the same students that are picking on her. I have talked to her about this behavior but she doesn’t seem to make the connection or has not grasped the strategies to yet to deal with it.

I could probably go on forever, but that is all for now.

April Article – Be Proactive in Managing Classroom Behavior

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:40:24 +0000

For my article this month I read Proactive Behavior Management by Andrea M. Babkier. I chose this article because of my struggle with behavior management this year. I have learned a lot about what to do in my own classroom and how to start my year, by seeing all of these things listed it helped me to organize what I have learned.

This article gave some great suggestions for how to establish behavior in the classroom and how to prevent behavior issues. One thing that I forget to do, especially in the 5th grade, is to really teach cognitive strategies in various academic and social enviornements, I assume that they know these things and forget that either they don’t or they need re-teaching. I also think that establishing transitioning methods and routines is very important in a classroom – something that has lacked in our classroom this year.

I think this article will be very helpful for beginning our first years! I am certainly going to save it for future reference and think you should all take a look. It’s just numbered and really brief!

Behavior Case Study

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:02:15 +0000

My case study students, Tiffany, has made little improvement since the last update. I have had a parent teacher conference with her, I constantly remind her of the plan we established for her but it is still not working. We have discussed how she needs to ignore people when they bother her, if it continues they should ask them to stop, and if that still does not change the behavior then she sould speak to an adult. Tiffany has not been following the plan, instead she continues to call out and bother people in the same manner they bother her.
Tiffany also has an issue with talking back to adults. When she does not agree with what is being said or has an opinion about it, she will not drop it until her point is heard or she is forced to stop. I try to ignore the behavior but it is VERY challenging.
5 students in my classroom are on behavior plans and I believe it may be time to put Tiffany on the same type of plan. The plan consist of students meeting three goals for each subject – teachers have to sign off after each class. It has worked for a about 3 of the 5 students so maybe it would work for her.
If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Challenging Behaviors

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:33:06 +0000

It was quite funny, as I was reading through this article it seemed as though every behavior that was discussed I could see in my class. Some of my students seem to have multiple behaviors that are challenging or that they were caught between to types and I could decide which they were. For example, if one student is aggressive or if the student just has temper tantrums. These tantrums happen regularly and we are talking about a 5th grader, so part of me believes that it is aggression not just temper.
I thought that it was interesting that the article did not think that ISS worked for students. Two of my most challenging students were recently placed in ISS for fighting, so I wonder what would be the alternative to this punishment. I didn’t really understand what the article was suggesting in place of ISS. One of the students in the fight has many challenging behaviors. It was hard for me to decide which of the behaviors described met this students personality the most. There seems to be a little bit of all of it.
I liked what the article said about ignoring students who are trying to pick a battle with you. I have many students who are doing this now and it is hard to just ignore them. It is also hard to decide when the manner can be ignored and when it should be addressed. When students are trying to see how much they can get away with then I don’t think that it is OK to just ignore them, but when a student is just trying to bother you than it is best to try and ignore.
This article gave a lot of good information, it was just hard to process it all because there was so much going on. In my case it would be hard to implement all of these things at this point, but having a few strategies to try will be helpful. It would definitely be good to keep this article for future reference!

Behavior Problems

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:28:51 +0000

For my case study I have selected a female in my 5th grade class. I chose Tiffany, her pseudonym I have given her, because she has began to act out since I took over the class. She is reverting back to the behavior she had in 4th grade and some at the beginning of the year.
I have been recording her behavior by jotting down her actions and when they occur. It is hard to get everything, especially now that I am teaching more, but having all of the notes to look at is helpful.
In class, Tiffany continually calls out and is disruptive. She shakes her desk, kicks her neighbors desk, taps on the table, etc. Many times when she calls out, she is speaking to other students. She says that they are bothering her and blame them for her actions. I try to make her realize that she decides how to act and respond and that she doesn’t have to respond to everything someone says. Tiffany needs to learn to take responsibility for her actions and know when to ignore students around her and when it is appropriate to address them.
It will be interesting trying to come up with a plan for her to follow. I know that she is capable and knows the expectations, its just finding the right way to motivate her to act that way.

A Positive Classroom

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:10:15 +0000

The article makes me think of the PBS plan at Carrboro. It is important to have a behavior plan and a classroom that supports positive behavior and is inclusive of everyone. If you are rewarding students for good behavior, then it is easier not to be biased against the bad behavior. Many times in a classroom the bad behavior is prioritized and students who are misbehaving are the only ones who get attention, whether it be good or bad. By emphasizing good behavior all students can receive positive attention and feel involved in the classroom. All students should feel like a part of the classroom and being recognized in the classroom is part of it.

It is important to get to know your students and see what it is that makes them work and what distracts them. This article mentioned many things such as clutter and noise that may bother students with disabilities but not all students are the same and some may be affected by other situations. Noise and clutter are important to keep minimized in a classroom as they can be distracting for all students. I know I work best in a clean room and quiet. Some students may work best with music in the background or at a desk by his or her self. All-in-all you just need to get to know your students and know what works and doesn’t work for them.

Before you even meet your students and while you are setting up your classroom, it is important to look at student’s IEP and think of ways to organize your classroom that will be beneficial for the students. The article mentioned several strategies for different disabilities that will be helpful. Every move you make in the classroom and everything you do affects students. It is important to keep this in mind while you plan lessons, organize groups, arrange desk, set up things in the classroom, etc. Withitness is also very important. You have to watch students at all times to make sure that nothing is going on behind your back that is harming students in the classroom.

Classroom Mangement

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:31:39 +0000

My CT’s behavior management is great. It really works for his personality. Being a male, I think makes his behavior management different than many female teachers. Students look at him differently and he can talk to them in a different way. He believes in PBS and follows it as best possible. He is understanding of students and doesn’t jump to conclusions, instead he ask for both sides of the story and then decideds what to do. When he knows that there is a student who tends to have a problem in class, he is on top of them about their behavior from the beginning and doesn’t let them get away with anything. His students respect him and know that he is doing what is best for them.

The class is rewarded when they meet the behavior expectations, but he also punishes them when they are bluntly defied. When a student is misbehaving, he gives the options instead of telling them what to do. This makes the student feel like he/she is in charge of the situation, not the teacher. For example, if a student is talking in class he will say “thats fine if you want to talk during class, but if you do you will have to do your work during recess, you choice.” Students respond well to this type of mangement. I have been trying to do similar things, but it is difficult for me to always thinnk like that. I am trying to train myself.

When a students misbehaves and is punished, he never holds it against the student. He does not want them to feel like they are bad, but for them to know that the action was bad. After the situation is addressed he goes straight back to picking with them and acting like nothing happened. My CT really shows the students that he cares for them and lets them feel empowered in his class. He doesn’t baby them and gives them a lot of responsibilities.

PBS

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:45:11 +0000

This article was easy for me to relate to because PBS is already implemented at Carrboro, where I am student teaching. PBS is a great idea and works for many students. Students are rewarded for behaving well which is suppose to inspire other students to act the same way. However, this does not always work. I know that many of the students in my classroom do not respond to this approach. I think that a big part of this has to do with the inconsistency with the system. Students are not always rewarded when they are being good, but they are expected to be good all the time. If the idea was used on a smaller level, like in the classroom, it might be more effective. Trying to keep the whole school on the same system is difficult to do effectively. If teachers could develop a plan that worked for them based on PBS, then they might be more consistent and it might have a better effect.

Even though I think that changes could be made to the PBS system at Carrboro, I do think it is a good behavior management approach. It minimizes the negative feelings that can come from being reprimanded. This system is also hard to adjust to when you are use to handling behavior in a different way. Many times I have to stop myself and remember to encourage the postive behavior instead of calling out the negative behavior.

Broadening Our View

Rebekah Stanley — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:20:15 +0000

This article was suprisingly easy for me to relate to. I have recently become and more politcally invovled person, however, I have not become invovled in the politics of education. Since I will be a teacher one day, it is probably a good idea that I begin to be more active. But back to the readings…as I was reading about the many different types of programs and reforms that are out there I thought about something my CT says all the time. He is always talking about how he is just putting up with this new literacy program until a new one comes along. He often mentions how the programs are so similar, they just put a new name on them. I wonder how broad of a look he takes at the programs.

It is also interesting to think about the people who are making all of these decisions for education. I have heard so many teachers and adminstrators talk about how the people who are making the decisions do not have experience in the actual classroom actually teaching. This is something important to look at when looking at the broader view. I understand the purpose of standardized test, and I don’t think that they were created to be evil, but I do think that they need to be analyzed. We need to look at who is benefiting from these test, who created the tetst and why they did so, and where the money is coming from. Not only do we need to do this with test, but also with literacy programs we are asked to use or would like to use. Teachers could do their reserach and recommend programs if they are not happy with the ones they have at that time. I also think that it is important to have experienced teachers making decisions at a higher level because they do know more about the realities of a classroom and all that goes into it.

Even when we do not like something we are given, we as teachers can take it and make it work. We now know how to teach reading we just have to go out and do it and not let anything get in our way. Being aware of what is going on in the education world around us will help us stay on top of things. I think that this article was a good one to end the year on. We now have all the tools to be great teachers!