This project has helped me see the importance of using individualized behavior contracts with students. Through this experience, I have seen the benefits that these contracts can have one individuals and the whole class. Because I have completed this case study and heard from my classmates about theirs, I will be ready with multiple ideas for implementing modified behavior contracts next year in my own classroom.

Laugh. This is so simply, but so easy to forget. It can help make a classroom a positive learning environment and a place where students want to be.

Get to know your students in their communities. Even if we do not live in the communities that our students do, we should make ever effort we can to get to know the communities that they come from. This effort will not only show students that you care, but also will help you know how to build off of their knowledge base and experiences.

Establish rules and give reasonable explanations for why they are needed. Students are more likely to follow rules that they believe in and see the importance of. From experience in my placement, I have noticed that discussing and role playing the proper way to follow a rule and the inappropriate behavior helps students to see and understand the need for the rules.

Value parents are students’ first teachers. Ask parents for insight into their child’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, and fears. Be open to taking their suggestions, after all they know their children best. Work with parents and invite them to be a part of your class and volunteer in whatever form they can.

Tap into multiple intelligences. I have made efforts in my placement to include activities across the 8 intelligences. Students have exhibited individual strengths and excelled in these different modes of learning and expressing knowledge.

Never stop looking for new resources. During our time at UNC, we have been surrounded by resources. We have read a wealth of articles. We have discussed recent research in education. This article reminded me that as a novice teacher, I must seek out these materials to continue my growth as an educator and provide the best education to my students.

My list could continue with more examples. This is an article I think I will look at as my first year of teaching begins and years after that, just as a reminder of these twenty suggestions for a successful year.

Since it has been in place, he has been making improvements from before the plan was in place. At the end of each day, we look at the checklist and talk about his day. I like that this makes him more self-aware of his behavior and its impact on himself and the class as a whole. I hope that as we move forward with the behavior plan, his behavior continues to improve.

The student I am working with shows passive noncompliance. He does not have outbreaks and does not talk back, but he often continues working on a current task or doing an activity of his choice despite what he is asked to do. He constantly must be given a direction more than once. After a direction is given to the whole class, he must be individually called on and told the direction again. It is typically during transitions, when we is participating in a task (often reading a book of choice) that he does not want to put down.

I feel that this article gives me many great ideas to use as I begin my behavior intervention plan. It was encouraging to see that it suggestion positive reinforcement that promotes self-management, because this is just what I was planning on doing. I feel that it is very important that a student learns to be aware of his/her behavior, how it is affecting him and others, and what his/her progress is. I look forward to seeing how this behavior intervention plan works.

This week I focused on collecting data for my project. I specifically used the frequency observation form and anecdotal notes. It has been interesting to see patterns in this student’s behavior. The data collection has allowed me to focus on times of the day when the student’s targeted behavior is more frequent and times of the day when it is less frequent. I have also spent some time talking to this student to try to understand where he is coming from. My conversation revealed some more background information about my student that could be affecting his behavior at school. My teacher and I have been sharing our observations and look forward to the continuation of this project. I hope to analyze the data more closely and find a modified behavior plan that will be beneficial for him.

I think that this quote summarized the main idea of this chapter. As teachers, we work with our students to help them develop the academic, social and behavioral skills to be fully included and have full access to membership in a class, a school, and a community. All of these skills (not simply academic skills) help students develop into confident and competent individuals who will be successful teens and adults. It is important for us to remember that our part in children’s development of appropriate academic, social, and behavioral skills impacts the future of these students and our world.

Further into this chapter, I was fascinated to revisit the process of a functional behavioral analysis. It reinforces the idea that there is a root and a reason for misbehavior and identifying the root of a behavior helps to create effective  modifications and behavior plans.  I am glad that the functional behavior analysis mentioned considering socio-cultural factors when analyzing a student’s behavior. This is something that I have been thinking about often with some occurrences in my placement. In so many of our classes in the SOE, we have learned about the importance of understanding students’ socio-cultural background and how that influences their schooling experience and behavior.

The second half of the chapter helped me think about the behavior of students in my class and the behavior supports we have in our classroom. (I have talked about this in length in my last blog post.) As I begin thinking about my case study, I was especially interested in reading about contracts and self monitoring. I personally believe that these methods make students more  aware of their behaviors and guides them in taking ownership and responsibility for meeting behavioral expectations.

I recently heard my CT use an analogy that I really like and think speaks well to this topic. She explained that when students question why others recieve extra rewards or have modified behavior plans she referenced how doctors treat patients . If a child with a broken arm and a child with a cold walked in, would the doctor give the child with a cold a cast on his/her arm? No, because he/she does not need it. He/she needs some type of cold medication. A doctor gives each person just what they need. In the same way, a teacher adapts for and teaches each studnet in the way that is best for him/her.

When I think of classroom management in my placement, I immediately think of PBS. Rashkis is in the process of implementing PBS as a school-wide program. My teacher is on the school PBS committee, so she works very hard to include it in our classroom. In the back of are classroom you will find 18 Popsicle sticks in little pockets on a poster. They have 4 colors on them. In past years, students flipped them for negative behavior. This year, students are asked to go flip their sticks when they are caught being good. At the end of each week, they earn tickets based on how many times they flipped their sticks. I have found this method to be surprising helpful. A classroom full of students talking a little too loudly can be nearly silenced by pointing out a student who is working quietly and ask them to flip his/her stick. My only worry is that some days we are not consistent (we go all morning without telling anyone to flip). Our attempt to account for this is “bumping students up”. At the end of the day when we mark folder with the color students ended on, we look at their day as a whole and take this into account, sometimes they are moved up a color. One of the other reasons I really like this strategy is because a student that is having a bad day can receive recognition for doing something well. This often helps their attitude for the rest of the day!

We also have a class-wide positive behavior support. We have an empty jar. The class as a whole earns scoops of popcorn. Once the jar is full, the class receives a reward. This helps students to work together and hold each other accountable for following the rules.

I found it surprising at the start of the year that there were no plan at all for negative behavior. Thinking of my elementary years, I think of being terrified of flipping a card, writing my name on a clipbroad, moving to read on the traffic light and many more. However, I have come to see that simple relevant reactions to misbehaviors are extrmely effective. Students that are talking on the carpet are sent to their seats. Students who cannot share crayons are not to use them for the rest of the day. These punishments are relevant and immedaite. This is what makes it so effective. With that said, I am amazed at that fact that we hardly use these, becuase students are so motivated by the implementation of PBS.

I strongly agree with the need for all students to gain a sense of membership, “a child’s right to belong and to have access to the same opportunities and experiences as other children of the same age”.  In my opinion, a part of membership is not only having these experiences, but feeling like a part of the class and forming positive relationships and friendships. This is much easier said than done, as I have seen in my classroom with year. Three members of our class are mainstreamed in for part of the day. We have used many of the suggested methods from the article, including activities that involve collaboration, children’s literature that promotes respect and inclusion, and rules that encourage respect to promote an inclusive classroom. Our class has taken time to get used to accepting these children that they view as “different”. Many of our students simply needed time to get to know them and how to interact with them. Things are not perfect, and I still do not feel that the students that are mainstreamed have formed lasting friendships with others in the class, but there have been many touching moments and great steps. I will never forget the day two girls went over to one of our students (who is mainstreamed in for part of the day) and lit up her face with a hug smile by asked her to play with them.  I have also seen partner work with these students improve drastically. I am so proud of these occurrences, and I think that is what this article is about. We have used positive behavior supports to reward students for being good friends, including others, and following rules in order to work towards a classroom where all students feel valued and feel a sense of belonging.

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On another note, I found the following quote intriguing:

“Interestingly, parents said they felt less of a need to be present in schools when relationships were based on trust and respect”. This is not to say that all parents who come to schools do not feel their relationship with the school is based on trust or respect. However, it does point out the uneasiness parents feel when they do not trust the school or do not feel that they are trusted or respected. Unlike parents who simply enjoy being at the school, these parents feel the need to be there because they are not comfortable to what is happening without them there. I have never though about this, but it is an interesting perspective that shows yet again the importance of building trusting relationships with families.

And then I read the Edmondson Article…The ending really caught my attention – “Coupled with this dreaming is a call to action. The alternative is intolerable.” I want to be apart of positive change for my students. I do not want to settle for things that I do not believe are right. Right now creating political change seems like a huge task to take on, but hopefully some day I will be up to the challenge.