Classroom Management

       Praising positive behavior seems to work better for me rather than focusing on negative behaviors. I have never heard the term positive behavior supports (PBS) before, but this is basically my motto in the classroom. My first principal was a firm believer that you spent the first two weeks of school establishing rules, routines, and procedures. She wanted us to concentrate this time on making clear expectations so that meaningful learning, especially since it was a Title 1 school, take could place the rest of the year. I have continued this process ever since and have had very few discipline issues in my classroom. Throughout the day, I display a digital timer on the Promethean board. The countdown really helps students learn to manage their time. Another term I had not heard before was tootling. Every spring, when students begin to tire of one another's company, I display a caterpillar titled "Watch Me Grow". Every time a student is kind to someone, they place a circle (caterpillar body part) on the wall with a note of praise. Second graders really get into this and it encourages good citizenship, which is a second grade social studies standard. Students, teachers, and visitors to our building enjoy seeing our sense of community.
          Currently, I am experiencing some turbulence with smooth transitions, such as packing up in the afternoons. Students are eager to talk and relax at the end of the day, but we go to recess at this time and end up having to shave time off the outside time. As students and I get comfortable with each other, I ease up on the procedures and after a while it shows. The mornings run smooth as silk, but after lunch my students become lively. I admire teachers that can implement a token economy for the entire class. This seems like such an overwhelming process, therefore I shy away from it. I have used it in the past for a special needs child, and it was extremely effective. One child is very manageable, however monitoring 24 students every behavior seems like an exhausting system of classroom management.
           A quote I keep on my desk says "Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?" This is placed here to remind me that my attitude affects every student in the classroom. I LOVE the idea of the Color Wheel and plan on creating one, on the poster maker, for my classroom. This should help my class with transitions, as well as reiterate the other procedures that may have not been enforced as strictly as needed. In addition, the Daily Point Sheet on page 129 is a wonderful tool to use to monitor a student who is experiencing behavior issues. I am using a much simpler version of this right now with a student, but really like the details covered in this chart.

Low-Incidence Disabilities

      Working with low-incidence disabled children can be very satisfying, and yet extremely challenging. A successful intervention I have used is providing opportunities to communicate or respond in ways other than verbally or in writing. A previous student required that I make extreme modifications to the curriculum, so that she could respond using pictures. She also needed several breaks during "work time", so we developed a token economy for her. She was rewarded for her behavior and work, which allowed her to earn time to do an activity that she enjoyed. I also provide consistent prompts, cues, and feedback with visual supports. The autistic student I have this year makes noises constantly, so he has signs taped onto his desk as reminders. The signs are shaped like traffic signs and say "STOP" and "QUIET ZONE".  I have learned through experience that all of my autistic students prefer to work independently rather than in a group setting. They take on different roles during group work, which may be "supervising" or a different activity in a quiet corner of the classroom.

        It is so difficult to determine if a low-incidence disabled student is retaining and using their knowledge. One autistic student was very inconsistent in her assessments, which led me to believe that she knew more than she could always show. I struggled with this all year. A personal goal is to further educate myself about special education disabilities and the laws that pertain to them. However, researching takes a considerable amount of time.

     It is important to have students in the LRE, but careful consideration must be taken to ensure quality learning can take place for ALL students. Two of the five autistic children I have taught are now in self-contained settings. The reason for both stemmed from high frustration of the rigorous academic expectations that lead to disruptive behaviors. Building a trusting relationship with the LID is the first step toward getting an accurate picture of the student's knowledge. Being CONSISTENT and firm helps to build that safety for autistic students. Every year and LID child teaches me how to be a more effective teacher. I struggle with finding "extra" time in my day to research information. However, I am fully aware that taking the time on weekends and late nights help to make a more successful year.

HIgh-Incidence Disabilities

        In my twelve years of teaching I have taught many students with a high-incident disability. I am constantly searching for new practices to try with all of my students, but especially for a student with a disability. Two things that consistently work with students is providing accessible instructional materials and providing extra time to complete assignments. Technology promotes and engages learning, which is why I attempt to incorporate it throughout lessons. By regularly using technology, I provide many visual and auditory representations of the information. I want learning to be authentic and meaningful so I avoid assigning meaningless activities, such as copying spelling words three times each. In addition, I provide repeated opportunities for students to grasp the concepts or skills. Working closely with the family members, since they know the child the best, reduces some of the time it takes to figure out what practices will be most effective. In addition, I have learned that rules and procedures may have to be adjusted for some students.

       I admit that I do not implement RTI (reading) as aggressively as I should. Since the classroom teachers are responsible for teaching this, it is hard to always dedicate the allotted amount of time for only three students. Currently, I am working with a set of parents who refuse to medicate their child for ADHD and any resource services. They feel that he will be able to catch up to his peers and "rise above this challenge". His previous teachers have tried to retain this child for the past two years, but the parents refuse this, as well. It has been a frustrating struggle for me to respect their point of view since I see how hard school is for their child, academically and socially. Deciding when a student should be referred for screening can be a difficult decision. One thing I want to try and avoid is over-identifying students for referral services.


       Determining the appropriate strategy for each individual student is a trial-and-error process. Patience and understanding are crucial when teaching high-incidence disabled students. Collaboration is so important for a student's success in school. I need to make a better effort to communicate with the resource, speech, and behavioral specialists at my school. This course is helping me to see the value in RTI, so that students are not being overly referred for services. When dealing with parents, I must practice humility and empathize with their choices. I have to accept that it is not my position to change a parent's mind about the well-being of their child.

Collaboration

      Last year, I became very familiar with the process of collaboration. I had a student who was mainstreamed into my class for several portions of the day. She spent the remainder of her day in a Neuro Self-Contained classroom. At a very early age she had been diagnosed with autism. The collaborative team (or A-Team) consisted of the principal, district autism specialist, district office representative, district special education coordinator, speech therapist, occupational therapist, special education teacher, related arts teacher, the parents, three advocates (autism, legal, and parent advocates), and myself. I loved the statement in the book stating that "no one person is considered to be the expert; the expectation is that everyone has expertise to contribute and that individuals can learn from each other."This captured my feelings of our collaboration as we decided what was best for this particular child. My interpersonal skills were greatly improved throughout the year. I was expected to show strengths in all four categories of effective collaboration. Two areas that I excelled in were being facilitative and personal. During the course of the year I developed a relationship with the parents. In the past, the parents felt that no one in the school was hearing them. I felt it was important to be empathetic to their needs and wants. The parents had strong views, opinions, and concerns about their daughter's education. I collected an enormous amount of data on the student's academic and behavior progress in the general ed setting. Using the parents as my ally, I was able to determine what strategies would be most effective in the classroom. The student had very limited verbal abilities, as well as writing skills. Therefore, I made extensive accommodations for every aspect of the curriculum. In order for her to respond to a question, she was given three picture cards to select an answer. Every day I would email the parents the results of her one-to-one assessments. A paraprofessional assisted the child in the classroom, although her main objective was to redirect behavior while I was responsible for the educational component. The A-Team provided me endless support, suggestions, strategies, and information in order for me to be the best teacher I could be for not only this student, but my entire class. This year-long experience was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding tasks of my teaching career.
       At times, collaborating and depending on others can be difficult. In the meetings I was intimated by the number of people I had to present my case to each month, but the team of advocates made me extremely uncomfortable. I was unfamiliar with the specifics of special education law, specifically IDEA and FAPE. It was up to me to educate myself, as much as possible, on the details that pertained to this situation. The advocates were well versed in the rights and laws, and it was hard for me to defend myself when questioned on legalities. I pride myself on my willingness to try new things, but I become defensive when I feel like someone is attacking something I feel is going well. Something else I could improve in all parts of my life is my responsive listening. When I do not agree with what someone is saying I find myself already thinking of my rebuttal and not actually listening to their argument. It is probable that I am missing key points in the conversation. If I am close to the person, I interrupt during the conversation. Another issue I struggle with is avoiding conflict. Confrontation makes me nervous, stressed, and tense.
       I believe that there is always room for improvement when collaborating with others. Each situation is different, so one must figure out how to build on each other's strengths. Every opportunity will present will new and different challenges. I will continue to educate myself on special education laws and provisions. However, this is an overwhelming amount of information so I could make a "cheat sheet" with terms and short definitions to keep handy for reference. In addition, maintaining sensitivity to the families is an area that I would like to further develop. Presently, my own child is undergoing testing for a learning delay and it feels different to be on the other end of the spectrum. I hear my "teacher voice" telling me the rational things, but my "mom voice" tells me what I know in my heart. This too is an experience that will make me a better educator. The more experiences and knowledge I have, the more comfortable I will become with handling conflict. Being too sensitive is something I address every day and will likely be a life-long struggle. Being confident in my choices, decisions. and actions ease some of the sensitivity. Therefore, I must continue to educate myself and trust my instincts.

RTI

     My principal is an advocate of the RTI reading program. Our school implemented RTI in kindergarten four years ago. Two years ago, first grade began using RTI. This is the first year we have done it second grade. Before using RTI, I would identify struggling readers and experiment with alternative ways of presenting the material. RTI has not taken the place of trying new strategies with students, but it quickly identifies low achievers. I continue to address student's individual needs with peer reading or tutoring, small-group lessons and literacy centers. All of my students have strengths and weaknesses that must be addressed for quality learning to occur. The Greenville County School District uses a website called AIMSweb to record, track, and reflect student RTI data. We benchmark every student (universal screening) three times a year. The RTI groups are fluid as students gain or fall in reading achievement.  Currently, my RTI group consists of three students, which I progress monitor every five days. All three students have been in RTI since K5. One student is beginning to show measurable progress while the other two have demonstrated little growth. Since there is an established pattern of a learning (reading) difficulty, the two underachieving students are in the A-Team process. One student just qualified for resource today and the other one is very likely going to qualify for a processing delay.
     An area that I could improve on is using SBR practices in all aspects of teaching. When I encounter a challenging student or concept the first resource I use are my peers. Although they offer wonderful suggestions, they are not always scientifically based. I am constantly searching for new ideas and strategies to use in my classroom, but I do not always research the validity of the methods. The RTI program we use only addresses reading fluency. Some students can read above average, but reading comprehension may be difficult for them. A student's word recall is different than what they understand about the text. Another improvement for my school or district would be to implement a RTI program for math. I also believe that RTI should be used as a "pull-out" program. At my school, the general education teachers conduct RTI groups daily for 20-30 minutes. This can total almost two and half hours of a school week that the majority of the class must do independent assignments and can not interrupt the teacher. In my opinion, this feels like an injustice to the non-RTI students.
       In the future, I will invest more time and energy into researching SBR to use in my classroom. Reading Rockets is a website that I do not use often enough. It provides a wealth of knowledge for strategies and modifications for grade level specific reading activities. Reading Rockets can help me to better address students who are weak in reading comprehension. The RTI program we use is considered "teacher proof", which means we follow a script. There is very little wiggle room on the daily lessons. Unfortunately, the teachers do not have the freedom to adjust the lessons as we see fit. I can take my concerns and suggestions for improving RTI to my principal, but she also has a small amount of control over the RTI program. Funding determines a great deal of how RTI is used in the district. Hopefully as the economy improves, RTI can be a "pull-out" program and we can add a math RTI to identify students who struggle with math concepts or reasoning.