Methods of Instruction Section 5 Commented [JES1]: NCTE 2.3 demonstrate reflective practice, professional involvement, collaboration.
As a team we needed to work on this together. It shows that I am capable of working with other people rather than just doing things on my own. We needed to come up a co- teaching plan to use with students. Mitton, Serra 1
I. Description of Our Students Our school currently has 1200 enrolled students in grades 9 through 12 and 60 full-time teachers. The average student to teacher ratio is 20 students for every 1 teacher. The schools ethnic demographics includes 90% white, 5% black, 3% Asian, and 2% Latino. Approximately 20% of students in the school are eligible for free or reduces lunch. There are 14 students in the school with IEPs.
Our average classroom size is 24 students. In all of our 10 th grade English classes throughout the day we have 96 students. 51 of those students are female and 45 are male. Ages of our students range from 15-16. Our English classes focus on helping students develop independent reading skills to analyze literature, communication skills to write with a clear focus and organization, and research skills.
In our class specifically, we have 20 students 12 students are boys and 8 students are girls. We have 5 students that have IEPs that we need to follow. We have 2 students with a physical disability, 2 with vision impairments, and 1 student with a learning disability. In our classroom we use Universal Design for Learning so that students are receiving the same work and then students dont feel about of place when they get assignments.
II. Classroom Layout
Our classroom setup pairs students up into groups of two. Seating students in pairs allows them to easily collaborate for group projects and daily think/pair/shares. Students can also easily
Teachers Desk Filing Cabinet Whiteboard Bookshelf Bulletin Boards Door Trash Can Mitton, Serra 2
arrange themselves into groups of four for assignments that require larger groups. This setup also allows for easy transportation in the classroom. Wide aisles allow us to maneuver through groups when they work together so we can speak with each student. Students desks are faced towards the whiteboard in the back of the room so that the door is behind them. Keeping the door behind students backs keeps them focused by eliminating distractions in the hallway. On the right side of the classroom are two bulletin boards. One board is used to post clear student expectations so that students can always be aware of what is expected of them. The other board is used to post student work. Seeing their work posted on the wall will help students feel pride in their school work. The left side of the classroom has a bookshelf that is equipped with additional resources that students can borrow. Students can use these resources during free time in the classroom or check them out for outside use. The teachers desk is placed in the back of the classroom so that we can monitor students during tests without distracting them. The trash can is also kept at the back of the classroom so that students can access it without having to walk in front of the class and distract other students.
When assigning students seats, we pair together students that we will believe work well together. Students with physical disabilities are given seats near the door so they have easy access to their seats. Students with vision impairments are seated in the front so they can easily see the whiteboard. Students with problem behavior are given aisle seats so that we can quickly walk to their desk if any troubling behavior arises.
III. Classroom Behavior Expectations
During Silent Reading
During Group Activities Before/After Class Be Respectful
-Raise your hand before speaking
-Let others finish talking before you talk - Wait until the teacher dismisses you to pack up your belongings Be Ready
-Have your book with you at all times
-Have all appropriate materials needed for group activity -Be in your seat before the bell rings
Be Responsible
-Stay focused on the assigned readings - Keep in task during reading - Only have your book out on your desk and not other work -Do your fair share of group work - Keep noise level to a minimum; Inside voices -Have all materials ready before class starts and return materials when class ends
At the beginning of the year (first day or two) we will go over the expectations that we will be looking for during class time. They will be expected to learn and follow the expectations so the classroom can flow smoothly. The classroom expectations will be posted on a bulletin board in the classroom so students can see them throughout the year and be able to reference them whenever needed. If at any time students are not following the rules, we will take time to go Mitton, Serra 3
over the classroom expectations again. When we see students displaying these behaviors they will randomly get a sticker to put in their notebook, at the end of the year the person with the most stickers gets a gift certificate to the mall. This long term goal will make students want to follow these expectations in the hopes of getting stickers and hopefully a bigger prize at the end of the year. We will need to demonstrate with the students the expectations that we will want throughout the school year. This is to ensure that all students understand expectations that they will need to follow. This is only a classroom expectation and they may need to follow other expectations in other classes, so this is why they will be posted so they can always be reminded of what the expectations are for each individual class.
IV. Establishing Rapport Rapport is the process of building a relationship with your students. We highly value rapport as a way to accumulate respect with our students. If our students feel like we care about them on a personal level, they are more likely to do well in the classroom. Building rapport helps students to trust us as their teachers. Students that we build rapport with are more likely to believe that our assignments have a purpose beneficial to their education rather than being busy work.
We use two tools to help establish rapport with our students. The first tool is Staying Close. Staying Close involves having a casual conversation with a student in a one-on-one scenario. During this conversation we stay in close proximity to the student, ask open-ended questions to the student, and use appropriate facial and body language. The goal of Staying Close is to have a conversation that focuses on the student and not us. This helps the student feel like we care about them as a person.
The second tool we use to establish rapport is Giving Positive Consequences. This tool requires rewarding students who have demonstrated appropriate behavior that align with our classroom expectations. In order for this tool to be effective, we must reward a behavior immediately. This tool builds rapport by showing students that we notice when they are following our classroom expectations.
It is important that we use these tools to establish rapport from the very start of the school year. Building rapport can greatly help students who are at-risk for chronic problem behavior. If we build a connection with our students from the beginning of the school year, they will quickly realize that we care about them as young adults and not just as students. Establishing rapport is essential to creating mutual respect between us and the student.
V. Structure of the Learning Process At the beginning of every class students will have individual work to do that will be posted on the board as a PDN (Please Do Now). One question will be work that will review material from the previous day to ensure that students understand the material that was already taught to them. The second question will be a question that will introduce the new material so we can see what students already know about the new material. This will be individual work and students will not be able to talk during this time. We will be monitoring students to ensure that students arent copying from each other. PDNs will tell us what will need to be re-taught to the class and Commented [JES2]: NCTE 2.2 foster familiarity with students own/others cultures
Building rapport is all about trusting your students and having them trust you back in return. Learning about their culture will give me something to talk to them about on a personal level and not just a student-teacher talk that students are used to. Mitton, Serra 4
what we can information we can quickly move over. Along with these questions students will also have time for independent reading as well. Whenever students finish an assignment early they will have a book taken from the bookshelf or one brought from home and will read it. This will eliminate hectic transitions between work. At the end of class students will have 10 minutes of silent reading so they can work on their reading skills. Students must quietly read throughout this time.
Group work will be used every day, which is why the students are seated in pairs. We will use think/pair/share almost every day in class so students who are shy can share their work with others without sharing with the entire class. This will help students with communication skills and being more comfortable with sharing their work with peers. Students will often be asked to go in groups of four to share their work so students sometimes have a bigger audience to share their work and to bounce ideas of one another.
Active learning activities are some other things will be regularly used in our classroom as well. After every piece of reading student there will be a 5 minute free-write that will be in their journals. These free-writes allow students to write about anything in the reading and will be graded by completeness. These free-writes allow students to work on their writing skills without the pressures of a graded paper. It also allows students to think about what they have just read. At the beginning of every lesson students will also be asked to participate in a background knowledge probe where students are asked simple questions about the upcoming lesson. This could be a written or oral question and it tells us what the students know already and will tell us what needs to be taught extensively and what we only need to touch base on with the students.
Students will be asked to do many projects throughout the semester that will enhance the students knowledge about that topic at hand because they will need to analyze it on their own and go more in depth then we did in class. Each class will then need to present their finding to their class (about a 5-10 minute presentation). This will enhance the students skills of researching and finding what is important about certain topics. It will teach students good listening skills because questions on the test will be coming from these short presentations as well.
VI. Responding to Inappropriate Behavior There are two different types of inappropriate behavior, they are junk behavior and problem behavior. Junk behaviors are behaviors are things that tend to be annoying to teachers when they are teaching, such as a student tapping their pencil off their desk. Whereas a problem behavior is something that is disruptive to the students or other students learning and to the class in general or it can be a behavior that is harmful to the student or others in the classroom.
If the student is displaying a junk behavior we will use Tool 3. With this tool we will praise and recognize the positive behavior of a student next to the child displaying the problem behavior, when the junk behavior ceases, the student will get the positive consequence as well. An example of this would be if a student isnt reading during silent reading for the last ten minutes of class and the student is doing homework for another class, we will give a student next to them a positive consequence, such as verbal praise and thanking the student for right getting started on their silent reading. One the junk behavior ceases and the student realizes that they should be Mitton, Serra 5
silent reading and they get back on task, that student will then get a positive consequence for getting back to the work that has been assigned to them.
When a problem behavior arises in the classroom we want to stop it as soon as we can so it doesnt disrupt the class and hinder their learning, we also dont want someone to get hurt from this problem behavior that can arise in the classroom. For example, if a student finished their work early and they start throwing pencils up at the ceiling, we will approach the student and tell them to stop throwing pencils at the ceiling and to start reading from their book of choice. If the student then proceeds to get out of their seat and starts throwing books off the bookcase, we will tell the student to get back to your seat and start your reading. After they listen to the instructions that they have been given, positive reinforcement will be given to them for following the instructions that have been given to them.
Behavior contracts are something that students will get when their behavior is constantly hindering their learning and the learning of others. These contracts can also be used if a student is exhibiting behavior that is out of the ordinary for them and is hurting their learning.
Quincy has been having problems with staying in his seat during class time. He often is getting out of his seat to sharpen his pencil when it isnt needed, walk around and distract other students while we are in the middle of independent work, and getting out of his seat to take a lap around the classroom. He also has a problem with calling out answers in the middle of class and talking to others while we are in the middle of a lesson. This behavior wasnt present at the beginning of the school year and it has been getting worse as time has been passing. These disruptions happen at least twice during all of his classes and they are beginning to disrupt other students so they cant get their work done.
Mitton, Serra 6
Behavior Contract
Student Name Relevant Staff Name(s) Todays Date Quincy Kate Mitton & Jacqui Serra Nov. 3 rd 2013
Target Behavior (Behavioral Expectation(s)) Be Responsible: -Stay on task during class time -Raise your hand before leaving your seat -Raise your hand to be called upon before talking
Date Collection Procedure For each class a student will get a + if he met expectations throughout the time of class. If the student has not met the expectation that student will get a -.
Reinforcement Procedure (What and How Often) Each teacher will be giving out the + and - within the time period that they have Quincy. Quincy has 7 different teachers throughout the day, if Quincy gets at least 21 + throughout the week he will be able to go to the gym for silent reading time so he can burn off energy that he has. If Quincy gets 28 or more + Quincy can get gym time and his choice of a homework pass or get to choose a prize from the prize box.
What Students Must Do To Earn Reinforcement To earn the above mentioned reinforcement, Quincy must: Be Responsible: -Stay on task during class time -Raise your hand before leaving your seat -Raise your hand to be called upon before talking
Consequences for Failure to Meet Behavioral Expectations If Quincy does not reach his goal of at least 21 + he will not be able to get gym time in instead of reading time that week.
Bonus for Exceptional Behavioral Performance If Quincy receives a + every day for the week he will receive gym time, a homework pass, and a prize from the prize box. If expectations are being met every day for 3 weeks the behavior contract will be revised to meet his needs.
This Management plan was all about learning how to include students in the classroom who have behavior problems. This shows that as a teacher I know who to work with students who need to be included in the classroom and know ways to have them included in the classroom. It also shows that all students will be held to the same standard. Mitton, Serra 7
Data Collection Chart for Behavior Contract
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Total Period 1 /5 Period 2 /5 Period 3 /5 Period 4 /5 Period 5 /5 Period 6 /5 Period 7 /5 Total /7 /7 /7 /7 /7 /35
+ = Meets expectation - = Does not meet expectation
Mitton, Serra 8
VII. Self-Monitoring of Distribution of Reinforcement and Corrective Feedback The 4 to 1 ratio is when teachers give 4 positive reinforcements for every 1 redirection given to a student. This will be done within every class period individually by each teacher. The 4 to 1 ratio is important because then students will be more encouraged to learn because they arent only being redirected, they are getting praise for the good things that they are doing. In our classroom we want to make sure that we observe and acknowledge the good behavior that is being done by each and every student.
Not every student will need to be redirected as often which means that not every student will need the same amount of positive reinforcement. Quincy, our student that has trouble staying in his seat and raising his hand before answering a question, will receive a sticker that will be placed in his journal every time he has done a good behavior since he needs to be redirected more often, these stickers will tell Quincy when he is doing a behavior that is a good behavior. Since he will know exactly when he is doing these good behaviors, it will decrease the amount of problem and junk behaviors that he causes in the classroom.
Since we, as teachers will need to monitor when we are giving positive and negative reinforcement we will use the note card method. On the short side of the note card we will rip when there is a negative reinforcement toward a student. Then on the opposite side of the note card we will rip every time the student gets a positive reinforcement to tell us if a student is receiving enough positive reinforcement for every negative reinforcement that they are showing in the classroom. If a student is not receiving the amount of positive reinforcement that they should be, we will make sure that we will pay closer attention to the reinforcement that we are giving them.
Mitton, Serra 9
Self-Monitoring Data Collection Sheet
Names
Positive Negative Ratio Adam
4:1 Good Beth
5:2 Bad Ben
7:2 Good Courtney
5:1 Good Daryl
10:1 Good Francesca
6:1 Good Jack
6:1 Good Julia
2:1 Bad Kyle
6:1 Good Linda
5:1 Good Lionel
5:1 Good Matilda
4:1 Good Matthew
7:2 Good Nick
5:2 Bad Paul
3:1 Bad Quincy
6:1 Good Rhiannon
5:1 Good Sara
5:1 Good Steven
4:1 Good Walter
4:1 Good
Mitton, Serra 10
VIII. Screening for Students who Require a Contract/FBA via RTI
We will screen our students for behavioral issues that require a contract or FBA through a Response to Intervention approach. RTI will begin with Tier 1, which we will use for all students. In Tier 1, we will teach all students our classroom expectations and enforce those expectations throughout the year. When students exhibit appropriate behavior that reflects our expectations, we will reinforce those behaviors. Tier 1 will be used as a preventative intervention to teach our students the expectations we have. We will use this tier to identify students that we believe will require additional behavioral support. These students will move into Tier 2. In Tier 2, we will monitor the behavior of our students to help determine appropriate intervention methods that can be used. The interventions that we implement in Tier 2 must be research-based and based on the needs of the students. Interventions for students in this stage will vary based on the student and can include programs like mentoring or counseling. Students that are still struggling will move on to Tier 3. In this stage we will create a Functional Behavioral Assessment for the student that will require an in-depth analysis of the students behavior. We will record how students in this tier respond to previous interventions.
Frequent problem behavior in students will make it necessary to use Tool 4 much more often because Tool 4 is used to respond to junk behavior. As a result, this will make achieving the 4:1 ratio much more difficult. To counteract the frequent use of Tool 4 to address problem behavior, we will also need to use Tool 2 more often to reward positive behavior. If we do not use 4 Tool 2s for every Tool 4, then our students with problem behavior will think we are only focusing on their junk behavior. We want our students to believe we see the good in them, so it is important to reward those good behaviors. Additionally, rewarding those good behaviors more often will show those students what behaviors we expect from them.