Anna Demlow SPED 426 Hedda Meadan-Kaplansky April 23, 2013 Self-Reflection Journal

Section:

1. Reflect for at least 1 week on your collaborative skills. Write five journal entries describing your behavior in collaborative situations. Journal Entry 1: I co-teach in a 3rd grade general education class for reading and language arts. The general education teacher (Ms. W) and myself station co-teach every day using four different stations. These four stations are: guided reading, reading comprehension, independent reading, and Lexia. Every Thursday from 10:30-11 Ms. W and I collaborate on how we think the groups are going. We focus on the grouping of the students, the transitions from station to station, the progress their making on the skills were teaching, and lesson plans for the following week. My behaviors throughout these meetings are positive and enthusiastic. I come to the meetings prepared and share the data I have collected on the students progress. I also am very willing to learn from Ms. W. During the meeting, I asked for strategies on how she has taught these comprehension skills in the past and what has been successful for her.

Journal Entry 2:

One day this week, my cooperating teacher (Mrs. K) had to leave early at 1:30 (a half an hour before the school day was over). She has two students with emotional disabilities on her caseload that have a hard time adjusting when she is not there. In order to prepare one of the students for this, she told the student (LB) that he would be coming down to room 13 (resource room) to do a subtraction test with me at 1:30. When I left my other lesson at 1:30 to go get LB from the general education room, he was kicking and throwing chairs around the room. During this situation, I had to quickly collaborate through our eye contact across the room with the paraprofessional to escort him out of the room and get him to room 13. While escorting him I called on the walkie-talkie to get the other EDBD teacher (Mr. P) for more assistance because Mrs. K had already left. Mr. P quickly ran down the hall and we got LB to room 13 safely and were able to de-escalate his behavior without having to restrain him. During this situation, my collaborative behaviors included clearly and effectively communicating what I needed. I used active responding skills in order to get assistance quickly. When entering the room, I was able to interpret the paraprofessionals nonverbal communication (eye contact, body language) that she needed help getting LB out of the room. I also believe I demonstrated that I could maintain being calm in a time of crisis. Journal Entry 3: During special education collaboration this week, we discussed how we were going to schedule the students with special needs for ISATS. We had to determine the location of the testing, which students would be grouped together, what accommodations each student had for the testing, and the teacher that would be

testing each group of students. Since I am a student teacher and dont have much input in these decisions, I decided to volunteer to type up the schedule on the computer for them. I feel like this helped me to establish a rapport with all of the other members on the team who dont really know me. I think they just expected me to sit there and listen. I demonstrated active and on-going listening throughout the meeting in order to ensure I was making the schedule correctly. I could have spoken up during times in the meeting when they were discussing students who I work with on a regular basis, but I hesitated to give feedback. I could work on not being scared to share my ideas with other staff members even if they dont use them. Journal Entry 4: In the afternoon, I work with two students on an SRA math intervention. One of the students (JB) has special needs and the other student (SW) is in the general education classroom, but is behind in math. After doing this program with these students for two weeks, I realized that SW is a lot further behind in math than I anticipated. JB would finish the independent part of lesson in 5 minutes before SW had one of the problems done. I realized this intervention wasnt being effective for SW, so I collaborated with the special education teacher (Mrs. K) and her general education teacher (Mrs. M). The collaborative behavior I demonstrated here was discontinuing the current intervention and discussing with them other alternatives or redesigning the intervention to fit her needs. In order to clarify what specific problems she was having with in math, Mrs. K suggested doing some AIMS Web testing on her. So I printed out the second grade AIMS Web probes for math (even though she is in 4th grade). Over two days I collected data on her. I also printed out

subtraction worksheets for assess her because through my observations this was an area she struggled in. Once I got the results, I relayed the information over the Mrs. K and Mrs. M. We explored the problem areas together and then set goals and objectives for her to reach. We decided to do this by using the same curriculum, but adapting the lessons to fit her needs. Journal Entry 5: This week some behavioral problems have arose between two of my students in an SRA Reading group. This group takes place in Ms. Ws general education class. Two of the students in the group have special needs and the other student is in another general education class. The problems that have been going on are name-calling, saying shut up to each other, and threatening to fight. Not only do these behaviors disrupt our small reading group, but they disrupt the rest of the general education class as well. Because one of the students in the group doesnt have special needs, I cannot pull this group out into a resource room. It is not fair to Ms. W that she is allowing our group to take place in her classroom and the students are disrupting her lesson with the rest of the class. I could tell that Ms. W was frustrated with our group by here non-verbal communication such as her eye contact and pointing to my students and mouthing shhh. I decided to approach her after class to try and brainstorm some solutions together. When we sat down to talk, I realized I froze up and was afraid of the confrontation. I found myself apologizing a lot for my students behavior and saying; Whatever you want to try, Im open to. Instead of working together, I just found myself agreeing to whatever she wanted in the classroom. In one way I was giving

credit to her ideas and listening, but I wasnt using any of my responding skills by giving any of my ideas. 2. Two collaborative behaviors I wish to change through direct intervention. Behavior 1: Give and solicit continuous feedback that is specific, immediate, and objective. I think this behavior is a weakness for me because I generally dont like to give or ask for feedback. If I do give feedback to others, it is very vague such as, Good job! I also dont like to give feedback immediately or continuously, I will wait until the person asks for feedback before I give it to them. Another aspect of this behavior that I struggle with is giving negative feedback. I have a hard time telling people what I think theyre doing wrong or what isnt going well. Especially face-to-face, I would rather give people negative feedback through an email. I think I react this way because I dont like to make people upset or make them not like me. So I always give positive feedback in order to avoid doing so. I also dont like to ask for feedback because it makes me feel uncomfortable. I dont take compliments well, but Im also afraid of receiving negative feedback. One of the barriers to collaboration that we discussed in class was a lack of, or insufficient communication. When Im not giving people my true feedback or giving feedback frequently, this is insufficient communication. This creates a barrier for effective collaboration. A condition for collaboration from the readings is having shared accountability for the outcomes. My collaborative team and I cannot have this unless Im giving honest, specific, and immediate feedback. My lack of feedback can directly affect not only my collaborative outcomes, but my students outcomes

as well. Feedback is the only way we change what isnt working well and fix the issues to create better outcomes. Behavior 2: Manage conflict and confrontation skillfully throughout the collaborative process to maintain collaborative relationships. This second behavior closely relates to my first behavior Im targeting. I have a very hard time managing conflict and confrontation with other teachers and professionals. Instead of attempting to handle it, I avoid conflict and confrontation altogether. Whenever I have a difference in opinion or problem, I hold it in and keep my thoughts/feelings to myself. This becomes an issue for me because all of the issues I do have build up and then Ill eventually end up yelling at the person. This is how Ive dealt with things across all areas of my life, so I understand why I act this way. As we discussed in class, a big barrier to collaboration are conflicts among team members lacking skills to resolve them. I am one of these team members because Im afraid of telling people what I think. I have a hard time standing up for myself when a conflict arises, so Id rather ignore it than deal with it. A condition for effective collaboration is having shared participation. Im not being an equal participant in the collaboration process because we arent working together to solve problems. Also, an emergent characteristic of collaboration is that the individuals trust each other. My collaborative partners cant trust me if Im not being honest and managing the conflicts when they arise.

3. Baseline for each behavior.

Behavior 1: Give and solicit continuous feedback that is specific, immediate, and objective. Day 1 Journal Entry: My cooperating teacher (Mrs. K) was absent one day this week and had forgotten to leave sub-plans. She texted me to direct the substitute where to go throughout the day and give her instructions on what to do. I did what she asked and gave the sub instructions first thing in the morning. I checked up on the sub throughout the day to see how things were going. If she had any questions, I would give her feedback right away and tell her how to do something. I would give her quick, specific, instructions to help her teach the students because I had to leave to do my other responsibilities. The reason I dont think I had a problem giving a sub feedback was because she needed help. She didnt know what to do and it was my job to help her teach these kids. In this moment, I realized I had to step up and collaborate with the substitute for the benefit of the students. Day 2 Journal Entry: I have started a new instructional curriculum with one of my students on more functional skills. At her three-year reevaluation, her disability was changed from a learning disability to an intellectual disability. That being said, we have moved her goals to being more functional for her such as learning to tell time, count money, days of the weeks, months, her address, phone number, etc. Mrs. K is in the room when Im teaching these skills, so I know she is listening and observing what Im teaching. This being said, she never gives me any feedback

on whether she likes the way Im instructing these skills or if she has any suggestions. Even though I would like feedback, I dont ever ask for it. I have just continued teaching the way I have been. Day 3 Journal Entry: As a part of my full take-over responsibilities, Mrs. K asked me to take data on all of the students Im working with. I will then use this data to update the students progress reports for their IEPs. To do this, I made data charts for each student and the particular skills Im working on them with. I assess them on each skill once a week and then share my results with Mrs. K. When I showed her my results, the only feedback I received was ok or good. These comments dont really give me constructive feedback. For example, one of my students hasnt been improving on his reading fluency the past two weeks, but all she said was, ok. I reacted to this by not asking her for any feedback. Even though I did have questions, I just assumed her comments meant she was happy with how everything was going. Behavior 2: Manage conflict and confrontation skillfully throughout the collaborative process to maintain collaborative relationships. Day 1 Journal Entry: When I was co-teaching in Ms. Ws reading and language arts class, I told a student he could go to the bathroom. When the student signed out and went to the leave the classroom, Ms. W stopped him. She asked, Where are you going? The student responded, To the bathroom. Ms. W stated, No youre not, who gave you permission?

The student said, Ms. D did. Ms. W responded, I dont care what Ms. D says only I give you permission to leave the classroom. This situation made me very angry. I made sure at the beginning of the semester that I knew all of her classroom rules and understood when children were allowed to go to the bathroom. I followed her rules and expectations when I gave the student permission to go to the bathroom. It was evident from her comment that she doesnt view me as another teacher in the room. I dont understand this because when my cooperating teacher (Mrs. K) was the co-teacher in the room instead of me, they shared responsibility. I knew in my mind I wanted to confront Ms. W right away, but that wouldnt have been appropriate. Instead, I let myself calm down throughout the rest of the class period and then decided not to confront her at all. I think when I calm down after a situation occurs; I get scared to bring it back up again. Day 2 Journal Entry: Since I have taken over my cooperating teachers schedule, she is free throughout the day. She has two students with emotional disabilities (LB and DH) who are still very attached to her. It is in both of these students IEPs that they receive 45 minutes of push-in support in reading and language arts every day. Because I station co-teach with the Ms. W, I cannot fully support LB and DH while Im teaching. When they come up during a lesson and ask for help, I tell them that theyll have to wait until Im done with the lesson. This causes the students to get upset and their behaviors to escalate because theyre not getting the help they need

right away. Mrs. K (my cooperating teacher) is supposed to be in the room at this time, but because Im in there she has stopped coming. Instead of confronting this issue with Mrs. K, I have ignored the issue. When the LB and DH get upset they usually leave the classroom and go down to room 13 where she is. LB and DH get consequences for leaving their assigned area, so Im thinking Mrs. K would see this as a problem herself and push back into the classroom. This hasnt happened yet though. I think because Mrs. K is in charge of me, I have a hard time saying that I need her to be in the room with me for additional support. I feel as if its not my place or right to tell her what to do. Day 3 Journal Entry: As I mentioned earlier, every day I push into a general education classroom to do a math intervention with two students. One of the students (JB) has special needs and the other student (SW) is in the general education classroom, but is behind in math. Because SW isnt receiving any special education services, I cant pull the students out into a resource room to give instruction. This is a problem because there are a lot of problem behaviors going on with other general education students during this time in the classroom. This causes a lot of yelling between the students and the teacher. The two students Im working with have a hard time staying focused. Sometimes they cant even hear what Im saying over all of the yelling going on in the classroom. I decided not to mention anything to the general education teacher because I dont know her that well and I would feel uncomfortable. But, I did mention this to my cooperating teacher (Mrs. K) and she told me she would look into an alternate

location that wasnt a special education resource room. It has been almost a week now and Mrs. K still hasnt looked into an alternate setting. These students not being in a different setting directly affects their learning and progress. I dont want to seem like a pest to Mrs. K so I havent confronted her about it again. 4. Interventions and Contingency Plan Describe 1 intervention for each behavior that you will try in attempt to change those behaviors. Provide a rationale for why you believe each intervention will work. Describe a contingency planWhat will I do if the first intervention does not work? Intervention for: Give and solicit continuous feedback that is specific, immediate, and objective. As for giving feedback to others, I will write or type out my feedback to give to others. This can include typing up a list of feedback for a general education teacher on how I think a co-taught lesson went or it can be a quick note on a post-it about something I noticed. Since I think only giving written feedback is unprofessional, once I write down my feedback, I will go over what I wrote with the other person. When I have questions or am unsure of how I am performing, I will make a list of questions to ask people for feedback. Then when I see the person I would like feedback from, I will ask them the questions I have and take notes on their feedback. My rationale for why I believe this intervention will work is because by writing my thoughts down it will help me organize what I want to say instead of the pressure of saying it face-to-face right away. By going over what I wrote down with the person, I will have specific and objective feedback instead of just generic

comments such as Good job! This intervention will be especially helpful for me to give negative feedback or constructive criticism. By taking the time to think about what I want to say, I can make sure it doesnt come out sounding rude, arrogant, or disrespectful. Contingency Plan: If my original intervention doesnt work, I will have to give verbal feedback right away instead of taking the time to write it down. I eventually wanted to work up to this, but if my first intervention isnt successful this is what I will have to do in order to be successful in this area of collaboration. You cant get good at something unless you practice, so practicing give specific immediate feedback will be helpful in the future. Intervention for: Manage conflict and confrontation skillfully throughout the collaborative process to maintain collaborative relationships. When a conflict arises, I will write the conflict down and then take time to process it. By taking the time to process it, I think my anger about the issue will decrease and Ill become more calm and rational about the situation. Once Im calmer, I will write out how I will address the issue with the other person. This involves writing out how I will start the conversation and brainstorming some possible solutions to the conflict. The next day, instead of just avoiding the conflict, I will meet with the person at an appropriate time (i.e. lunch or plan time) to discuss. I will discuss the conflict with the person (in a calm manner) what I previously wrote down.

My rationale for why I believe this intervention will work is because it gives me time to process the situation and write down what I would like to say. By writing down how Im going to start the conversation and having possible solutions in mind, it will make me feel more comfortable/prepared for the confrontation. I think the hardest part of managing conflict and confrontation for me is starting the conversation with the person. By taking the time to process it, it will not only help me calm down, but also give me the courage to approach the person. Contingency Plan: If my original intervention doesnt work, I will still take the time to process, but I will address the issue the same day at an appropriate time (i.e. after class, during lunch, plan time, after school) instead of waiting until the next day. I think maybe by waiting until the next day, the person will feel like the issue is done and over with. By bringing the issue back up after the person has forgotten about it may create more problems. 5. Keep a journal entry for EACH BEHAVIOR for at least 8 days. Each entry will have 2 sections for EACH behavior on EACH day. A. The opportunities to engage in the skill and how you reacted. B. Evaluation and reflect on the effectiveness of your intervention at improving your competence in each skill. Behavior 1: Give and solicit continuous feedback that is specific, immediate, and objective. Day 1: During ISATS, my cooperating teacher (Mrs. K) was testing in the morning so my schedule completely changed. I spent the mornings with 2nd grade students who werent testing and are on Mrs. K caseload. These students all have behavior plans,

so throughout the morning I recorded their behaviors on a sheet of paper. I also recorded the scores they earned on their behavior charts for the time I was with them. When I met back up with Mrs. K for lunch at 11, I went over the feedback I had written down throughout the morning. While I was going over the feedback, she also gave me feedback about what consequences they typically receive for certain behaviors. I took notes on her feedback so I wouldnt forget what she was telling me. Overall in this situation, I think my intervention was very effective. I got feedback on the students consequences, so I would be able to implement those consequences for the rest of the days of ISATS. I also wrote them down so I wouldnt forget what consequences applied for each student. By recording their behaviors, I was able to provide her with documentation as well as a sheet of feedback. Day 2: During parent/teacher conferences, I had the opportunity to give parents feedback based on the data I have been taking while working with their child. In order to effectively do this, I made copies of all the data I had collected on the students. This way, I was able to give the parents a copy to take home and explain to them how their student has been progressing. After reviewing the information, I asked the parents if they had any questions or concerns about their child. If they did, I took note of their feedback on a sheet of paper for that student. This was very effective and helped me to develop a relationship as well as rapport with my students parents. They really appreciated being able to see their childs progress and being able to take a copy home. I think a lot of times in parent/teacher conferences with general education teachers; parents hear all the

skills their child isnt meeting standards on. By presenting all the progress their child is making, the meeting focused on the students strengths. Day 3: The Speech and Language Pathologist at my school started to pull my students while I was working with them. We both realized this was an issue because it was violating the students minutes on their IEPs. Because were both super busy throughout the school day, I told her I would leave her a copy of my schedule in her mailbox. The following day she left me a note on my desk that she was able to move the times around for my students so it wouldnt interfere with my schedule. She also gave me a copy of her schedule for future reference. Although Ms. M and I never met face to face to give each other feedback, I still believe my intervention was successful. We both put our students needs first and were both flexible with changing our schedules around if we had too. This interaction made me realize that sometimes its not necessary to meet face to face in order to exchange feedback. I think in order to exchange feedback only through notes or technological means; you have to have a good relationship with the other person/people involved. Day 4: From 11:30-12:15 every day I teach an SRA Corrective Reading group with three 4th graders. One of the 4th graders (CB) I teach is on another special education teachers (Mrs. B) caseload. Because of this, she wanted me to start doing CBs AIMS Web Reading CBM and MAZE. Since I have never had experience with these Aims Web probes, I asked Mrs. B for feedback on how to administer them. While she was giving me instructions, I took notes so I wouldnt forget how to do it. After I do these

probes for CB every week, I record his scores and give Mrs. B feedback on how he performed. This has been very effective. Whenever I forget how to administer the probe, I can look back at my notes. I also pre-printed out all of the probes I would need each week for the remainder of the semester. I dont have to waste any time printing them out, theyre already ready and have the dates I need to administer them on them. Mrs. B has been very happy with how he has been progressing and likes that I give her the data each week. Day 5: On Tuesday, I had an IEP meeting for ones of my students with an emotional disability (LB). I do an SRA Reading Intervention with LB every day, so I prepared data/notes based on his progress for the IEP meeting. When we were going over his reading goals in the meeting, I showed LBs mom a graph of his progress and went over my notes. I first gave her feedback on LBs strengths and then went over the areas where he needs some improvement. I also discussed how his goals on his IEP were being taught using the SRA Corrective Reading Program. The majority of his IEP was about how his behavior intervention plan isnt working and all of his violent behaviors. I could tell Mrs. B was starting to get discouraged, so I was glad I could highlight LBs strengths during meeting. After I presented the information I have, I asked Mrs. B if she had any questions or concerns. I wrote down these concerns/suggestions on a sheet of paper for Mrs. K. By preparing my feedback for Mrs. B beforehand, my intervention was very successful. She liked being able to take copies of LBs progress home as well as make suggestions for her son. This was my first experience talking in an IEP meeting and I think it went very well. The situation

improved my competency in talking with parents as well. Day 6: I do an SRA Expressive Writing Program with DH from 10-10:30 every day. This is a scripted curriculum, but there are no tips for error correction within the text. I gave DH the first mastery test on Monday and he failed 2 out of the 4 sections. I feel like him failing may have been my fault for giving him too much support instead of having him be more independent. I spent three days re-teaching DH the skills he didnt master. Although he was starting to grasp the skills, he is still dependent on my help to get the work done. I was stuck on what to do, so I asked Mrs. K for some feedback. I asked her what she has done with students when she has used that program before. She suggested using a progressive time delay. So first starting out with a 0-second, then 2, then 4, and so on and so forth until DH can do the skills independently. Ive used this approach before in my other instructional programs and dont know why I didnt think to use it in this situation! My intervention was very successful in this situation. I asked for feedback when I needed it and she reminded me of a successful solution I hadnt considered. This scenario made me realized how beneficial asking for feedback can be and how two brains are always better than one! Day 7:

Every day I push into a general education classroom to do a math

intervention with two students. One of the students (JB) has special needs and the other student (SW) is in the general education classroom, but is behind in math. As I mentioned in an earlier journal, SW is a lot further behind than JB. When I first

realized this, I collaborated with Mrs. K (special education teacher) and Ms. M (the general education teacher) and we decided to stick with the same SRA program, but modify the amount of work. I tried this for about a week and realized the program in general was too hard for her. I collaborated with Ms. M and we decided to take more assessment data for both students on addition/subtraction skills. We determined that JB struggles with addition/subtraction with regrouping and SH struggles with single digit addition/subtraction. Once I had this information, I showed my results to Mrs. K and ask what intervention she would suggest. She suggested Touch Math for both students, but only using the worksheets where one number in the problem has dots. I looked through the addition/subtraction books and decided this would be a great fit for both SH and JB. My intervention was successful in this situation. I collaborated with both of JB and SWs teacher in order to get a curriculum that would be beneficial for them. I decided to collaborate with Mrs. K and Ms. M separately so I could get their individual opinions. Also, Ms. M observes them in math every day, so she had a better idea of their abilities. Day 8: As I mentioned in a previous journal, I have started a new instructional curriculum with one of my students on more functional skills. At her three-year reevaluation, her disability was changed from a learning disability to an intellectual disability. That being said, we have moved her goals to being more functional for her such as learning to tell time, count money, days of the week, months, her address, phone number, etc. I have been working with this student on these skills now for about two months. She has recently mastered the days of the week, the months, her

address, phone number, and counting coins of the same denomination. These were goals that we had for her to accomplish within a year, but she did in two months! I asked Mrs. K for feedback for what skills to work on next. She instructed me to modify some of his goals on his IEP as well as work on counting coins of mixed denominations, spelling the days of the week/months, and telling time to the nearest minute. Not hesitating to ask Mrs. K for feedback was very successful. By doing this, I didnt waste any time teaching skills XC had already mastered. I could start working with her on new skills the next day. By asking for feedback, I also got the opportunity to modify her goals on her IEP. This made me realize how important feedback is because it can create new opportunities that I wouldnt have had before. Behavior 2: Manage conflict and confrontation skillfully throughout the collaborative process to maintain collaborative relationships. Day 1: Mrs. K left early at 10 in the morning and didnt have a substitute, so I had to take over her responsibilities. This included push-in support for two students with emotional disabilities. One of the students with an emotional disability (LB) gets frustrated when he thinks his work is too hard. On this day, Ms. W (general education teacher) asked the class to do their math boxes. LB got his math boxes out and when he looked at the problems, he decided they were too hard and tipped over his desk. At this point, he was escorted out of the classroom by the paraprofessional (Ms. P). While they were walking down the hall, LB slapped Ms. P and bit her on the hand. Once we got down to Room 13 (resource room), I used de-escalation

strategies to calm him and talk about what happened. I went down to Ms. Ws room to get his math boxes and we did them together in Room 13. In this situation, my intervention was very effective. While he was working, I documented on a sheet of paper everything that happened for Mrs. K. In a conflict situation like this where it involves a student, it is vital to act quickly on the spot. That is what I did and then took the time later to document what happened for Mrs. K. This way, I could focus on the student and discuss with Mrs. K the next day. Day 2: As Ive previously mentioned, I work with a student (LB) with an emotional disorder in Ms. Ws class. Recently, LBs violent behaviors in the general education classroom have been escalating. He has had to be removed from class in order to keep himself and the other students safe. Because of this, Ms. W went to the principal and told her that she wants the student to be self-contained. Instead of saying this to me, she went behind my back to get my student removed from the classroom. This made me very mad because being self-contained isnt LBs least restrictive environment. I wanted to go confront her right away, but I came back to my classroom and wrote down all the reasons self-containing him wouldnt be beneficial. I stayed calm for the remainder of the school day and processed the situation when I got home. I wrote down possible solutions and behavior interventions I could try. The next day, during Mrs. W and Is plan time, I went to discuss the issue with her by going over the solutions I had written down. She listened to them and then stated her concerns. After talking for about a half an hour, she agreed to try some of

the solutions we had mentioned. We agreed that after two weeks if we hadnt seen any improvements I would start self-containing him for parts of the school day. I believe my intervention was very effective in this situation. Instead of just avoiding the confrontation and holding a grudge against Mrs. W, I discussed the issue with her the following day. It was rewarding for me that we were able to reach and agreement by working together. Day 3: Ms. W and I co-teach 3rd grade reading and language arts together. She teaches a guided reading group, I teach a comprehension group, there is a group on computers, and another group at their seats reading independently. We have been teaching these groups together for 13 weeks and the past two weeks she has been changing the schedule, but doesnt inform me of the changes. The first or second time it happened, I thought to myself okay, no big deal. But then I noticed that for two weeks in a row it was happening 2-3 times a week. This really irritated me because were co-teachers, which means we share responsibility for the students outcomes. I have content that Im responsible for teaching the students; so missing group 2-3 times a week is detrimental to their progress. After the 4th time this had happened, I approached Ms. W and scheduled a time to meet with her the next day during our plan time. That night, I went home and wrote out my concerns/possible solutions. I also made a list of the material that Im supposed to cover within the next few weeks. By writing my thoughts out, not only did it calm me down, but also helped to prepare me for the conversation. The next day, I went over my concerns with Ms. W and just let her know that

I would like to be informed the days were not going to do groups. She apologized and didnt realize it was an inconvenience for me. She said, From now on, I will let you know at least a day before if I plan on not doing reading groups. We also modified the material I was supposed to cover during my 14 weeks of co-teaching. She told me not to worry if I dont cover it all because what we dont cover, she will work on with the kids after I leave. This made me feel a lot better. In this situation, I believe my intervention was very successful. It also made me realize that sometimes the other person involved in a conflict may not even know its an issue. In other words, her not telling me when we werent doing group really bothered me, but she didnt even realize it was an issue. By not being quick to make conclusions and taking the time to think about it, we resolved the issue very quickly. Day 4: The first two days coming back from spring break Mrs. K was gone and it was the first days of my full take over. Because I was unsure of sub plans, I collaborated with the paraprofessionals and general education teachers to make sure the students on Mrs. Ks caseload needs were being met. I decided to stay with LB and DH to make sure their routine stayed the same. I realized in this situation that I had to handle the issue at hand. I couldnt take time to process the issue because it was affecting the students directly. Since theyre used to working with me and had the same schedule, we had no behaviors at all those two days. Because of this, I believe my intervention was very successful. I think by being clear communicating directions and the expectations for LB and DH; they knew what was expected of them. They also were aware that I implement theyre behavior plans the same way

as Mrs. K and they would receive the same consequences with me. Also, by communicating with other staff I was able to make sure other students needs were being met in other classrooms. Day 5: Since I have taken over my cooperating teachers schedule, she is free throughout the day. She has two students with emotional disabilities (LB and DH) who are still very attached to her. It is in both of these students IEPs that they receive 45 minutes of push-in support in reading and language arts every day. Because I station co-teach with the Ms. W, I cannot fully support LB and DH while Im teaching. When they come up during a lesson and ask for help, I tell them that theyll have to wait until Im done with the lesson. This causes the students to get upset and their behaviors to escalate because theyre not getting the help they need right away. Mrs. K (my cooperating teacher) is supposed to be in the room at this time, but because Im in there she has stopped coming. In order for my intervention to be successful, before confronting her, I took time to process what I was going to say to her. I made a list of the behaviors Ive been seeing in the classroom since shes been gone. I decided to approach the conversation during our plan time by saying I think the students are having a hard time in reading without you. They approach me for support, but since Im working with other students I cant help them right away. Is there any way could push back in for support? She responded very well to this and apologized for not being there. She said, I will make sure Im in the room from 8:30-9:15 every day from now on. Day 6:

Overall, LB and DH work best with the teachers that theyre most comfortable and familiar with. Since they work with Mrs. Knight and I the most, they dont view other paraprofessionals or Ms. Whitehouse as their teachers. This has gotten worse as time has gone on because they dont want Ms. Whitehouses help in the classroom. Every time they have a question or need assistance, they ask for Mrs. Knight or myself. When Ms. Whitehouse goes to help them, they get frustrated and yell out that they dont want her. In order to fix this situation, I brainstormed possible solutions and decided that me not giving LB and DH as much support in the classroom would be helpful. I can show them that Im there to help other students in the classroom as well, so when Im with another student theyre only option is to receive help from Ms. Whitehouse. By doing this, theyll get more accustomed to working with her and see her as their teacher. In order to implement this, I wrote out a plan of action to discuss with Ms. W. We met during our collaboration time on Thursday and I told her that Im going to take some of my focus off of LB and DH. I discussed the possibility of their behaviors escalating due to not receiving support from me. She discussed her concerns about that issue as well. I told her, I will always be close by to intervene if their behaviors do escalate. Were going to move into them working with you just a little bit at a time. They need to learn generalize skills across different people and become more independent. She agreed to make an effort as long as they didnt act out more in the classroom. My intervention was very successful in this situation. I noticed there was an issue and was pro-active by coming up with solutions on my own. LB and DH shouldnt treat Ms. W

disrespectfully and I could tell it bothered her, but she never said anything. I think it made her happy that I supported her by letting LB and DH know that its not acceptable to treat her that way. Day 7: Ms. W was gone on Thursday and had a substitute. Ms. W had left lesson plans and materials, but the sub didnt know where a majority of the materials were. Since the students could pick up that the sub wasnt sure what to do the kids decided to do what they wanted by talking out, running around the classroom, refusing to do work, etc. The sub was very overwhelmed and ended up yelling Shut up! to the entire class. When this happened, I took control over the class. I told them, I know the expectations in this classroom and I know all of you do too. Just because there is a substitute in here, doesnt mean you can be disrespectful and not follow the rules. I am going to implement the reset system just like Ms. W does and write names down of the people that arent following expectations. After this, the students were quiet and got to work. I explained to the substitute what the rules, expectations, and consequences are in the classroom. Once she was clear on this, we worked as a team to control the classroom environment. If any students acted out, I wrote down on a sheet of paper their name and how they werent following expectations. I then gave Ms. W the sheet the next day and explained to her face-toface what happened. When school started, she had a talk with the class about their behavior and all of the students lost their recess. In this situation, my intervention was definitely effective. I stepped up in the classroom when I needed to in order to extinguish the conflict. I also documented everything that was going on in order to

let Ms. W know. Since she is the general education teacher, I thought it was her decision to decide what consequence the students should receive for their behavior. I realized through this interaction how much my competency in handling conflicts has improved. Day 8: Mrs. K and I decided to change LBs behavior plan because he was recently diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. We went over the new behavior plan with the principal, assistant principal, social worker, and Ms. W (the general education teacher). The first couple days of implementing the plan started off well, but then things started to go downhill fast. LB was flipping his desk over, screaming, throwing things, hitting people, etc. All of these behaviors were occurring in the general education classroom. I decided to observe LB in Ms. Ws during a time when he is typically safe in the classroom. Through my observations, I noticed that Ms. W was implementing his behavior plan incorrectly. This would make LB frustrated and he would tell Ms. W she was doing it wrong. Since LB has a track record of lying, when he would tell her she was wrong, she wouldnt believe him. After my observation, I collaborated with Mrs. K and told her what was going on. We scheduled a meeting with Ms. W after school and Mrs. K told me she wanted to handle the situation. I gave Mrs. K the notes from my observations and just sat in on their meeting. Although I didnt speak with Ms. W during the meeting, I still think my intervention was effective.

Personal reaction Write a summary of what you have observed in yourself, and give a personal reaction to the assignment. Through this assignment, I have observed myself growing a lot as a collaborator. I've observed that whenever a conflict or confrontation comes in between me and meeting my students needs, I step in and act on the spot. I clearly and actively communicate what I need in order to get assistance quickly. Before, I would just agree with veteran teachers because I didn't want to step on their toes. Also, instead of attempting to handle conflicts and confrontations before, I would avoid them. Whenever I would have a difference in opinion or problem, I would hold it in and keep my thoughts/feelings to myself. By having an intervention in place and taking time to process information/write things down, I was more confident in addressing conflicts. I also learned how to ask for feedback when I need help or advice. I learned how vital asking for feedback of my own performance is as well. I may think I'm teaching using the best teaching technique, but by having another teacher observe me and offer suggestions I can better reach my students. Im no longer afraid of hurting other peoples feelings by giving them my honest feedback. I have worked on my wording and tone in order to come off the right way. By doing this assignment and having an intervention in mind, it helped me to come out of my comfort zone. I needed to learn how to handle conflicts and confrontation at some point in my career, so Im glad I got a head start now during student teaching. By writing out the journals, it helped me to monitor my own performance as well. I could ensure I was following my interventions and implementing them during naturally occurring opportunities. Next year (as a first

year teacher), I will definitely use the strategies I have learned from this assignment and 426 in general to be a successful collaborator.