week 6 reflection

Last week we had a workshop on behavior management with Jo Weber. I had taken her class on Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed students a couple of years ago and she gave us the same information then that she gave at the workshop. It's amazing how much more of an impact it makes when you have specific children and situations in mind. I also don't know why we don't go over expectations with students more. They are only 6 and 7 years old, they need a lot of reminders simply because of their age. At the end of last week I started going over expectations before our lessons on the carpet and before we walked in the hallway. I saw a little bit of improvement on the carpet but I noticed more improvement in their behavior in the hallway. I'm thinking about starting a class reinforcement system for appropriate behavior during lessons. They would be able to earn extra recess on Fridays. This is just an idea that I had today that I still need to talk over with my CT. I've also started rewarding the students with stickers more frequently. I've noticed that the students who do not respond as well to verbal praise are coming around and starting to make a point to earn a sticker. The sticker is, of course, accompanied with verbal praise so that it can be reduced in frequency later on. I also realized that some of the behaviors that occur in the classroom that irritate me are simply just the way the room is set up. You have more behavior problems when students are crowded so it makes sense that I get irritated during carpet time. Not only are the students having trouble sitting still because there is no defined space, but I am feeling a little crowded which makes me more irritable. The students are also closer together so they are more likely to talk, play, or touch each other. And I'm not sure that I would have my students sitting in groups. A lot of the unnecessary talking that occurs is because the students are facing each other. I favor the idea of having group activities planned for a certain time of day so you just move the desks and/or chairs once during the day and then move them back before you go home. I also got some great tips for strategies to try with the child with autism so we can start working on him managing his own emotions and problems. My goal for this week is to make sure that I remember that the students are 6 and 7 and need lots of reminders and reinforcement. I'm also going to remember that my room would not have to be set up the same way as the class I'm in now.