ETEC 597 Journal # 3 - November 12

I am so excited about all the technology I learned this semester through this course. There were at least two technologies that I will integrate and continue to use. Those two technologies are Blogger.com and WetPaint.com. I have plans to use a blog site for my students so I can get them to journal and really make the site their own. Through blogging I hope to engage my students in learning especially by expressing their thoughts. I am especially excited about utilizing a classroom web page. I have seen a need to create a web page for my students and their parents. I will create a classroom site where my students will be invited to post comments and view the district calendar of upcoming holidays, as well as, testing days. I plan to post extra credit opportunities that my students can complete at home and bring to class. I believe that by doing this my students will be in the practice of being responsible since they will need to remember to bring the assignments to me. I also have plans to continue to update my WetPaint Wiki called "Friendly Connections." I am currently in the process of getting teens to join and get on board with viewing the site on a regular basis. I post upcoming events and class discussions. I plan on posting prayer requests and praises so that the teens can continue to pray for others. I didn't even know that these two technologies existed. Now that I have been exposed to these two technologies I will continue to use them and share them with others.

Some of my "Aha" moments have to include the MAPit activity. I was in awe at the amount of false information posted on the Internet. I was always under the assumption that what I pulled up on the Internet was, for the most part, true. I used numerous amounts of information I pulled off the Internet for research papers I completed in my undergraduate studies. Through the MAPit activity I learned to "weed out" the bad stuff and it opened my eyes that I truly can't believe everything I read. It has made me realize that I need to check for validity on everything I find especially if I am going to pass the information on to my students and others.

I will continue to utilize Blogger.com. I may not update my current one with new assignments unless we are informed to while continuing our graduate studies. I do plan on creating a new one for my family and friends. I will post information about events going on in my life and places I have been. I will pass on the website to my family and friends so that they can view it for updates. I noticed that once I created the blog for this course most of my friends had already created one. I have seen that a blog is not just informational for me, but a way to connect to others. I have been able to see what is going on in the lives of some of my old college friends and I have been able to stay connected with them. I have thoroughly enjoyed this course. There were times when it became overwhelming, but once I stuck with it and took the time to figure it out, I enjoyed all the new technologies.

Discipline Journal # 5 - My Discipline Model

My Discipline Model Name: The "Lemonator" Discipline Model ("When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!")

Brief, narrative description of the model

My model was named the Lemonator because it eliminates behavior problems that surface in my classroom as well as sports my last name. I think of my discipline model as a giant melting pot where I put several ingredients in to make one huge pot of "goodies." I use several of the discipline models that we learned about this semester. The Lemonator Discipline Model utilizes most of the discipline models. Each one of my students are different and what works for one student may not work with another. With that being said, I have to pick and choose different discipline models to use on my students.

I have listed the models that have been implemented in my classroom and have resulted in positive results for me.

Love & Logic Model
I have always enjoyed the Love & Logic Discipline Model by Jim Fay. Love & Logic focuses on the teacher becoming an instrument in getting students to find solutions to their own problems instead of relying on the teacher. The teacher's primary action is to confront while questioning. This action leads to the student to produce a logical and productive solution to his own problem. Dr. Levy sees misbehavior as a result of the student's poor sense of self-worth and the desire to avoid pain. The Love & Logic Discipline Model involves building the student's self esteem up so that they will feel more capable and better about themselves even after they are disciplined. As Dr. Levy explains, students are rational, capable, and want some control. He believes that their behavior is due to a self-conceived deficiency. I have discovered in my 4 years of teaching that my students are all capable of doing what I expect of them, but their acting out has something to do with problems at home or a lack of attention. When I use Love & Logic it is to keep from becoming trapped in a power struggle. I have many students who have to get the last word and who enjoy arguing. When one of my students smarts off or complains about my class I just give them a smile and give them a famous one liner: "Thanks for sharing." Each time I used it the student would completely shut down from arguing with me. Now I have found that my students will tell each other, "thanks for sharing."

Positive Discipline Model
The Fred Jones Model of classroom management consists of four elements. These elements are needed to make this model a success. They consist of limit setting, responsibility training, omission training, and a backup system. I use many of the elements from this model. I use proximity a lot in my classroom. While my students are doing independent learning activities I walk around the classroom. I pay especially close attention to my disruptive students by watching their every move. When I notice one of my students off task I walk up to their desk and help them find the answer to the problem. I reach in with my finger or with my hand to get them back on task. I may point to a particular sentence or I may turn their book to the correct page to find an answer. When I am lecturing or explaining a concept and some students begin to start talking I stop what I am saying and I "camp out" on my cart. I await a reaction from the class. Eventually the students who figured out that I was waiting for talking to cease will tell the other students to be quiet. Another component from this model I use is the eye contact. If I have a student who is misbehaving while I am sitting at my desk I look up at them and make eye contact. The student immediately stops what he was doing that was inappropriate and begins to work. I have always been a teacher that will take one of my misbehaving students out into the hallway, which I call my office, for a discussion on their behavior. I have found that taking the time to speak to them about their behavior makes them aware that the behavior they are displaying is inappropriate and will not be tolerated. I am amazed at how much those little private conferences help eliminate their acting out.

Assertive Discipline Model
This model created by Lee Canter consists of stating and teaching expectations early before problems arise. It also focuses on the teacher developing a positive relationship with her students. On the first day of school I immediately begin to discuss my expectations. I walk my students through a powerpoint that I created which go over the Mesquite ISD Code of Conduct and my classroom rules. I keep my rules posted up in the classroom so that they will always be reminded what is expected. I try to keep my main rules to a minimum of 5 so that they can be easily remembered. I would say that I have an excellent rapport with my students. I have never had a student tell me that they don't like me. I have developed the relationship at the beginning of the school year. At the beginning of the school year I may not be a very soft teacher, but my students understand my rules and expectations. Once I realize that my students understand those expectations I am able to lighten up on them. My students may think of me as mean the first few months of school because I do not let anything slide by me. I write them up for everything out of compliance with my rules or the Mesquite ISD rules. Then once my students understand that I am consistent with discipline they begin to do as I expect. I built rapport with my students by engaging them in conversations about their weekend or their interest. I have students who tell me everything about their life, the good with the bad where they wouldn't share it with any other teacher. I have found that it is difficult for some teachers to develop a relationship with their students because they do not treat them with respect. I have a couple of students who cannot get along with any of their other teachers. I have discovered that they cuss out the teachers, walk out of the classroom, and become disrespectful to them. However these same students are some of my favorites. One in particular always addresses me with respect and adheres to my expectations. It isn't hard to develop a relationship with students. They just have to know that you really do care about them and not just a paycheck. My students constantly ask me if I will be their teacher next year. I ask them why and they tell me it is because they don't want any other teacher. One student stated that if I wasn't his teacher next year he was going to drop out of school because he wants me to teach him until he graduates. I take that as a compliment. Besides teach, the only thing I do for my students is listen without judging. Most of the time they want to fill me in on their lives, but without criticism.

Discipline Preventative Model
The teachers in this model demonstates "with-it-ness," overlapping, smoothness, momemtum, and group alerting. In my classroom and in the hallways I have always practiced "with-it-ness." I just didn't know what it was called until I was introduced to this discipline model. I am constantly aware of what is going on around me. Most people describe it as observant. I can credit my ability to be observant to my undergraduate studies. I majored in Sociology so most of my classes required us to go out into the world and observe how people interacted with one another. I have found that I cannot just simply sit at my desk and play on my computer as most teachers do. If I am using my computer for anything I am constantly aware of what is going on in my classroom. I pick up on every noise, giggle, snicker, etc. This skill of "with-it-ness" has made my job as a teacher stressful at times. I am always the one who has confrontation with students and has broken up altercations in the hallway. While most of my colleagues choose to ignore student's behavior out of the classroom I am the one left to handle the problems. One teacher teases me that I am always in the middle of something. When I am helping one student at her desk I look around to make sure the rest of the class is working. I am like a constant radar detecting every misbehavior and every movement my students make. Another concept of the preventative discipline that I use is smoothness and momentum. Once my lecture is over I leave my students to complete their independent learning activities. If there are announcements that I need to make I either make them before I begin my lecture or I wait until the last 10 minutes of class when my students are beginning to prepare for their next class. I have trained my students to follow the lesson plan on the board. I have posted on the board everything we will accomplish during that class time. I even go to the lengths of numbering each activity. My students know that as soon as they come in the room they grap a book and begin with whatever #1 says then so on. They are not allowed to move on to any questions until after we have read the section aloud. Once I have read the section and lectured, my students know to do the remining of the objectives on their own. Once they finish the bell ringer or the section reviews, they know to go on to the next assignment. I also pre-sort all the worksheets and handouts so that I don't waste time passing them out individually. I count out the number of papers I need for each row and then I have my students pass them back. When I utilize group alerting I randomly call on students to read or answer my question. I used to just go down the row until I learned about this model. Now I have sort of a "stick pull" where I pull out random names to participate. Once a name has been called they go into the discard pile until they are all used up and then I start drawing from the discard pile.

Overt Teacher Behaviors
Empathetic response
Posted classroom rules/expectations
Verbal recognition
Skeeter Shout Outs
One Liners
PAT Time: Review basketball, BAM boards

Covert Teacher Behaviors
One Sentence Interventions
"Camping Out"
Proximity
"Evil eye"
Palms on desk
Moving In
Circle room
Mentioning student's name

Educational Insights
What glimpses, indications, signals, warnings, or advice would you offer to a new teacher based on your experiences and your new knowledge gained from this course?

When I think back on my first year of teaching I can't help but wish I could go back to that year. I wouldn't want to go back to being unexperienced, but I would like to go back and correct my mistakes. I am sure my students 4 years ago knew that I didn't know what I was doing. I have been teaching for 4 years and I feel that I have matured so much in these 4 years. I feel that I have learned so much from my experiences and mistakes. I have more control of my students and I feel like I know what I am doing.

I would offer several tips to new teachers such as,

1) Do not be afraid to discipline your students. My first year I don't think I wrote but 3 referrals the whole year because I didn't want confrontation and I didn't want to hurt my students' feelings. I wanted them to like me so that I could be their favorite teacher. I quickly learned in my second year of teaching that I had to be stern. I discovered that students will still respect you even after you discipline them.

2) I would tell them not to be afraid to change discipline methods. I think too often some teachers keep their same discipline techniques from year to year. The technique that worked 20 years ago when they started teaching doesn't work for this generation of students. I would encourage the new teacher to combine several aspects from different models to use in the classroom. Each model has important elements that can be used in the classroom. Just as we do with food, we have to sample many different things to see what we like and don't like. Every 7 years even our taste buds change. What we didn't like 7 years ago is something that we do like now. What discipline model we didn't like 7 years ago may be worth trying again.

3) I would also tell them not to believe what other teachers say about students to be true. It is obvious that some teachers just don't enjoy their job and their attitude conflicts with others especially students. I have found that some of my colleagues' worse students have turned out to be the ones that I look forward to seeing in my classroom. It has been my experience that I would hear a group of teachers discussing a particular student in lounge and I would believe that the student they were discussing was just awful. I would panic when I noticed that same student on my roll for the following year. I would have a preconceived notion that this student was going to be horrible, but then I gave him a chance to prove himself to be good. Once I saw for myself that this student was not so bad I quickly stopped judging students.

4) I would inform them to take the time at the beginning of the year to establish their expectations with the students. Instead of doing fun getting acquainted activities the first 2 days, go over the school's rules and your own rules. Instead of compiling a list of rules that they would forget I would tell the new teacher to come up with no more than 5 good ones. I always make one of my rules to comply with the Mesquite ISD handbook and that takes care of all the extra rules.

5) It is important to develop a good rapport with your students. They tend to do as you ask if they know that you care for them. Each student comes with a heavy load on their shoulders and a lot of responsibility at home. When they come to school they feel that they can do nothing right. If they feel that their teachers care about them then they will feel safe. They will no longer have to put up protective barriers to isolate themselves. I have found that I seem to have less discipline problems in the classroom because my students enjoy me as much as I enjoy them. Sometimes we have down time when we discuss issues and they share with me things going on in their lives. I have found that each time my students open up to me they share a private part of their lives which helps me understand how I can help them both academically and emotionally.

Strengths
Some of the strengths of my discipline model is being flexible. I am not set in stone on how I handle a situation. Each student is different and each situation is different. By being able to be flexible and rolling with the punches, my model allows me to take care of numerous discipline problems that arise. By developing a rapport with my students the discipline problems cease and become rare. By always being aware of what my students are doing in the classroom the potential of behavior problems decreases. When a student knows that his teacher is constantly moving around the classroom he won't have time to come up with a plan to act out or do something out of compliance to the class or school rules.

Limitations
If a teacher doesn't build a rapport with her students then my discipline model will not be as successful. It requires more patience than most teachers are willing to give. When I had trouble with some defiant students in my classroom I would handle it in my classroom. I would separate the group or move one of the students to my desk. I would put up with a lot of frustrations, but I dealt with it. Some of my fellow teachers would constantly remind me that I didn't have to put up with what happened in my classroom and they would encourage me to send the student straight to the office. I always gave my students second and third chances to straighten up. I believe that my patience has also be a contributing factor to my classroom discipline model being successful.

Why do you believe that your model will work with students?
I believe that this will work because I have been doing it for the past couple of years and I haven't had near the amount of discipline problems as my peers. I teach students with disabilities that range from ADHD to MR. My toughest classes are always my freshmen class during 3rd period, however, the problems I have with these same group of freshmen doesn't even come close to the problems these same group of students give their other teachers. My model treats students with respect which I in turn receive from them. It gives them a second chance to prove themselves as respectful students who are capable of adhering to my expectations.

SED 500 Discipline Journal #4

Incident #1 Dress Code
A. November 20, 2008
B. During 1B (after hall duty)
C. When I was on hall duty, a group of 4 Hispanic girls were walking around. I stopped and asked them where they were supposed to be and they said that they had just gotten to school. One of the girls was a size small and was wearing an XL out of dress code zip up jacket. I asked her to hand me the jacket since our campus enforces the "bag and tag it" policy. The "bag and tag" policy is when someone is wearing a jacket out of dress code we are supposed to take it up and put it in a trash bag where it is to be stored until the end of the year. She said that she was on her way to her locker to put it up. I told her to put it up and if I saw her with it again I would take it. I left my hall duty and headed to the office when I saw the same group of students walking towards me. It had been at least 40 minutes since I saw them last and the same girl was wearing the same jacket. Needless to say, she didn't put the jacket up in her locker and the girls still didn't make it to class. I approached the girls and they tried to walk past me. I asked the young lady to hand me the jacket since I had already warned her once. She responded that I wasn't going to get her jacket and she wasn't going to give it to me. I asked her 3 times and each time she refused. Then I told her that we could just walk into the office since she refused to give me the jacket. Then she said that she wasn't going to go to the office either. Finally after about 5 minutes, her friend convinced her to give me the jacket. Instead of handing me the jacket, the student threw her jacket at me. Instead of dealing with that issue I decided to leave it alone and walk away. I told her thank you and began walking away from the girls. When I walked into the office, Mrs. Marshall (the Principal) was in the hallway. I joked with her about confiscating a jacket that was thrown at me. We laughed because now the student will not ever be able to get her jacket back because she didn't even give me her name to write on the bag.
D. Since she gave me the jacket there were no other disciplinary actions to take. I just turned the jacket inside out so no one could see the designs and try to claim it for their own and placed it in the white trash bag. On the label I wrote my name and the date.
E. If I could do it over again there isn't anything I would have done differently. I followed the procedure and kept my cool when I had to deal with the student the second time. If anything I might have investigated where the girls were supposed to be instead of letting them walk around the school.

Incident #2 Trespassing / Insubordination
A. November 21, 2008
B. During 4A towards end of the period
C. I teach Modified BCIS for about 9 students who are enrolled in CBVI. Since they all ride the special education buses we leave about 10 minutes before the bell to beat the rush of other students. Every day there are about 5 students who are hanging out on campus. We have warned the students that if they are on campus when they are supposed to be home then they will be given a ticket for trespassing. After numerous warnings these guys still hang out on campus. I didn't know their names, but I did know one student's name. He was one of my students. I asked them to go around the school building and not walk into the breezeway. The group of students knew that I was outnumbered and didn't know their names so they proceeded to ignore my requests including my student. So the next day I asked one of the administrators what to do. He indicated that I needed to write him up for insubordination and for trespassing.
D. I received the referral in my box the next day and he was given a 4 hour Saturday School. I don't feel that this was an appropriate consequence since it is a continuous thing with him. I think he should have received one day ISS since he can't stay off campus and obviously wants to be here. I think if he is made to sit in ISS until 5 o'clock he would think twice about being on campus when he should be at home.
E. I think I handled everything well. Instead of just writing him up on a referral I checked with an administrator and we both agreed on the disciplinary action. Since that day I have no longer seen him hanging out on campus. I have recently found out the other students' names and I am ready to write them up for the same thing if I see them on campus again.

Incident #3 Tardy #4 and #5
A. November 22, 2008
B. During 3A
C. I have this one student who walks in late. She used to be on time, but lately she has started coming in late. After the 2nd tardy, students receive immediate referrals. I sent the student to the office after lunch so that she would have time to eat before going to the office. We go to lunch at 12:35 - 1:05. So I sent her at 1:10. She didn't make it back to my room until 2:10 which was just 5 minutes left of the period. I looked on the referral she received and she was dismissed from the office at 1:40. She had been walking around for over 45 minutes. When I asked her what took her so long to get to class she said that she was talking to a teacher in the hallway. When I investigated it a little further, the teacher thought that she had that lunch period and let her stand there and talk to a group of girls. I asked an administrator what to do. The student was with another teacher, but that student knew she was supposed to be in class.
D. We decided that she should be written up for skipping and she received one day of ISS.
E. I feel that the consequence was appropriate since she skipped my class. I am really glad that they didn't just give her a warning. This student has started walking in late and has started exhibiting behaviors that are not appropriate and if she "got off" then I believe she would have felt she controls the school. I wouldn't have done anything differently since I checked with an administrator and the two of us decided on the disciplinary action.

Incident #4 Dress Code (Jeans)
A. November 21, 2008
B. During 3A
C. The tardy bell had just rung when the same student from the above incident came in with her sixth tardy. After I sent her to the office I looked over and noticed two of my other students sitting in jeans. One of the girls had on a really dark pair of jeans that looked like regular pants until you got closer. The other girl had on gray jeans. They had made it all day in the jeans with no one stopping them. So I was very frustrated that it was now 3rd period on a Friday afternoon and I had to be the one to handle the situation. The girls begged for me not to send them to the office because one of the girls got out after my class and the other girl had just gotten back from MIC. I asked them why they wore jeans and the dark jean student told me that she didn't have anything else washed but her jeans and that other one just wanted to wear it because it was Friday. Then she told me that she had a pair of pants that were in dress code in her bag, but she didn't want to wear them. I told them that it wasn't fair for me to send the tardy student to the office everyday and not send them down for a flagrant dress code violation. After about 10 minutes of me taking time to write the referrals and listening to the begging me not to write them up, I sent them on their way.
D. One of the girls received a Saturday School while the other one in the gray jeans received one day of ISS.
E. I believe that the consequences were appropriate. The one who received a Saturday School hadn't been to the office very often and was getting out after my class and I think her disciplinary action was appropriate. I think they should have been consistent and had given the other girl the same disciplinary action, but since she had a prior record and had the other pair of pants in her bag I think she received an appropriate consequence. I wouldn't have done anything differently in this situation.

Incident #5 Cell Phone
A. November 21, 2008
B. During lunch
C. I was walking to the lounge to get my lunch while avoiding the large crowd of students walking towards me to go to the cafeteria. I noticed one student in the clearing of the crowd texting on his cell phone. I stopped and asked him to hand me his phone. He gave it to me without hesitation and then he gave me his name. After lunch the student came to my classroom and told me that another teacher had told him to put his phone up and turn it off because his dad was trying to call him so that is why he was on the phone in the hallway. He kept trying to convince me to give his phone back. I told him that when I saw him I had already been watching him for about 10 seconds and he wasn't turning off the phone, he was texting on it.
D. I had another teacher run the phone up to the office with his name and information on it since I had to get back to class. The disciplinary action depends on if his phone was taken up before or not. It this was his first time then he will just have to pay $15 and wait 24 hours. However, if this was his 3rd time then he will have to pay the $15 and not get his phone back until the end of the school year.
E. I feel that I handled this situation well. When I take up cell phones from students I know that if I let them off the hook I am not helping support other teachers. We all must be consistent in order for the school to run smoothly. Too often I hear that teachers give phones back to students as a warning, but I know those same students have been warned several times before that. So I like to think that when I take their cell phone up I am taking it up for all the other warnings that they might have already been given.

Incident #6 Cell Phone
A. December 1, 2008
B. During 1st period/Hall Duty
C. I was standing outside in the freezing cold for my duty when I looked up and saw a girl texting on her phone. I almost didn't notice her because she was walking with about 20 other girls. The All Stars had just finished practicing in the small gym and were on their way back to the locker room. This one student was in the middle of the crowd, but her mannerisms stood out so I noticed her. I told her that phones are not allowed on campus and that she needed to put it away. She gave me an attitude as she shoved it in her pocket. I then told her, "You know what? Never mind, just give me your phone." Surprisingly she gave it to me without any hesitation. I asked for her name so I could tag it as her phone.
D. Once I finished my 45 minutes in the 50 degrees weather, I walked her cell phone to the office. It was then that I followed procedure by putting the phone in a white envelope and filled out all the necessary information. Usually the procedure for cell phone disciplinary actions varies according to how many times her phone has been taken up by faculty. If it is her first time, which I doubt, then her phone will be kept for 24 hours and she will have to pay the $15.00 to get it back. If this was her 3rd time she won't be getting the phone back until the end of the year.
E. If I could do it over again, I would have given the phone to the All Star coordinator so that she could have handled it. Her punishment might have been worth more than what the office would do for her.

Incident #7 Insubordination / Walking Around
A. December 1, 2008
B. During hall duty / 1st period
C. I saw a group of students walking towards me. One girl in particular stood out because her shirt was hanging down past her knees and her shoes were out of dress code. I had already seen these same group of students walking around in the main hall so I approached them. I asked to see their passes. The student out of dress code is the only one of them that pulled out a pass. However, when this girl showed me her pass, it was more of a "flash." I told her that I wanted to see the pass in my hand. We have had a group of students using old passes they received so they can walk the halls so we were advised to check the time and date on all the passes. She kept trying to walk past me. I tried to step in front of her to stop her and she would go the other direction. Finally one of the girls she was with took the pass from her and told her to just show me the pass. The student was supposed to go to ISS and she was walking around the school. I told them to get to where they were supposed to be and I told them I didn't want to see them out walking around again.
D. I ended up E-mailing the teacher who signed her pass to let him know that she was up walking around the whole campus instead of going to ISS. I am not sure if anything was turned in since he hasn't e-mailed me yet.
E. I feel that I handled the situation well. I thanked the friend for being so respectful and helpful in assisting me with the student. If I had to do it over again, I think I would have personally walked her to ISS to make sure she made it and stopped walking around campus.

Incident #8 Tardy #3
A. December 1, 2008
B. During 3B / US History
C. One of my students walked in from lunch 5 minutes after the tardy bell. When he signed the sheet I noticed that he was on his 3rd tardy. According to the tardy policy, the student is to be sent to the office with a referral.
D. I wrote a referral documenting all the days he was tardy and when I contacted his parent. He showed me his referral and it indicated that he was given one day of ISS. He is rarely late to my class, but apparently it is a problem for other classes. So since it was only his 3rd tardy for me, it was one more too many.
E. I felt that I handled the situation well. Neither the student or I were engaged in a verbal battle. This particular student is one of my favorite students and he respects me enough to know that he was in the wrong and that I had to send him to the office.

Incident #9 Shaving
A. December 1, 2008
B. During 3A / US History
C. When my students walked back into the classroom from lunch I noticed one of my students hadn't shaved from the long holiday weekend. It was so obvious I don't know how I missed it at the beginning of class. I had already given him warnings when the facial hair wasn't as bad so I sent him down to the office. I wrote the referral to indicate a violation of dress code for not shaving.
D. My student never made it back to class from the office so I am sure he was either waiting for an administrator since the lunch period is a crazy one. Usually the policy states that students will receive one day of ISS for being out of dress code so I am sure that is what he received.
E. I believe that I handled this situation well. I had given him several warnings because he gets out of school after my class and I didn't ever see a point to send him down when he was going to leave within the hour. Since this facial hair was so obvious and I had given him several warnings there was nothing else I wanted to do, but write him up for a dress code violation.

Incident #10 Language
A. December 1, 2008
B. During 3B / US History
C. I was walking back into class from being out in the hallway between classes when I heard one of my female students yell out, "My n******!" Since the whole class heard it clearly and I heard it clearly there was no mistake that the comment was made. She said that it was an accident and she didn't mean to say it. She claimed it just "slipped out." Since the policy in my class states that all inappropriate language will result in an office referral including slip ups, I sent her to the office.
D. The student came back to class with a referral indicating that she received one day of Saturday school. I figured since it was a slip up she didn't get as severe a punishment as other students who use inappropriate language.
E. I feel that I handled this situation well. If I could do it over again I probably would have let her off with a warning, but then if I did I would have to do it for the rest of my class. If the whole class didn't hear it I probably would have let her off with a warning and no one would have known.

II. The Model I Implemented

Assertive Discipline Model

Summary of the Model

Assertive discipline is defined as a structured, systematic approach designed to assist educators in running an organized, teacher-in-charge classroom environment. This model focuses on the teacher's right to determine what is best for her students, and to expect compliance in regards to her established classroom rules and procedures. It is aimed at teacher's developing a positive, trusting relationship with their students and teaching them appropriate classroom behavior.

How I Implemented the Strategy

I am a firm believer in rewarding desired behavior. I usually give verbal praises to my students who do what I ask of them. I decided to try to implement the post it note recognition that was demonstrated in our last class. I cut colored index cards into 2 pieces. Then on each card I put a smiley face sticker. As my students worked on their assignments I walked around the room. If I saw a student working quietly I would place the smiley faced card on his desk. I did this for about 10 minutes. At the closing of the class period I heard my students asking each other how many smiley faces they each received. When one student got more than the others they would make a comment that the next time they would get more smiley faced cards.

What Worked and What Didn't

The only problem I found with doing this activity was that I tended to give more to my "favorite" students and not to the students who usually irritate me. I already had a mind set that my good students would do well and do as I requested so when I walked by their desks I gave them the sticker. Of course while I was walking around the room looking for students who were working quietly I came across my "bad students" who weren't doing as they were supposed to so I just walked right past their desks. The stickers worked well for the most part. When the students got the stickers their faces would light up. Even if they didn't show their happiness, I could tell in their mannerisms that they were happy to get a sticker.

Reflection of the Strategy

I really enjoyed passing out the stickers. In a way I felt like I was handing out smiles for the day. When my students were having a bad day I would give them a sticker for doing what I asked of them and then their whole outlook on the day changed. Their moods were more pleasant in the classroom and they seemed to have enjoyed the class time better. This strategy is one that I will continue to use. I will especially try harder to give them to my normally "bad students" to see if the sticker changes their outlook and their attitudes.

ETEC 597 Journal #2 - October 8th

Information literacy is being able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use information for a topic or issue through the Internet. I never thought about the possibility of information I find on the Internet being false. When I think about all the information I took off Google to compose papers in my undergraduate studies and all the information I pulled off Google to use in my classroom, I can't help but feel ignorant. I never once thought about the possibility of the information being untrue or fabricated. I was fairly new on using the Internet in college because it was then that I received my first computer ever. No one really taught me about how to research effectively. I didn't know people could post information without being censored or reviewed for authenticity. I honestly thought that the people who worked for Google had employees who sat down at desks and researched all the information to make sure it was the truth and then posted it. I was guilty of pulling up the first link that appeared in Google and using it because I thought it was the closest, true information found for my particular search. The MAPit activity really opened my eyes to the amount of false information posted daily on the Internet. The Martin Luther King activity really bothered me. If I was researching Martin Luther King I probably would have used some information on that website without even noticing all the racial remarks. It is really kind of scary to find out that kind of information is readily available for everyone. This MAPit activity has undoubtedly opened my eyes to be more careful when relying on the Internet. I have started passing on what I learned to collegues, family, and friends. I want them to be more aware of the fabricated information posted on the Internet. Many of them use Google to conduct research and most likely click on the fist thing that pulls up. Through the exercise I learned that Google lists information based on how many "hits" that site received not by the most reliable source. How many people used fabricated information without realizing it?? How many others have passed on that fabricated information to their students? If the cycle continues this new generation will undoubtedly receive false information and believe it to be true. Our students will be misled into believing what they read to be the truth and will then pass it on to others. Eventually it would result in the generation becoming less intelligent because they will believe everything they read to be true. I plan to use Altavista more as well as other search engines. This exercise also opened my eyes to other search engines. I just always used Google because I hear about it more than other search engines. I wonder if you could do a Google search on other search engines. That would be information I could use in the future.

SED 500 Discipline Journal #3

Incident #1 Cell Phone
A. October 23,2008
B. 4th lunch
C. I was on my way back to my classroom when I came across a group of male student standing out in the breezeway. When the students are at lunch they are not allowed to leave the cafeteria and these guys were out in the breezeway. I decided to redirect them back into the cafeteria. When I got closer to the group I noticed that one guy was texting on his cell phone. I asked him to give me his phone and he refused. I told him that since he is refusing that he would need to go with me to the office. On the way to the office I explained to him that a refusal to give up a cell phone resulted in an automatic 2 days ISS. I asked him if he had ever been in ISS and he said that he hadn't. Then I told him to get prepared to sit on tiny stools until 5 o'clock. He was quiet the rest of the way. Once we got to the office, I had him sign in and sit down. I began to fill out his referral and he came back up to me and told me that he didn't want to go to ISS so he wanted to give me his phone. At this point I had already finished the referral. I told him that he was already too late because it was already written. I asked him why he didn't give me the phone in the first place. He explained that he didn't have $15 to get his cell phone back. Then he told me that he had a bad experience with another teacher and thought I was going to be mean like her. As a result he immediately gave me an attitude. Once I started talking to him I began to realize he was not a bad student. He actually was quite a pleasant young man. I told him that I know he isn't a bad student, but that he just made a bad decision. I told him that if he had just handed it over to me in the first place we wouldn't have had a confrontation and he could have seen that I wasn't a mean teacher.
D. Once he gave me his phone I sealed it in the white envelope which is our policy regarding the procedures for cell phones. I then added to his referral that he did give me the phone. Since he eventually gave it to me I am hoping that the office will only give him a detention since it was his first offense.
E. After this incident happened I walked back to my room and I felt horrible. If this student and I had met under a different circumstance I think we would have gotten along well. I felt that I shouldn't have acted so "pushy" about him giving me his cell phone. I think that if I tried to counsel with him a little better on the way to the office instead of using my sarcasm then he might have given me the phone earlier. I think that once I talked to him about his decision I feel that we bonded. When we parted ways I told him to have a great day and he told me the same. I think if I see him again we might exchange greetings.

Incident #2 Cell Phone
A. October 29, 2008
B. End of 1st period
C. I was leaving the library when came across a group of students walking towards me. One of the students had her cell phone out and when she saw me she quickly shoved the cell phone in her shirt. I approached the young lady and asked her to hand me her phone. She walked past me like she didn't even hear me. I stepped in front of her and tried to direct her to the office. She started yelling, "don't touch me.". I informed the young lady that I had no desire to touch her and that I just needed her to walk with me to the office. She kept trying to walk around me so I put my arms up to block her. She kept trying until finally she figured out that I was not going to give up so finally she gave up. She began walking slowly behind me as we walked towards the office. On the way to the office she managed to pick up a friend who she carried a conversation with all the way to the office. I kept reminding her that we were headed to the office because she kept walking at an angle away from where I was going. She of course let me know that she knew where we were going. I believe that she managed to pass her phone off to the friend because I later found out she no longer had the cell phone in her possession. Once we entered the office she refused to sign in. She just stood in the middle of the office. I asked her 3 times to sign in and she kept arguing that she didn't have a cell phone so she wasn't going to sign anything. When I got closer to her she again kept yelling, "Don't touch me!!" I reminded her, again, that I had no intention on touching her. She created such a scene in the office that the secretaries called for the SROs to come to the office. Once they got there they saw what I was dealing with in there. They explained to her whether she was in trouble or not it was procedure that anytime a student comes to the office they must show they were there by signing in. She again refused to sign the sheet. We asked her what her name was and she refused to give it to us. Eventually after about 10 minutes of arguing with her they got her to sign in. When she signed in she just stood at the counter. We asked her to have a seat and again she refused. I had to write her up for insubordination and disrespect to school personnel. Since she didn't give me her name I walked over to where she signed in. I stood close to her because I knew she was trying to intimidate me and I was going to let her know that she was not scaring me. I put my paper right next to her as I began copying her name and grade on the referral. I placed the completed form in the box and began to walk away. The SROs had to come back and get her to sit down. After about 5 minutes of arguing with them she finally sat down. When I left the office she stared me down. So I looked in her direction waved and told her to have a nice day.
D. I received a copy of the referral in my box the next day. The referral had another comment added from an administrator. It stated that the administrator was asking her some questions and she told her to get out of her face. So the student was given 1 day of ISS and 5 days of MIC.
E. I can guarantee that this student will hold a grudge against me so all relationships have been affected. If I had to do it over again, I think I wouldn't have used so much sarcasm. I couldn't help, but come back with a smart remark every time she tried to take control of the situation. The sarcasm didn't make matters better. I have taken several classes on Love & Logic and I couldn't even remember then during the heat of this situation. It seems to me that this student doesn't have much respect for herself of others, especially those in authority positions. The way she disobeyed was one thing, but then disobeying the SROs shows me that she has no respect for anyone.

Incident # 3 Cell Phone
A. October 29, 2008
B. During 2nd lunch
C. I was on my way to lunch when I saw a girl walking towards me on her phone. I asked the girl to hand me her phone and she flat out refused. Since I was on my way to lunch I asked her to come with me to my room. There I wrote her name down and told that I would send a referral down for her later. I asked her why she was on her phone and she said that she was trying to get money from her mom for lunch. I sent her on her way and wrote the referral later. I had one of my students walk the referral down to the office later during the period.
D. The student received 2 days of ISS for insubordination. I am sure her record was blocked for $15 since she refused to give it to me. Of course, unless she gave it up to the office.
E. If I could do this over again, I would have escorted her to the office instead of waiting to deal with it later. I think the waiting time for her wasn't best because I am sure after she left my room she got back on her phone.

Incident #4 Cell Phone
A. October 31, 2008
B. During 4B - before pep rally
C. I was walking out of CMC and I saw a group of students just standing around when they should be headed to the pep rally. In one group of students was one student who was talking on his cell phone. I walked up to him and asked him to hand me his cell phone. He continued to talk on the phone while looking at me in the eyes. It was as if he were letting me know that I wasn't going to be able to take his phone away from him. Once he got off the phone I asked for him to give it to me again. He asked why and I explained to him that it was school policy and he wasn't allowed to use his cell phone. Then he just turned the other direction and ran off down the hallway. I wasn't about to chase him down the hallway so I remembered his face and I was determined to find out who he was. I woke up Monday morning and thought about how I was going to find this student since I didn't know his name. Then when I walked to the office that Monday morning there sat the student. He noticed me first and then he ducked down to hide his face from me. I walked out of the office and it dawned on me who he was. So I walked back into the office and walked over to him. He was in complete shock that I had found him. I asked him what his name was and he told me. I began writing his name down on the referral. He told me he was a freshman so it indicated that on the referral as well. The discipline secretary told me to place his referral in his folder which was already sitting on the top cabinets waiting to see an administrator. When I looked through the folders I couldn't see his name. I then found out he gave me the wrong information. So I took his referral and added that he gave me false identification and lied to me about his name.
D. I am not sure what his consequence was since I left him in the office. I haven't received anything in my box indicating what his discipline was.
E. I don't feel that our relationship was affected because during our discussion in the office I was teasing him about how he ran away from me. He was laughing and carrying on about how he was only protecting his friend's phone from being taken. Since this day happened the student still greets me in the hallway and we joke about how many times he has been to the office since. There really wasn't anything I could have done to make this situation better. I was fortunate to have stumbled into the office to find the student that ran from me sitting in the office.

Incident #5 Tardy
A. November 3, 2008
B. During 3rd period
C. One of my students came in class two minutes after the tardy bell. Since this was his third tardy I had him sign the tardy sheet. I began writing a referral for his tardy since the policy indicates an office referral is to be given. He began to argue with me regarding whether not he was tardy. He argued that he walked in as the bell was ringing when in fact he was late. I told him it was not up for debate so he was just wasting his time. I wrote him up and sent him on his way. He was in the office most of the class period. When he came back to class, he didn't have his referral. He said they were too busy in the office so he was sent back. I checked with the discipline secretary to make sure he was telling the truth. She did verify that he was sent back and would be called down later.
D. The student was called down to the office during 4th period. He was given a 30 minute detention for Wednesday after school.
E. If I had it to do over again I think I would have waited until after lunch. He wasted valuable class time sitting in the office waiting to see an administrator. If I had waited he could have had his classwork completed. There weren't any relationships affected since the student knew that I was right. He understood that I stuck to the policy and followed the proper procedures.

Incident #6 Language
A. November 3, 2008
B. During lunch in the hallway
C. I was walking back from lunch when I heard one of my students cussing while telling a story to one of her friends. I asked my student to come to me as I walked into my room. She didn't come to my room. So I walked outside and didn't see her. I knew what classroom she was in so I walked down the hallway and asked her to come with me. She already knew that she was going to be in trouble and that is why she hid from me. I spoke to her regarding her language and she was very apologetic. She explained to me that she didn't mean to cuss, but she forgot she was at school and the word just "slipped out." I gave her a warning and told her that if I hear her cussing again, either by accident or not, that I was going to write her up and give her a ticket. The next day she stormed into my room and demanded to know why I wrote her up. Apparently another student in my class had told her that I wrote her up for cussing the day before. I informed her that the student she got her information from had no idea what she was talking about and that she had no business coming to me in such a forceful and disrespectful way. I told her that it wasn't her business who I was writing up, but that she was not the one I wrote up. She again was apologetic and made her friend apologize to me for telling her the wrong information.
D. Since I spoke with the student regarding her language and gave her a warning, there were no other consequences. She now knows that if I hear her using obscene language that I will no longer give her a warning and the consequence will be the office.
E. Since she is one of my students the relationship was not affected. I believe that since I gave her a warning I gained her respect and she will know that the next time it happens it was because it was procedure. If I had to do it over again, I might not have given her a warning especially if I had known she would have been so disrespectful the next day.

Incident #7 Skipping
A. November 4, 2008
B. During 4B
C. I was on my way to CMC when I noticed a group of Hispanic students standing around in a circle after the tardy bell rang. I told the crowd to either get to class or leave campus if they had early release. As the crowd began to leave I noticed that one of the students was one of my kids. He is a sophomore and I know that he has a class 4B. He apparently skips 4B every day since it is an outdoor PE class. When I got to CMC I wrote a referral for his skipping. Then I contacted his teacher to let him know.
D. I am not sure of the consequence since the office has been backed up. Some students aren't being seen for a referral from 2 weeks ago. Usually the procedure for skipping is ISS so I am sure that will be his consequence.
E. If I had to do it over again I would have approached the student and either escort him back to his class or to the office. I believe that I have a good rapport with this student. He skips all his other classes, but mine. He comes to me for other problems and he lets me know what is going on in his life. Apparently I am the only teacher he says, "yes ma'am" to. He knows that when I write him up it is because it is my job and not because I don't like him.

Incident #8 Tardy
A. November 5, 2008
B. During 1A
C. One of my students walked into class 5 minutes after the tardy bell. I asked him to sign the tardy sheet which is the procedure for tardies. He began to argue with me that he had just gotten to school and thought that he was supposed to be in ISS. He said that he went to ISS and they told him that he wasn't in ISS that day. So then he came to class. I told him that I was sorry to hear that he was confused, but he still needed to sign the tardy sheet. Then he told me that his bus was late. So I decided that he was just lying to try to get out of signing the tardy sheet. I continued to ask him to sign the tardy sheet. He refused to sign the sheet so I told him it didn't matter whether he signed it or not. He was still going to get a detention for his second tardy. I filled out the tardy sheet and filled out the detention slip. I asked him if he wanted to serve his detention on Tuesday or Thursday and if he wanted to serve it before or after school.
D. The student chose to serve his 30 minute detention before school on Tuesday. I reminded him that the detention will be in ISS and will begin at 8:00 so he needed to be there on time or he will be given another detention, possibly for an hour.
E. For this situation there wasn't anything I would have changed. I think if anything I wouldn't have argued with him about the tardy. I should have used my Love & Logic one liners to keep from engaging in a power struggle.

Incident #9 Cell Phone
A. November 5, 2008
B. Between classes (3rd/4th)
C. I was walking to my next class across campus when I came across 3 students hanging out in the hallway after the tardy bell. I asked them where they were supposed to be and two of them said they were out 4th period. One guy said that he had class down the hall. I asked him 3 times to start going to class and he continued to stand there and ignore me. He took his time kissing his girlfriend and finishing up his conversation. I then informed him that I would personally walk him to class. On our way to his class, he pulled out his cell phone. I asked him to hand me his phone and he refused. He said that he was turning it off. I unlocked his classroom door and walked him in. I asked his teacher for his name and then I looked up his grade. I wrote a referral for disrespect to authority, insubordination, and refusal to give up his cell phone.
D. Since I had class I just dropped his referral off in the office. Usually the procedure for refusal to give up a cell phone is 2 days ISS and the phone is tagged for $15. I found out from his teacher the next day that she had to write him up after I did because he had his phone out and refused to give it to her. However, instead of going to the office like he was supposed to, he threw his referral into the trash and skipped the rest of the period. I received a copy of his referral about 1 week later and he received 5 days of MIC.
E. I believe that I handled this situation well. I followed procedures and instead of the student coming willingly with me he was defiant. I couldn't have done anything differently. Since I didn't know the student there were no relationships affected.

Incident #10 Altercation/Arguing
A. November 7, 2008
B. During 4th period
C. I was working with a student in Content Mastery when another teacher and I heard some commotion out in the breezeway. The other teacher opened the door to check it out and there were two girls arguing and about to start fighting. I told one of the other teachers to call the front desk and report the fight. I immediately went out the door to try to defuse the problem. One of the girls was yelling with her arms sticking out, "come on, b****, I'm here." She went on to say things like "I'm not going anywhere. Come on, let's get this over with right now. I'm not running away." She was yelling at another student who was standing on the other side of the breezeway with her earrings already taken off. They were yelling back and forth threatening each other with fighting. I knew one of the girls so I kept calling her name over and over again to try to get her to look at me and not the other student. I walked in the middle of them and told the girl I knew to go to Content Mastery. All the way into the door she kept on instigating the fight. I stayed out in the hallway with the other girl and talked to her about what had happened. She explained to me that her and this girl have been fighting since the 8th grade and here they were sophomores. Apparently they had already been in a fight 2 weeks earlier and were already sent to MIC and given a ticket. She explained that the other student had been harassing her since school started and tried to fight her until I came out. About 15 minutes later one of the SROs and an administrator walked up to the scene while I was still talking with the one girl. The other teacher and I explained to the what we had seen and what had happened. Before we even told them who the other girl involved was the administrator said, "Let me guess....." then he said her name. They had already known what was going on. We explained to them that the young lady I was talking to was trying to get away from the other girl who kept on trying to fight her. So they told the other teacher to write up everything she saw and turn the referral in to the office. Nothing happened to the girl I was talking to since she did try to get away. I went back into Content Mastery and the girl who was starting the argument asked me if we were writing her up. I explained we were because according to what we witnessed she was instigating the fight while the other one was trying to get away. She explained her side of the story which was totally opposite from the other girl's story. I just explained to her that the office will clear it up and I sent her back to class. I did tell both girls that when anyone says something to them they need to ignore it. I told them to be the better person by just walking away without making any comments.
D. I am not sure what the consequences were since I didn't write the referral. Usually when a referral is written the teacher who wrote the referral gets a copy with the discipline section filled out. I am sure she will get ISS for trying to fight.
E. When I reflect back on the situation I think I did everything correct. I heard the situation esculating and then I defused the problem before it became worse. If I had waited longer then the problem would have been out of control. I am glad that I didn't wait longer. As far as relationships are concerned I am sure that no relationships were affected. I wasn't mean to the girls and I didn't raise my voice. I spoke calmly to the girls and talked to both of them after the situation. I tried to counsel with them the best I could to try to make them understand that fighting does not solve all the world's problems.

II. The Model I Implemented

Discipline Preventive Process

Summary of Model

The Discipline Preventive Process can be described as a classroom management strategy that is aimed at utilizing classroom time effectively by eliminating the down time for students to act out and increases teacher awareness and organization. It eliminates classroom discipline problems by suggesting teachers to organize their lessons before class and take the time to separate and count out worksheets instead of passing them out row by row.

Description of How I Implemented the Strategy

I decided implement a couple of strategies from this behavior model. Usually when I pass out my worksheets, I either have a student pass them out for me or I pass them out by walking to each desk. I discovered that when another student is passing out the papers, I have a tendancy of seeing the student hitting people as he walks by a desk or he is putting the worksheets on someone's head. This in turn results in me having to discipline the student that is supposed to be helping me. When I pass them out I have several students who decide it is "free time" to talk. I decided one day that I would take the time to separate each worksheet into piles. I have 5 rows of desks so I made 5 piles of papers. As I walked past each row I handed the papers to the first student and instructed him to take one and pass it behind him. I had counted out the exact number of worksheets needed so there was no one trying to get up to give me the extras. I noticed that as soon as my students received the worksheet, their mouths shut and they started working on it. The students received the worksheets all at the same time so there weren't groups of students in the back who were waiting forever for me to hand them a worksheet. They all waited for me to explain the worksheet to them instead of them asking me one by one. I also decided to implement a way to maintain group focus. I usually have students read from the text or read from an overhead. I choose students based on who wants to read. The problem I have is that the same students want to read every day and they want to read everything. I have students arguing over who gets to read what next. Then once I ask questions pertaining to the material we read, only the ones who read aloud could answer them. I decided to call on everyone randomly. Since I didn't have sticks I decided to just go down the gradebook randomly. I would pick a student and then either ask them a question or have them read. I would continue this process until everyone participated. I noticed that all my students were more engaged and I heard from everyone in the class, not just the "smarter" students. My students were paying closer attention because they were afraid I would call on them.

What Worked and What Didn't

I found that separating worksheets worked really well in my classes. I have made it into an everyday procedure. The thing that didn't work well was going down my gradebook randomly. When I went down my gradebook randomly I would forget who I called on and who hadn't been called on to answer a question. I think that if I had taken the time to prepare a little better by using straws or sticks would have made it much easier. I plan on using the craft sticks for the "stick pull" idea. By using the craft sticks or straws to identify my students I feel I will be able to remember who I called on. Then once their stick is pulled I can put it over in a pile.

Reflection of the Strategy

My students really enjoy taking a worksheet and passing them back. They feel like they are all helping me pass out papers. I no longer have students arguing who is going to help me pass out papers. I really like the randomness of calling out names to answer questions by using the "stick pull" idea. By being random with my students, their participation has improved. I have more students reading aloud and I have students more engaged in the lessons. The implementation of this model has made an impact on my classroom learning overall. I feel that implementing these simple strategies has made me a better teacher and my classroom more disciplined.

SED 500 Discipline Journal #2

Incident #1 Cell Phone
A. October 6, 2008
B. During lunch
C. I was on my way to lunch when one of the custodians asked me to check the girls' bathroom. He said that there was a group of girls that had been in the bathroom for a long time and he needed to go in and clean up a leak. When I walked in I just saw one girl and she was texting on her cell phone at the counter. I walked in and asked her to give me her phone and she said, "I can't give you my phone." When I asked her why not she responded that she was texting her mom and that she needed the phone for after school. I told her that I still needed her phone or she will be receiving a referral for insubordination which will result in 2 days ISS. She continued to argue with me and since I knew the girl's name, I told her, "Okay, Jane Doe, I am going to write a referral for you." She was shocked that I knew her name and continued to argue that she wasn't going to give me her phone. Since I didn't have much time left in the lunch period, I decided to leave the restroom. I told her that she will be receiving a referral from me for refusing to give up her cell phone. I then told her that she needed to leave the restroom so the man could come in and clean it. Then I walked out of the restroom.
D. I wrote the referral and sent it to the office. I don't know what was her consequence, but I am sure it was 2 days ISS. If she did receive ISS then I feel that the consequence was appropriate.
E. Since I have not had this student in class there were no relationships affected. I only knew her name because she had come to content mastery to get help when I was in there.

Incident #2 Disruptive Behavior
A. October 8, 2008
B. 10th / World History
C. Class had just started when one of my students, "Billy" dropped his dollar coin from the vending machine. Another student, "Jon" rushed over and took the coin off the floor and kept it. "Billy" wanted his coin back so he took "Jon's" backpack. The two young men chased each other around the classroom and played tug-o-war with the backpack. "Jon" wouldn't give the coin back no matter how much I told him to. He claimed that he didn't have the coin, however, "Billy" never got it back either. After about 5 minutes of them running around the room I had had enough and could tell there was no way it was going to end. Then "Jon" decided to push a desk towards "Billy" to cut him off so he could get his backpack. This action resulted in "Billy" falling over the desk onto the floor. I sent them both out of the classroom with a referral for disruptive behavior. "Jon" came back with a detention, but "Billy" never did. I asked "Jon" if "Billy" had made it to the office and he said that he saw him walking another direction. I investigated and found out that "Jon" had signed in at the office, but was never seen by an administrator. He had signed in then left. Thankfully, I had saved a copy of the original referral which I attached to a new referral noting that he never showed up to the office.
D. "Jon" was given 2 days ISS for skipping the office. I believe that this was an appropriate consequence for "Jon." It was his first time in the office this year and he wasn't shown "mercy." Usually when students don't have a file they let them off with a warning or a detention. Since "Jon" didn't make it to the office his warning was waived and he was given the more severe consequence.
E. Even though this situation resulted in a bad one, I still feel that my relationship to this student was not affected. He came to class once he finished his ISS time and he demonstrated respect to me and did as I had asked of him.

Incident #3 - Tardy
A. October 9, 2008
B. 9th / World Geography
C. I have one female student who walks into my class late almost every week. As indicated on the tardy sheet she walked in late with her 7th tardy. When she came in late she begged that I didn't write her up. According to our campus tardy policy, the 7th tardy is Saturday School. She had already been given a 2 hour Saturday School for tardy #6 and now she would be given a 4 hour Saturday School. Since it was the day of six weeks exams, I decided that it would be best for her to finish her test and to send her to the office later in the period. Once she completed her test, I sent her down to the office with the referral documenting all her tardies.
D. She came back at the end of the period with a copy of the referral. I am not sure what her consequence was since she came back to my class in a bad mood and didn't show me the referral. I am sure that the consequence was appropriate since they had been appropriate the last few times.
E. I don't feel that any relationships with this student were affected. I had written her up several times for the same thing and she has never taken it out on me. She still comes to me for advice and says hi to me in the hallways.

Incident #4 Cell Phone
A. October 7, 2008
B. After 2nd period
C. I was on my way to the office when I saw a young lady walking by the cafeteria with her cell phone out. I asked the girl to give me her phone and she kept walking away. She at first ignored me, but then when I said it louder, she yelled back, "NO!" I proceeded to follow her around the outside of the building. I was about 10 steps behind her and the young lady never did turn around or stop to talk to me. The whole time I was following behind her and asking her to stop, she just kept walking and mouthing off. She informed me that she was walking to the front of the school so her mom can pick her up because she was leaving our school and will no longer be coming to MHS. I finally stopped following her when she walked around the band hall towards the front. I had somewhere else I needed to go and I didn't have time to chase her all over the building. I could have caught her if I had ran after her, but I didn't think it was too professional to chase a student around in circles.
D. Since I never did catch up to her, there were no consequences. To this day I have kept my eyes open for her. I have asked around to see if anyone knows her name and all I have come up with is Melissa. I pulled up Chancery to locate all "Melissa's" on our campus and none of the pictures matched up to her. So I am assuming she did withdrawal.
E. Since I hadn't seen this student until today, I hadn't established a relationship with her. Since I had no previous relationship in regards to her there were none affected.

Incident #5 Cell Phone
A. October 8, 2008
B. Before 1st period/after tardy bell
C. I was walking to the front office with another teacher when we noticed a young man walking towards us on his cell phone. He obviously didn't care about the school policy regarding cell phones since he continued to carry on a conversation even after he made eye contact with us. As we got closer he continued to talk on his cell phone. We asked him to give us his cell phone and he immediately began to argue with us. He informed us that he was NOT going to give us his cell phone and that he was talking to his momma. He said that he called his momma to pick him up because there was no way he was going to sit in ISS all day on stools due to a back problem that he had. We still asked that he give us the cell phone. He wouldn't stop talking or wlaking. When we walked one direction, he walked the other direction. After about 5 minutes of this, another teacher came into the hallway and noticed what was happening. So she put out her arms to block him from walking away from us again. By this time the student was trapped with all 3 of us surrounding him. We redirected him to the office since he was being insubordinate. We followed along behind him as he made his way to the discipline office.
D. Since the teacher I was walking with was an administrator intern she handled the situation so I could get to my hall duty. I do not know what the consequence of his insubordination was, but the teacher did tell me that his mother said that she was going to take his cell phone away from him.
E. Today was the first time I had seen this student so there was no prior relationship established that was affected

Incident #6 Stealing/Skipping Lunch
A. October 8, 2008
B. During 2nd lunch/3rd period
C. On one section of my classroom, I stapled Skeeter pride stuff. One thing in particular is a football towel that I received a couple of years ago from the Booster Club. I stapled this towel on the wall behind the door. I noticed when I got back into my room 2nd period that this towel was gone. I remember it being there before school so I knew that it had to be taken during 1st period when another teacher is in my classroom. The staples were still sticking out from the wall when the student pulled it off. It wasn't until 3rd period when I decided to ask a couple of my students if they knew who took the towel. Some of my students were in that class 1st period so I thought they would have seen something. It wasn't until after lunch I found out who had my towel. When I was going to lunch I noticed this young man in a pink shirt walking around the ISS room to leave campus for lunch. I tried to stop him, but by the time I walked around the building he was already past the car wash. I noticed him swinging something white around his head as he walked across the street. When I got back to class, one of my students came up to me and said, "Mrs. Lemons, I did some asking around and I know who has your towel." I asked him who it was and he said he didn't know his name but he was standing outside in the hallway. We walked out in the hallway and he pointed out the same student I saw crossing the street during lunch. Then it dawned on me that the white thing he was swining around his head was my towel. Now I can get the student who stole my towel and the student who skipped lunch. I saw which classroom he went into so I called the teacher. I asked her if she had a student in her class wearing a pink shirt with a shaved head. She said yes. I found out that his name was Josh, but I didn't have his last name. I then asked her what his last name was and then I explained to her what had happened. I then asked her if he had a white Skeeter towel with him when he walked into her classroom She immediately said that he did. I told her that I was on my way to write him up for skipping lunch and for stealing my towel. I walked down to her classroom and asked to speak to Josh. When he came out into the hallway, I explained to him that I had seen him walking across the street for lunch so I was going to write a referral for skipping. Then I told him that I also needed my towel back. He said he didn't have my towel. I informed him that I just saw him swinging it over his head. Then he told me that I could search him. We walked back into the classroom and he showed me there was nothing in his bag. I knew that he had to have hidden it so I told him that since I saw him with it I was going to include on the referral that he stole the towel and refused to give it back. As I was writing on the referral he immediately reached over to another student who handed him my towel. Josh layed it down on the desk I was writing on and he quickly apologized. I took him back out into the hallway where I counseled with him. I asked him why he lied to me about having it and why he took it in the first place. He said he didn't know. I then told him that I would take off the part about him stealing the towel since he returned it, but I still needed to write him up for skipping lunch. He understood. I then went on to tell him that I knew he wasn't a bad student, he just made a bad decision. I wrote him up and sent him to the office.
D. I received a copy of his referral in my box. The referral showed that he was given an hour detention. I also e-mailed the teacher in my room 1st period to tell him who had my towel. I had e-mailed him previously to see if he knew who might have taken it. Of course he apologized for his student, and promised me that he would pay more attention to what his students were doing during class.
E. My relationship with this student has always been a good one. I didn't have him as a student, but he had come to CMC a couple of times. When he saw me in the hallway he would ask how my day was going. Even this morning while he was out in the hallway (before the incident happened) I asked him how his day was going so far and we carried on a friendly conversation. I think that after this incidient he may be a little timid or embarassed, but I don't think it is going to affect our relationship. I think it is just going to uncomfortable for him until a couple of weekes passes by.

Incident #7 Cell Phone Again
A. October 9, 2008
B. After 2nd period
C. I was leaving to go on my conference when I saw the same male student from the day before giving more teachers issues with his cell phone. He was angry that they somehow got it away from him. He was yelling at them and cussing out the other teacher who had his cell phone. I stayed around to make sure that she was safe and that nothing happened between her and the other student. He kept screaming at her to give him his cel phone because he needed it. After about 10 minutes of him walking back and forth to get the phone back from the teacher, he finally walked out of the building. Then right when we thought it was over, he walked back into the building demanding we give him his phone back. She told him that he could get his phone back in 24 hours and after he paid $15.00 for it. By this time she was on her way up to the office so he followed her there.
D. I didn't stick around to see the end result, but apparently whatever he received the day before didn't hold up for the next day. So apparently the consequence didn't teach him a lesson or stop his behavior. We did find out later that this student was labeled ED which stands for Emotional Disturbed and was one of our own students.
E. From my experience with this student, he has no respect for authorities and therefore we wouldn't have been able to establish good rapport. I had never seen this student all year and then in two days I saw his worst side come out. I am sure we will not have a very positive relationship in the future so there were no relationships affected.

Incident #8 Dress Code/Insubordination
A. October 10, 2008
B. During 1st period
C. I was walking back to my classroom after 1st period and there was a kid with a Jack Daniels jacket arguing with one of our female administrators. I stopped to see if she needed any help. The student apparently was warned about wearing his black jacket with a huge Jack Daniels bottle and logo on the back of it. He argued with her that he was not warned and that he would put the jacket in his locker. She told him that he already had his chance to put the jacket up and now he had to give it to her. He started walking away from her so I blocked the exit to keep him from walking away. He turned back around and walked the other way. By this time another teacher, who was an administrator intern, came and helped escort the student to the office.
D. Since I was not directly involved in this situation I didn't follow up to find out what had happened. I just wanted to make sure that the female administrator had the help she needed. I am sure when they went to the office his jacket was probably taken up so that he wouldn't wear it again this semester.
E. Since I didn't know this student and had never seen him before today, relationships were not affected.

Incident #9 Altercation
A. October 15, 2008
B. During beginning of 2nd lunch
C. I was eating lunch in a fellow teacher's classroom when I heard some screaming coming from outside the window. At first I thought it was just the crowd of students going to the cafeteria. Then I heard a teacher telling someone to "knock it off." So I walked outside to where the noise was and I saw a group of 5 hispanic students standing on one side of the breezeway and 1 hispanic student standing on the other side of the breezeway. Another teacher had already called for an administrator and an SRO. I began questioning the girls about what happened. One of the girls had 2 scratches on the right side of her face with fresh blood coming from it. The other girl had scratches on her neck and chest. Her forehead and face also looked pretty swollen as if she had been hit. When we asked the girls what had happened they said that they weren't doing anything. One of the girls said that she got scratches because one of the girls in the group of 5 and her were "play fighting." From what it looked like to me and the other teacher was the the single girl was probably jumped by the group of 5 and was afraid to speak up. They both said that they weren't fighting. About that time the SRO's and an administrator showed up and they gave them the same story. They weren't fighting and they didn't even know each other. The SRO's mentioned the same scratches on their necks and faces and they again denied fighting. So Officer Krajca pointed out that they would look at the cameras to find out what really happened. Of course then the girls were a little hesitant to deny they were fighting. The SRO's ended up taking the whole group of them to the office.
D. Since I left the situation in the SRO's hands, I did not stay around to find out what happened or follow through with the incident.
E. I had never dealt with any of the girls before and I didn't know who they were. I only recognized one girl because she was in ISS numerous times last year so I did not have any sort of ties or relationships to the girls. Therefore the incident did not affect my relationships to any students.

Incident #10 Skipping
A. October 9, 2008
B. End of 4th period/bus stop
C. Our campus has a big problem with skippers this year. Every 4A I walk my CBVI students to their buses around 3:30 to make sure they get to their buses before other students get out so they don't get lost in the crowd or injured. While we stand at the bus stop waiting for the buses to arrive we always see a huge group of students walking back on campus. The procedures explained to us is to re-route the students around K hall so they do not step back on campus in the breezeway. I noticed this group of African American students of about 8 walking back to catch their buses. They were headed towards the breezeway during the school hours. I yelled across the parking lot for them to go around K hall because they were considered to be trespassing if they went back on campus. About 3 of the female students turned around and looked at me then kept walking. It was obvious they heard me and were just choosing to ignore me. I began to walk towards them and repeat myself while they kept walking. By the time I caught up to them, a teacher on duty in the breezeway stopped them. He told them that they were not allowed to walk in the breezeway if they were supposed to be out of school. So he redirected them the way I told them to go. Of course the whole time they were arguing that they were not trespassing because they were students at our school. It didn't matter to us what they were saying, we just wanted them off campus before the bell rang.
D. Since they eventually ended up doing as I requested, there were no discipline actions taken. As of right now the office is trying to come up with a way to prevent students from skipping 4th period then coming back to catch their buses. It makes it difficult when our campus is so open and close to fast food restaurants. Not to mention the number of students we have that affect the amount of man power to keep up with the skippers.
E. Although I run the same kids off almost every other day, I don't feel that any relationships have been affected. They still do not respect my authority or the policies of our school. To them I am just some lady who tells them what they cannot do and they do it anyway.

II. The Model I Implemented:

Fred Jones' Positive Disciple Strategy

Summary of the Model:

I am usually a Love & Logic teacher that loves every concept of the behavior strategy. I had to implement Positive Discipline which is a discipline strategy that places an emphasis on learner motivation and classroom behavior. Dr. Jones' model is based on four legs of discipline and management. All four of the legs are needed to make this strategy successful. These legs that Dr. Jones refers to are limit setting, responsibility training, omission training, and backup system.

Description of How I Implemented the Strategy:

All students get tired of doing the same routine assignments over and over again. I decided to implement a technique that was discussed from the positive reinforcement behavior strategy. I usually lecture on a section from the text book then I have my students discuss the questions or answer the questions. I decided to use the "BAM Boards." Since my US History class is my best class and I tend to enjoy the most, I decided to implement the strategy with them. Since I didn't have the shower board that Steve mentioned, I decided to just have my students write on their own paper. We were discussing the establishment of the United States, specifically the Pilgrims and Puritans that came and to set up the 13 colonies. I gave my students some paper and told them to write the word "PILGRIMS" and "PURITANS" on their paper. Pilgrims is on one side of the paper and Puritans is on the other side of the paper. At the end of the section, the text asks 5 questions. I explained to them that when the answer was Pilgrims they needed to flip their paper to that side and yell "BAM" as they showed me their answers. Then vice versa with Puritans. I couldn't believe the amount of classroom participation I had. Usually I have about 1 or 2 that don't speak up in class, but even those students were holding up papers. I even adjusted the strategy by telling them that if they thought their answer was wrong after a hint then they could change their answer by yelling "BAM, BAM." Some chose to use this when they changed their answer. We all had so much fun that I had to come up with more questions just so we could keep playing. It gave me a way to check for understanding without having to grade numerous amounts of paper.

What Worked and What Didn't:

The only thing I found that didn't work too well was the use of white notebook paper. Since the students wrote the words so huge when they held up their papers, I could see the other word bleeding through the side they were showing me. So I had trouble seeing what the students in the back chose. The BAM Boards worked wonderfully!! I have used it once more since the first time I used it. When I have time I am going to run by Home Depot and get the shower board that Steve suggested. I know my students will enjoy that much more than notebook paper.

Reflection of the Strategy:

This technique have a very good effect on my students. They were more engaged in the lesson and on me. Usually when we discuss the answers I have some students who will work on other things or never look directly at me. With the BAM Boards every single student's eyes were looking at me and I had 100% participation from the class. I feel that the implementation of this technique helped my students understand the sections that were taught and it helped them retain the information. When I did a brief recap of the previous days lesson before starting the new lesson, my students still remembered what we discussed because of the BAM Boards. BAM Board is a strategy that I will continue to implement in my classroom of juniors and plan on using it in my other classes.

My husband, Darren, has been such a blessing to me. I am so blessed that God arranged for us to meet. When I moved to Texas from Arkansas my freshman year of high school, I would often ask God why He moved my family so far away from our friends and family. It wasn't until 3 years later that God answered my question. My family started attending Friendship Baptist Church and that is where I met my future husband. Darren and I have been married for 5 years now and it has been amazing to see how God has used us. Darren is currently serving his 7th year as student pastor at the same church we met in and were married. Through our years of marriage the Lord has called Darren and me into numerous ministries. Darren feels led to one day be a church planter for our association. Darren is my best friend and my hero. The things he does daily for the cause of Christ is astonishing. I couldn't think of a better man to represent Christ and His work. He has been very supportive and encouraging while I work on my Masters.

Gracie (5)
We adopted Gracie 2 months after Darren and I had been married. Before Gracie our life was pretty much an ordinary life. Darren was working a lot as a student pastor and I would sit at home bored out of my mind and lonely. The first time I saw Gracie I fell in love with her. She was only 4 weeks old and could barely walk on the floor because her legs were so tiny. She was originally named Macy by the breeders, but we renamed her. We chose Gracie because on the day we got her, Darren sang a song for church called, "Your Grace Amazes Me." So we took grace and made it Gracie. That night she spent her first day with us at church. My sister, Beth, held her in Darren's office during the whole service because we didn't have time to buy her a kennel and we had no idea what to do with a puppy. She has been such a blessing to our family. She has survived our first experiences of "puppy parenting." She swallowed rat poison twice which resulted in us having to pour peroxide down her throat to get her to spit all of it up. Through the years Gracie has helped turn our troublesome days into fun days. She was quick to learn many tricks and is the most well behaved dog I have ever met. She will shower you with slobber and lots love. She is always willing to pose for pictures when I get out my camera no matter where I put her. As you can see from this picture she is very photogenic.