Strategy Reflection #3 Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition

What?

In my classroom I tend to use more verbal recognition than concrete recognition. When I am lecturing and my students answer a question or read from a selection of text for me, I tell them things such as, "good job" and "very good." I decided to implement more concrete recognition into my classroom. Since our district is strict with providing students with candy coming up with something for high school aged students was difficult since they enjoy candy. I tried to find something that would recognize them in a way that would make them feel appreciated.

So What?

I decided to write my students notes. On our campus we have post cards called "Skeeter Shout Outs." The purpose of these shout outs is to promote recognition to our students and staff. When we recognize our students we are instructed to write the note and then send them home to their parents praising their child for their good work. I decided that instead of sending the cards home to parents I was going to personally deliver them to my students. I have only a handful of students in each of my classes that will happily read for me. I decided to first start in my freshmen World Geography class. I asked for volunteers to read and as usual, the same 3 students were the only ones who were willing to read. Once we finished the lesson and they began their work, I took time to write a shout out to each of them. In the cards I thanked each of them for their help in teaching the lesson and I told them how much I appreciated their hard work. I then gave the card to each of them. One girl jokingly told me that the card was going to make her cry because it was so sweet. One of the other students I wrote a card to is usually a handful in class, but even the defiant students could benefit from recognition. When I handed him his card he was thankful. He kept telling me over and over again that he was going to show it to his uncle as soon as he got home.

Now What?

I enjoyed the immediate reaction of giving my students the cards instead of mailing them home. I felt that I was able to personalize the card by hand delivering them to my students. When we send them home we can't see our students reactions. I feel that the cards helped my students to feel appreciated and recognized. I will continue to fill out the cards and hand them to my students instead of mailing them home. For one it saves the district money and then it also allows my students to receive recognition after they complete a task. I realized that concrete recognition lasts longer and is much more rewarding that what candy can provide my students.

Strategy Reflection #2 Summarizing & Note Taking

What?

I decided to implement note taking in my classroom. I thought about which class to work on first and decided to try it out on my sophomore World History class. We had just finished studying the Middle Ages and Medieval Times. At the conclusion of the chapter, I showed The Sword and the Stone. Although The Sword and the Stone is a children's movie, I showed it to them in clips each day.

So What?

I reviewed the Middle Ages with my class and reminded them of key terms that we learned about. I told them that while they watched the video they needed to write down everything in the video that mentions what we discussed in class during that chapter. I only showed about 15 minutes of the video each day because I put it in after we finished the days work. I was amazed at how well my student's paid attention to the details of the movie. When I got back their notes I noticed that, for the most part, they really took to the assignment. They picked out the moat around the castle, the description of how the castle looked (as we discussed in the chapter), knight, page, squire, etc.

Now What?

I have learned that I underestimated my students. I never expected them to identify so many things in the video that came from what we learned in class. They really enjoyed the video and were able to understand, visually, more of what we learned. I am going to make note taking a part of my lesson plans. Even though the notes they took weren't long sentences or thought provoking statements, I found that they were able to pick words out of the video and remember to write them down. I especially am going to make it a point to teach my seniors since college success depends on it.

Teacher Personal Goals

Personal Growth Goals:
*Personal-Spend more time creating lesson plans that will help make my lessons fun and engaging. I would like to utilize more active learning strategies and utilize more technology in the classroom.

*Professional-Check for understanding before we move to another topic; allow my students to utilize higher level thinking activities; take more staff developments and workshops that will help improve my teaching skills.

Professional Growth Measurable Activities:
*Personal-Plan more time to sit down and think about my lesson plans and research new ways to teach certain topics; discuss ideas and brainstorm with my peers who can give me other suggestions.

*Professional-Pop quiz my students over something we just discussed either verbally or by paper; meet with my peers after school or on my conference to come up with more ideas on teaching lessons.

Professional Growth Assessment and Evaluation:
*Personal-Exciting lesson plans that will keep my students engaged and excited about learning; ask students which strategy they liked the best and repeat that activity.

*Professional-Research workshops and staff development classes that I can take and utilize what I learn in those classes to create awesome lesson plans and make me a better teacher.

Strategy Reflection #1-Similarities & Differences

Identifying Similarities and Differences

What?
I decided to implement the Venn Diagram with my United States History class to teach them to identify similarities and differences in lessons we study. We have been studying the American Revolutionary war and are currently studying the War of 1812. My students have enjoyed these two lessons and really seemed to grasp a hold of each event. I wanted to determine how well my students have understood what I have taught them.

So What?
I printed off a Venn Diagram template from Edhelper.com. Edhelper.com has various graphic organizers and appealing templates to make using graphic organizers fun. I decided to stick with the traditional Venn Diagram template. I gave each student the Venn Diagram. I asked that above one circle they write American Revolution and above the other circle write War of 1812. I explained to them that for this assignment I wanted them to list all the details of each war and then in the middle where the circles meet they needed to write details that were similar. I gave them 10 minutes to work without notes or textbooks. I did allow them to work together if they needed some help. I walked among them to see how well they were able to work on the assignment. Each student had listed different details about each war. Some listed under the American Revolution included famous people such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, and many more. They had listed the date 1775-1783, Second Continental Congress, and the Treaty of Paris. Under the War of 1812 my students had listed the date 1812-1815, Treaty of Ghent, Star Spangled Banner, Andrew Jackson, and the burning of Washington D.C. by the British. In the middle circles they listed United States, British, American independence, causalities, weak nation of America going to war, French, and American Indians. I was amazed at how well they were able to take all the facts from these two wars and create a diagram of a higher level of thinking. Even though I allowed them to use their books after the 10 minutes, my students still understood the concept of similarities and differences.


Now What?
Since this activity went so well I am planning on utilizing higher level thinking activities that will enable my students to think beyond what I expect them to. I plan to use more graphic organizers and Venn diagrams to check for understanding after a lesson that I taught. I have discovered that there is more to checking for understanding than just using tests. If I can just conduct a quick similarities and differences activity I can determine if I need to reteach a lesson or if I can go on. My students seemed to enjoy this activity even though some of them, at first, had trouble grasping the concept or even the point of the activity.

SED 597.410 Conceptions of Schooling

I took 30 hours of PFK this past semester to bundle for this Winter Mini course. In all of those classes I learned many wonderful strategies and skills to utilize in my classroom. However, the one that I seemed to enjoy and seemed to help me the most was the Try and Make Me: Simple Strategies That Turn Off The Tantrums and Create Cooperation book study by Dr. Ray Levy and Bill O'Hanlon. Kelly Smith led the class through a 8 hour course that covered the book.

What I Learned from the Class

Dr. Levy's book discussed the difference between two types of animals and referenced them to human characteristics. Horses are the type of people that are positively motivated. They aim to please people and are willing to work in exchange for praises and recognition. Camels are the type of people that are negatively motivated. They do not aim to please people and could care less about positive recognition. Dr. Levy explains that defiant children mostly resemble camels. They prefer negative reactions and find behavior charts more satisfying than actually doing the tasks requested. Dr. Levy says to mix negative consequences to complement the positive enticements. Instead of praising the "camel" style student when he does well simply use a "I've noticed" statement.

Another strategy I learned from the book study were Practice Academies. I have heard about Practice Academies, but I had never learned how to conduct the Academy. One of our application pieces was to implement a Practice Academy. I chose one of my students who constantly walked around the room and constantly blurted out comments or questions. I stopped him one day during his normal disruptive behavior and said, "Uh oh! Your behavior is telling me that you need a how do I stay in my seat and raise my hand quietly while waiting for Mrs. Lemons to call on me practice academy." Kelly says to name the practice academy however long you want it to be, but it needs to be as specific as you can make it. He didn't know what a practice academy so he thought I was just playing with him. To make a long story short, a student explained it to him and I had him practice the desired behavior for about 30 minutes. I set my timer for 5-10 minute increments. I gave him a question to ask when I called on him. When the timer went off I looked up at his raised hand and had him respond with his question. After that activity I never had trouble with him getting out of his seat without permission or blurting out without my knowledge. I was amazed at how quickly it worked for him and how successful it was just from the first day.

Try and Make Me! is an easy read. Dr. Levy puts the strategies and the book contents in plain English. At the end of each chapter he included summaries so if you need to just go back and look up information quickly you could do so without having to scan the text.

Why Should You Take It?

I benefited greatly from this book study. I didn't find the book to be at all boring and with Kelly Smith teaching the class you can't go wrong. I have all the resources I need to prevent defiant children from controlling my classroom and to keep me from engaging in a power struggle with them. The book study really made me more aware of what types of characteristics resemble a defiant child so I could identify him and "shut him down" before he became out of control.