Inquiry Plan Update 2

I have recieved consent to video all the students in my classroom. Tomorrow I am planning to video a writing lesson without using all the techniques that I, along with my behavior specialist have decided to implement. On Thursday, when I teach this similar writing lesson again, I plan to video the lesson while implementing the behavior modification techniques. Following the lesson, I plan to have the students watch both videos. We will then create a venn diagram comparing and contrasting how instruction is the same, and how it is different, depending on the behavior of the students. I also plan to have a class discussion with the students leading it. I would like for them to come up with reasons that better behavior benefits them. I want them to realize that this is for them, and not for me. I think that behavior is like any other lesson we teach students. They need to relate it to their own life and see how it will benefit them in order to make it effective.

Inquiry Plan update 1

This week I have started working on getting consent for all of my students to be video taped. At the beginning of the year, the entire school sends out forms for permission to video tape, students to use the internet, be photographed, and have their work published. I have two students who's parents signed "no" for video taping. I am in the process of trying to get those parents to give consent for this project, because my pre-assessment involves video taping the entire class so that we can compare their behavior at the beginning and the end. I want the students to be able to see their behavior, and discuss how it changes during the process. Although I have begun using some of my behavior modification plans, I want to save most of them for after my initial video tape, so that the students will have a chance to really see the difference. I am hoping to have permission from the other parents by Friday.

Domain 2 Classroom Management

How does this relate to the work you do in your classroom?

Since I have an exceptionally challenging group of students this year, this domain is very important to me. I have been working all year on devising a plan to help nourish a classroom that is respectful and free of behavior issues. I have also been working with a behavior specialist to help me think of new ways to manage this particular group of students. Let me explain a little farther: I have 5 extremely active students, along with 16 others who are feeding off the excitement, and one little quiet girl who doesn't quite fit into the group. Reading the article, the blog, and watching the video reinforced the conversation that I had with the behavior specialist just last week. It is helping me to realize that what worked before is not working now, and that I need to find a way to reach these students. It is not the students problem, it is mine.

I was very happy to read that the suggestion and ideas that I have discussed with the behavior specialist were validated in all three types of media that I observed. I need to not focus on the negative, treat all students equal, and respond to positive behavior. I am finding this to work quite well, as long as there is consistancy. This is the most challenging part. I am not sure if I am alone on this, but it is so easy to become involved in the lesson, reprimand a student, and forget to give praise.

I am also realizing that constantly calling out the bad behavior is definately reinforcement for that behavior to continue. The students thrive on whatever attention they can get. Lectures, detention, behavior plans, etc. do not seem to work. I found each article, video, and blog focusing on gettting rid of those types of management.

Since I am working on this domain in real time, I am finding that it will be very helpful to use this as my inquiry plan.

Task 4 Continued

You will be reading this a little backwards, as I hit post before I was completely finished with the assignment. Read on to the other blog of Task 4 for the complete response.
Question for the group:
How do you manage a room with multiple behavior issues and high energy? How do I get them to focus on instruction and be respectful to each other when I don't think respect is something they have used as of yet in this point in their life?

How This Looks in My classroom:
2a: Environment of Respect:
I am struggling with this. While I am trying my best to encourage students to treat others the way they would like to be treated, I am definately struggling in this area. One area I am really focusing on is having students listen to each other when they speak. Just as if I am speaking to them, I want them to listen just the same when another student is speaking or answering a question. At this time, my students will talk over each other and over me.

2b: Establish a culture for learning:
I do feel that this is an area that is blooming. Students know that I have high expectations for them, and they are striving to reach them in their work. I have a Proficient and Distinguised wall in my classroom where students can hang their best work. They are all beginning to want their work up on that wall. All of the teachers in our building are also hanging this work around town in different businesses, so that their best work can be displayed in the community. This is something else the students are really striving for.

2c: Managing Classroom Procedures:
I feel that this area in my classroom is also beginning to bloom. With the high energy group of students that I have this year, it has been a challenge. I have found that by being highly organized and making sure that students know exactly what is expected of them has definately started them on the road to being productive. The first hour and a half of school is used for small group instruction. The students are broken into 3 small groups. 1 group is meeting with me, 1 group is doing seatwork, and another is doing center work. The students have directions and rubrics to help them through the work and also have rules such as "ask 3 before me" so that small group instruction is not interupted.

2d: Managing Student Behavior:
This is the area I am struggling with. I have several students who are constantly off task, invading other peoples space and property, off task, and picking fights with other students. Many of these students cannot even take a restroom trip without supervision. I have an aide that comes in for 30 minutes during small group instruction to help manage these students, and 2 of them are currently being sent to other classrooms as to break up the amount of problems and distractions in my room. I am really having trouble in this area.

2E: Organizing Physical Space:
As I state in my later in the blog, this is where I am most comfortable. Students are broken into groups that separate as many of the behavior issues as possible, while also placing them in areas that will not draw attention to their behavior.

Task 4

Which component from this domain are you most comfortable with?

I chose domain 2. The componant that I am most comfortable with is organizing physical space. I am working with a group of students who are very high energy and feed off each others behavior. When I started out the year I had my desks arranged in a horshoe shaped design, with rows facing each other. I could walk in the center and each child was basically in the front row, no matter where they were sitting. However, after the year began, I realized that I had a very challenging group as far as behavior and a few student's were pulled to the front to keep them from distracting others. This made things much worse! After collaborating with a veteran teacher, we worked for 2 hours on a seating arrangement that put the students in groups of 4 and five, with each behavior student facing away from each other. They were also given seats that were not in the front of the room. This helps keep them from being the center of attention and has cut down alot on the distractions in my room. Since discussing this with my collaborating teacher, I am much more comfortable and proficient in this area.

Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?

I believe that 2D most strongly ties to instruction. I might not have answered that question the same before this year. But as I have mentioned, I have a very challenging group this year that possess a very high energy level. I think that until I can manage their behavior effectively, no learning will take place.

Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?

Since I believe that 2d (managing student behavior) is very important to my classroom this year, I would like to concentrate on this area. I feel that once I can handle that, I will be able to deal better with the other components in this domain. I am also currently working with a behavior specialist from our OVEC office. Collaborating through this class and working with her seem to be my best options.

Task 3

Do all students have a capacity to learn? Well, this is the loaded question of education isn't it? I believe that all students have the capacity to learn. I do not know to what degree all student's can learn, but I know that they certainly CAN learn.
What shapes this capacity?
Now that I have told you that I am certain that all students learn, the big huge question is "what shapes this capacity?" This is huge. Every thing shapes this capacity. Parental attitude, student attitude, teacher attitude, life experiences, and basic needs. I can remember taking a class, but honostly I cannot remember which one, that said no learning can take place until a student's basic needs are met. This is what I believe is one of the biggest factors of learning. When a student goes home, and has no food, possibly no parent available, maybe or maybe not electricity or clothing, then those needs must first be met and become a priority in that child's life above anything else. That is when we become such an important part of that child's life and such a huge determining factor in their capacity to learn. We have to know our students, and I mean really know our students, in order to have the ability to positively shape their capacity to learn. We have to do our best to understand the circumstances that each child comes from before we can possibly help them. Not only do we have to help them, but we may also have to work to give those who have parents that may have such huge burdens in life, that education takes a back seat to any of it, a positive feeling about school. We have to make sure there is a bridge of communication between home and school, and not only do the students trust us, but the parents do as well. I think it is our job to try and reach each student and make sure that they do reach their full potential, whatever that may be. I do not believe that each child has the same potential. This may be a politically incorrect statement, but I think it is a true statement. I do not believe it is in anyway an excuse to not try equally with each individual, however, the word cannot be soley made up of rocket scientist, or neuro surgeons. It takes all types. The important part is, that we give them the tools to be the best they can be and to reach their full potential. This is why for the next task I am very interested in Domain 2: The Classroom Environment.

How do these assumptions about learning shape our instruction?

Task 2

What is the purpose of curriculum and what role do we have as teachers in this purpose?
Wow, this is such a loaded question that I don't know exactly where to start. What are our roles, or what should they be? I believe the purpose of curriculum is to keep us on track for what our students need to know. But as Dr. Clarke responded in my previous blog, it all boils down to teaching to the test. That is where I feel that curriculum is actually leaving us. With our pacing guides and our curriculum guides, our program of the year, new paper work, teach this, teach that, lets see what this test says about how our kids will score on the test... It just goes on and on and I think as teachers we become kind of like a robot in our own classroom.

When I first started teaching, my father told me the best advice I think that I have ever heard in education. He said, "Learning is not memorizing, it is understanding how to find information when you need it." I have tried to live by this in my classroom, but with all the guidelines, it really makes it tough. I feel like I am just skimming the top of everything, and then ...time to move on to the next subject. I honestly feel that curriculum has it's place, but it gets lost in the process. It should be just that, a guide, but it becomes more like a bible. In 2nd grade, I feel my job is to teach students to read, comprehend, and, not just learn to read, but learn to enjoy reading. I also feel that I need to give them a really good understanding of numbers, and number sense. It all gets so garbled. Because of our maps and guides, you can walk down the hallways in our school, and see that kindergarden, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades are all teaching the same content. Now...If we really covered content the way it should be covered, we would not be reteaching everything from year to year. Things would be completely covered and understood before you move on to another subject. Then when you walk down the hall, you would see education becoming spiral. Using what we have previously learned, to move on to something else. That would give us time to teach children to use their brains. We have become this machine like industry instead of an institution of learning. I know that we have district walk through visits in our building and all the others in the county, and they come in and look for objectives, student work, etc. We train the students to be able to recite objectives because that is what the district wants. While I do my best to try and really reach each student, there are times that I feel like the guidelines are so strict, I could easily be replaced by a robot.

We had a PD this summer about going deeper into subjects, making students responsible for their learning, slowing down and really understanding and mastering the content that we are teaching them. I asked if that meant we could slow down and not worry so much about the pacing guide, and teach the students what they needed to learn and really make sure they had mastered the content. The response was that we still had to cover the pacing guide. HOW CAN YOU SLOW DOWN AND SPEED UP AT THE SAME TIME? I love teaching, don't get me wrong, but thinking about this can make you feel as if you are beating your head against a brick wall on a daily basis. I feel like everyone's intentions are good, but those who make the rules and come up with the "flavor of the month program" have sometimes been out of the classroom so long that nothing adds up or makes sense.