I Can Do It Heather Sparks NBCT Taft

I Can Do It Heather Sparks, NBCT Taft Middle School Oklahoma City Public Schools August 6, 2010

Session 1: Training Goals Let’s Get Started

KWL Chart What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned

Training Goals Participants will: 1. Learn about the elements necessary for successful classroom management. 2. Discover communication styles and how they relate to student/teacher/parent communication. 3. Learn about interventions for selected difficult behaviors encountered in the classroom. 4. Have opportunities to find out about hints that help create the smoothly flowing classroom. 5. Acquire information that will help build successful parent/teacher relationships. 6. Have the opportunity to link with a support partner at or near one's grade and/or content level.

Agenda 8: 00 -10: 00 ØSessions 1 -3 10: 00 Break 10: 15 -12: 00 ØSessions 4 -6 12: 00 -1: 00 Lunch 1: 00 -3: 00 ØSessions 7 -9

Objectives of Classroom Management • Ensure the safety of staff and students. • Create an engaging learning environment.

Session 2: Getting to Know Your Students

Personal Responsibility Community Bonding Safety Survival

Come To The Edge Come to the edge. It’s too tall. Come to the edge. I’ll fall. Come to the edge. And they came. And you pushed them. And they flew.

Pizza Glyph o o o Draw your crust: Thick = boy, thin= girl Add pepperoni: Number = age in years Add mushrooms: Number = siblings Add onions: Number = number of pets Add bell pepper: Number = the number of years you have been at your school. Now practice reading each other’s glyph!

Creating Acceptance • Create a class greeting • Make eye contact with each student • Call students by their first or preferred name • Move toward and stay close to the learners

Enhancing Acceptance COMFORT 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Room Temperature Furniture Arrangement Physical Activity Breaks Bulletin Boards/Walls Climate (Humor and Tone) Order 1. Routines 2. Guidelines 3. Perception of Safety

CLASSROOM CLIMATE • What I will do to help students: _____ feel accepted by the teacher and their peers _____ perceive the classroom as a comfortable and orderly place

Responding the Right Way These are power behaviors that influence a student’s sense of acceptance and thereby enhance his or her creativity and engagement with the lesson. 4 Provide Wait Time Pausing to allow a student more time to answer instead of moving on to another student when you don’t’ get an immediate response 4 Dignify Responses Giving credit for the correct aspects of an incorrect response 4 Restate the Question Ask the question again using the same words 4 Rephrase the Question Use different words that might increase the probability of a correct response 4 Provide Guidance Giving enough hints and clues so that the student will eventually determine the correct answer

Session 3: Rules and Routines

SCHOOL/CLASSROOM CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS L Rules are unclear or seen as unfairly or inconsistently enforced. L Students did not believe in the rules. L Teachers & administrators did not know the rules. L Teachers & administrators disagreed on responses to student misconduct. L Teacher & administrator cooperation was poor. L Administration was inactive. L Teachers had punitive attitudes. L Misconduct was ignored. L Schools were too large. L Schools lacked adequate resources for teaching. John Hopkins University Researchers, Gottfredsons CARS Newsletter, April/May 1995

Formula for Success Voice + Choice = Loyalty

How to Establish Rules • • Involve the class in making rules. Keep the rules short and easy to understand. Phrase rules in a positive way. Remind the class of the rules at times other than when someone has misbehaved. Make different rules for different kinds of activities. Key children in to when different rules apply. Post the rules and review them every so often. If a rule isn’t working change it.

With Your Tablemates… • Create three classroom rules. Include the rewards and consequences related to your rule.

The number one problem is not discipline; it is the lack of procedures & routines!

Independent Activities Students Should Know: • Where to get materials • What to do if they have a question • Where to work • Where to put finished work • What the classroom rules are • How to focus on the task • What the limitations are • If and why the teacher is unavailable

Break Time!

Session 4: Reinforcements

If you punish a child for being naughty, and reward him for being good, he will do right merely for the sake of the reward, and when he goes out into the world and finds that goodness is not always rewarded, nor wickedness always punished, he will grow into a man who thinks about how he may get on in the world, and does right or wrong according as he finds of advantage to himself. Immanuel Kant Education

Selecting Appropriate Reinforcers 1. Ask the child. 2. Observe the child’s preferences. 3. Use what worked elsewhere. 4. Give the student choices. 5. Reinforcers lose value over time.

Instructions for Give-One-Get-One 1. Jot down three (3) of your own ideas. 2. Get up and find someone from another table. Share your lists. 3. Give one new idea from your list to your partner. Get one new idea from your partner's list. 4. Move on to a new partner and repeat Steps 2 and 3. 5. If your list and your partner's list are identical and you have no new ideas to exchange, you must remain together and brainstorm something that can be added to each of your lists. **Note: Exchange no more than one idea with any given partner.

Session 5: Polishing Your Technique

Session 6: Smoothly Flowing Classrooms

SIGNALS ØUse a classroom signal for attention ØWhatever signal you use -- be consistent!!! GIVING DIRECTIONS ØPlan your directions ahead of time ØUse 3 step directions ØGive directions immediately before the activity ØGet the attention of every student ØGet feed back from students ØTell them and show them ØKeep your voice low ØUse signals for whole class response Thumbs up = yes Thumbs down = no Fist = question or I don't know

Smoothly Flowing Classrooms Transition Problems 1. A few students always seem to be slow during transitions delaying the rest of the class. 2. Students frequently find reasons to wander during transitions. 3. The teacher delays the beginning of activities to look for materials, finish attendance reporting, returning or collecting papers, or chat with individual students while other students wait. 4. Students talk loudly at the beginning of the period. The teacher is interrupted while checking attendance, and the start of content activities is delayed.

Smoothly Flowing Classrooms Transition Problems 4. Students socialize too much during transitions, especially after an assignment has been given, but before they have begun working on it. Many students do not start their assignments for several minutes. 5. Two students argue, even after being separated. 6. Whenever the teacher attempts to move the students from one activity to another, a number of students don’t make the transition but continue working on the preceding activity. This delays the start of the new activity or results in confusion. 7. While the teacher gives directions during a transition, many students do not pay attention. They continue to put their materials away or get new materials.

Sponge Activities

Session 8: Home/School Communication

Instructional Individual Program Students Home & School Communication Engaging Families

HOME AND SCHOOL COMMUNICATION HINTS *KEEP A LOG OF PARENTAL CONTACTS *KEEP YOUR PRINCIPAL INFORMED – GIVE HIM/HER COPIES OF YOUR HOME COMMUNICATIONS *SAVE E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS IN FOLDER *WEB SITES – BLOGGING (USE CAUTION)

Session 9: Dealing with Difficult Behaviors

GOALS WHEN DEALING WITH DIFFICULT BEHAVIOR Ø Attention Ø Avoidance Ø Power 1. To eliminate or minimize the behavior. 2. To maintain student’s self esteem. 3. To maintain the lesson.

Discussing Inappropriate Behaviors Do It: Quietly Calmly Privately Every Time You Can!

Whenever you are dealing with unacceptable behavior always question whether the behavior in question is an isolated event or a recurring symptom of a greater problem. Don’t major in minor problems!

Avoiding Handing Over Your Power • As often as possible, handle your own discipline issues. • Find a colleague who will agree to be your “time out” buddy. • Set up “journey” activities in advance. • Breathe and remember…It’s not personal!

KWL Chart What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned

Phases of First Year Teacher’s Attitudes Towards Teaching Anticipation Survival Reflection Rejuvenation Disillusionment Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Source: Trainer’s Manual, Support Provider Training, Revised May 1996

Any Monday can be a new beginning of the year.

Helpful Websites: www. disciplinehelp. com www. responsiveclassroom. org www. teachers. net www. theteachersguide. com www. wholebrainteaching. com

Heather’s Website www. hisparks. com

Heather’s Favorite Four: Lavoie, Richard. The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child. ISBN 978 -0 -7432 -8960 -3. Mac. Kenzie, Robert J. Ed. D. Setting Limits in the Classroom. ISBN 0 -7615 -1675 -1. Pohlman, Craig. Revealing Minds: Assessing to Understand Support Struggling Learners. ISBN: 978 -0 -7879 -8790 -9. Whitaker, Todd. What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most. ISBN 1 -930556 -69 -1.

More titles • • • Martin, Jane Roland. The School Home: Rethinking Schools for Changing Families. Cambridge: Harvard U Press, 1992. Mc. Laughlin, Milbrey W. and Talbert, Joan E. Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2001. Nelson, Jane. Positive Discipline. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. O’Hanian, Susan. Caught in the Middle. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. Palmer, Parker. The Courage to Teach. New York: Jossey-Bass, 1998. Power, Brenda Miller and Hubbard, Ruth Shagoury, (eds). Oops, What We Learn When Our Teaching Fails. New York: Stenhouse, 1996. Ramsey, Robert D. 501 Tips for Teachers. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books, 1997. Silva, Peggy and Robert A. Mackin. Standards of Mind and Heart: Creating the Good High School. NY: Teacher’s College Press, 2002. Toch, Thomas. High Schools on a Human Scale. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.