Managing Student Behavior Next Year- Positive and Negative Reinforcement

It is important to remember to encourage students and “catch them being good”. Especially when students are offered free choice, as in Daily 5, a teacher might only comment on students’ behavior when they are not following the rules. To do so is to miss opportunities for positive reinforcement. When you think about it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to give exact, specific directions, and then provide feedback only when those directions are not followed. It's like grading a test, but only marking the wrong answers, taking the correct ones for granted. The students should get credit for what they do right and acknowledgement from the teacher will reinforce behavior that meets expectations.

Positive behaviors I will look for during Daily 5:

• Choosing a good spot
• Sitting elbow-elbow-knee-knee during read-to-someone
• Getting started right away
• Working the whole time
• Sharing books, computers, and materials
• Collaborating with peers on writing and editing

My ELL students have a standing homework assignment to read books on the subscription service Raz-Kids. The site is quite helpful for ELLs as the books are leveled, and it lets them follow along with a fluent reading of the book, read it themselves, then take a comprehension quiz before moving on. Through the year, I worked to get kids doing 1 hour of raz-kids per week. Eventually, all but a few got there, I think as our relationship developed and the started to see the results of their work with me. Next year I want there to be more consistency, I want to get there faster, and I don’t want low-expectations to squeak by.

I’m going to make a chart where students get a sticker or stamp every week they complete their reading homework. Alternatively, I could just set up a separate Class Dojo for my ELLs and use that. The rewards they earn will mostly be along the lines of special privileges, but I will calculate an appropriate goal to work toward collectively, and reward them with an ELL party at the end of the year if they reach it.

I also want to involve parents more next year. Many of our parents live in other countries and speak no English, but I want to make an effort to establish contact with as many as I can at the start of the year. Their learning English is a main reason kid get sent to our school, but I believe many of the parents are reticent to take part, not having had a Western education themselves. One idea is to have 10 or so messages pre-translated into Chinese. We might not have much of a dialogue, but at least I could ask for help with homework or behavior, and let the students see their teacher and parents at least trying to work together.

Probably a teacher’s greatest advantage in managing student behavior is understanding it. Over the school year, I’ve developed relationships with my students- I know who their friends are, their hobbies and interests, and what they respond to in the classroom both positively and negatively. My colleagues in elementary have been getting to know the same. As we’ve gained experience with this group of personalities, we’ve become increasingly proactive in managing our classrooms. Certain students don’t need to be seated together, other groups work well together. When working with small groups, we know what students and what areas of the room we need to keep in our peripheral vision. Our ability to preempt misbehavior will increase the more we know, and this is why we share information on our students (with such aloof parents, teachers piece together a student’s background from what they let slip). Participation in after-school activities also deepen our understanding of our students as individuals.

I find that students who have spent time in class with me know what kind of behavior I expect, so that looking in their direction, or starting to move towards them, can be enough to stop problematic behavior.  When such behavior persists, particularly if it affects other students’ learning, we will generally take time off their recess. We are careful not to ask them to catch up on missed work or let them read while they are sitting out. We don’t want to create an association between learning and punishment

An in-class time out seat might work better. I liked what it said in the Marzano text about a student on time out “demonstrating their willingness to rejoin the class by attending to the academic activities that are occurring”. This approach gives the student a better chance to correct the behavior promptly, and I think they are less likely to be resentful and defy the rules despite the punishment. I guess you could say it’s more of a rehabilitative than punitive approach.

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High Performance Learning Environments

Roller Coaster Physics

From the roller coaster video, it sounds like the teacher gives them a design goal and lets them experiment. This is fundamentally different from providing a set of instructions on how to build something, and sends a message to students that their teacher believes them capable of solving complex problems. Asking them to design an optimal track, rather than to meet some minimum distance, suggests that the teacher expects great work (this class might get the marble to travel further than last year or the year before).

She encourages them to use the technical vocabulary of physics, and limits materials to constrain students where others might be tempted to make it easier.

Collaborative group work is the norm in this class. The teacher trusts her class to work in teams, and for every student to do their part.

Chiming- the teacher expects students to share responsibility and solve problems as a group.

Self-assessment and peer assessment- the teacher believes students can reflect meaningfully on their own work and others.  

Roller Coaster glog

The teacher sets students up for success by providing examples of completed work and a detailed planner/rubric. Offering up to 120% credit incentivizes students to perform up to and beyond a high standard.

It’s a collaborative project, so the teacher simply expects the students to be working during class time. If this applies equally to every member of every group, I think it qualifies as a high expectation.

The teacher has set high expectations for punctuality and late/make up work. Tying students’ attendance directly to their grade suggests that class time is taken seriously.

Chinese Math

Expectations are high and excuses are not accepted. It looks like the typical Chinese classroom goes by the “one size fits all” approach. This doesn’t look like much fun, but the multiplication tables are something students need to memorize anyway. They start with multiplication early because so much else in math is just faster  once you know it.

Rigid conformity is enforced. Speculatively, the students might have a hard time applying their elite math skills to cross-disciplinary problems, though I teach Chinese nationals and I’ve never noticed this.

The extra hours of weekly practice vis-a-vis the western system undoubtedly make the difference in student performance. For me, the question is: Is being rock-solid in arithmetic worth a two-hour nightly homework regime for every single student?

Whole-Brain Teaching    

WBT sets high expectations for participation. As we know, students learn more when they are involved, and even more when they have to teach someone else.Techniques like teach-ok and switch ensure peer-to-peer learning is part of regular classroom procedure.

“If rules are only posted on your board they are not really a part of your class. You must have the rules running around in your students’ heads for them to be effective.”

• “Five Classroom Rules”, Whole Brain Teaching

Each rule has a gesture to go with it, and teachers are encouraged to rehearse the rules “first thing in the morning, after lunch, and after recess” every day for elementary classes. The students are given to understand that the rules are really important. The rules tightly regulate student movement and classroom procedure: students must signal for permission to speak or leave their seat. The expectation is for an orderly, efficient learning environment.

WBT offers a wide assortment of motivational techniques designed to keep students engaged. The “Scoreboard” provides students with running behavioral feedback. Positive reinforcement and gamification help students to really learn classroom procedure, so it begins to become second nature.

I’d like to incorporate some Whole Brain Teaching techniques into a “free-range” collaborative classroom similar to the “Rollercoaster physics” class.

Students could collaborate in small groups on a video that showcases some element of the English language (past, present, or future tense, pronouns, prepositions, etc.). They could choose from topics already covered that year so they could use their notes and completed work for reference.

As they work together, I will periodically use “class-yes” to refocus class attention. A group member will be selected to “chime” at least daily,  updating the class as a whole on group progress and problems. Aside from work on the video itself, classwork will take the form of peer- and self-assessments and rehearsal of class procedures and good teamwork practices.

I teach elementary ELL students from China, Thailand, and South Korea. It would take very well-rehearsed class procedures and my syllabus for the whole term would have to be well organized and structured to give them enough background on a variety of topics that each group will have a choice, with plenty of resources and previous instruction to draw upon.

The video project will have a detailed rubric, which i will spend class time explicitly teaching so that students know exactly what is expected of them going forward.

Creating a Positive Classroom Environment

I'm going to talk about creating a positive, inclusive classroom environment with reference to strategies from "Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education", a pamphlet from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance initiative.

Choose Books that Reflect Student Experience

At our American-themed international school, we often order books intended for U.S. audiences. Our students don’t need math books that use Imperial units or readers on U.S. presidents, but we keep getting them anyway. English-language books that deal with Chinese or Thai themes are rarer. When I see one, such as I Hate English! by Ellen Levine, or a Chinese New Year book, I try to use it if possible.  I want my students to learn about other cultures as well, but these texts give them the opportunities to speak from personal experience.

More often, I try to choose texts that are universally relatable. Kids from all cultures are interested in travel, adventure, animals, dinosaurs, space, and food. The better I get to know my students, the more thought goes into choosing books for them.

Student-centered Classroom Arrangement

I work between the grade 4 and 5 classrooms and a small ELL room. I tell my students that if the place they are sitting won’t distract them, it’s not a problem. When I work with small groups in the classrooms, we sit wherever, a different place every time. We try to disassociate from the old-school “sit down, shut up, and listen to teacher” approach wherever possible and the way I seat my students is meant to be democratic and support shared inquiry.

The walls in our ELL room have a big chart of English phonemes, some student work, some IB Learner profile posters. I’d like to add quotes, pictures, or anything that would stimulate a student’ curiosity- conversation pieces. This could be a chance to bring in some American culture, and at the same time counter the misconception (common among Asian IS students) that Western=American=White. 

Some personalization of the ELL room would also be good. Maybe a special display frame for a “status update” or that students best work for the week/month. 

Gender (and ethnicity)- Neutral Practices

 When I was in the fourth grade, our teacher disciplined the whole class by making us sit silently with our heads down. Her way of making sure we didn’t whisper: “If you’re a girl, sit next to a boy, if you’re black, sit next to someone who’s white.” Segregating students in this way (I should say re-segregating since this was in North Carolina) reinforced the false binaries of race and gender handed down to us by our society.

Education that truly prepares students for the future must do the opposite and challenge received notions of identity.  Many of my current students come from conservative cultures and their parents hold old-fashioned views on sexuality and ethnicity. Some examples:

• ·         There is occasional friction between Chinese and Japanese students. Parents tell them stories about World War 2, but don’t explain how every county has done something bad at one time or another or how people from a given country aren’t necessarily all the same. I see filling in these gaps part of my role as an international educator.
• ·         When doing a rhyming-words lesson, a 4^th grade ELL came up with gay and looked at me like I was supposed to be shocked. I said “Yeah, that’s a word and it’s not a bad word either. Write it down.” He replied “But it’s very disgusting.” I simply said, “No it’s not,” and moved on with the lesson. Preaching my values might set up an opposition between myself and the parents (with the student unfairly torn between the two), but confidently asserting my beliefs sets an example and will provoke thought.

Rethink Participation Norms

In Thai culture, students are expected to echo the teacher’s words. They are not encouraged to ask teachers questions either, and they are often at a loss when asked an open-ended question. Depending on the individual, it can be very difficult to break them out of this mindset. I try meeting them halfway by:

• ·         Writing several options or examples on the board and let them choose
• ·         Giving plenty of think time
• ·         Trying to avoid “on-the-spot” questions. Partner work lets them speak under less pressure.
• ·         Defusing their anxiety with humor
• ·         Smiling, giving eye contact and verbal encouragement

Because of the structural differences between Sino-Tibetan and Indo-European languages, ELL students from East Asia make countless grammatical mistakes. To correct every mistake on every assignment would be overwhelming and discouraging to the students.  Instead, I focus on current and past learning targets i.e. target language for that lesson and stuff we’ve already talked about. See this interesting article for more about working with Chinese ELLs.

There is a balance to be struck between correcting their English and encouraging them to produce more. Since perfection is not our goal, I tend to lean toward getting them talking or writing, using what they do know.

Keeping in mind that young learners are absorbing and interpreting everything around them, some extra effort to send appropriate messages and make sure everybody's learning receives full support seems worth it. 

Until next time...

References

Critical Practices in Anti-bias Education. Teaching Tolerance, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2014. http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/PDA%20Critical%20Practices_0.pdf

Mobile Devices in the Classroom

Phones and tablets are tools of daily living in this century. This is even truer for the younger generation. When entertainment, shopping, dating, politics, and everything else are increasingly done through mobile apps and browsing, why should education be left behind?

The answer: teachers don’t know how to use mobile technology in their work. Decades older than our students, most of us have smartphones in our pockets, but fail to realize the full potential of this technology.

When we use the latest tech, most of us are stuck doing old things in new ways. We use mobile technology for messaging, social media, reference, research, and content-specific apps- things we’re already familiar with and comfortable doing on a PC.

Conversely, our younger students are at home with their phones and tablets, but less so with desktops and laptops. When I first taught elementary-age kids in Thailand, I was surprised these so-called digital natives couldn’t type, save, and publish an MS Word document. It only shows my age, however, that I think digital technology is about writing papers more efficiently. These kids play on tablets at home- they are native swipers, not typers.

A teacher trying to incorporate mobile technology should:

• ·         Provide 1 device per student or implement a BYOD policy.
• ·         Find out how students already use their devices and expand on that.
• ·         Not rely on content-specific apps. The big deal about mobile technology is that it delivers interactivity, collaboration, and creativity.
• ·         Exploit multimedia capabilities of mobile devices.
• ·         Make sure students understand the difference between computers and mobile devices.
• ·         Teach digital citizenship
• ·         Explore the diverse uses of mobile technology. Apps can be classified, for example, between Consumption, Creation, Communication, Games, and Utilities.

Sample mobile activities:

• ·         Have students collaborate on a virtual space as an alternative to a poster or other physical project. Various apps will allow them to assemble images, recorded voice, and other media collaboratively.
• Flip the classroom- mobile style. While students watch the video lesson at home, they can tweet questions and comments to the teacher, who can prepare for the next day’s class accordingly.

Planning for ELLs

Our next PYP unit in grade 4 is on rights and responsibilities.

 

 I've selected four 4th grade ELLs I work with regularly:

•  Henry (Pre-production) knows the alphabet and some isolated words and phrases. He is new to the school, and has presented with behavior problems so far. He is missing much social/instructional English, which has made it harder for him to follow directions and make friends. He reads by recognition only, not yet able to decode words.
• Wendy (Early Production)  communicates in short words and phrases. She came to APIS six weeks before Henry, is eager to learn, and makes excellent use of her limited vocabulary. She can read K-1 level texts with some attempts to decode and strong comprehension.
• Lulu (Beginning Fluency) has severe ADHD and is extremely creative and talkative. So far this year, her verbal fluency has exploded, but her reading level has not risen significantly (still about the same as Wendy). She loves writing, listening to reading, and speaking English, but seemingly finds it difficult to concentrate when reading.
• Kaw-Oat (Beginning Fluency) is my most advanced grade 4 ELL. He accesses content language more readily than his peers, and communicates handily in social situations, but currently falls short of fluency. He speaks and writes without tense and plurals, which suggests he relies heavily on his L1 lexicon. In other words he mentally translates everything from Thai to English before he speaks, ignoring the grammatical differences between the two.

I'll go through one by one and talk about how I can help each ELL participate in the mainstream classroom and access the same content as their peers.

HENRY

 

 For Henry, I'm going to use visuals related to the content vocabulary and ask his Chinese-speaking peers to translate some concepts to him. Images are also a good way of giving a pre-productive ELL an alternate way of responding. In my experience, these kids respond well to kinesthetic games, for example, a quiz game where kids run to different corners of a room to answer questions. I want him to gain confidence to start decoding unfamiliar words, so I'm going to be doing word-building phonics activities in ELL and ELA time, as well as helping him with social/instructional language, both of which could easily integrate with a rights and responsibilities unit.

 

WENDY

 

Teaching ELLs though student art

Wendy loves to draw and readily connects to prior knowledge given an image prompt, so visuals will be a big part of my approach with her as well. Further along than Henry, I would hope Wendy can connect the pictures to the words solidly enough that she can use some of the content vocabulary verbally and in writing. Typically, given 10-12  polysyllabic vocabulary words, I'll pick a few terms to focus on that especially are relevant to that particular student's unit work (eg. their final project). I will be able to find books at her level that connect to the concepts of rights and responsibilities (civics, chores, people's occupations and so forth).

 

LULU

 

Lulu does well with discussions guided by images or realia. Without some physical "anchor", she quickly loses focus. With a little bit of scaffolding, though , her curiosity about the content begins to show. I'll engage Lulu in discussions about the content, scaffolding along with images and picture books. as with Wendy, I'll focus on content vocabulary she will have the most opportunities to use in an authentic context. I may pair her with Wendy in a reading group, since their reading ability is comparable, and because Wendy benefits from exposure to Lulu's more advanced language production.

 

KAW-OAT

 

 Kaw-Oat is able to grasp most content vocabulary, but needs some help integrating it fluently in his work. For example, he may use a word in a way that demonstrates understanding, but misuse it as a part of speech: "People must be responsibility for their actions." He also ignores most English writing conventions unless specifically reminded. Many Thai ELLs struggle with these last two, because their own respective systems are so different. Kaw-Oat could benefit from completing syntax trees with relevant vocabulary and "name-the-part-of-speech" games.

 

 

 

 

Special Education at APIS vs. USA

I spoke with several staff members at American Pacific International School about Special Ed. Some shared their experience working with Special Needs students in US school districts, while others emphasized the referral process within APIS. Although we are an American-themed school, cultural/conceptual barriers and a related lack of resources prohibit us from making many of the provisions that would be required by IDEA in an actual US school.

 

This video provides a beautiful example of differentiation for intellectually disabled students at Rong Arun (School of Dawn). Ms. Muttamara also touches on Thai parents' reluctance to have their child assessed for SPED: they tend to believe learning difficulties can be overcome though hard work and may perceive  SPED referral as an admission of failure. Education and social status are culturally linked and parents want to see their children as "perfect".

I wasn't able to find further information on Rong Arun, but researching my Education in Thailand spreadsheet, I found that the Thai MOE licenses 51 public institutions for special education. So credit where it's due: the Thai government is apparently trying to move forward on this issue. Speculatively, the prejudice against SPED may be higher among wealthy international school parents and working-class Thais, because of the social pressures mentioned above.

Attitudes toward SPED have certainly changed in the US in recent decades, as the passage of legislation like IDEA shows.

APIS is a small (around 200 students) boarding school in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We do not have a Special Ed teacher or school psychologist on staff. All of our teachers are, however trained in differentiated instruction and we assess our students carefully, tailoring our instruction to meet their individual needs.In the US, children with mild special needs such as ADHD or dyslexia are sometimes put on something called a 504 plan, rather than an IEP. A 504 grants the student accommodations such as extra test time, having questions read aloud, special seating, or many others.

 In short, we cannot allow our lack of resources keep us from differentiating for students who may need it. This video discusses the positive effects of differentiation on a whole class:

The science behind ADHD, for one, is hardly a settled matter, nor is the US cultural norm for student behavior the only valuable one. If a teacher notices a student cannot sit still, doesn't write more than a few lines, and is overly physical with her peers, a referral and diagnosis may be less helpful than differentiated or alternate methods of instruction, such as:

• Small groups which are changed often
• Kinesthetic word/number games games: reading hopscotch, math tag, etc.
• Alternate seating
• Frequent "brain breaks"
• Scaffolding complex tasks
• Teaching self-regulation tools

Here, an educator teaches a student to express his symptoms. If the boy is able to identify when he is feeling tired or frustrated, he'll have the opportunity to raise his hand and ask for help or a break before he disrupts the class and gets in trouble.