Monthly Archives: January 2016

January 31st

As the month of January comes to an end I am realizing how fast time goes by in the classroom. As I discussed with my SA, I have become aware of the many things that get left behind when teaching a certain unit. A new month is exciting because it brings forth new teachings but it also means we are closer to report cards and the panic kind of sets in….have we covered everything we were suppose to?

During calendar with the Kindergartens I try to make things a little different and add in my own brain breaks or questions to ask the students. The students to not hesitate to tell me that I am not doing what I am suppose to be doing but I go on with it anyways. This week I taught them a new song “Babar the Elephant” after the special helper had done his job. They loved it! However, I noticed one of my student’s not participating. I asked him to stand up during the second round of singing but instead he decided to stay seated and not sing. I did not acknowledge it again until it was time to dismiss everyone for recess. I dismissed each student one by one as they gave me a number sentence with a number I held up for them. I left the last one to the student who refused to participate and asked him about it. His response was that he did not feel like being a part of the song. I told him politely that he is a part of the class and as a class when we do something together he must participate. He seemed to agree and I said that I would be watching for him next week and hope to see him be a part of the song. I know that this student would not have this kind of attitude with my SA so I could tell that he was testing me to see what I would do if he just stayed seated.

My Teaching Philosophy

It is hard to narrow done to a few sentences what kind of teacher I hope to be. However, there are some parts of my career that I feel more strongly about and hope to accomplish over the years to come. IMG_3862

Through my social and emotional approach to teaching I hope to support ALL of my students in any way possible. Mental well-being is not always talked about in classrooms and talking openly about our emotions with my students will only do them good in the future. As a teacher I will be a role model to every student I meet so it is my goal to epitomize the good qualities that I want to see in them. Lastly, making learning memorable is something I strive for because knowing that your students remember something they learned from you is beyond satisfying.

Strategies

My Inquiry question revolves around strategies that will help me in the future when dealing with students with behavioural issues. I have been closely following a student in my class that my SA had difficulty managing. Since September my SA has struggled to find what works when managing this student. It wasn’t until recently when a behavioural interventionist came in and observed this student that my SA started to see a change. From what I have observed over the past few weeks I can see a difference in the way this student interacts with the class.

The student is not sitting directly with the rest of the class on the carpet. She had difficulty keeping her hands to herself so she sits on a wiggle cushion off to the side of the carpet area. She is told that she can re-join the class at the carpet when her behaviour improves. The student is given a stress ball to fidget with while she is in her seat. She also has her own chair that she is sent to when she physically harms another student. The behavioural interventionist has told my SA that the student needs to be sent to that chair every time she does not cooperate with the teacher or has issues with other students. No matter how many times in a day this happens, she must be sent to this char. After discussing this with my SA it was clear that the student was starting to feel some remorse when she was being sent to this chair, something she was not doing before. She wants to remain a part of the classroom activities and when she is sent to the chair it is obvious that she feels left out. Every week is different for this student, but she has come a long way since September. My SA reminds her of her good behaviour and how she must keep up with it to receive a good review at the end of the week.

These strategies, and others being used, are the first that I have seen in a classroom setting. This is probably because I have not seen behaviour like this student’s before. I am learning a lot from observing her and the reactions from my SA and the school. Everyday is different and the consistent use of these strategies will hopefully keep bringing forth some changes in the student.

January 21

Today was one of those days that started off on the wrong foot and I could not seem to catch a break as the day went on. My SA always reminds me that I come on the hardest day of the week, Thursday. It is a day where the teacher does not get a prep block and the students do not get a break from doing “work”. It is also the day before Friday which is always long as I have been told by many teachers. I actually never noticed the stretch before today. The students were not well behaved during my lesson and did not pay much attention to the instructions I was giving throughout the day; I thanked the ones that did pay attention as I appreciated their attentiveness. I did not take the behaviour of my students personally today, instead I looked at it as “one of those days” because I know my students will not always be on their best behaviour and I will have many days like these in the future. Instead I decided to take it in and observe how my teacher dealt with them when they mis behaved during her lessons and throughout the day. One thing that did hurt my feelings today was when one of the students made a rude remark during the story I was reading. When I asked a question about the character I heard him say under his breath, “nobody cares”. I chose not to acknowledge his comment and kept going with the story. I could tell he was uninterested and all he wanted to do was get ready for recess. I do wish I spoke to him privately after recess, which was my plan until I got distracted. If a situation like this arises again I definitely would talk to the student privately and explain why an inappropriate comment like that is not acceptable and can hurt someone’s feelings. Overall, many different learning experiences today that I can move forward with for next week.

Opposing Viewpoints

Jan 19

My Question: What are some strategies that I can use when working with students with behavioural issues?  

After spending some time with my classmates that have a similar inquiry question to mine we had an interesting discussion about operant defiant disorder (ODD). I have a psychology background and I learned about this disorder in my psychopathology class years ago. From my understanding this behaviour disorder that is prevalent in children and teens is a condition where the young person displays an ongoing pattern of uncooperative, defiant, hostile behaviour towards other people. The behaviour disrupts the child’s normal daily activities and activities within the family and school. Because this behaviour disorder is listed in the DSM I always have believed it to be a real disorder.

My classmate this week talked to a mental health worker who works at BC Children’s Hospital who strongly felt that ODD is not a real disorder. It wasn’t until she told me this that I began to question my belief around the disorder. It is hard to diagnose a child at such a young age who has behaviour issues but at the same time I can see how it can bring forth some answers for parents and teachers about the child’s behaviour. Putting a label on children makes it easier for everyone to make sense of what they are going through, but there is no way to know for certain what is actually going on. Also, the child may start to identify with the disorder which could make the behaviour worse.

Behavioural issues in the classroom are not easy to deal with, as I have seen so far in my practicum class. Through my discussion with my classmates I realized that I need to keep an open mind to the youth that is diagnosed with behavioural disorders because it could be possible that I am dealing with something much bigger or something much smaller than it actually is. I do not plan on letting the disorder define the student.

January 9

First day back since winter break and I noticed how the school is slowly transitioning back to normal. No more christmas decorations, no more christmas talk but as I walked the halls of the schools I could see the new year resolutions from some students. I think it is great to teach students to set goals for the year and encourage them to keep aiming for their best. I got the opportunity to carry on with my calendar routine this week. Since I am currently taking a music class I was eager to sing the new January songs with my students. The music class has already taught me to be confident in my singing, even if I am not in tune with the song. I felt comfortable up there in front of my students and I am realizing that my confidence is rising every time I do a new lesson. I also led an art lesson after lunch, one for the Kindergartens and one for the grade 1’s. It was exciting and kind of stressful trying to help them all at once, even though I demonstrated within small groups. Time really flies during these lessons and I’ve learned that I need to keep rotating so that I can get everyone through before we run out of time. I enjoyed this lesson, I was a little frazzled but its all a part of the excitement of art lessons!