Saturday, August 25, 2012
Guided Math
A few days ago, I heard about guided math, I didn't know what it was, so I have decided to research it a little bit.
It is very important to research things that you do not know because you can learn something that you had never known you needed to know before.
Guided math is similar to guided reading. For those of you who are unfamiliar with either (I, too, was in that category), the teacher sets up a bunch of stations that teach the same topic. An example of this is the week on fractions. Each station would enforce the idea of fractions. For example, one station could have a bunch of cut-out pizzas, another could have jelly beans that need to be divided into four equal parts.
The idea is to help students become independent learners for that particular topic. In the beginning and the end of the week is a whole-group lesson teaching about the idea that will be reinforced through the stations.
I can see a big upside to teaching math in this way, because I am weird and a big advocate for project-based learning, this is, I feel, the closest thing to project-based learning that our public schools can get to. Independence in learning is imperative to the skill of lifelong learning.
And as I begin this new stage of life as a special education teacher, I remember my roots and beliefs, and start with a fresh start and a new outlook on teaching and education.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Name-Change
I am going to have to change the name of my blog now. I am no longer a future special ed teacher, I am a current special education teacher. But I don't know, I might just leave it the same, or I might have to leave it the same because I can't change the title. But I will still use this account.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Judge: Florida Teacher Who Soaked Autistic Kid's Crayons in Hot Sauce Should Get Job Back - Yahoo!
Judge: Florida Teacher Who Soaked Autistic Kid's Crayons in Hot Sauce Should Get Job Back - Yahoo!:
I am not going to lie, my first reaction to this story was, "What is the big deal?" Comparing a woman who forces her child to drink hot sauce versus a teacher who is trying to help a student with autism stop eating crayons by putting them in hot sauce is overdoing it a bit.
However, upon deeper ponderation (not an actual word, according to spellcheck, which is also not a word.), I realized that the special education teacher messed up in one area. We, as teachers, are required to be behavior managers, help manage behavior of students.
The first thing we need to do is figure out what is the function of that behavior. I cannot say for guaranteed truth that the function of the behavior of putting a crayon in your mouth is to gain sensory, but that is what my hypothesis is (and that is all that a functional behavior assessment asks, the best hypothesis). So, the child with autism wanted sensory feeling of putting a crayon in his mouth.
Here is where my path would diverge from the teacher's path. The teacher just wanted to stop that behavior. While that is a good idea, it is only part of the best practice. In order for us to be the best behavior managers that we can be, we need to replace the negative behavior that we are trying to get rid of with a positive one that still serves the same function.
Now, looking at the fact that he likes to put things in his mouth suggests to me that he has was gaining an oral sensory thing. What other things can go in the mouth that are socially acceptable and won't hurt the student? For one, we could give him a sucker. But suckers have calories, so I would have to talk to his parents to see if that is an option in their minds. Another option might have been giving him sucking candy, there are low-calorie sucking candy. With all of these ideas, I would want to talk to the parents before I do an intervention.
So, moral of this story, great behavior management is not about only stopping one behavior, it is about replacing that one behavior that we think is socially unacceptable with a behavior that is socially acceptable and gives the student the same thing as socially unacceptable behavior.
I am not going to lie, my first reaction to this story was, "What is the big deal?" Comparing a woman who forces her child to drink hot sauce versus a teacher who is trying to help a student with autism stop eating crayons by putting them in hot sauce is overdoing it a bit.
However, upon deeper ponderation (not an actual word, according to spellcheck, which is also not a word.), I realized that the special education teacher messed up in one area. We, as teachers, are required to be behavior managers, help manage behavior of students.
The first thing we need to do is figure out what is the function of that behavior. I cannot say for guaranteed truth that the function of the behavior of putting a crayon in your mouth is to gain sensory, but that is what my hypothesis is (and that is all that a functional behavior assessment asks, the best hypothesis). So, the child with autism wanted sensory feeling of putting a crayon in his mouth.
Here is where my path would diverge from the teacher's path. The teacher just wanted to stop that behavior. While that is a good idea, it is only part of the best practice. In order for us to be the best behavior managers that we can be, we need to replace the negative behavior that we are trying to get rid of with a positive one that still serves the same function.
Now, looking at the fact that he likes to put things in his mouth suggests to me that he has was gaining an oral sensory thing. What other things can go in the mouth that are socially acceptable and won't hurt the student? For one, we could give him a sucker. But suckers have calories, so I would have to talk to his parents to see if that is an option in their minds. Another option might have been giving him sucking candy, there are low-calorie sucking candy. With all of these ideas, I would want to talk to the parents before I do an intervention.
So, moral of this story, great behavior management is not about only stopping one behavior, it is about replacing that one behavior that we think is socially unacceptable with a behavior that is socially acceptable and gives the student the same thing as socially unacceptable behavior.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Man refuses to leave jail; cited for trespassing and sent back to prison | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News
Man refuses to leave jail; cited for trespassing and sent back to prison | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News:
I want to comment on this and talk about a concept that doesn't makes much sense to me with regards to punishment.
According to this article, a man was arrested after being cited for trespassing because he refused to leave jail. Let's think about this idea, the man doesn't want to leave jail, so he stays, and he is arrested and sent to jail. That's the jist.
Jail, in our society, in most societies, is supposed to be negative. Jail is supposed to be a punishment for everyone. The reality is, though, that jail may be the only roof over someone's head. One of our most important needs according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shelter/warmth.
I don't know anything about this man, but he clearly did not see jail as a punishment. He saw it as a positive reinforcement.
I have made the comment in the past, but I really want to say this: Not all students think the same way, not all students have the same things that are punishing to them (that make their behavior stop) or positively reinforcing to them (that make their behavior happen more).
Now we will move into the educational aspect of this topic. I saw, during my student teaching placement, the behavior of students being suspended for skipping school. Let's think about this, student skips school for the reason that they probably don't want to go to school. The school, as a "punishment" to the student suspends that student. What occurs when you suspend a student? The student doesn't have to go to school. So, by skipping school, we are giving them more days to skip school (aka suspension).
Is this behavior on our part of suspending students who skip school really punishing the behavior? Or are we reinforcing the behavior of skipping by suspending a student?
Here is what I propose, let's figure out a proper consequence, one that promotes a good behavior that does the same function. Instead of suspending students for skipping, let's give them a Friday off for good behavior if they come to school for two weeks in a row.
I feel like that may be met with consternated "No, that's not right. That's not fair to other students." I agree that it isn't fair to other students with the typical definition of fair, which is equal to the definition of equal. Our society has given the name fair a definition of, roughly, "All students get the same thing." Fairness, in reality, is equity, every student and person gets what they need, not what everyone else gets.
One of my professors from college, when anyone would bring up that it didn't seem fair would bring up an excellent point. "I wear glasses, is that unfair? Because you don't wear glasses." To which the college student would usually respond, "Well, no, because you need them." "Exactly, fairness is about need, not about equality."
I want to comment on this and talk about a concept that doesn't makes much sense to me with regards to punishment.
According to this article, a man was arrested after being cited for trespassing because he refused to leave jail. Let's think about this idea, the man doesn't want to leave jail, so he stays, and he is arrested and sent to jail. That's the jist.
Jail, in our society, in most societies, is supposed to be negative. Jail is supposed to be a punishment for everyone. The reality is, though, that jail may be the only roof over someone's head. One of our most important needs according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shelter/warmth.
I don't know anything about this man, but he clearly did not see jail as a punishment. He saw it as a positive reinforcement.
I have made the comment in the past, but I really want to say this: Not all students think the same way, not all students have the same things that are punishing to them (that make their behavior stop) or positively reinforcing to them (that make their behavior happen more).
Now we will move into the educational aspect of this topic. I saw, during my student teaching placement, the behavior of students being suspended for skipping school. Let's think about this, student skips school for the reason that they probably don't want to go to school. The school, as a "punishment" to the student suspends that student. What occurs when you suspend a student? The student doesn't have to go to school. So, by skipping school, we are giving them more days to skip school (aka suspension).
Is this behavior on our part of suspending students who skip school really punishing the behavior? Or are we reinforcing the behavior of skipping by suspending a student?
Here is what I propose, let's figure out a proper consequence, one that promotes a good behavior that does the same function. Instead of suspending students for skipping, let's give them a Friday off for good behavior if they come to school for two weeks in a row.
I feel like that may be met with consternated "No, that's not right. That's not fair to other students." I agree that it isn't fair to other students with the typical definition of fair, which is equal to the definition of equal. Our society has given the name fair a definition of, roughly, "All students get the same thing." Fairness, in reality, is equity, every student and person gets what they need, not what everyone else gets.
One of my professors from college, when anyone would bring up that it didn't seem fair would bring up an excellent point. "I wear glasses, is that unfair? Because you don't wear glasses." To which the college student would usually respond, "Well, no, because you need them." "Exactly, fairness is about need, not about equality."
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