A new way of looking at the function of behaviors

What does the "F" stand for in "FBA."  I was recently posed this question by Ross Greene at the Social Thinking conference last week. For those of you who are in the world of special education know that an FBA is a Functional Behavior Assessment. An assessment when we are seeing a reoccurring behavior in a student. It is our job to sort out what is the function of this unexpected behavior.

Ross made a point that resonated with me, "Kids do well if they can."

All of our "trouble" kids with these problematic behaviors WANT to do well. They are lacking the skills to do well. Using the example of a student with a reading challenge; when does that child struggle? When you require them to read. This is the same concept for our students with challenging behaviors. These students aren't always challenging. They are only challenging when “The demands being placed upon a person exceed the person’s capacity to respond adaptively.”

Reinforcement systems can be motivating, and for those kids who don't have behavior challenges come easy for them. We need to adjust in teaching the students skills over creating motivation. The motivation is already there, “kids do well if they can.” The student would much rather be doing well in class, but is lacking the necessary skills in order to do so, therefore, Student has found a maladaptive behavior in order to cope with his lack of skills.

If you are interested in more topics by Ross Greene here is a link to his website;

http://www.livesinthebalance.org/

Reflecting on Reflection

As teachers, we are constantly reflecting whether we realize it or not. After a lesson, we consider what went well and what didn't, for example. The challenge--for me at least--is to take that even further. I need to make sure that I engage in "deliberate thinking" and figure out WHY something didn't work and how I can adjust it. In doing so, I would be able to tweak and build on my lessons rather than starting all over. Reflection is also important with student behavior. As a 7th grade teacher, I am lucky enough that I teach in a "house." At our team meetings, I can reflect with others to help with student concerns. If something is working for another teacher to help students be successful, I can try it as well. I need to remember that reflection isn't an isolated practice.

PLCs...

As we start an exciting new school year and settle into our new routines, we have some common practices that we can reflect upon. Here's a 'starter question' to help you build blogging into your weekly habits. :) Responses to these prompts are optional, as always! This is just one way to get your feet wet... 

My October reflection-of-the-month is: What is one way that active participation in a PLC is impacting your professional practice?

Think about: How is your PLC...

... enhancing your reflective practice?

... improving your instructional practice?

... challenging your philosophical beliefs?

     

Great Discussions!

Let's keep the suggestions rolling... I love learning from your experiences and suggestions. Also, no need to worry too much or apologize for being 'late' in posting to our blog. Give your best shot to be present each week and share your own ideas. You can start a new post if you choose, but since our primary goal is to engage in meaningful professional conversations, responding to others is a valuable way to contribute! Keep it up. :)

Talented kid with an attitude

I have a student who is quite musically talented. She learns music very quickly, and she was also selected for my audition 6th grade choir. My problem is she has quite the attitude. Her work ethic is not great. Within the academic school choir setting, her attitude and lack of effort are shown in her rehearsal technique and citizenship grades. My bigger worry is the way she talks to other kids. To me, it has a feel of bullying. Every comment she makes to another student has that sassy attitude tone and she often puts kids down when making statements to each other. I think she does this because she is a 6th grade girl who doesn't know herself all that well, but it drives me NUTS! She isn't meaning for it to be "so mean," as she has stated to me, but it really bothers me. Any ideas? I want to channel her talent positively.

Communication

We all know there are vast mediums to communicate with students, parents, and colleagues. It seems today that most people prefer to use email, phone, text, and face-to-fact conversation. However, with such limited time in the day how do we best communicate with parents and our colleagues? On average, my inbox fills up with 10-15 an hour - with 8-10 of those messages requiring a response. When do we have time to respond to those? Personally, I am an early bird so I've dedicated my 7-8 AM time (our start time at Sweeney is 8 AM) to answering emails, and then I try stay away from email during the day, as that's taking away from student support time. However when I see an average of 50-70 emails a day, and our hectic schedules, I don’t feel I always have the time to return communication in an efficient way. Do others have a systematic approach to communication? If so, are there particular ways you prefer to receive communication, and then organize it? At any given time I have support staff, general education teachers, and related service providers coming to me as a student's case manager consistently. I have moved to a paraprofessional tracking sheet this year where our paraprofessionals track some data, but there is room for narratives - which serves as some of this essential communication. Other than that, I am looking for any suggestions that others may have!

EL students being stuck in L3

Hello Everyone--Sorry I haven't been posting. It has been a really busy beginning of the year. I was at a conference last spring where the keynote speaker was discussing the "stuck in Level 3 syndrome." By this, she meant that there are EL students who seem to progress so slowly that they get stuck in level 3 and either there is a learned helplessness (and this is teacher's problem) or they aren't movitated to keep going (this is the student's problem) or both. So how can we balance student legitimate need for servicing from creating a dependency? I'd be happy for any feedback--I'll leave it open-ended and not share my opinions until I hear from others.