Chapter 12: Responding to Student Behavior

·         Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) are based on four elements: (1.) clearly defined outcomes, (2.) behavioral and biomedical science, (3.) practices demonstrated effective through research, (4.) systemic approaches that enhance the learning environment and outcomes for all students.

·         The starting point for interventions is prevention.

·         Token economy is a prevention strategy that creates a system in which students earn “money” that they exchange for rewards.

o   Resource: http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html

o   This website explains what a token economy is in public schools and explains the past and the history of these economies and why they work with children.

·         A teacher’s initial response to student behavior often determines whether a problem situation develops and how intense it is.

·         Functional behavior assessment (FBA) is a problem-solving process implemented for any student with a disability who has chronic, serious behavior problems. 

o   Resource: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/policy/functionbehav.htm

o   This website offers guidance on functional behavior assessments and how to implement it. 

·         Social reinforcers are various types of positive interactions that a teacher, parent, or peer can give a student to reward appropriate behavior and increase it.

·         Activity reinforcers involve activities such as playing games, having extra recess, helping a teacher in another class, and participating in other coveted individual or group pastimes.

·         Tangible reinforcers are prizes and other objects that students can earn as symbols of achievement and that students want to obtain.

·         A behavior contract is an agreement between the teacher and student that clearly specifies the expectations for the student, the rewards for meeting those expectations, the consequences of not meeting them, and the timeframe for which the agreenment is valid.

o   Resource: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/challenging-students/132-behavior-contracts

o   This website provides advice on how to implement behavior contracts and the advantages of it this type of intervention.

Chapter 11: Evaluating Student Learning

·         Mnemonics impose an order on information to be remembered using words, poems, rhymes, jingles, or images to aid memory.

·         The keyword method uses visual imagery to make material more meaningful to students and hence easier to remember.  First, a vocabulary word or fact is changed into a word that sounds similar and is easy to picture.

·         When using alternative forms of questions, the teacher changes the type of question asked (for example, multiple choice instead of essay questions) or the construction of the question (for example, adding a word blank for fill-in-the-blank questions.

·         An alternative tests site is a type of testing accommodations that involves changing the location where a student with a disability is tested to make sure the results of the test are accurate. 

·         A third grading option is using alternatives to letter and number grades, such as pass/fail grades and checklists of skill competencies.

·         Differentiated report cards are report cards that have individualized provisions for students to clarify the meaning of their grades.

·         Individualized grading includes accommodations that involve changing either the elements being graded (such as curriculum content, class participation, and homework) or the values or weights assigned to these elements.

o   Resource: http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/legal-rights/1019-grading-system-for-a-student-with-ld-and-an-iep.gs

o   This website has an article for individualizing a grading system for a student with an LD and an IEP. 

·         Basing grades on progress on IEP objectives can also be helpful for students who are in special education but do not have modified curricular expectations.

·         Performance-based assessment measured learning processes rather than focusing only on learning products.  It frequently involves using authentic learning tasks, or tasks that are presented within real-world contexts and lead to real-world outcomes.

o   Resource: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/196021.aspx

o   This is an online book on a Teacher’s Guide to Performance-based Learning and Assessment.  It offers all of the chapters online so you can quickly access the information that you need.

·         Portfolio Assessment is a method of evaluation in which a purposeful collection of students work is used to determine student effort, progress, and achievement in one or more areas.

o   Resource: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/assessment/resource/5942.html

o   This website is a guide for classroom teachers K-8 to use portfolio assessments in their classroom.  It offers key reminders to implement this form of assessment in your classroom.

Chapter 10: Strategies for Independent Learning

·         Students need to perform independently in five key areas: gaining information, storing and retrieving information, expressing information, self-advocating, and managing time.

• Resource: http://www.ldpride.net/selfadvocacy.htm
• This is a great website that I found that is a self-advocacy learning manual.  It has a character that is called “detective learner” and he helps explain all about learning disabilities and how students can self-advocate for themselves.  It is an excellent resource because it is geared towards children and explains the terms in words that they can understand.

·         Self-advocacy is an important part of self-determination, or the ability to make decisions and direct behavior so that the desired goals are achieved.

·         Learning Strategies are techniques, principles, and rules that enable a student to learn to solve problems and complete tasks independently.

·         Remember that just telling students the steps of a learning strategy is not enough.  Letting students watch you perform the strategy and then carefully guiding students as they learn to perform it are essential.

·         Reciprocal teaching is a way to teach students to comprehend reading material by providing them with teacher and peer models of thinking behavior and then allowing them to practice these thinking behaviors with their peers.

• Resource: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm
• This is a website that provides basic information about reciprocal teaching, including the definition of it, the purpose, and the research from it.  It offers valuable information and is very useful when you are looking to familiarize yourself with reciprocal teaching.

·         The Give me Five strategy focuses students’ attention on five body parts in order to improve their listening skills: eyes on the speaker, mouth quiet, body still, ears listening, and hands free.

·         A pattern guide is a graphic organizer designed to help students organize their papers.

·         For peer editing, several steps are followed.  First the writer reads the paper to a peer editor while the editor listens.  The peer editor then summarizes the paper.  Next, the editor evaluates the paper, sharing with the writer an analysis of salient features of the writing that might guide a revision or lead to improvement.  Then the peer editor and the writer brainstorm ways to improve the paper.

• Resource: http://www.timesaversforteachers.com/freeforms/peereditingform.pdf
• This is a PDF document that is an actual sample of a peer editing form.  You can simply print this out and give to your students to promote classmate peer editing.