Wednesday, September 14, 2011

In the End It's All about the Little Things...

Sometimes it's about dropping our intensity, anxiety, etc. over pacing guides, assessment, and academic growth. Sometimes its about the simpler things. Those things that make instruction accessible to all kids. Here are some tools from a brief lit review on instructional approaches to address problem behavior. Enjoy

Pre-Correction- pre-correction. With an instructional approach, the teacher proactively provides lessons on compliant behavior using demonstrations, explanations, positive and negative examples, and role plays (Colvin & Sugai,1988). 

De-Briefing- One strategy that is used following a negative consequence for a problem behavior is designed to prevent chronic non-compliance, is debriefing. This activity should provide feedback and planning at a time somewhat later than the initial response to the offense (Sugai & Colvin,1997). 

Behavior Rehearsal- Behavior rehearsal (Cartledge, 2005) or role-plays, are opportunities to practice and to be positively reinforced for complying with behavioral expectations. Pre-correction is an instructional strategy that is used in situations where non-compliance is likely, but before the non-compliance occurs.

Friendly Rapport- Walker and Walker (1991) include making an effort to establish a friendly rapport by speaking informally with students outside of class, for example, before or after school, or during the lunch break, as a means of preventingnon-compliance in class.   

Behavioral Momentum- Compliance also can be increased by using a sequence of commands that begin with several easy to follow directions that have a high probability of eliciting compliance (Belfiore, Basile, & Lee, 2008).

CICO- CICO involves rating how well a student has succeeded in meeting his or her behavioral goals during a class period and providing feedback and encouragement (Crone, Hawken, & Horner, 2010).

Opportunity to Respond- Non-compliance in the classroom can be reduced or prevented by matching the instructional demands and the opportunities to respond accurately to the students’ ability levels (Gunter & Conroy, 1998). 

Controlled Choice- An important way to defuse the anger and aggression that often accompany disobedience is to calmly offer choices rather than to engage in the direct confrontations we know as “power struggles” (Colvin, 1999).

 

Instructional Selectivity- Select high-interest of functional learning activities. Kids are far more motivated to learn when their instructional activities are linked to an area of high personal interest (Kern et. al., 2002).

Co-Teaching...

What is co-teaching?

-Marylin Friend interview from edweek

-simultaneously ensuring access to the general curriculum and a least restrictive environment.
-For many students with disabilities, co-teaching opens instructional doors and enables them to reach their potential.

-some instructional coaches or facilitators are finding that co-teaching is a way to partner with teachers to improve classroom practices.

-Strong co-teaching partnerships evolve over multiple years of shared instruction. They are premised on two teachers who each bring strengths to the relationship.

-The general education teacher should bring these four types of knowledge and skills: knowledge of the curriculum and evidence-based instructional strategies (that is, content skills); skills related to group and classroom management; understanding of typical student functioning (academically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally); and expertise in pacing (that is, moving students through required curriculum during the course of the school year).

-Special educators bring expertise in these four areas: deep familiarity with instructional strategies to facilitate student learning (that is, process skills); ability to design education for individual students based on their unique needs; skill in managing the procedural aspects of special education services (from team meetings, to [individualized education programs], to following all the guidelines that characterize the field); and focus on a mastery learning model.

-As the partnership grows, the teachers learn from one another, but the goal remains complementing one another rather than doing identical work side by side.

-co-teaching works best in the context of a school with a knowledgeable principal who sets expectations, arranges supports, and actively fosters co-teaching as part of the school's service delivery system.

-In model secondary co-taught classes, the goal is to have parity, that is, for all the expertise each teacher bring to be valued equally in the classroom. Students are grouped in many ways, content and process are blended, and students convey equivalent respect for each educator. This is a high expectation, but when reached, students clearly benefit.