A student book

My student was having a particularly difficult time (we are here for that), so he calmed himself by creating and drawing a book.  

Earthquake learning and preparedness

This is what we practiced for our earthquake drill. We also shared our experiences, whether we slept or felt it, and watched Bill Nye on earthquakes.  We will talk more about it tomorrow and go over vocabulary. 

We also brainstormed what we knew and wanted to know:

My daily student monitoring sheets

SCOE/Trec Training (my contribution)

The Behavior Program from my perspective/experiences:

• Simplify!  

For me, simplification made it more definable and easier for all participants to understand (students, teachers, staff, parents, etc.).  This was applied to point sheets, level board, and other places. 

• Flexibility

If something isn't working, then change it!  My first year I changed my program probably too many times.  Having a solid foundation and then allowing the room to adapt it to the classroom needs is critical in fidelity and success.  Just don't over do it or complicate it to start!  

Also, I found that what worked great for a month, would then become stale (as far as rewards) and we would change them.

• Matching behavior to consequence

Although difficult at times, finding a reparation or task that matches the negative behavior has been the greatest growing tool I've discovered.  The benefits:

• Ownership to student
• Student is in control (this is what they want!)
• Minimizes length of behavior (having a way "back in" is essential!)
• Community building and focus

It would be great to start a running list of ideas/reparations that've worked, from teachers in the region.  Perhaps on edmodo?
  
EXAMPLE:

A student had been extremely negative (words/tone/body language) for awhile to many students in the class.  It felt like this student was infecting the whole community and getting through the days were tough.  Eventually, he was asked to separate from the community and given a list of task options and "to-dos".  He chose to "teach the class about something positive and what it feels like to be picked on".
The student ended up opening up on a really personal level, giving the students a chance to re-connect, for him to be a leader again, and to give back to his community.   His self confidence rose and he was able to be a more positive contributor to the class community.  

 or...

Everytime a student uses an inappropriate word/tone, we have them write three positive words on a poster board before they can be excused to class break...

• Having incentive outlets (outside of the level program)

This is HUGE!!  If a student feels as though they have no "hook" they will sabatoge the class/themselves/environment (we've all seen this).  The ole' stuck on level 1 with nothing to do is a classic symptom toward defeat.  If there's other reinforcement and reward motivators the student will work harder to get back up!  

• Positive Star (obtainable no matter the level)
• Personal Behavior reward contracts
• booster (if you do "x" you can have a bonus day up or if you make your day I'll give you "x", i.e., ten minutes of wall ball with a friend).
• Weekly rewards

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CLASS DOJO

Can be implemented different ways, whole class, or for data sampling...
 

http://www.classdojo.com/

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=class%20dojo