Thursday, December 20, 2012

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and a great New Year!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Behavior Interventions

Working with children who exhibit difficult behaviors in the classroom can be a challenge at times.  But it doesn't mean you have to design and implement elaborate interventions in the classroom in order to achieve success.  Sometimes just the simple can be just as effective.  Below are some suggestions to consider:

1.  Post a class schedule.  Add photos for those students who cannot read.
2.  Alternate challenging activities with maintenance-enhancing activities to prevent student frustration.
3.  Break assignments into "chunks". 
4.  Explicitly teach test-taking strategies.
5.  Teach organizational skills explicitly.
6.  Be aware of how the student communicates.  Do they use a lot of body language?
7.  Provide opportunities for group participation.
8.  Serve as a model for the students.
9.  Let students know your expectations up front.
10. Give clearly stated learning objectives to students.

These are just a few ideas of how to help students who might be acting out in class.  What are some tips that have worked in your classroom?

Friday, August 3, 2012

School is back!

School time is back!  Now is the time that many school systems are opening for the 2012-2013 school year.  With those first days comes some behavior issues with students.  Some students have difficulty transitioning from a more relaxed schedule at home to a more structured setting at school.  Today we are going to discuss the top five challenging behaviors that are seen with preschoolers.

The first behavior we will look at is delayed social skills.  Children this age might have difficulty wiating for a turn, sharing, following directions, joining a group, or respecting boundaries.  Simple interventions like redirecting a student to another activity or talking calmly with the student as you teach the target social skill work well.

The second behavior to discuss is adjusting to transitions.  Adjusting to changes in routine can be difficult for some children.  Some interventions such as singing a song, or making an announcement before a change in activity are helpful.

The third behavior to look at is aggressive behavior such as biting or hitting.  At the preschool age, children will often revert to physical means to communicate instead of using their words.  The adult should teach the child words to use, possibly using a social story to get the concepts across.

The fourth behavior with preschoolers that can be difficult to deal with is high activity levels in students.  Teachers can vary activities and ensure that movement is included throughout the day. 

The fifth most challenging behavior to deal with in preschoolers is disrupting class.  This can be characterized by blurting out, making noises (like growling), or talking excessively.  Teachers can use redirections, ignoring comments, and/or praising students who are quiet.

Preschoolers can exhibit challenging behaviors in the classroom setting at times.  These are just a few suggestions for how to respond.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Free printables!

It's summer time!!  School is out and the heat is spreading everywhere.  To celebrate, today's note is about a great website that has some free printables that you can download for personal use.  Just head on over to a blog named "Anything But Perfect" and download some fun!  Do you know of any great free printables?

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Summer is coming!

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, parents are asking "What can we do with the kids over the summer to keep their skills up?"  Scholastic has some great ideas for activities on their website.  Just click on:

 http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=98

and you will find a collection of activities to enjoy over the summer.  Do you know of other websites with activities?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It? | Edutopia

What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It? | Edutopia

With the end of the school year coming up, educators are assessing students in order to measure how much growth the student have (hopefully) made over the year.  Take a look at Terry Heick's article on Edutopia for a discussion on this topic.  What types of data are you looking for and how do you measure it?  Do you think students are too fatiqued from state testing at the end of the year to give an accurate idea of where their skills lay?  Share your experiences in the comments section.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A great Reading and Math resource!

I love collecting new resources for teachers.  I mean I really LOVE finding them!  You might say I am obsessed with collecting things I can share with teachers.  I visited a new site today and could not wait to get to this post and reccommend it to everyonoe!  Go on over to http://www.readtennessee.org/.  It is a fantstic resource of reading, math, and social/emotional resources for early grades.  The Common Core Standards are also available on this site.  There are lots of things for parents and educators to look at and a great section on community resources.  So take a look and let me know what you think. :)

Friday, May 4, 2012

Conflict Resolution in the Classroom

It is that time of year; state testing has just finished, the weather is warming up, and the arguements are breaking out between the students.  What is it about the end of the year that seems to attract the arguing behavior? 

The arguements aren't about anything huge or world-changing.  It's "You stepped on my foot!" or " Why are you lookin' at me?".  As a teacher, you aren't able to mediate each and every arguement.  You would never have enough time to teach if you did mediate everything! 

So the question is:  How can children mediate their own arguements?  There is a great article on the Responsive Classroom website that discusses this topic.  Just click on :  Responsive Classroom website.  If you have any additional ideas, please feel free to share them in the comment section.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Social/Emotional Learning for Young Children

http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html

Parents and Teachers are seeing a rise in young children exhibiting behavior difficulties in daycare and preschool situations.  Children are reacting physically through hititng and kicking instead of using their words to express why they are angry or upset.  Some children are reacting by making animal noises or yelling nonsense noises instead of using their words.  Vanderbilt has helped to create the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning in order to help parents and teachers/caregivers.  You can access the link above to find a treasure trove of resources that are free to download and print.  Take advantage of it!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Prevention and Intervention of Writing Difficulties for Students with Learning Disabilities | LD Topics | LD OnLine

Many times I get requests from parents to help their child with writing skills.  LD Online has a great article on the prevention and intervention of writing.  Take a look by clicking on this link:  Prevention and Intervention of Writing Difficulties for Students with Learning Disabilities | LD Topics | LD OnLine

What do you think?

Monday, April 9, 2012

Graphic Organizers

Using graphic organizers is a great way to help a student organize information and help them find a way to easily recall it when needed.  If you go to http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/graphic-organizers.html there are several great free graphic organizers for download. Where do you find graphic organizers that are helpful?  Do you have a favorite?

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Challenging classroom behaviors

It is that time of year when teachers start wondering, "What else can I do?'.  They have tried all the tricks in their toolbox but still have that one or two students who are not using appropriate behavior in the classroom.  The following link lists some good suggestions.  What do you do?

http://www.ehow.com/info_7989113_positive-behaviors-classroom.html

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Digital Learning

Someone forwarded me some fantastic information about a Digital Learning Day.  If you visit http://www.digitallearningday.org/ you can learn all about it.  The website also offers toolkits for free to download and many wonderful websites as resources.  February 1st is Digital Learning Day; are you going to participate?