Positive Behavior Context and Literature May\'s Experience

¶ … Positive Behavior

Context and Literature

May's experience in the classroom is not unique. Many teachers find that they spend an inordinate amount of time working on behavioral difficulties as opposed to actually teaching material. May was fortunate that she was in a school in which the administration was supportive of both inquiry-based research and the use of literature to help mitigate situations and grow as a teacher. The particular advantage May had using outside literature was a combination of alternative point-of-view and experience. May would not have the time or resources to go through the types of research, data collection and analysis, and number of students that others have already done. She is also able to glean additional insights from others who have tried and succeeded, and tried and failed, with techniques. Often, too, reading other materials spurs ideas that one can pick and choose -- this works for my class, this may not.

May can also gain insights into her topic of behavior management in a science class by looking carefully at previous research done in similar situations with similar demographic issues. While all students are unique, there are patterns that may be gleaned from other classrooms and other teachers. "Why recreate the wheel," might be an adequate adage, instead, just paint it a bit differently. May's readings will also inform her on methodology, what types of data sets to look for, what might have been important to other studies, and indeed, even a bit of methodology. Also, May find the bibliographies of the literature especially helpful in her journey and collection of materials for use.

Chapter 2 -- Inquiry Through Collaboration

It seems that there are three major reasons that express the power of collaborating with colleagues in the educational environment: 1) How do we improve student learning? 2) How do we work together to improve teacher learning? 3) How can we turn collaboration into a win-win situation in which student and teacher learning are enhanced?

Both common sense and research agree that effectiveness in the classroom means more effective learning. It is not enough to "know" a fact, but to move through Bloom's taxonomy to the point of analysis and synthesis. To help students achieve this, there are always things that can be tried, discarded, and improved -- and many things we as teachers do of which we may be unaware. Isolation in the classroom is not healthy; many times similar problems and issues can be shared for moral support, intellectual activities, and to allow teachers to thrive when they feel connected to colleagues. Mentoring of new teachers is one example of collaboration; team research another, and enhancement of professional standards still another. May, in fact, received alternative points-of-view, help with her research, positive support in her extended classes, and a team that became the PBS/RTl intervention team and support mechanism.

Chapter 3 -- Intervention and Data Collection

It is difficult to rank importance of research plans and data because they should typically flow from one portion to the other, each contributing solidly to the next phase so that when taken in total, one can glean a larger, more robust picture of the data set. In May's case, pretending we are one of her colleagues with whom she is working to develop a coherent program, we might say:

Data

Meaningful for Research

Comments

Journal Entries

Very meaningful if used in a regular and ongoing situation.

This will likely form the basis of the research connection, BUT must be reviewed regularly for validity.

Focus Group

Excellent way to begin study and start the process; uncovers questions that may be important.

VERY important and relevant to use qualitative research before collecting quantitative data.

Timed Agenda

Marginally important.

Does this really affect the research question?

Observations (Field Notes)

Vital and the key piece of the project; focused notes will supply needed data.

This is the key part of the research question and should be focused on the previous data collection studies and questions from the focus groups.

Darby's personal graphing with Tier 2 interventions

Marginal importance

Again, what might this tell May in the overall, long-term plan; if valuable, use, if not, why spend time on it.

Focus group interviews with students requiring more intensive interventions

May not be the right instrument.

At this stage, focus group for intensive interventions may not be the best way to uncover data; group dynamics will be involved, individual interviews might be more appropriate.

Chapter 4 -- Coding and Wish List

It seems that most of the responses can be broken down into four categories and analysis (see table):

1. School should be fun and not full of pressure -- Of course students are going to want to have more fun and less homework. May might integrate this in changing the name "homework" to activity, to compromise and not give any on Fridays unless absolutely necessary, and to see if there is budget for actual learning experience fieldtrips.

2. School environment should be calmer and less disruptive -- Seven students noted the environment was somewhat chaotic -- this might be a reflection of exactly what May indicated -- disruptive behavior is creating a non-learning environment. She is on the right track towards solving this issue.

3. School environment should enhance learning by being relevant -- We might combine relevant with 2 and 4 so that we have more consistency, calmer and relevant teaching styles.

4. School environment should be more consistent in the daily class- Likely due to disruption; there is a lack of consistency in the class. While students at this age should be encouraged to move beyond the rote and be able to handle situations that are not routine, it might help May to provide a bit more structure, especially for those students who are uncomfortable in the gray area thinking process.

The data from the questions shows:

Category 1 -- Fun

Category 2 -- Calmer

2. I wish everyone would get an A and we would have more field trips.

6. I wish we could get less homework

10. We need to have more fun and more parties -- and all A's!

13. To give me an A for no reason and just be kind to people. Having a little bit of fun and not having homework. To be Friday every day.