The Journey Continues
by Andrea Schneider
A long journey is coming to a close. I pushed myself through the Master of Arts in Education degree from Michigan State University in two years. I started down this path in the Fall of 2009 and will be finished in May 2011. My initial goal was to become a better teacher and discover a multitude of tools that I could incorporate into my classroom. My students were constantly reminded that I too was going to school and was learning how to better help them in the classroom. My hope was to take what I was learning in my classes and incorporate it into my classroom immediately. Some of the courses I completed required me to take the skills I had learned and use them in the classroom and then report my successes to the classes. These courses seem the most relevant to me. Although I was able to use much of my knowledge in the classroom in my own way, having the requirement to complete these tasks, pushed me even more. Being motivated to use my skills immediately changed my outlook on my education. I wasn’t just going to school to get my required credits; I was going to school to become a better, more effective educator that would in-turn benefit my students. As this journey comes to a close I have had time to reflect on what I have learned and how this program has positively impacted my career as a special educator.
As always, college students are required to purchase texts for each course they take. Being a graduate student taking online courses I was not sure how many texts would be required and how many of them would be relevant to use I my classroom. I found a few resources throughout the program that have been very helpful to my teaching and management in my classroom.
The Tough Kid Tool Box by W. Jenson, G. Rhode, and H. Kenton Reavis is one text that I often refer to for ideas in working with students with difficult behaviors. This text provides an abundance of suggestions for motivating students, behavior contracts, reinforcers, and tracking procedures. The book also provides definitions of the interventions, descriptions of the interventions, and steps for implementing the techniques. This book also provides troubleshooting techniques for problems that may arise, as well as suggestions that offer variations of each intervention. Along with suggestions there are also reproducible throughout the entire text so I do not have to recreate and idea, instead it is already done for me. I have used a number of ideas from this text.
One strategy I used from this text was a self-monitoring tracking sheet. I had a student who would constantly touch other students. It was unknown why he would do this. Sometimes he just wanted a reaction from his peers and other times he would continue to touch his peers until he hurt them. He was a very physical student who showed that he could control his behavior because when he was aware that an adult was watching him, he would not touch his peers. As soon as he did not thinking anybody was looking he would hit, kick, or poke a peer. To stop this behavior I implemented a monitoring behavior form. This idea came directly from The Tough Kid Tool Box. He was able to tell us before each recess and after each recess whether he was able to keep his body to himself. This strategy was just one of many that I have been able to incorporate into the classroom. The idea of being able to implement these strategies in a short time is ideal for situations that need immediate attention.
Another text that had a large impact on my education as a Master of Arts in Education student was Best Practices in ELL Instruction by G. Li and P. Edwards. This text provides theory as well as teacher-tested strategies for working with students who are ELLs. This book also includes students with disabilities as ELLs and not just students who have grown up with a primary language other than English. Although I do not currently have any students who are ELLs in my classroom, I do have the challenge of teaching students with cognitive impairments who often show the same difficulties as students with English language deficits. I was able to take the strategies provided in this text and apply them to my guided reading time with my students.
In the past I felt that I was not doing the best that I could in meeting the needs of all my students during guided reading time. In applying to the Master of Arts in Education program I chose Literacy as one of my focus areas to help improve my ability to teach reading to my students with cognitive impairments. The strategies provided in the Best Practices text allowed me to immediately present these new strategies to my students in a way that I better understood them and was better able to explain them to my students. Although the strategies seemed simple when I read through them, I was confident in using them because they were tried and true strategies that other teachers had used and had success with in their classrooms. There is something to be said about a strategy that has been proven to work. I gained confidence not only in using the strategies that I had learned but also in myself as a teacher. I knew I was doing something for my students that would benefit them without question. I was no longer trying new strategies that weren’t already proven successful.
Starting out on the journey to earn my Master's degree I had reservations because I was sure that some of the courses were not going to relate to my class in a way that I was hoping. I was pleasantly proven wrong. I found a number of courses through my program that have been extremely beneficial. I have had the chance to learn strategies and theories that help me on a daily basis in the classroom but I have also been able to share my learning with the paraprofessionals that I work with on a daily basis and as a team we have become more confident in our ability to best serve the needs of our students. Due to this confidence, we have also seen improvement in our students’ learning and behaviors.
One of my first courses was CEP 883 Psychology of Classroom Management. This course was a highly desired course. I was just beginning the program and I had an urgency to learn more about classroom management. This course led me down a path of learning in a new way using the Angel and also learning strategies to improve the classroom environment. Using technology in this sense was eye opening but it was very easy to follow the expectations of the professor. Dr. Vicky Mousouli and Dr. Evelyn Oka broke up the assignments throughout the week so we had small assignments to complete within a 2-4 day period and larger assignments and discussions due within the week. I appreciated this layout with multiple deadlines specifically designated so I did not have to create my own deadlines. This was a pleasant start to the online education experience.
CEP 883 constantly had examples of classroom situations to dissect and share comments about. After reflecting on these situations we were asked to come up with a plan for how we would change the situation by implementing newly learned strategies. The strategies discussed throughout the class were motivation for students, teacher-student relationships, home-school connections, rules, routines, and procedures, and understanding behaviors. Throughout this course I was constantly going back to my classroom and reflecting on what I had learned and how I could incorporate these ideas into what I am already doing. I felt myself reflecting on a consistent basis which allowed me to gradually change the atmosphere of my classroom in a positive way.
The class project for this course was to analyze my classroom management style. The goal was to critique aspects of my current management approach. I was able to look at all the basics of the classroom environment such as rules, physical arrangement, and student-student relationships. Again, I really focused on the important things I already had in place in my classroom and also those items that could use a little improvement. My classroom’s biggest need for improvement was on classroom rules. Although I had classroom rules and they were stated positively, I did not enforce them as much as I should have. Thanks to the strategies I learned and the reflection I was required to do in CEP 883 I have had a much better classroom environment over the last year. I was able to really focus on those little items that needed some change. Constant reflection on my overall classroom environment has become a regular part of my planning.
Working with students with challenging behaviors is a daily occurrence. I teach students in grades K-2 with cognitive impairments. Along with these cognitive impairments I have a handful of students with difficult behaviors. No two students’ behaviors are the same so I am constantly trying to figure out the newest idea in helping these students be successful. I felt like I was always grasping at straws to find THE intervention that would work. Just when I thought I was out of ideas, I enrolled in CEP 832 Teaching Children with Challenging Behaviors. I was extremely excited to start this course and try some of the ideas that were bound to be discovered in this course. This course started out looking at the teacher’s role in working with students with these difficult behaviors. I felt disappointed in myself when I realized that I wasn’t approaching these students in a more productive way. I had high expectations for these students but did not look at the big picture. I had to really dig into the lives of these students to figure out what might be the cause of these behaviors.
Once I discovered the probable cause of the behaviors I was able to move forward with interventions that had proved to be successful. I had to change my behavior before I could impact the behaviors the students were exhibiting. CEP 832 mentioned the FEED-IV rule: Frequently, Enthusiasm, Eye contact, Describe the behavior, Immediately, Variety. I used this rule immediately in my classroom. This is one skill I learned that has been so helpful in supporting my students. Although I typically used these rules I did not always make it a point to use all parts of the rule. I now am aware of all the small details that are needed to help in building a positive relationship with my students.
The course took me through all types of behaviors and disabilities that might be underlying the behaviors. I was awoken to a whole new way to view these behaviors that seemed so impossible to replace. I also found that I am not alone in this challenge of working with students who have challenging behaviors. It was reassuring to know that I am not the only struggling with figuring out how I can best support my students. Again, at the end of this course I was required to complete a case project using the concepts we learned in class to my classroom practice. This required me to dig deeper into what was happening, why it was happening, how I could change what I was doing, and implement some strategies to monitor progress with the change. By the end of this course I felt like I had a much stronger grasp on what I was doing right or wrong in the classroom. I found myself constantly reminding myself to do specific things and not do others.
Now that I am in my last semester as a Master of Arts in Education graduate student, I feel like I have learned an abundance of information that is already incorporated into my classroom. I have been required to reflect on my last 2 years and see how far I have come. Prior to starting this program I was hesitant and didn’t know how much this program could really impact my teaching. I knew I would learn great information but when would I be able to use it in my class? I was pleasantly surprised to find that my professors understood the importance of incorporating these strategies into our current teaching immediately. I know that if I had not been required to implement immediately, I may have waited until the end of the program and not remembered the information as well. Thanks to the motivation, support, and dedication of all involved, I have become a stronger, more confident teacher. I know that what I have learned does work and is working. I have watched positive changes occur in my classroom, thanks in large part to the Master of Arts in Education online graduate program.
As always, college students are required to purchase texts for each course they take. Being a graduate student taking online courses I was not sure how many texts would be required and how many of them would be relevant to use I my classroom. I found a few resources throughout the program that have been very helpful to my teaching and management in my classroom.
The Tough Kid Tool Box by W. Jenson, G. Rhode, and H. Kenton Reavis is one text that I often refer to for ideas in working with students with difficult behaviors. This text provides an abundance of suggestions for motivating students, behavior contracts, reinforcers, and tracking procedures. The book also provides definitions of the interventions, descriptions of the interventions, and steps for implementing the techniques. This book also provides troubleshooting techniques for problems that may arise, as well as suggestions that offer variations of each intervention. Along with suggestions there are also reproducible throughout the entire text so I do not have to recreate and idea, instead it is already done for me. I have used a number of ideas from this text.
One strategy I used from this text was a self-monitoring tracking sheet. I had a student who would constantly touch other students. It was unknown why he would do this. Sometimes he just wanted a reaction from his peers and other times he would continue to touch his peers until he hurt them. He was a very physical student who showed that he could control his behavior because when he was aware that an adult was watching him, he would not touch his peers. As soon as he did not thinking anybody was looking he would hit, kick, or poke a peer. To stop this behavior I implemented a monitoring behavior form. This idea came directly from The Tough Kid Tool Box. He was able to tell us before each recess and after each recess whether he was able to keep his body to himself. This strategy was just one of many that I have been able to incorporate into the classroom. The idea of being able to implement these strategies in a short time is ideal for situations that need immediate attention.
Another text that had a large impact on my education as a Master of Arts in Education student was Best Practices in ELL Instruction by G. Li and P. Edwards. This text provides theory as well as teacher-tested strategies for working with students who are ELLs. This book also includes students with disabilities as ELLs and not just students who have grown up with a primary language other than English. Although I do not currently have any students who are ELLs in my classroom, I do have the challenge of teaching students with cognitive impairments who often show the same difficulties as students with English language deficits. I was able to take the strategies provided in this text and apply them to my guided reading time with my students.
In the past I felt that I was not doing the best that I could in meeting the needs of all my students during guided reading time. In applying to the Master of Arts in Education program I chose Literacy as one of my focus areas to help improve my ability to teach reading to my students with cognitive impairments. The strategies provided in the Best Practices text allowed me to immediately present these new strategies to my students in a way that I better understood them and was better able to explain them to my students. Although the strategies seemed simple when I read through them, I was confident in using them because they were tried and true strategies that other teachers had used and had success with in their classrooms. There is something to be said about a strategy that has been proven to work. I gained confidence not only in using the strategies that I had learned but also in myself as a teacher. I knew I was doing something for my students that would benefit them without question. I was no longer trying new strategies that weren’t already proven successful.
Starting out on the journey to earn my Master's degree I had reservations because I was sure that some of the courses were not going to relate to my class in a way that I was hoping. I was pleasantly proven wrong. I found a number of courses through my program that have been extremely beneficial. I have had the chance to learn strategies and theories that help me on a daily basis in the classroom but I have also been able to share my learning with the paraprofessionals that I work with on a daily basis and as a team we have become more confident in our ability to best serve the needs of our students. Due to this confidence, we have also seen improvement in our students’ learning and behaviors.
One of my first courses was CEP 883 Psychology of Classroom Management. This course was a highly desired course. I was just beginning the program and I had an urgency to learn more about classroom management. This course led me down a path of learning in a new way using the Angel and also learning strategies to improve the classroom environment. Using technology in this sense was eye opening but it was very easy to follow the expectations of the professor. Dr. Vicky Mousouli and Dr. Evelyn Oka broke up the assignments throughout the week so we had small assignments to complete within a 2-4 day period and larger assignments and discussions due within the week. I appreciated this layout with multiple deadlines specifically designated so I did not have to create my own deadlines. This was a pleasant start to the online education experience.
CEP 883 constantly had examples of classroom situations to dissect and share comments about. After reflecting on these situations we were asked to come up with a plan for how we would change the situation by implementing newly learned strategies. The strategies discussed throughout the class were motivation for students, teacher-student relationships, home-school connections, rules, routines, and procedures, and understanding behaviors. Throughout this course I was constantly going back to my classroom and reflecting on what I had learned and how I could incorporate these ideas into what I am already doing. I felt myself reflecting on a consistent basis which allowed me to gradually change the atmosphere of my classroom in a positive way.
The class project for this course was to analyze my classroom management style. The goal was to critique aspects of my current management approach. I was able to look at all the basics of the classroom environment such as rules, physical arrangement, and student-student relationships. Again, I really focused on the important things I already had in place in my classroom and also those items that could use a little improvement. My classroom’s biggest need for improvement was on classroom rules. Although I had classroom rules and they were stated positively, I did not enforce them as much as I should have. Thanks to the strategies I learned and the reflection I was required to do in CEP 883 I have had a much better classroom environment over the last year. I was able to really focus on those little items that needed some change. Constant reflection on my overall classroom environment has become a regular part of my planning.
Working with students with challenging behaviors is a daily occurrence. I teach students in grades K-2 with cognitive impairments. Along with these cognitive impairments I have a handful of students with difficult behaviors. No two students’ behaviors are the same so I am constantly trying to figure out the newest idea in helping these students be successful. I felt like I was always grasping at straws to find THE intervention that would work. Just when I thought I was out of ideas, I enrolled in CEP 832 Teaching Children with Challenging Behaviors. I was extremely excited to start this course and try some of the ideas that were bound to be discovered in this course. This course started out looking at the teacher’s role in working with students with these difficult behaviors. I felt disappointed in myself when I realized that I wasn’t approaching these students in a more productive way. I had high expectations for these students but did not look at the big picture. I had to really dig into the lives of these students to figure out what might be the cause of these behaviors.
Once I discovered the probable cause of the behaviors I was able to move forward with interventions that had proved to be successful. I had to change my behavior before I could impact the behaviors the students were exhibiting. CEP 832 mentioned the FEED-IV rule: Frequently, Enthusiasm, Eye contact, Describe the behavior, Immediately, Variety. I used this rule immediately in my classroom. This is one skill I learned that has been so helpful in supporting my students. Although I typically used these rules I did not always make it a point to use all parts of the rule. I now am aware of all the small details that are needed to help in building a positive relationship with my students.
The course took me through all types of behaviors and disabilities that might be underlying the behaviors. I was awoken to a whole new way to view these behaviors that seemed so impossible to replace. I also found that I am not alone in this challenge of working with students who have challenging behaviors. It was reassuring to know that I am not the only struggling with figuring out how I can best support my students. Again, at the end of this course I was required to complete a case project using the concepts we learned in class to my classroom practice. This required me to dig deeper into what was happening, why it was happening, how I could change what I was doing, and implement some strategies to monitor progress with the change. By the end of this course I felt like I had a much stronger grasp on what I was doing right or wrong in the classroom. I found myself constantly reminding myself to do specific things and not do others.
Now that I am in my last semester as a Master of Arts in Education graduate student, I feel like I have learned an abundance of information that is already incorporated into my classroom. I have been required to reflect on my last 2 years and see how far I have come. Prior to starting this program I was hesitant and didn’t know how much this program could really impact my teaching. I knew I would learn great information but when would I be able to use it in my class? I was pleasantly surprised to find that my professors understood the importance of incorporating these strategies into our current teaching immediately. I know that if I had not been required to implement immediately, I may have waited until the end of the program and not remembered the information as well. Thanks to the motivation, support, and dedication of all involved, I have become a stronger, more confident teacher. I know that what I have learned does work and is working. I have watched positive changes occur in my classroom, thanks in large part to the Master of Arts in Education online graduate program.
