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Fostering a Feeling of Security in Young Students

SETTING THE SCENE FOR ENRICHED LEARNING

Use natural or incandescent lighting: An incandescent light bulb, with a fuller spectrum of light, emits a warm glow that’s notably less harsh than fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting has a limited spectrum and emits a poorer quality of light. Lack of exposure to a broad spectrum of light can affect our bodily functions, such as our circadian rhythm (think sleep).

If changing the lighting isn’t an option, try to open blinds or shades and turn off one of the fluorescent lights.

Provide a variety of soft pillows, mats, and cushions: These should be of different sizes, shapes, and textures for children to access during reading, writing, interactive play, etc. Children spend too much time sitting upright. Consider allowing them to attend to instruction, complete schoolwork, and play lying prone (belly on the floor), standing, or in alternate positions.

Ensure that students aren’t sitting longer than they’re developmentally able to: A good strategy is to use a visual timer set to approximately one minute per year of age (e.g., if the children are age 8, set the timer for 8 minutes). After 8 minutes, allow them to get up and engage in a controlled movement-based activity that incorporates proprioception, crossing midline and vestibular inputs, like cross crawls.

“Mirror-me” movements: Tell the children to copy your movements so exactly that it’s as if they’re your mirror. This process not only forces them to slow down and work on body control but activates mirror neurons in the brain, which are important for overall improved attention.

Consider having your students perform large movement exercises or yoga poses: This can be part of a consistent classroom routine. Large movement exercises are defined as static (holding the body against gravity) or dynamic (movement-based) supports involving the entire body; that is, the child cannot complete these exercises from a seated position. One example of a static large movement exercise would be the downward dog yoga pose; an example of a dynamic large movement exercise would be jumping jacks.

Try implementing this as part of a morning classroom schedule, as an after-lunch/recess cool-down classroom activity, to break up independent work times, etc. This will not only improve overall physical and emotional regulation but provide the consistency and feeling of safety that come with predictable routines.

Think about having  a “proud board” in your classroom: Place students’ names on it, with space to showcase their favorite work that they’re most proud of. Note: If you make it magnetic, they can easily put on and take off their “proud pieces.”

Have a cool-down/sensory area within the classroom and larger school setting: When signs of decreased physical or emotional regulation begin to emerge, direct the child to this area. Some items to possibly include are bean bags (to provide a bean bag “squish”), putty, a lava lamp or aquarium light, a drawing pad and crayons, lavender- or vanilla-scented materials (calming scents), a weighted lap pad/blanket, a sealed glitter jar, a box of kinetic sand, etc.

This area can also be a place for your students to work independently on schoolwork and for them to go when they’re feeling emotionally dysregulated (not able to manage emotional responses well).

Create an emotional-control toolbox: You can stock this with items like putty or Play-Doh, a small notepad and a few crayons, a mini-glitter jar, a small stress ball, etc., for your students to take to certain environments that you know may prove to be triggers—lunch, recess, field trips, etc. Give them the toolbox when you notice the first signs of emotional dysregulation, and coach them in how to use it, with fading prompts. As your students become more familiar with and independent in utilizing this tool on their own, you can decrease the amount of visual/verbal prompts you provide.

Positive affirmations jar: This can provide students with a tangible way to access growth-mindset and emotional regulation supports. In my office, I have a jar with student-generated cards of different positive affirmations, and students can easily access them, as they’re in a place that students can visit frequently.

Using these strategies regularly with your students just might help them to feel more secure and ready to learn.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/fostering-feeling-security-young-students?fbclid=IwAR2q3ofnvLiLi-9UHyYpAGY76z0_SFljfRh4natF5mj3L9m_40NuE0xS_qQ

5 Ways to Help Neurodiverse Students Improve Executive Function Skills

Neurodiverse students often struggle with organization in middle and high school, but they can be successful with the proper supports.

1. Bring your directions to life. Think aloud. There is power in narrating your thought processes when sharing expectations, organizing an equation, or annotating information. Consider how your lesson requires students to complete multistep directions. How can you break this direction down and model it aloud? Maybe today’s independent task requires students to organize information from a passage. How can you bring this task to life? Think aloud.

2. Graphic organizers are your friend. Always provide students with options of graphic organizers to use when completing assignments independently. This will allow them access to tools for organizing and synthesizing information. Always model how to use these organizers with real tasks in your class. You may choose to make graphic organizers available via hard copy in your classroom or in a shared digital folder for students to access at all times.

3. Leverage technology. Use media, images, and video to provide visual exemplars of ways to organize information, plan tasks, and set goals. You could let your students see examples of how others annotate text in unique ways. In math, provide multiple ways that students can organize information in a multistep math word problem or use math journals to support students in organizing daily notes and content.

4. Incorporate executive functioning into grading. Consider allowing students to earn points toward an assignment or in a given course by applying executive function skills. For example, students may be able to receive additional points for a cumulative assignment by turning in a copy of the outline and short-term goals they created as they planned out the assignment.

Incorporating executive functioning into the grading system can encourage goal-oriented students to practice and apply these skills to support their success.

5. Use apps. There are limitless options of applications that allow for managing lists, utilizing timers, generating reminders, setting goals, and organizing information. Be sure to share them with parents and students, with permission. If appropriate, you may even choose to allow students to utilize the apps during class time.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-help-neurodiverse-students-improve-executive-function-skills?fbclid=IwAR3K-5jKQ3Pez622EZbPNY4Qgx8NygL7pCWQdAiOC-qIAYq_ZUdzK_D647A

10 Tips Experienced Teachers Have on Read-Alouds for New Teachers

1. Practice, practice, practice: Leana Malinowsky, a second-grade teacher in New Jersey, has been teaching for 13 years. She believes read-alouds provide the perfect opportunity to connect with students through literature and promote critical thinking skills. But, of course, it takes practice.

“If you are new to read-alouds, this will be your go-to strategy to feel comfortable and prepared,” she says. “Review the book you selected, keeping your unit, lesson, theme, and strategy in mind.”

2. Prepare ahead of time: Malinowsky also recommends taking notes on all the important points you want to share with your students and where in the text it’s appropriate to stop and discuss.

“Taking notes also offers opportunities to discover points you might not have thought of otherwise,” she says. “Using sticky notes with your thoughts also acts as a signal for when to pause and reflect, which helps if nerves set in, or you simply forget.”

3. Make connections: Samantha Bradshaw, a second-grade teacher in Wisconsin, has been teaching for eight years. She notes that storytime is a great time to make cross-curricular connections.

“Read-alouds provide the perfect opportunity to introduce, reinforce, or extend learning on a topic from another subject,” she says. A book like Penny Pot, for instance, is a great way to talk to students about how money works. That allows teachers to explore equations that involve money, Bradshaw says.

4. Encourage questions: It’s also important to consider the questions your read-aloud may inspire. “Not only should the teacher ask questions, but allow for students to ask questions, too,” says Bradshaw. “Teachers could even plan for ‘turn-and-talk’ or ‘stop-and-jot’ sessions during reading.”

5. Get into a flow: One of the goals should be to strike a balance with story time. Avery Lieske, a third-grade teacher in Alabama, is about to enter into her ninth year of teaching. She prefers to get lost in a book and read to her students without interruption.

“They are so engaged and always ask me to read more because I spend less time directly instructing during a read-aloud and more time just reading,” she says. “When you can read uninterrupted, it also gives students the time to build their own opinions and predictions and that leads into deeper class discussions.”

6. Embrace being goofy: Additionally, incorporating a silly voice or two—or three!—will make story time really come alive. “When you read in a silly voice it also shows your students that your classroom is a safe place to be who they are and may even build their confidence,” says Lieske.

7. Stay authentic: “Read-aloud time is when students get to see you in action as a reader,” says Malinowsky. “Don’t be afraid to model exactly how you would think, and also consider the age, grade level, and reading level of your students.”

8. Start fresh: Once you have some successful read-alouds under your belt, Malinowsky suggests taking a big leap of faith and reading a new book you haven’t previewed to your class.

“Sharing this with your students shows them your vulnerability and how everyone makes mistakes while reading,” she says. “It’s also a chance to show them how you approach a new book and utilize different strategies in the moment.”

9. Don’t be afraid to stop: One thing Bradshaw wishes she knew earlier in her teaching career was that you don’t have to finish a read-aloud.

“You may decide to read aloud a section of a book to model a specific skill or reading strategy,” she says. “If your students get bored with a novel, it’s okay to abandon the book. This is something many adults do, why can’t teachers and students?”

10. Keep reading out loud: Lastly, don’t forget that no matter their age, students love being read to, especially when it comes to picture books.

Reference: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-tools/articles/resources/read-aloud-tips.html?fbclid=IwAR0IwQx_UYpIZnqc7kw0XQgGlmga0wy_gdewUJJr1jvJVE_PctAWazQFio4

10 Reasons Why Behavior Management Has Become Impossible for Teachers

1. Parents have all the power.

There is a segment of parents who believe that their children can do no wrong and will fight tooth and nail to make everyone believe this to be true.

We have heard all too many times, “My kid doesn’t do this at home,” implying that we have single-handedly transformed children into disrespectful humans by the mere action of requiring respect. Behavior management is difficult when parents don’t back us up.

2. Fixing kids who have deep-seated emotional issues is hard.

Sometimes forming positive relationships with challenging students is not enough. The more we try, the worse the behavior gets. Early emotional trauma takes years of intense mental counseling to help or it turns into the violent behaviors we are seeing now.

Yet, parents and admin expect teachers to either work miracles or else accuse them of poor behavior management.

3. “Programs are half-assed.”

Restorative justice programs can be effective, but they are never implemented with enough buy-in, resources, or follow-up. Instead, these programs often have no consequences because those who implement them do not explain or execute them correctly.

Other school-wide management programs are abandoned after a year, which is not enough time to see any real effects.

4. Consequences aren’t allowed.

Many administrators avoid consequences and send students back into the classroom immediately. What does this say to the other students in the classroom that watch this happen?

The lack of backup ties our hands when it comes to classroom management. We avoid sending students to the office and instead endure an unsafe and chaotic classroom environment

5. We are using old techniques for a new generation of kids.

Kids grow up on screens and instant gratification. They learn and work differently than they did 40 years ago, yet we are using the same “test to death” procedures.

We need to create more elementary-aged magnet schools that take the whole child and their interests into account. Kindergarten should be more about learning social skills than learning how to take a standardized test. To prepare kids for the future, we need to understand where they are now, not where we wish they were.

6. Parents have an Us vs. Them mentality.

Teacher bashing has become a popular pastime on social media. Instead of working with us and solving problems, parents twist situations and seek support from others who join in with the herd mentality.

The blatant disrespect trickles down to students who act out towards us in the classroom.

7. School violence is on the increase.

Violent behaviors are on the increase as a result of unidentified and untreated early trauma.

Teachers experience student violence daily and should not have to pull apart kids, risk injury, or go through a lawsuit just to manage their classroom.

8.  Classes are too big.

We all know that building relationships with students is key to having effective classroom management. Well, I barely have time to form relationships with my own two children let alone over 200 students. This is mentally overwhelming, and yet the most common piece of advice we get from administrators is to just “keep building relationships!”

9. Educational institutions do not prepare teachers well.

Students training to be teachers usually have one behavior management class in college. Simulation videos often show staged situations that are laughable compared to what is truly happening in our classrooms. Although literally nothing could truly prepare us for what goes on with the kids every day, it would be helpful if our training classes fit the real world.

10. The Pandemic has further exacerbated social inadequacies.

The lack of social interaction that occurred during the Pandemic has created students who have not yet learned the social norms of relationships and being in a classroom. Students seem to be making up for lost classroom time by talking through entire lessons.

In every article I write, I always say that, to find solutions, we must listen to the teachers. Well, to solve this behavior crisis, we must listen to the students. Their cries for help come in the form of inward and outward violence, bullying, extreme disrespect, lack of social skills, and suicidal ideation.

Teachers cannot and should not be expected to use standard classroom behavior management techniques to solve these problems. They are just too big.

Reference: https://www.boredteachers.com/post/behavior-management?fbclid=IwAR1b_3mBnpKZJlgLLPEXKwo0kydCjXzIT37qY0TX2NpAh_Pb_-tl_WwWTzo

3 Strategies to Get Students Talking in Math Classrooms

I admitted that I am afraid of math even if I become a teacher. Math, math, and math again. I cannot stop myself posting these kind of content which boost math learning!

ROUTINE 1: STRONGER AND CLEARER EACH TIME

The purpose of Stronger and Clearer Each Time, according to Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula, is “to provide a structured and interactive opportunity for students to revise and refine both their ideas and their verbal and written output.”

Strategy—Successive Pair Share: This strategy is used when you want students to revise their own work. Teachers provide an equation for students to solve independently. Then, with a partner, each student shares the steps they used to reach the solution. After hearing what worked for their classmate, each student has a chance to revise their own work based on what they heard. The process continues, and the students share the new version of the equation with a new partner, get feedback, and return to editing.

In a recent trip to a geometry class, students were tackling paragraph proofs to show triangle congruence. The teacher had students engage in Successive Pair Share in order to help their proofs become more precise. As I (Rachel) watched this activity, I saw students start with a vague and incomplete proof, and through ideas from their classmates, they solidified their own ideas, which resulted in a more complete proof. I also witnessed multiple emergent multilingual students gain a better understanding of how to use the mathematical vocabulary in their writing.

ROUTINE 2: CRITIQUE, CORRECT, AND CLARIFY

This routine is used when you want students to respond to each other’s work, thoughts, and ideas.

Strategy—My Favorite No: The teacher chooses work from a student that has a commonly made error. The teacher then presents that work to the class. The first prompt from the teacher is “What is correct about this work?” The students confer in small groups to discuss places where the student’s work is correct. The teacher then asks, “What could the student have done better?” The students return to their small groups to discuss aspects of the work that could be improved. The students then have time to correctly solve the problem individually.

I (Rachel) used exit tickets at the end of each class period that asked students to reflect on material we’d covered in class that day. I would then use My Favorite No at the start of every class period to review the exit ticket from the day before. By using My Favorite No, teachers are both celebrating the learning process and reinforcing the idea that mistakes are necessary. My Favorite No is typically done anonymously. However, if there is a strong classroom culture where mistakes are highly valued, then it can be done using a student’s name.

Strategy—Always Sometimes Never: The teacher provides statements to the students, and the students decide if the statement is always, sometimes, or never true. For example:

  • Linear equations have slope (sometimes).
  • Linear equations have a y-intercept (sometimes).
  • Linear equations have an x-intercept (sometimes).
  • A point that satisfies the equation will also appear on the graph of the equation (always).
  • The graph of a linear equation will travel through all four quadrants (never).

Students work in pairs or teams to decide if the statements are always, sometimes, or never true. There are a few options for implementing this strategy. All groups can be given the same statements on paper or projected using a slide. Or, each table can get a different statement and then make a Flipgrid video with an example that defends their reasoning. I (Stephanie) often support the use of Flipgrid, a recording tool that promotes social learning, in math classes.

ROUTINE 3: DISCUSSION SUPPORTS

The Discussion Supports routine is used, as Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula notes, to increase student voice by supporting “rich and inclusive discussions about mathematical ideas, representations, contexts, and strategies.”

Strategy—Revoicing: When I (Rachel) revoice during instruction, I start with the problem and review it. For the problem “Graph the line 3x + 6y = 12,” my direct instruction begins like this: “There are multiple ways to graph this line. I’m going to start by converting it into slope-intercept form. Slope intercept form is y = mx + b, so I need to isolate the y term. To do this, I’m going to subtract 3x from both sides of the equation.” Table groups then explain the process I just reviewed to one another. At this point, I expect students to say something pretty similar to what I just said. If they can’t explain it back, that is an indication that they need to ask a clarifying question of either their classmate or me.

These routines transform learning into an active process. If students are only watching their teacher do math, they are not able to explain what is happening because they are not the ones experiencing the math. When voice is increased in math, students not only become more engaged but also gain a deeper understanding of the content.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-strategies-get-students-talking-math-classrooms?fbclid=IwAR1uBwYehNwdip9Bgp-MFF5jXxPcf5CF89gdJ5Tnc8sQLOnLVrV4yEZNcaA