The Beginning of a Change

PLC Meeting

• The meeting focused on the possibility of creating a new school-wide behavior plan. At the end of this post, you can see how the conversation made me think about a book that my choir teacher used to read to us during the first week of school every year. 

Writing: Personal Narratives: How Writes Choose What to Write About

• The students really seemed to enjoy creating their heart maps in their writer's notebooks. 

Science: Circuit Lab, day 2

• The students were very excited again today. I love seeing them be so excited. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that some groups did not finish the lab even though they had 2 days to complete the lab with around 14 items listed and 5 fun day items. The first student presented today. She was nervous, but she did well. 

Behavior

• I tried a few tweaks for behavior today. I wanted to use the clip chart for reinforcement, but I wanted to focus on using it positively. The students responded well.
• Deals: During the first restroom break of the day, I told a few students to clip up, like I usually do. I noticed that the more talkative students were being quiet, so I made a deal with them. The deal stated that they could clip up once they got to the room, on the condition that they do not talk in the hallway. 3 out of the 5 students got to clip up. 
• When the class was quiet, I chose one student from each table to clip up. More students wanted to be chosen, so I announced that if the class could stay quiet, I would do another round in 3 minutes. I let them be on a level 1 this time. I was proud of the class for meeting that goal.
• A perfect restroom break. After lunch, quite a few students get pulled out. The remaining part of the class stayed on level 0, like they were supposed to. Because they were so perfect, I announced that anyone whom I did not clip up earlier could clip up. Some students complained that it was not fair, but I told them that I couldn't clip up everyone earlier and that at least I had clipped them up.

Becoming Aware of my Behavioral Views

• You Are Special I don't want to give children a grey dot, but I want to help them change their behavior.