In my classroom, there are many problems that we deal with everyday. Teaching often looks like a job that is made to put out fires. One major problem that I have in my classroom is that I am having trouble organizing my time and day. I need to find my own curriculum to use with behavior, do push in sessions in the general education classrooms, do full pull out education with two students, and make sure these students are getting to all of their specials and other activities. I need a way to find resources to create lesson plans and curriculum for behavior. I need to have something put together that I can pull out on any given day a lesson plan for spitting, hitting, self-esteem, respect, optimism, and so on. I need to be able to have this ready so that I can plan the rest of my day. I need to be able to have resources available to take with me into my push in settings that won’t take up much of my very busy day.
This problem is something that stems all of the other problems of my day. I am unorganized about how to keep my behavior lessons together and what to teacher. Therefore, when a problem occurs with my students, I am merely putting out fires. I need to be pro-active and find ways to solve the problems before they happen. I would like to make files that would organize my lessons and actually find the lessons somewhere. I would like to organize my days, and state what I will do if each situation occurs (for instance, if _____ hits another student, _____ will happen). By not having in place what I will do in each situation, I am creating more stress on my students, staff, self, and classroom as a whole. I need to find a way to become more organized and keep the organization in the classroom so that the students can learn to prevent their mistakes instead of trying to learn from them.
Jackie, this sounds like a super potential for using technology to help you be organized as well as have lessons or resources at your finger tips. Do you have a laptop or iPad (wish) that you carry with you? Smart Cellphone? There are resources you can use to build a database of strategies (eg. http://specialed.about.com/od/behavioremotional/p/handlebehav.htm). A spreadsheet might be a handy way to track each student's behaviors and needs (be glad to go over this if you are interested). Certainly organizing your resources online, such as lessons and interactive media around topics, would be useful in a shared bookmarking site where you can tag them for specific needs.
ReplyDeleteJackie, I was thinking of something similar with a mobile technology that you can access your files no matter where you are in the school. You could figure our a system for housing your electronic documents and then there are programs out there that will let you access them from even you cell phone. One that I know of off hand if the Apple's Mobile Me which allows your files to accessible in read-only form from your iPhone, however the challenges if then the cost of an iPhone and a Mobile Me subscription. I know that google docs might be a great way to access these, but then security and privacy may be a concern. I'm sure with a little research and a little trial-and-error, you can come up with a solution that works for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your tackling a problem of practice that in the long run can create additional problems "down the road." It's funny that essentially every teacher in the world tells their students that "organization is important." Is it irony that we often don't take our own advice to heart? I'm not sure how you can use technology to solve the problems of practice that you've mentioned, but I know organization is something that has minimized my stress in the classroom.
Good luck with your TechQuest, I'm curious to see what kind of applications of technology you look at to solve this problem of practice.
Cheers,
Corey
Organization and behavior modifications are two very important areas of teaching. I think you will find several solutions to your problem and I look forward to hearing about your technology applications as solutions to being disorganized and becoming more stress free in dealing with behaviors.
ReplyDelete