Positive Behavior is not a Dream...It's a Plan!
Featured TeacherAs I enter Ruth Covington's 6th grade classroom, I'm met with a sign on the door that says: Make Good Happen; soft, relaxing, hip-hop music is playing inside. Positive affirmations and student work are displayed everywhere. On the doc cam is a timer and note for the students: Agenda Check Today! An agenda is also open on the doc cam, modeling what the students should write. Today, in line with our AVID school goal to help students be successful by teaching them how to be organized, Ms. C is teaching her class her expectations for filling out their agendas. She reminds the students that they are expected to be reading silently while she checks. She begins inspecting, softly giving each student feedback, highlighting the areas that were omitted by each student, and giving each student a score for their efforts. After she has gone around the whole class, she celebrates the students who got excellent scores by having them stand and receive a round of finger-snapping praise. It is clear Ms. C has skillfully created a positive classroom culture through her calm, caring tone and encouraging demeanor. Ruth also gives credit to the training she got in the Restorative Justice workshop she attended last year. She started this year by establishing behavior expectations via a Civic Circle. The students were led through a series of carefully crafted questions to discuss their feelings about what kind of classroom they want to have this year. "When the students create the rules for their classroom themselves, they are more apt to have 'buy-in' and follow them," explains Ruth. Anyone interested in observing a Civic Circle in action should notify Ms. Mayes to get release time. Ms. Covington, Mr. Manso, Ms. Dreiling, Ms. Magaña, and Ms. Vanlant have all been trained and are available to either demo one, or come to your class and do a Civic Circle with your students. Thanks Mrs. Covington for helping Los Alisos students Make Good Happen! Got LoboBuck$?Teachers: Please continue to distribute Lobo Bucks for students demonstrating 6 P’s qualities. Students: The Lobo Store will be open in Ms. Drieling's room 218, before school on the following dates. FRIDAY, September 9th – 6th graders FRIDAY, September 16 – 7th graders FRIDAY, September 23rd – 8th graders Lobo Bucks used to make purchases at the at the store will be turned in to a monthly drawing for awesome gifts including gift cards to Starbucks, In n Out, and others, WAY COOL! | What's New in 2016-'17"At Los Alisos our mission is to provide students with rigorous, standards based instruction that will enable students to compete in a global society. Students will become responsible and ethical citizens within their communities while experiencing differentiated opportunities for college and career success. Students will be critical thinkers that are capable of solving real world problems through effective communication and collaboration....Because College Is Not A Dream, It’s A Plan." Consistent with our mission statement, this year the MTSS/PBIS team's goal is to improve students success by using both academic and behavioral interventions. The team consists of Paula Mayes, Assistant Principal; Sandy Vanlant, Counselor; Michele Dreiling, Intervention Counselor; Tania Magana, Intervention Teacher; and Jose Manso, PBIS Coordinator. As Mr. Garcia explained the rationale for creating this team, "I got tired of seeing the same kids in the office, losing instructional time, waiting for hours to see an administrator, so I wanted to solve this problem by creating a type of "Opportunity Room" like the one we had at Norwalk High, where these students had the opportunity to stay in school and get academic and behavioral support." Ms. Dreiling and Ms. Magana's positions were created to provide that support. This intervention team has visited the grade level team meetings to explain how teachers can solicit their support in dealing with difficult students. They provided them with referral forms on which they are required to detail the classrooms interventions that have already been tried, such as.
The team recommends that teachers visit the following helpful websites for valuable, creative classroom interventions. www.pbisworld.com www.interventioncentral.org |