Helping students learn to deal with their frustration

Dealing with Frustration

1.    Identify someone they can talk and confide in

2.    Gently correct them and use redirection

·        Remind the student what they should be doing

3.    Direct instruction for dealing with stress, tension, frustration, or anxiety

·        Teach student how to identify when getting tense and how they are feeling overall

·        Student should practice calming strategies throughout the day when not feeling that way

4.    Have both teacher and student develop an unobstrusive signal for when starting to feel or show signs of frustration so they can practice strategies

5.    Teach student to use positive talk: switch negative statement to positive

6.    Structure academic success for the student

Interventions for students with sensory needs

Sensory Strategies

·        Allow children to work in a variety of positions; laying flat on the floor propped on elbows, standing at a table or easel, or lying on side and using a clipboard to write on

·        Ask child to repeat directions back to you before they start their work to ensure they understand

·        Have child do "chair pushups" (raising their body off the chair with hands next to them on their seat) and/or tie Thera-Band around their chair and have them stretch it using their legs while doing desk work

·        10 wall pushups, 10 jumping jacks, get up and run around desk 3 times

·        Frequently scheduled breaks: these must be predictable

·        Tactile interventions: fidget box filled with small manipulatives that kids can fiddle with

·        Reduce the number of problems on a page: decrease anxiety this way

·        Make sure the student is up and moving every 20 -30 minutes

·         Heavy work: Help rearrange desks in the classroom, Open and hold doors for the students in the class.

Reading Intervention for Comprehension: Paragraph Shrinking

Paragraph Shrinking

Paragraph shrinking helps you figure out the most important idea in what you just read. First, you think about the “who” or “what” the paragraph was mostly about and then you figure out the most important ideas about the who or what  and say this in ten words or

less.

There are three steps to Paragraph Shrinking.

—  First, name the who or what that the paragraph is mostly about.

—  Second, tell the most important thing about the who or what.

—  Third, tell or write a sentence of ten words or less, leaving out details.

Example

“A seabird is any bird that spends most of its time at sea and depends on the sea and its islands for all its basic needs. The sea

provides food, and its remote islands and rocky outcroppings provide safe nesting and resting places. For 60 million years, these

highly specialized and diverse birds have adapted to life on the world’s vast oceans.”

(from Collaborative Strategic Reading, Vaughn and Klinger)

“I am going to show you how to paragraph shrink for the paragraph I just read. First, I figure out if the paragraph is about a “who”(a person) or a “what” (a place or thing). Then I will name the who or what the paragraph was mostly about.  We will call this the topic.”

“This paragraph was about a what. That what was seabirds. I figured it out by reading the beginning sentence. It was a topic sentence telling what a seabird was. The rest of the sentences gave information about seabirds.”

“Second I will tell the most important information about the who or what. I learned that seabirds live, get food, rest and nest at the sea.”

“Third, I will say the main idea sentence in 10 words or less leaving out the details. There are three important things I need to remember about the main idea:

1)The main idea must be a complete sentence.

2) The main who or what only counts as one word.

3) A good main idea entence contains information that will help

you remember the important details in a paragraph.

“Seabirds get everything they need fromthe sea.”

—  Ask the students if the paragraph is about a who or a what.

—  After you have established whether the passage is about a who or what, ask the students to identify who or what it is about (the topic)

After students have determined  the “topic” for the main idea, ask them to identify the most critical information about the “who” or “what.” Be sure to emphasize that the students are looking for the most essential information -- not details.

 Guided Practice

—  Next, students need to think about the who or what, what is important about the who or what and generate a main idea sentence in 10 words or less.

—  Do a check whether the main idea sentence meets the criterion that a good main idea sentence contains information that will help students remember the important details in a paragraph.

Paragraph Shrinking - Independent Phase

—  Read a paragraph (section of the text) aloud or have the students do this.

—  Ask the students to work in pairs.

—  Give the students a certain amount of time to Paragraph Shrink the paragraph just read.

—  Help students if they are having trouble.

—  After the time is up, either have the students share out or continue on to the next paragraph.

—  Continue with this cycle until the passage is done.

—  Have students share out their main idea sentences and explain how they got them.

—  Do not assume students know how to identify paragraphs. You may have to teach them to identify the beginning and end of a paragraph.

—  Some students may need help to figure out if the paragraph is about a who or what. Teaching them that if it is a fiction text or story, it usually is a who and if it is informational text, it is usually a what.

Written Expression Screener

We have just completed giving the written expression screener in our building for students 2-5.  We are starting to score those and that can be the really difficult task.  I am including the TIP sheet I created for teachers to use while scoring.  There is a lot more involved scoring rules, but these are some highlights.

Written Expression Cheat Sheet

Total Words Written (TWW):

·        A count of the number of words written

·        Defined as any letter or group of letters separated by a space, even if the word is misspelled or is a nonsense word

Correct Spelling Sequence (CSS):

·        A count of the number of words spelled correctly

·        A word is spelled correctly if it can stand alone as a word in the English Language

Correct Writing Sequence (CWS):

·        Defined as two adjacent writing units (word and word OR word and punctuation) that are acceptable within the context of what is written

·        Contextual clarity is an issue

·        Takes into account: spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, syntax, semantics

CWS Error Tips

·        Circle words spelled incorrectly

·        Check for correct punctuation and mark with /

·        Punctuation must be present and the next letter capitalized

·        Commas must be used correctly in a series

·        Words must be grammatically correct

·        Words must be used correctly within the sentence

Sample intervention plan for fluency

I am attaching a sample intervention plan that I created this week with a teacher for a small group intervention for fluency.  Please enjoy.  Let me know if you have any questions :) 

Update: I have my document loaded to google docs, but cannot figure out how to get it on here.  I am still working so stop back by later as I try to navigate getting it here :)

Helpful strategy for following directions

Precision Request Sequence

1.     Make a quiet “Please” request (please get your pencil and start working) to the student in a nonquestion format, up close with eye contact

2.    Wait a few moments after making request, and do not interact with student during this time

3.    If student starts to comply, verbally PRAISE the student

4.    If student does not comply within designated wait time, a second request is given with the signal word “need” (now I need you to get your pencil and start working)

5.    If the student starts to comply, verbally reinforce the student

6.    If the student still does not comply within designated wait time, implement time out strategy within the classroom

7.    If student does not take timeout appropriately then they will move to another classroom for timeout

8.    If will not take proper timeout in classroom then parent will be contacted

9.    If parent contact does not work, then student will receive level 2 discipline referral.

Tier 1 Behavior Mangement in the classroom

Positive Classroom Management

1.     Post 3 – 6 positively stated classroom rules

·        When you have discussions with the class or individuals about behavior or motivation issues, the posted rules should be a focal point

·        When you correct behavior misbehavior, it should be based on these rules

2.    Keep your attention focused on positive behavior

·        Interact frequently with students behaving well (call on them, praise them, comment on their work)

·        You need 3 positive interactions for every 1 negative

3.    Adjust your instructional techniques

·        If you tend to lecture a lot in whole group, you may need to switch to more actively involving the students

·        IF student are off task in cooperative group activities  take a few days to model and monitor appropriate behavior

4.     Examine your schedule of activities for a typical day and revise to ensure it’s a fast pace that keeps students engaged

5.    Make transition times more efficient

·        Set a defined time for each transition

·        Practice problematic transitions until the students are able to complete efficiently

·        Make sure to use a key phrase to gain student attention: class I need your attention please

6.    Respond calmly and consistently to each instance of misbehavior

7.    Provide feedback at the end of an activity/transition/event for the first month of school.

Recommended resources:

1.    CHAMPS book:  Module 4: the first month of school

Request from the audience

I am trying to determine what everyone would like to see some samples of:
1.  Scoring of written expression probes
2. Sample IEP objectives with the new standards
3. You tell me what you would like from the areas of RTI and Special Education

IEP Writing with those new common core standards

Here we go again :)  The circle has come around again.  Those goals and objectives are going to be measurable and specific once again.  No more will improve in reading and 3 or 4 random things to go about meeting that goal.  I did my first training with my 2 new special ed teachers and other team members last week.  I will admit it is going to be much easier to change the way IEP's are written in my building because they have never written them any other way.  I am really going to like this way of writing objectives.  This was the way I wrote objectives when I first started teaching.  We haven't had our first meeting yet to see how to make the rubber hit the road, but I will keep you posted on how that goes.  I am working overtime this school year with all the changes we made to RTI and also with training and supporting 2 new teachers.  I spend last week helping work out schedules, choose programs, help teachers score their written expression screeners, develop some behavior intervention plans for some students we are already targeting, and then getting all my due process notebooks back in working order.  Let me know how crazy your start of the year has been :)