It has been awhile since I posted on this blog.  I have been busy this summer working on our CHAMPS training.  This has been a time consuming project and I pray that I do a great job presenting the information to our campus on August 8th.  I will also present to the rest of the campus during our PD week in August.
We have had a 36% turnover rate this year and some of that has to do with our start time changing to 7:40 AM and some has to do with our discipline issues last year.  We, as a district, are moving towards CHAMPS from Randy Sprick.  This will help our classroom management aspect.
We know we have issues, but those that have stayed are willing to role up our sleeves and do the hard work that is required in our classrooms!

Revising current PBIS discipline program

As our campus ended last school year, volunteers were asked to become part of the discipline committee and would attend Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) training over the summer.  During that meeting, we were asked to define three areas that we needed to work on discipline in our school.  We talked about cafeteria, hallway and restrooms.  We had already created a school wide discipline program to replace the different discipline procedures that were occurring in every classroom or grade level.  We came up with the three areas of concern based upon observed behaviors and areas that discipline referrals were coming from.

The vision that I have for this action research project is after following our PBIS plan for a year; it is time to revise any areas that are not working and to work on secondary areas of concern.  As a team, we have met and discussed what is working and what is not working.  We are in the process of coming up with new ideas to use more positive behavior support.  Ours started out strong and positive, but has fallen back into negative.  We have also surveyed all of 5^th grade students about their likes and dislikes with our behavior program and our HOW I ACT discipline plan for the school.  We are looking at what they would like to see changed and with just a small portion of data, they have identified a couple of key areas that the team has also identified.  Armed with this data, we will move forward and begin working on areas to adjust or revise for next year.  We are also adding a new component of discipline to our current plan next year.  This will require teachers to implement what each discipline procedure looks like during lessons and group learning in the classroom.  This will be integrated during the first two weeks of teaching and reinforced as needed.

We are using the PBIS material from http://www.pbis.org/school/swpbis_for_beginners/default.aspx and Randy Sprick CHAMPS program.  Our Assistant Principal attended the CHAMPS training for administrators and came back and provided our team with materials for us to look at.  We will have in depth training over the summer to begin our program implementation.  Last summer we were to go to PBIS training over the summer.  It was a 2 or 3 day training and we were introduced to what PBIS and what we were going to do on our campus.

Communication of this project was communicated to staff during professional development at the beginning of this school year.  We went over what the procedures were, what the HOW I ACT looked like in each grade level and what the expectations were for teaching the new procedures to the students.  There was also a component of PBIS that places students into TIER II for behavior.  We communicated the vision for the program to our parents during meet the teacher night and through our weekly newsletters and it was placed in our planners.

The team was organized by our assistant principal and meetings were called every month after our monthly staff meeting.  When this did not occur as required, myself and another teacher requested that it be teacher run and have the AP as an advisor.  We were granted this permission and we have reorganized and have gotten all of our plans together and have decided what we are going to do for next year lined up.  Our assistant principal is there to allocate money or at least have the information to take to the principal to get the allocation of money for any prizes for students and teachers and any supplies we need to implement our new classroom incentives.

The team meets and the Assistant Principal makes sure we stay on task in our meetings.  Myself and another teacher prepare an agenda and attempt to keep on topic and make sure that when emotions run high, we table the discussion until all involved parties can cool down.  We all can present ideas and areas of concern, but we will also need to come to an agreement on what we are going to do when we come to a difference of opinions on what would work and what would not work.  Communication was a problem, but we have seemed to rectify that by putting one person in charge of mass communication. 

This revision will address the special needs population by allowing them to visually see their behavior on a daily basis and track where they are on the conduct scale.  We are working on implementing a weekly point scenario that will allow students to earn positive rewards on a weekly basis instead of just a nine week basis as we have right now.  This is great for all students, but will definitely help our special needs students and our ELL students.  Our campus is 69% economically disadvantaged and about 65% Hispanic.  We also have about a 26% transient rate.  This discipline program will have to be constantly readdressed with our new students and to keep our students on track with their behavior.  Our students do not have consistency at home, for the most part, and for our students to be successful they will need consistency in the school setting or behavior will not change.

References:

PBIS.Org © 2012. (2012, April 28). Swpbis for beginners. Retrieved from http://www.pbis.org/school/swpbis_for_beginners/default.aspx

Sprick, R. (2012, April 28). Safe and civil schools. Retrieved from http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/tn_teachers.php

I have not been diligent in this blog and I think part of that problem has been my lack of where my research project was going.  Now I have a focus and a goal.  I am working on our PBIS committee and have been put in charge of it (actually I am co-chairing it with another teacher).  We have met and begun our agenda for next weeks meeting!  It is awesome!  We are both excited to modify what we already have in place and implementing our next step.  So off I go to re-do my project!  I am still working on my vocabulary for Math K-5, but that is my personal project and passion and I am doing a book study on homework!
Have a great weekend!  I will be busy, but excited!

Lost

I have not posted in a long time.  I love teaching, but am having a bad year.  I want to be a curriculum director and not sure what I should do now.  I am a bit disheartened by my school.  I see so much going on and don't have the power to change it.
I had to change my project and don't know how to do this.  I have some support, but not a lot.  That is the problem.  How do I change the project and what do I do?
I feel like I don't know what is expected of me in the program or the school I work in.  It has been a tough year.
My husband was in an accident and had to fight with his job to pay for it.  My mother in law was diagnosed and subsequently died of stage IV pancreatic cancer.   My teaching partner was going to leave our campus because of stress and paperwork.  now she is staying and I am happy but she lost a dream job.
I don't know what to do.... I will plug through and make it...but I want to be the best I can be!!  I am working on finding a way to channel my energy.... Not sure how it will go!  Can't wait!
T

This week

I have just analyzed all the data for this week and I am frustrated with the fact that the directions given are not accurate on the assignment.  I specifically asked on the web conference where to find the quartiles and it was not in Appendix F.  I digress!  

I am having trouble with the whole logs and reflections, as Lamar has changed the format.  In my first class, we did not discuss the embedded log or the reflections.  I had started them this week and posted to TK20 and then it was changed again.  I have just decided to go with the form I have just been given and then if they change it again, I will update it then!

I am meeting with my site supervisor this week or next to discuss some things I am wanting to change on my internship plan.  I will check out what I can and cannot possibly do!  

Have a good week and it is my intent to not vent on here anymore! I apologize!  :-)

Research project

Well, my project was changed for me. I have spent about 24 hours on research for vertical alignment and now my principal cancels vertical alignment meetings. I can do it on my own if I want to, but then I have to find the teachers that would like to participate with the research. I am now thinking of tracking the discipline from elementary to middle school for our most troubled kids. If they were having issues on our campus, what happened in Middle School. This year we have a set discipline plan in place this year and watch to see if there is a change in the number of referrals, etc.
UGGGH So Tired of changes. Our campus cannot follow anything to completion. If a few people complain, then it is changed. It is so frustrating. It does not work in 1 meeting that we did not have time to prepare for.
Oh well, onward and upward.
Terri

Frustrations

I know this course is about balancing acts and getting things done in a pinch, but man the stress this year is crazy! Our campus is not better than last year. We started out a bit better, but quickly have fallen into the same old same old. I don't know how to help and make our campus better and still work on my project!
It is crazy! I hope all is going well. I am working on my vocabulary test for my campus vertical alignment.
See ya soon!
Terri