https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=988
Hello Staff,
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank ALL staff for your hard work and dedication to both of our wonderful schools. It’s truly your work, attitudes, and efforts with all of our students and families that make our schools’ the great places they are. Thank you all very much!
Six items of note for this week.
• Teacher Appreciation Week Luncheons – The PTO at each school will be putting on a staff luncheon on each school’s early release day (YG – Wednesday, Corridor – Friday). This will conflict with YG’s staff meeting, so unless anyone objects, I will postpone that meeting until next week.
• IIPM Data Team Meeting This Thursday – This Thursday will be our final IIPM Data Team Meeting of the year. On Thursday, May 10th, subs will be coming to classrooms at the times shared in previous announcements, so please plan accordingly. Let me know if you have any questions.
• “The Correction Trap” – Here’s a good reminder from Brianna Stiller that was shared with principals which I felt was worth passing along.
I have noticed that every year, by May, student behavior starts to decline. This is especially true of students on Tier 3 Behavior Support Plans. I have an hypothesis about why. I call it Brianna’s Correction Trap. It goes like this:
Teachers are tired. Students are tired. Students start to make more mistakes. Teachers think “By now, they should just know and just do it”. They decrease use of teaching and reinforcement strategies to manage behavior and increase use of correction strategies. Since correction strategies are the weakest intervention, the behavioral errors increase and we have a vicious cycle. It leads to a situation where students who have been successful for several months are starting to regress.
So how do we avoid the correction trap? The first idea is to review written behavior plans and make sure we have fidelity of implementation. The second idea is to reteach and increase use of reinforcement. The third idea is to make sure we keep emotion out of any correction strategies.
I decided to send this to all of the principals so you could decide whether to share it with your entire staff, but Sara, Larry, Cheryl and I thought it may be a good reminder.
I should probably create some type of monthly newsletter, but sadly, that keeps working it way down to the bottom of my task list.
Thanks!
Brianna
—
Brianna Stiller, Ph.D.
Positive Behavior Support Coordinator
School District 4J, Eugene, Or. 97402
(541)790-7816
stiller@4j.lane.edu• OAKS Ending 5/17 and Test improprieties Reminder – The OAKS testing window closes in nine days. Also, Jim Conaghan let Site Test Coordinators know that he’s been reporting test improprieties on a daily basis for 5 days running. He said he’s never seen anything quite like it and 4J certainly has ODE’s attention – they are not thrilled. To help avoid that happening here, below is a list of the improprieties Jim said have occurred over the last few days and that can be avoided:
1. Don’t read reading questions on OAKS Reading tests to students. It’s a reading test- this should be self-explanatory.
2. Don’t leave students unsupervised during OAKS.
3. Adults proctoring tests are not to be in the business of reviewing and analyzing test items. We read a lot of math and science tests to kids, but our job is to read the tests and leave it at that. Sharing specifics about the test to others either during or after the test session is not OK.• easyCBM Spring Benchmark Testing 5/21 to 6/8 – The three week testing window for easyCBM Spring Benchmarks is coming soon (the week following the closing of the OAKS testing window). It’s the same procedure as in the past. If you need a sub to relieve you to complete testing, you may put in for a sub in AESOP using “EasyCBM Elementary” as the absence reason. If you want help inputting scores, you will need to give me your scores by Friday, June 1st. Attached is the easyCBM Benchmark Assessment Guide, which tells which tests are to be given at each grade level. Please let me know if you have any questions.
• Kids are Amazing! – If you find yourself needing some inspiration, here is an amazing video of a 6 year old on the autism spectrum playing an unbelievably good version of “Piano Man” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpF3326_b5g[/youtube]
24 and a half more student days! Have a good week, everyone!
Allan