PB4L - doubling down on Tier 1

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PB4L in Room 1 šŸ˜Š
Things came to a bit of a head in room 1 last week and changes had to be made.
After a chat with teaching team we decided the one skill we were going to be focussing on teaching and reinforcing first was listening.
In 3 days I have noticed a positive shift in behaviour.  Reasons this has been successful:

  • I had to cut back the cognitive load (i.e. less academic teaching) to allow the focus to be on behaviour teaching and reinforcing.  I had to let something go to do something new (as Dylan Wiliam recommends).
  • I needed to up the positives.  It was emphasised to us at our Tier 2 PD session that the biggest bang for you buck PB4L strategy is the 4:1 ratio of positives to negative comments.  One of the children unintentionally recorded me while they were doing their handwriting on Seesaw, it was interesting to listen to my interactions with the class and I was pleased how much positive feedback I was getting out.  Videoing/recording ourselves is a good reflection tool.
  • Alida, Rhys and I all had the same behaviour focus (listening) so the children are receiving a consistent and simple message.  
  • The children have been given opportunities to practise this skill - i.e. listening games, making our signal for full attention a bit of a game - asking for full attention often and reinforcing when it happens.
  • Clear expectations - when teacher signals full attention - you need to listen, this is why, this is what it looks like etc.  
  • Revisiting our class matrix and having visual prompts displayed.
  • Ensuring I was not asking them to listen for long periods of time - keeping mat time to under 4 minutes.  Setting them up for success. This morning it went on a bit longer and things got wobbly.  If I stop the kids to listen - then I keep it brief.
  • Support from Michelle re plans for students with Tier 3 behaviours
  • Support from Michelle re positive reinforcement for our super stars who have been showing great listening etc.
Next steps

- keep reinforcing the students' listening skills and chat with Room 1 teaching team re the next social skill we'll teach.  
- During maths, I need to up the cognitive load and have some higher level follow up activities.
- Keep going with the activities from Sparklers - these were designed to improve children's mental wellbeing (intended for use in Christchurch schools post earthquakes).
- Ensure I am planning for and teaching PB4L lessons - explicitly teach social skills and give students time to rehearse
- Text/get in touch with whānau to share positive behaviour and learning news 
- Ensure I am being consistent and following plans developed to support students with tier 3 behaviours.

Comments

  1. Michelle16 May 2018 at 08:13

    It is so exciting to come into Room 1 and see such a major shift in such a short time. Going back to those evidence based practices and being deliberate and explicit has had such an impact. We will all have to work hard to maintain this so the students learn these behaviour skills and can engage them easily even under stress. I think your first point of having to let something go to introduce something new is so important we as teachers easily overload ourselves and our students and we need to give ourselves permission to do this. As Dylan William said, let go of something good to do something even better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alida16 May 2018 at 22:03

    I found it really hard to let go of the idea that if your students are engaged in learning they will be settled. So I thought I had to push hard with the academics (lots and lots of planning) to get the children engaged. But I agree with Michelle, letting go of high academic expectations, was the best thing I could do in order to get the class settled (work in progress)

    I'm looking forward to the day that behaviour is no longer a major issue in Room 1 and we can enjoy learning.

    ReplyDelete

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