Life change

My beloved fiance is currently driving from IN to PA.  On Saturday, we will become husband and wife.  The next time I update this thing, I will be Mrs. Rebecca Joy Baldwin.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They made me cry.

To our beautiful and lovely RA:

We heard you had a not-so-good day.

But we hope you are aware

That God hears our every little prayer.

So during this rough spot

Know that you are not forgot

And that we love you a whole lot.

Love,

A1W

...amount of money to Monroe Muffler- $551.36

...girls of A1W reciting this to me.....priceless.

Currently Listening X&Y By Coldplay Fix You see related

A beautiful prayer...

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. - Isaiah 26:3

Dear God,

Whenever I am afraid, help me to trust You.  Transform my fear, whatever its cause, into faith in You.  Lord, it seems lke there are many reasons to fear and I am sometimes overwhelmed.  I fear for my family and my friends, my job and my life.  The list feels endless.  Yet I know that you don't want me to live a life driven by fear.  You want me to rest in You.  Remind me whose hand of protection is all around me.  When my mind is spiraling out of control with concerns, give me the ability to turn from being a problem worrier to being a prayer warrior. 

Let me walk through life knowing Your perfect peace, no matter what is happening around me.

Love,

Your princess, who is choosing to trust in You over fear

-From Prayers to My King by Sheri Rose

Wow.  That hit home. 

Discipline By Design

11 Techniques for Better Classroom Discipline

By Discipline by Design

http://www.honorlevel.com/x47.xml

This article on classroom management was adapted from an article in Phi Delta Kappan called, "A Primer on Classroom Discipline: Principles Old and New" by Thomas R. McDaniel.  It emphasized eleven key techniques that help a teacher succeed in managing a classroom well.  The 11 techniques are as follows: focusing, direct instruction, monitoring, modeling, non-verbal cueing, environmental control, low profile intervention, assertive discipline, assertive I- messages, humanistic I-messages, and positive discipline.  One important aspect that was stressed in the beginning of this article was that before a teacher begins teaching he/she needs to have the room completely quiet and then even wait a little longer after everyone is quiet to begin.  Inexperienced teachers think that if they start, then the students will settle down. This usually is not the case.  Another important detail to note is that a soft-spoken teacher generally has a calmer, quieter classroom than a teacher with a loud, strong voice.  The article explained that is very important for the teacher to lay out the plans in the beginning so that students know what to expect.  While students are beginning on an assignment, it is important for the teacher to wait a few minutes before walking around to check on student progress.  This will give time to students to find where they may have questions and allow time for the teacher to see who is not on task.  The article also stressed the importance of non-verbal cueing such as flipping light switches or having some sort of hand signals.  Also, when students are misbehaving it is important to deal with the conflicts and keep a low-profile.  Students should never be rewarded for misbehaving by becoming the center of attention.  An easy way to keep control of a student who is starting to get out of hand is to use the student's name naturally while teaching in order to draw them back in to the discussion.  It is important for the teacher to use I-messages to help children understand what behavior is desired of them and not focus on the misbehavior.  Good teachers use "I want you to.." or "I need you to..". Inexperienced teachers may say, "I want you to stop..." when usually this does not work, leading to denial and confrontation.  The last section that I thought was important was when the article discussed rules and that they should be referred to as expectations and should be worded positively. 

I learned the importance of waiting to begin a lesson even after the class is already quiet.  I never really thought of that being an effective teaching strategy, but I have definitely seen it done in my classes before.  Silence is a very effective tool in the classroom.  Additionally, I learned the importance of laying out what willl be accomplished before the class or period begins and then explaining what priveleges could happen at the end.  Therefore, if students waste time at the beginning, they will understand that they are just wasting their free time at the end of the class.

I would ask the author what some other ways are to deal with behavioral issues while still remaining low-profile.  The author suggested dropping the students name during your teaching, but I would like to know what other options there are.  Also, I would like to when it is appropriate to use humanistic I-messages with children.  I feel like not all children would respond well to those. 

In conclusion, this article fits perfectly with the course objectives because it explains different strategies of management that have been proven successful by reputable sources.   

Currently Listening Come Away with Me By Norah Jones Painter Song see related

Assertive Discipline

THE EFFECTS OF CONTINGENT TEACHER PRAISE, AS SPECIFIED BY CANTER'S ASSERTIVE DISCIPLINE PROGRAMME, ON CHILDREN'S ON-TASK BEHAVIOUR

By Elizabeth Ferguson and Stephen Houghton

From Educational Studies Vol. 18

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=117&sid=5eb00217-cd42-4a1d-a4a9-5d2cc4ab090a%40sessionmgr9

This article was written about a study done to examine the effectiveness of contigent teacher praise which is an essential part of Canter's Assertive Discipline model.  Many educators are concerned about the amount of time that teachers spend disciplining their students. "According to Canter & Canter (1988) this has got to the point where teachers have been led to believe fallacies such as: . . . in order to get a child to behave, all that a teacher needs to do is feed him full of smarties when he is good and ignore him when he is bad." One approach to classroom management stems from the Social Learning Theory and was developed by Canter.  This method is widely used in the United Kingdom and in Australia.  In short, assertive discipline is a "competency based approach to classroom and school discipline, designed to provide educators with the skills and confidence necessary to eliminate discipline as a problem in their classroom or school." Teacher attend workshops to receive proper training in the assertive discipline model.  Canter states that positive verbal reinforcement is the key to assertive discipline.  By reinforcing positive behaviors, less time will be spent on the disruptive behaviors.  Teachers are expected to find at least one thing to praise each child for daily.  The article focuses on a study that was conducted to test the effectiveness of the verbal praise from the teacher on students' on-task behavior.  It was found that of the 24 children observed, only one child did not show an increase in his on-task behavior. 

This article informed me of what assertive discipline is about.  I learned that it really focuses on the appropriate use of verbal praise in the classroom.  It can be difficult to use praise appropriately when your mind is going a million different directions as a teacher.  It can be very difficult to be purposeful about giving positive verbal reinforcement.  I also learned that it is important to praise every child for at least one thing per day.  It makes sense that this would be very effective, I just never really thought about doing that.  Praising every child for one thing each day could be potentially very challenging especially on a bad day, but I'm sure the effects of doing this are wonderful, even if it makes just one child's day better. 

I would like to ask the author what exactly is meant by "appropriate" verbal praise.  I know for me it can be challenging to keep coming up with creative and new ways to praise children.  I would also like to ask if he thinks this makes them become numb to compliments or if in time this method gets old since the verbal praise is regular and consistent for each child. 

This article connects with the course description perfectly because it focuses on a teacher-centered approach to management which is one of the three core management theories to be addressed.