Rounding up the year, part one: On how bottlecaps made my life easier

I've been an inconsistent blogger and I'm sorry for that. I think I'll remain inconsistent, so just stay tuned and don't give up, because as inconsistent as I may be I'm here to stay ;).

It's that time of the year when schools are all about summing up and report writing, so I've decided to draw up one or two of my own. Those who've paid attention will remember this post: On Antennae and Token Economy . It was a short report on something I've found and decided to give it a try - token economy. In short:

Within the notion of token economy, tokens are items (buttons, bottlecaps, stickers...) used as positive reinforcement. They are of no value of their own, but they symbolize praise.

In the classroom, tokens are used to acknowledge a good action as simple as it may be - opening a book, apologizing, writing something down, being patient in a game, waiting for one's turn, etc...

Open the book - get a token...

Raise your hand - get a token...

So I gave it a try, and expected the fad to last for a week, maybe two... Three, if I'm lucky. But my student really grew fond of it - collecting tokens became a kind of a game. The class was curious and supportive about it as well. And a week passed, and then another one, and then another... I decided to make a table, recording the number of tokens collected each lesson and placed it on a visible spot in the classroom. And then it went on for a bit longer than two months - right up until the school finished. And it didn't get boring, nor did it lose its power. It focused us all on the good and helped us set our minds on learning.

I made a little diploma and added the numbers of all of the tokens collected in the two months - it came up to 700 so I wrote:

 This certificate is awarded 

in recognition of
700 good things done during English lessons
from April to June 2013.
Thank you for your cooperation and good will!

I signed it and presented it and confused my little troublemaker, but it really meant a lot to him. 700 good things - sounds pretty great, doesn't it? Especially when all one hears is Don't!!, oh no!, why did you?!, how could you?!, stop it! and the like.

It's just a simple little thing.

And it sounds silly.

But really -
It worked.

Bye for now,

Do 

Seeking first to understand as opposed to being understood

There are some thing I do not agree with in this talk, I should tell you that right at the beginning. But, nonetheless, it's beautiful to hear. I've read somewhere that Rita Pierson at times sounds more like a preacher than an educator, and at times indeed she does. Whether it's a good thing, or a bad one, or somewhere in between, I leave for you to decide. There's definitely food for thought in what she says.

And remember:

"I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go." You say it long enough, it starts to be a part of you. 

Love to all,
Do

On Antennae and Token Economy

My last post was basically a link to a documentary. If you haven't seen it yet and there's a possibility for you to have to deal with ADHD at some point of your life or work, it's time you do it. But that's not the tip I'd like to disseminate with this post. The film is a wonderful insight into what ADHD is. You won't learn many tips from it and chances are you won't be taking notes while you watch. But that one tip I've picked up is so simple anybody can do it and it has an incredible change potential.

The tip is called "token economy" and it comes up around the 45th minute of the documentary. "Token economy" has roots in what psychologists call conditioning and it's a form of immediate positive reinforcement of desirable behavior or in plain words: whenever a student does something well they get an object which has no value unto itself, but represents a currency through which a reward is attained. So, if you want a student who cannot keep quiet to learn how to raise their hand and wait for their turn, whenever they quietly raise their hand you give them a token, whenever they remain quiet with their hand up while you're speaking to another student they get a token, whenever they give a relevant answer after you call their name they get a token. The student receives a token for everything they do well, as small as it is, and they MUST receive a token immediately.

Think well before you use anything edible for a token.
There's a possibility they might disappear before being counted.

Tokens can be anything: marbles, stars, stamps, bottle caps, pencils, stones, sequins, buttons, pieces of cloth/string, paperclips, stickers, rubber bands, anything made of cardboard (stars, suns, flowers, birds, lions, faeries...)... I think you get the point. The aim is for the student to collect as many as possible in a given period of time - e.g. a lesson. I repeat - they MUST receive a token for EVERYTHING they do well, as small as it is, IMMEDIATELY. And a deal must be made: 

If the student collects X tokens, the teacher will ________ .

This is where you need to think about your student and figure out what is important to them. If nothing comes to mind do what I did - Ask them "Who should I tell when you're being good?". Chances are they know exactly who you should call, so follow through. You MUST FOLLOW THROUGH. 

But be flexible the first time you start doing this. I tried the recipe from the documentary and set an objective of 50 tokens in a 45-minute lesson. The student only collected 35, but behavior change was so dramatic, I followed through with the deal nonetheless. As I said, smiles all around ensued. 

The trick is in the fact that tokens focus us, teachers, students and parents on students' strengths and abilities and help us overcome the difficult bits and reduce difficulties into bits, wherever and whenever possible. And as I said, smiles all around ensue.

I'll confess having reservations about all of this at first, but I decided to give it a go because something had to be done. It did not magically change everything for the better, nor did it magically cure ADHD, but it gave a strong positive note to my lessons.

So be brave and persist.

Finally, keep your antennae on alert whatever you do, because you never know when and where you might come across a brilliant idea. 

When you get one, pass it on.

Love to all,

Do

P.S. 

For those interested in research on token economy, click on the titles to go visit:

Wikipedia - to start off.

R.P. Liberman: The token economy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2000

G. LeBlanc: Enhancing intrinsic motivation through the use of a token economy. Essays in Education, 2004, 11.

K. Zlomke & L. Zlomke: Token economy plus self-monitoring to reduce disruptive classroom behaviors. The Behavior Analyst Today, 2003, 4, 177-182.

All that glitters...

...is not gold. And some people learn it the hard way. As I've witnessed some seriously scary Internet-naivety today, I've decided to share some wisdom. Look at this video and keep in mind the fact that these kids' beliefs are shared by adults as well.



The wisdom I've decided to share was bestowed upon me during the Learning Technologies course provided by the British Council. It's one of those courses that actually teach unbelievably valuable things, help you meet very interesting people and really open doors. Now that I've pitched for them enough, here's a part of a presentation I did about Internet safety. It's not only for teachers, but all Internet surfers can learn from it.



And if you've ever wondered where the expression from the title comes from, here's a very interesting quote to close the post:

All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old
Your answer had not been inscroll'd
Fare you well, your suit is cold.
(The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7)

Be young in your limbs and in judgement old.

Love to all,

Dora

School as a safe base (HUPE Rijeka branch talk Prezi)

Today I gave the second of the three planned talks about what we did during the Difficult Learners course. It was a small gathering of enthusiasts of all ages and levels of experience and hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did. Here's the Prezi I prepared - it was put together with a lot of effort and care. It also finally, covers everything about the attachment theory and its significance in the classroom environment.

Rethinking challenging learners on Prezi

And yet, there's so much left out, 'cause I had to boil everything down to just forty minutes. ;)))

So, until the next bout of inspiration, remember to always be your own best friend.

Over and out,

Do

How do you feel about learning today?

Hello everyone,

As I've learnt a lot this summer I've decided to introduce some changes to my lessons and I did it from day one of this school year. I've actually decided to try out everything I feel might be useful, so this is actually my first step of putting theory into practice.

The change my students have grown very fond of is asking them "How do you feel about learning today?". They don't even wait for me to ask anymore, they just show me with their thumbs or tell me. It really is a great way to start a lesson, because they get the chance to let all of the distractions go and warn me if there's something I can help with or need to take into consideration. As there is only 45 minutes to a lesson, the best way to approach this is by a quick survey. And here are some ways of how you can approach it:

• A SHOW OF THUMBS: thumbs up for great, in the middle for so-so, thumbs down for not well.
• A SHOW OF FINGERS: give yourself a grade from 1 to 10. 
• DOODLES: draw something that represents how you feel - you can limit this to an animal, a plant, a film character, a cartoon character, a monster,  or a household object, 
• MELODIES: Pick a song or a tune which represents how you feel and sing it or whistle it (noise risk factor to be taken into consideration!!)
• CALLING OUT EMOTIONS: This is great if you've just done adjectives about feelings, you or a student might call out words for emotions and people sit down when their emotional state is named. This is good for developing empathy as the one calling out words needs to think about others. 
• STRIKE A POSE: This one's primarily for young learners and only, and just maybe, for very open teenagers. Show how you feel by miming it or striking a pose. 
• JUST ASK THEM: It's pretty obvious. But don't insist on everyone sharing, some things are private. 

Finally, it's a good idea to ask yourself the same question about teaching - just so you know where you stand  and if there's something you could do for yourself to feel better. 

Maybe this was more of a Monday post, but I wanted to finish the week on a positive note. 

Now I'll go home and rest. Monday's a very BIG day.

Love to all,
Dora

Something found :)

I did some searches and found our trainer's TeachingEnglish webinar session. I'll be putting a link in the "Recommended Reading and Viewing" section of the blog, but I'm also posting it here in hope it will be more visible.

So here is the link to a recording of TeachingEnglish webinar of 14 February 2012 called "Dealing with challenging learners".

And here is the TeachingEnglish introduction to the webinar:

Theme: What is a challenging learner? Why do some learners challenge us more than others? How can we understand challenging behaviour in a different way so that we can teach these learners better in the classroom? This webinar will address these questions and explain the effects of loss, trauma, violence and neglect on the brain, learning and behaviour.

About the speaker: Marie Delaney is Director of The Learning Harbour, Cork, Ireland. She is a teacher, trainer and Educational Psychotherapist with many years of experience of working with school management, staff and pupils around challenging behaviour.
(As submitted by Rob Lewis to TeachingEnglish Teacher development section on 24 September, 2011 - 15:22)


Hope you enjoy it.
All my love,
Dora