Executive Function. What on Earth are these Educators Talking About?

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

by Ian Kelly and Heather Smith

Executive function is getting a lot of attention in the education community lately. As this terminology and the science behind it seeps into the vernacular of teachers and educational professionals families may feel left out of the party. While we always strive to keep the edu-babble (professional jargon) out of our conversations and communications with families, we sometimes can’t help ourselves. In this post, we define executive function and provide the foundation for a series of posts on this topic. Our hope is to provide adults with a working knowledge of the concept and strategies that will enable them to best support the child’s development of critical executive and metacognitive skills at home and in life.

Although there is debate amongst psychologists, neuroscientists and educators about how executive function should be defined exactly, there is consensus that executive function refers to a person’s ability to plan, execute, and monitor goal-oriented behavior. Lynn Meltzer (2007) defines it as: “goal setting, planning, organizing, prioritizing, memorizing, initiating, shifting, and self-monitoring” (p.xi) while Moran & Gardner (2007) define it as an intrapersonal combination of “hill, skill, and will” arguing that it is a combination of “metacognition, inhibiting habitual responses, delay of gratification, adjusting to changing rules, and making decisions under uncertain conditions” (p.19). There we go again, edubabble. So what does all of this mean?

Both you and your child engage in executive planning all day, every day. As an adult, you are not always aware of the fact that you are planning and there are times when you are acutely aware of the fact that you are not planning effectively (like when you forgot to pick up milk at the store). For most adults, these executive processes become so ingrained that they are second nature, almost reflexive. If you drive the same route to and from work everyday you may have had the experience of being on “autopilot.” Your cognitive system is so tuned to the route and the routine that you sometimes forget parts of the drive or you take that route even when you don’t mean to. This simple example illustrates the highly tuned and powerful executive skills of adults.

Photo: www.ectutoring.com

Unfortunately for kids, their autoplioting days are a long way off. Fortunately, they can all get there with your support. So, let’s get back to clarifying all of that edubabble we laid out earlier. Simply put, executive function is a network of cognitive skills and strategies that allows us to sustain goal oriented behavior. The process of sustaining that goal oriented behavior requires planning, doing, and assessing. Simple right? Wrong. It’s incredibly complex and it’s the place where most children spend the bulk of their physical, emotional and cognitive resources in learning.

The challenge for the adults trying to support children in developing executive skills lies in trying to remember the challenges of their own learning experiences. The automaticity of mature executive function skills make it easy to forget just how complex the world can be and how long it took to learn and become experts with certain skills. The first step in supporting kids in their development of executive skills is to appreciate the complexity and challenge that children face in learning things that, to us, seem routine (in edubabble this is called cognitive empathy).

The second step that adults can take to support the development of effective executive skills is to embrace, to the extent your sanity or their safety will bear, those questions as opportunities to support the acquisition of these skills. Children ask a million different questions about a million different topics. These questions can become frustrating as, over time, they can begin to feel mundane or unbelievably repetitive. Just try to breathe and remember that they are asking you these questions for a real reason that is meaningful to them.

Photo: www.vccoaching.com

And herein lies the third thing adults can do to support the general development of executive skills in the home and life setting. Barring any immediate safety concern (or that this question might put you over the edge for the day), answer their question with a question. Do this as often as possible. By answering their questions with questions, you force them to think, plan, act, and reflect. Too often we default to providing the answer. The real learning (and acquisition of executive skills) is in the process leading up to the answer. Take the following example of a typical interaction over homework and a modified interaction over homework.

Typical Adult Response:

Child: Mom, I don’t know what to do for my homework. What should I do?

Adult: Well, get out your homework packet and let’s go over it together.

Child: OK. Here it is.

Adult: (Reads over the packet) OK. The packet says that you need to read for 20 minutes. Why don’t you start there.

Modified Adult Response:

Child: Mom, I don’t know what to do for my homework. What should I do?

Adult: Hmmm. That’s a good question. Let’s think about that. What do you think we should do about this?

Child: I don’t know. What am I supposed to do?

Adult: Well, I am not sure either. Where should we start to begin solving this problem?

Child: My homework is in my backpack.

Adult: OK. I am glad to know that it is in your backpack. How will that information help us solve this problem?

While the modified scenario could go on and on, it is meaty enough to substantiate an important difference in the two conversations. In the first conversation the adult provided the answer. They did all of the thinking and all of the planning. In this first scenario, the child was a passive participant in the problem solving process. The second conversation treats the child as an active agent in resolving the day to day challenges they face. Asking the child to consider what they might do to solve the problem forces them to reflect on the problem, process the challenge, and develop potential courses of action to overcome the barrier. Every child can put forward a hypothesis to solve the homework problem. Their approximation of a solution may be way off base and it is our job, through guiding questions, to help them come to a solution that works. In doing so adults are well on their way to developing the executive skills that, as adults, these children will rely on to find success in life, relationships, and careers.

Our next post will focus on the social and interpersonal dimensions of executive function. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.

Failure: An Old Adage for Success

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

Post by Ian Kelly & Heather L. Brennan Smith (Principal at Lilja School)

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.” – J. K. Rowling

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” – Winston Churchill

Chances are that when you grew up, someone in your life encouraged you to find your own success. It is also very likely that someone encouraged you to persist. Think back to your childhood and ponder for a moment the very first time when someone told you, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” Yet, somewhere along the way, we form our own beliefs about success and failure. In theory, many of us believe that failure is a fundamental driver in the process of learning and growth so why is it so hard to accept, especially when it comes to our children?

Our well-intentioned friends and family give us mixed messages when it comes to failure. Avoid failure. Focus on success. We avoid it at all costs.

Even more unfortunate than our personal associations with failure are those we draw for our children. Beyond teaching them that failure is to be avoided, we do all that we can to protect them from it. These tendencies are perfectly natural and they go far beyond the realm of parenting. In Seth Godin’s (2010) piece Redefining Failure he captures our current concept of and stance towards failure, “We think that failure is the opposite of success, and we optimize our organizations to avoid it. We install layers and layers of management to eliminate risk and prevent catastrophes.”

Photo courtesy of www.agencypost.com

In spite of our altruistic tendencies to protect our children from failure, we deprive them of critical “learning” experiences when we don’t accept the missteps that children take along the way. Children need opportunities to fail. Their growth and development rely on these rich contexts for learning. Our job, as parents and as educators, is to provide structured, developmentally appropriate opportunities to fail or, in other words, to learn. When we consider this notion, there are two important questions: what do children learn when we allow them to fail and how do we structure opportunities that are appropriate and productive?

Before we consider these questions though, let’s re-imagine our own paradigms for failure. This is a critical first step because consciously and unconsciously we communicate important and influential messages to children that form their perceptions of failure.

First, consider failure first as a positive thing. Failure is great! Without it we would be perfect and there would be nothing to learn. Secondarily, think of failure not as a shortcoming but as an opportunity, a guidepost on the path towards learning. Failure bothe presents us with and leads is toward opportunities for for success. If we are patient and learn to embrace failure as a positive and integral part of the learning process, then we are well on our way to supporting our children.

What do children learn from failure?

Angela Lee Duckworth calls it “grit.” Grit is what children learn from failure. They learn to persevere and persist in the face of challenge and novel tasks that force them to apply known information to solve new problems. Children come to understand the limits of their current knowledge and ability and how to grow and stretch to tackle the next challenge they face. They learn to identify their strengths and their weaknesses. Students come to understand how to leverage strengths and improve weaknesses. Most importantly, they learn that challenge is to be expected in life and that it is their effort and their hard work that determine the outcome of that challenge. Carol Dweck at Stanford University calls this mentality the “growth mindset.”

How do we structure appropriate and productive opportunities for failure?

Providing children with opportunities to fail, struggle, and learn cannot happen in a vacuum. We can’t just toss them to the wolves and expect them to figure things out. We must remember that children develop perseverance and persistence over time. If we put them into situations in which they are unable to find success we hinder their development. So, what is the context in which kids can really benefit from failure? When do we let them struggle? When do we intervene? These questions rely heavily upon a social context for learning, an understanding of our children and an evolving understanding of ourselves.

A child’s social context for learning, or failure, is critical. Young children are keen observers, especially of adults. They watch and listen, taking cues from us as they attempt to make sense of their world. If a child is supported in an environment where adults behave and speak in way that communicates positive messages about failure and embrace it as a learning opportunity then we are well on our way to creating a context that is ripe for learning.

The second part of this context is our ability as parents and educators to take a step back from the situation and make rational, balanced decisions about when to intervene and when to let them figure it out. This can be challenging because it is in our nature to protect and support.

A few years back Mr. Kelly was spending time with a good friend and they were playing with their young children. As always they liked (and continue to like) to do, they were analyzing the play of their children and the situations that arose as they interacted. Sawyer (Mr. Kelly’s son) was about two years old at the time and was moving backwards without looking where he was going. There was a block on the carpet that he would obviously trip on and fall. As is usually the case, there were a few seconds available to consider options and make a decision about how to manage the situation.

The first analysis was safety. Is he going to really hurt himself if he is allowed to fall. At the time, he was on the carpet so he had a soft spot to land and there were no other objects around that he would hit on the way down and hurt himself. Safety, wasn’t an issue. The second analysis was the potential for learning and the importance of the lesson. In that split second Ian decided that this was an important lesson. Walking backward without checking your surrounding is inherently dangerous. This is a concept that a two year old could begin to grasp. So as it turns out, Sawyer tripped on the block and landed on his bum. He looked confused and then fussed for a minute. When asked what happened and he said, “Fell.” When asked why he replied, “Block.” After a little clarification and a simple, “Walking backwards is dangerous.” He moved on and was right back to playing with his pals. We are not suggesting for a second that this incident ended the walking backward phenomenon but we will suggest that it is the accumulation of these experiences that eventually teaches him (and therefore ceases the behavior) that walking backwards is dangerous.

Learning to watch where you are going and, in all possible circumstances, walk forward is a product of cumulative experience. It is not a function of the words we use in warning of or response to the “failures” that children encounter. If we don’t take the time to step back, analyze the situation, and ensure that we provide those structured opportunities for failure, our children will only have our words. Unfortunately that’s not enough. Experience is the true teacher.

Acknowledging our own anxieties about failure is not easy. What’s more is that we sometimes hold our children to a different standard than we do ourselves. After all, they represent our hopes, our dreams. We don’t want them to make the same mistakes that we did and we sometimes doubt their ability to see how their actions just might affect their future. But success is about risk-taking and risk-taking is. . . risky! Conventional wisdom in the world of business tells us that the the greater the risk, the greater the reward. In the United States, the biggest risk-takers are also some of our greatest entrepreneurs. But children aren’t going to succeed with every risk they take, nor do we. When we take a risk, the threat of failure becomes palpable. What’s important is that we capitalize on these opportunities by carving out time for personal reflection and self-monitoring. When we make mistakes, we ask: What is it that I was trying to achieve? What stood in the way of achieving my goals? What could I have done differently to achieve a different outcome and what action steps must I take in order to achieve my goal? Once we can answer these questions, we begin the process of building a brighter vision for ourselves, of self-acceptance, and even more importantly, self-reliance. After all, in the words of Sumner Redstone, “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe”

What’s going on with my kid?!

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

Photo from www.defyingthespectrum.com

When young children struggle in school, many parents experience a great deal of anxiety. This is perfectly normal and understandable. Beyond the obvious reasons for concern, one of the underlying sources of anxiety is the often-ambiguous nature of the difficulties children display. Parents struggle to “figure out” what is happening for their children. This causes anxiety because, as we all know, children are complex little creatures who are not always aware of or able to effectively articulate what is happening for them.

Unfortunately the overwhelming volume of “diagnostic” information that can be gathered with a quick Google search often exacerbates this anxiety. Parents (and I am perfectly guilty of this) often start reading online and the information available is vast, hard to comprehend, and often inconclusive. People and professionals have many opinions, there is an increasingly complex world of jargon and terminology, and, as we noted earlier, kids (and adults) are complicated beings.

Over the years I have worked with and counseled hundreds of families whose children struggle at times during their elementary years. These challenges span the developmental continuum and include reading, writing, math, organization skills, social skills, motor skills, communication skills, etc. In most situations these struggles are perfectly normal and with a little support they pass. These experiences ultimately serve as great learning opportunities for students (and parents). The situations in which we experienced the greatest success were those that began with communication between the home and school as opposed to the home and Google.

When a parent has a concern about their child/children, my first piece of advice is to take a deep breath and remember that there is a high probability that this difficulty is normal and will resolve itself with time or a little extra support from home and school. My second piece of advice is to get in touch with the classroom teacher immediately. Teachers are trained diagnosticians who understand development and learning and, most importantly, know the child. They are great sources of information and guidance and in most instances can support parents in developing plans to coach their children through tough spots.

Teachers also know the limits of their knowledge and expertise. Fortunately when they reach that boundary they have a team of professionals and specialists that they can access for guidance, diagnostic support, and advice. At Ben-Hem, we call these professionals and specialists the Child Study Team (CST). This is an amazing resource for families that, unfortunately, many do not know about.

The CST is a comprehensive team of professionals who operate as a support network for students, teachers, and families. The team includes building administrators, classroom teachers, special education teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, school psychologists, reading specialists, and behavioral analysts. The primary role of the CST is to look diagnostically at the difficulties students display, develop a clear picture of what is causing the student to struggle, and to craft recommendations and accommodations that will support the teacher and family in coaching the child through the tough spot.

If your child is experiencing any kind of difficulty in school, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your child’s teacher. If you are interested in finding out more about child study, please feel free to get in touch with me at 508.647.6580 or by email at ikelly@natickps.org.

Natick Special Olympics!

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

The planning for the sixth annual Special Olympics Natick School Day Games is underway and our event will be held on June 10, 2014 at Natick High School during the school day. This event has grown tremendously since it first began in Natick; in 2009, thirty-five students participated and in 2013, 275 students participated in this track and field event along with 150 high school and adult volunteers.

Special Olympics Natick School Day Games is a rewarding experience for athletes, their non-disabled peers who are called Unified Partners, coaches, volunteers, community members, and family members. Unified Partners train and compete as a team with their peers who have disabilities in the spirit of inclusion and community. Everybody benefits from this event; athletes who have disabilities come away from the event with a sense of pride and accomplishment, and Unified Partners come away with an increase in awareness, appreciation, and in many cases, new friendships. One spectator who watched her grandson participate as a partner last year sent an email that said “this event was life-changing for all of us”. An athlete told an organizer that “it’s so nice to have others watch us for a change; usually it’s us who are cheering others on.” One parent emailed that “this was the best field trip I have ever witnessed and all students should have an opportunity to witness a Special Olympics event”.

Massachusetts Special Olympics Natick School Day Games includes all of the pageantry of a Special Olympics event: Opening Ceremonies includes music, participation by our police and firefighters, a torch run, and Parade of Athletes. Each athlete and Unified Partner participates in up to three events, and EVERYONE receives gold, silver, and/or bronze medals. As our Games have expanded, so have our costs and we need to raise funds so that we can sustain this wonderful community event.

Please participate in our “Dollar Drive” on Wednesday November 20, 2013. Students and staff are encouraged to wear clothing from their favorite sports team, Natick colors, and/or their Special Olympics t-shirts and bring a dollar into school. Every dollar counts and when we all support Special Olympics, everybody wins!!!!

by Barbara Singer, Ben-Hem School Nurse

617 Bobcats!

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

That’s right. As of yesterday we have 617 Bobcats at Ben-Hem. Every day, hundreds of excited, energized learners pour in and out of our doors. The excitement, curiosity, and innocent humor of 617 Bobcats are the reason that I get up and come to Ben-Hem with a smile on my face. They are an amazing bunch of kids and their education is my first priority. When I think about their learning, safety and security is my first consideration.

There are thousands of details, processes, procedures, and policies that go into creating a safe and secure environment that is conducive to learning at the high levels we expect. While it is neither prudent or feasible to elaborate on every detail, I want to share a few thoughts about dismissal time. As a parent I know that ushering 2 or 3 kids out the door can be a challenge. As a principal, the logistical complexities of getting 617 children out of the building safely and on the proper route home are daunting.

Over the years we have developed and refined a system that makes sure our students know where they are going and get there safely every day. While there is a great deal that goes on inside of the building to ensure this outcome, parents and families play an important role as well. The first and most important part that Ben-Hem families play is providing us with dismissal plans for their children. This is critical as the accurate information you provide allows us to build the many different dismissal routines that we have in place.

Parents and families play an important role in the dismissal process. Making sure we know the dismissal plans of children, coming to school on time, being at the bust stop to name a few. The place where families most often complicate the dismissal process is when dismissal plans are changed. There are two basic types of dismissal change, advanced notice and last minute. The difficulty and problems come with last minute dismissal changes. When families call the office after 2:15, we consider this a last minute dismissal change. The problem this creates is one of student safety.

When 2:15 hits, teachers are busy getting kids packed up and ready to go home. The office is busy fielding phone calls, directing visitors, and managing central operations. All other staff are moving to their positions for the dismissal. The bottom line is that after 2:15 the school is a machine in motion, all systems are preparing to move 617 Bobcats from their classrooms to their homes safely and without error. When we receive a call after 2:15 to change an existing dismissal plan, the energy it takes to execute that request draws attention and energy from our primary objective. Once change poses minimal safety issues, the real problem is that we often receive over 20 calls requesting changes in dismissal after 2:15. This creates a major safety issue that places undue stress on faculty, staff, and students.

Often when I discuss this matter with families they remind me that it is just one change. While I completely understand the rationale, I also remind families that many, many families think the exact same thing and, therefore, the requests for last minute changes of dismissal pile up fast. I certainly understand that life happens. Kids get sick, cars break down, and plans don’t always work out the way we expected. The world is not a black and white place, it’s full of gray and gray complicates the best laid plans and intentions. I am not asking you to make superhuman efforts to avoid last minute changes of dismissal. I am merely asking that you consider alternatives before making the request at the last minute.

Advanced Notice (Prior to 2:15 on the day of change)

Notify your child’s teacher in writing of the change of dismissal. Be specific. To whom is your child to be dismissed and on what days/dates.

Last Minute (After 2:15 on the day of change)

If it is unavoidable, contact the main office directly and provide specific details.
The office will take your information and develop a dismissal plan that ensures the safety of your child.
If you are sending another adult to pick up your child, please let them know that they will need to provide photo identification to the office.

Raz Kids: A Tool for Building Reading Fluency

Posted on October 25, 2013 by kstoetzel

Fluency is the ability to read text at an appropriate rate with accuracy and expression. We often explain to students that fluent readers read like they are talking, in a smooth and not choppy manner. We measure fluency regularly because it is an indicator of comprehension. Research tells us that fluent readers have more brain energy available for comprehension, which is the ultimate goal of reading. The less energy a student expends on decoding words, the more energy is available for higher level thinking. Follow this link for a great article on fluency from Reading Rockets, including tips on how to help students who struggle:

Reading Rockets- Fluency

Readers can build fluency by reading and rereading text at their own independent level. With all of the books to choose from, it is difficult to know which books are “just right” for your child. Ideally, your child should be reading books that are not too hard (the most recent research suggests 98% accuracy or higher!). Often students self-select too difficult books that require significant inferential understanding and contain lots of dialogue and tricky words, then become frustrated with reading because it is too hard and the story does not make sense. Reading books that are too hard also causes children to develop bad habits; when a book is too hard, children’s understanding is only at the surface level and they don’t train themselves to think deeply about text.

With that in mind, I encourage you to explore Raz Kids. Raz Kids is a website that provides your child with access to digital books at his or her own independent level. Every elementary student in Natick has a Raz Kids subscription. Students log on and select a just right book within a level chosen by the classroom teacher. Students can listen to the book, record themselves reading the book, and take a quiz on the book. They earn points toward incentives such as the “Raz Rocket” or “Robot Builder” features. The classroom teacher can assign specific books for students to record, see Raz Kids activity, hear recordings, see quiz results, and send messages to students. Raz Kids also has a free app available for iPad, Android, or Kindle Fire. Click here for a brief overview video from Schooltube:

Raz Kids Tutorial

Please feel free to contact me or your child’s classroom teacher if you have any questions about Raz Kids (including login and password) or want suggestions for other just right books.

Kristin Stoetzel
Ben-Hem Reading Specialist
kstoetzel@natickps.org

Parent Teacher Conferences

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

Strong communication between home and school is critical to the success of our students and children. Parent-teacher conferences are one formal mechanism we use to support and enhance the home-school connection. Parent-teacher conferences take place formally twice per year; in November and April. This year’s dates are November 7th and 13th and April 8th and 16th. These are important times for teachers and families to review progress, address concerns, and plan strategically for the coming months. It goes without saying that these conferences are very important to the education of our students. Teachers spend many hours preparing for conferences and there are many things parents can do to ensure efficient and effective conferences.

Come Prepared
- Take time in the days preceeding the conference to gather your thoughts. What questions do you have for the teacher? What concerns do you have? What is it you would like your child to focus on in the coming weeks and months?
Stay Positive and Focused
- Productive, goal oriented conversations are critical. Discussions about our children aren’t always easy. We have all kinds of hopes, dreams, expectations, and feelings for and about our children. Both you and your child’s teacher are there to discuss and carry out actions that are in the best interests of your child. Keeping this fact in mind will help maintain focus on what’s most important.
Talk to Your Child Before and After the Conference
- We often overlook the fact that children are very important members of our team. Involving students in the decisions that impact their lives is critical for two primary reasons. First it provides a sense of agency. Children need to understand that they play a key role in determining the course and outcome of their lives. Second, it builds ownership and accountability. When children are involved in the processes and decisions that impact their lives, they are more likely to engage in the plans and hold themselves accountable to goals and outcomes.
- Talk to your children before the conference. Ask them questions. What do they think they need to work on? What are their strengths? What questions do they have?
- After the conference, let your children know what you discussed during the conference. Answer the questions they posed and clearly lay out goals and expectations for the coming weeks and months.

If you would like other tips and more reading on Parent-Teacher conferences, check out the following links:

Family Education

Scholastic

National Education Association

School Assemblies

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

Assemblies are an integral part of life at Ben-Hem. Assemblies provide a unique opportunity to get together as a school, talk about important issues, and create a shared understanding of the ideas and values that are most important to us.

This week’s assembly posed the question, “Where do you want to go?” Students thought about this question while Mr. Kelly read Oh the Places You Will Go! by Dr. Seuss. In true Seuss form, he captures powerful messages in a story that deftly balances humor and content. The story characterizes the effort, perseverance, and complexity involved in getting where you want to go in life.

After reading the story we shared examples of people who, when they were young, most likely did not know exactly what they wanted to be but knew who they wanted to be. Herein lies a critical distinction; who you want to be vs. what you want to be. The question of what you want to be focuses students on goals and aspirations that are situated so far in the future that they can lose meaning and begin to seem unattainable. The question of who children want to be focuses them on the character traits, skills, and abilities necessary to become the person they envision. Focusing on self-knowledge and growth is always present (which young children do best with) and always produces results that kids can see and feel. As Seuss describes, life will take individuals down all kinds of paths. Our children and students will wind up in places they (or we) never expected them to. It is the substance of their being that will guide and maintain them on their journey towards who they aspire to be. What they want to be will follow.

This process of identifying who they aspire to be allows them to begin considering how they will achieve this end. Students must ask themselves what they will need to do, who will help them, and what kinds of skills they will need to acquire along the way. Goal setting and strategic planning are essential skills in life and learning. As such, the development of personal goals not only focuses students on the critical process of developing into caring, effective human beings, it reinforces the underlying cognitive processes that support the development of independent, adaptive learners.

Taming the Bus

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

Each and every year school starts and hundreds of kids are excited to get back to school, reconnect with friends, and enjoy another year of learning and growth at Ben-Hem. Many of these excited students take the bus to school and, for the first time in their lives, they are placed in an unsupervised setting with many of their peers. This presents a unique opportunity for kids to be independent and try out all kinds of independent behaviors. For parents and school faculty this can be both exciting and anxiety producing.

As children wander into and explore the world of the bus rider, they try on new behaviors and watch their peers try on new behaviors. These behaviors are not always exactly what we would like to see. Thus we are presented with many, many opportunities to provide feedback and support the development of context specific appropriate behaviors. As I discussed in my post on School Wide Positive Behavior Supports, we take a proactive approach in supporting students in acquiring these skills. This is a multifaceted endeavor but I wanted to take a moment to hi-light one of the key components of this process, bus assemblies.

You heard it, bus assemblies. Twice a year Mr. Gatto arranges a mock bus ride in the cafeteria. Students are called to the cafeteria by bus number and there they spend time with Mr. Gatto taking part in a rule setting, role playing, informative adventure. Students sit in chairs that are arranged to resemble the layout of the actual bus. Mr. Gatto starts the ride by reviewing basic rules and expectations. Afterwards students identify common problems on the bus. Kids getting out of their seats, kids not sharing seats, and kids yelling are all common responses. Once identified, Mr. Gatto engages the bus riders in problem solving role plays. Students get to act out the problems while other riders offer creative solutions to these common problems. The kids have a great time and the learning is meaningful.

We have conducted these assemblies for a few years now and we find them to be very successful in taming our buses. Beyond the assemblies we rely heavily on parent feedback on bus rides. When kids hop off the bus one of the first things families ask is, “How was your day?” The bus ride is the nearest experience to the question and conversations, if there was a problem on the bus, reliably start there. If your child relays a problem to you, please let us know. The sooner we can address issues the more likely it is they will easily cease.

School Wide Positive Behavior Supports

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Mr. Kelly

A successful learning environment is predicated on the idea that students feel safe and comfortable in their classroom and school. This is a sensible conclusion when you think about it. If a child is worried about something then chances are she is not completely focused on her work.

Abraham Maslow captured this concept in 1943 in a work called “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Maslow’s work set forth the idea that all human beings are driven by a set of hierarchical needs and that higher level needs cannot be attended to until lower level needs are met. The first two levels are physiological and safety. Learning falls into a set of higher level cognitive needs. This theory is why we ask kids who are struggling if they got a good night’s sleep or if they had breakfast. These basic physiological needs have a significant impact on their learning.

Beyond physiological needs is the need for safety. The child needs to know that they are physically and emotionally safe before they are able to attend to learning. Providing a safe and predictable environment for 600 students who come to learn with over 75 adult faculty members creates a dynamic challenge for a school.

To meet this challenge Ben-Hem faculty and staff have developed and implemented a system of School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS). The SWPBS approach to school culture is predicated on the idea that human behavior is learned and, therefore, needs to be taught. It is the proactive approach to teaching positive behavioral expectations that separates SWPBS from traditional behavior management techniques.

The Open Circle program is one that families hear a lot about during curriculum nights and in teacher newsletters. The Open Circle program is Ben-Hem’s primary curriculum resource for teaching students what it means to be a friend and a student. The inter and intrapersonal skills developed through Open Circle are critical to ensuring our students are safe and successful in school. When programs like Open Circle are not used the social curriculum becomes the “hidden curriculum.” Open Circle supports our teachers in transferring this “hidden curriculum” into a clear and explicit trajectory of teaching and learning that provides the foundation of a positive school culture and climate.

Teaching is only the first step in this process. Instruction is most effective when the content and expectations are consistent from classroom to classroom and year to year. Stability and predictability are part of making sure those basic needs that Maslow described are met. To ensure that behavioral expectations are consistent in all classrooms and settings, our teachers use a common set of guiding principles when developing classroom rules. Providing fundamental principles ensures continuity of expectations while providing for flexibility in adapting rules and expectations to specific environments.

The social and emotional skills of our students are critically important to their success. Teaching and supporting the development of these skills and abilities is a high priority for Ben-Hem and one that we know ensures high levels of learning for our students. School Wide Positive Behavior Supports is an effective model that we implement to ensure this learning throughout the day and year. Let us know if you have any questions about social and emotional learning or School Wide Positive Behavior Supports.

Bobcats Blog!

Where CAREing matters!