Below are darned good examples of a replies to postings on our web site.  Notice the format: (1) Supporting the teacher/"saying hello", (2) Offering specific advice in easily understood wording that will allow for the teacher to implement the idea(s) (including a great deal of elaboration, explanations and perhaps examples of the procedure), and (3) A final note of support.  Grammar, syntax, tense, spelling and punctuation are strong.  Adding a resource for the reader to locate and read adds to your score.  See the grading rubric form for more details.

You will see many short, cryptic replies on our bulletin board.  They are from international visitors to our site or students from other colleges.  These individuals do not operate under the same guidelines and constraints as you.  Therefore, please use our standard format when posting a reply.

P.S. Remember, you cannot indent your paragraphs with our system.  The first line of your response will not "stick" to the bulletin board unless it is aligned against the left side of the responce box.  Separate your paragraphs by a blank line.

I am completely sympathetic to your plight of the lack of resources.  I understand that not being given resources can be frustrating to any teacher.  The most annoying part of this whole situation is that you are also a new teacher.  However difficult your situation, please don't give up because I am here to try to help you.  There is a philosophy that is synonymous to character education that is called Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an educational tenet that is currently being administered in some schools across the country.  A concise definition of the tenet can be found in the book, Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators.  A student who is socially and emotionally aware is able to, "…understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of one's life in ways that enable the successful management of life's task such as learning, forming relationships, solving everyday problems, and adapting to the complex demands of growth and development.  SEL includes self awareness, control of impulsivity, working cooperatively, and caring about oneself and others."  As an educator you should be able to offer your students the skills that are necessary in promoting their SEL.  Your students need to be taught how to deal with conflicts and manage their emotions in order to become caring and well adjusted adults.

When teaching SEL you should think of four competences: Personal Competence; Interpersonal Competence; Responsible Decision-Making; and Social Interaction.  Personal competence includes self awareness, self management, self efficacy and personal responsibility.  Here we are teaching the child simple personal skills.  As an example, self awareness helps the child to identify and label his/her feelings values, strengths and weaknesses.  Teaching the child to be empathetic and showing respect for others are part of the Interpersonal Competence.  Does the child know how to treat his friends fairly and honestly?  Responsible decision making asks the questions, Can Johnny identify a situation that can put him at risk, and will he be able to get out of that situation using the decision-making skills that you have taught him?  Finally, and most importantly is Johnny able to communicate, negotiate and engage in social settings.  All of these components create a Socially and Emotionally aware child, that is a child of good moral character.

I will now explain how I used this tenet in my classroom of four year olds.  Don't worry, the program is applicable to children of all ages.  Last year, the students in my pre-k class were always very angry, and not willing to work cooperatively with their friends.  In terms of SEL, this problem falls under self management and interpersonal skills.  I taught them how to deal with their own problems by evaluating the things that they say to their friends.  This approach takes a lot of role playing and modeling.  First, the other teacher and I role played for the students.  She played with a toy and I just grabbed it away from her hand.  She started to cry.  I asked my students how can I  make her feel better.  They told me that I have to give her back her toy.  Some even said that I should ask her if I can play with her.  We modeled all the possible solutions.  Then we asked the students how can the other teacher let me know how she is feeling without crying.  I was surprised that my four year olds came up with the answers.  They told her that she should say something like, "Don't grab my toy."  The modeling really helped to change the whole atmosphere of the classroom.  I would hear my students correcting each other's (social responsibility) behaviors.

The key to SEL and any character education is role playing and modeling.  In terms of seeing results in a school district, the New Haven schools in Connecticut have tried a similar program and noted that their students are now more academically and socially adept.  For future readings try, Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators by M.J Elias et al  Published in 1997 in Alexandria, Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and G. Doty's 2001 book Fostering Emotional Intelligence in K-8 Students: Simple Strategies and Ready to Use Activities.  Thousand Oaks California: Corwin Press Inc.  There is a website, www.charactered.net that offers lessons on character education.  You will have to sign on and choose a password.  You can also read about the site before signing on.

I hope that I have helped you in some way.  Good luck with everything.  Remember bad teachers quit, good teachers ask for help.

Thanks Janice!

Pappy,

Don't be so hard on yourself! Substitute teaching is probably one of the hardest jobs in the school system, and your efforts to make the best of the difficult days that you may encounter are commendable. The services that you provide are extremely important, and I hope you recognize that fact!

Student behavior is a big concern, and coming in prepared with rules will show the children that you can provide them with the structure that is usually missing when a teacher is absent. You can make a poster with a maximum of five rules, such as: 1. Raise your hand before you speak, 2. Stay in your seat, 3. Respect your classmates and teacher, and 4. Try your hardest (you can decide which rules you feel are most important). Be sure to follow through with any rules that you attempt to implement, to show the students that your behavior is consistent with your expectations. If possible, post the rules at the front of classroom before the students arrive. Students will see the rules poster as they enter the room, and they may ask about it. At the start of class, explain each rule, and tell the consequences of breaking the rules. You may want to get input from classroom teachers and principals before deciding on consequences, to gauge which rules, rewards and consequences are considered appropriate in this setting. One quick idea may be to write a given reward on the board (such as “Recess” or “Free Time”), and each time the class misbehaves, erase one letter from the word. If any of the letters are left by the end of the day, the children can have their reward in the last ten minutes of school.

Additionally, make sure to “catch your students being good.” One helpful idea may be a lottery, where tickets are “earned” for good behavior. Walk around the room giving any child who is behaving appropriately a ticket. Reward participation, following the rules, and effort. Give as many tickets as you feel the students deserve, and at the end of the day, have all of the students write their names on their tickets and put them in a hat. Draw one ticket, and that student will receive a prize (a soda, candy, a small key chain, stuffed animal- you can pick up a few prizes and have them on hand for your various settings). This method allows you to continually reinforce good behavior, while you don’t have to expend a ridiculous amount on the prizes!

Another helpful hint is to try to get to know individual students in the classroom. Try to talk to individual students who may enter the room before the rest of the students. There is always one student who wanders into class long before anyone else does. Speaking with this student is the best insurance a teacher can get, and it is free for the taking. The two minutes that you spend speaking to this student can forewarn you of any problems that need to be dealt with. This student may tell of in-class rivalries between two students that often turn violent when there is a substitute teacher present. Or he may tell of one trick that students repeatedly play on substitutes. The early student may tell of an assembly during third period that nobody has told you about, or how Joshua has epileptic seizures, but that the students know how to deal with the seizure.

Additionally, one of the key reasons why students may misbehave is boredom. Come prepared with some fun extra things the students can do when, and only when, their work is done. At the elementary level you can bring "fun sheets" for the students, such as crossword puzzles, connect the dots, word searches, or mazes. You can find some more activities online at http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr260.shtml- which has many resources for substitute teachers- including links to various songs, journal topics, activity pages, brain teasers, worksheets and more.  If you’d like to invest in a book, Super Sub: A Must-Have Handbook for Substitute Teachers, written by Cary Seeman  and Shannon Hofstrand,  ISBN #0673363805, Published by: Addison-Wesley, March 1998, has many lesson plans and great ideas for subs. It can be purchased online at www.bn.com for $9.95.

Finally, positive communication with the classroom teacher can be very beneficial, since teachers can request that a specific sub return, and this can ensure that your subbing is not merely an experience where you meet new students everyday. First of all, be sure to try and implement any lessons that the teacher may have left for you, and make sure that you understand the lesson before attempting to teach it. At the end of the day, leave a note for the teacher to let him know how the day went. Did the students struggle with a lesson? If so, let the teacher know. Did the students have fun with an activity? Again, let the teacher know. Remember to include the positives of the day as well as the negatives. And be sure that the room is in order before leaving.

Substitute teaching may be difficult, but it can also be very rewarding. Keep up the good work, and I hope these tips will be helpful and effective! Good luck!
 
 

Thanks Elana!

Chris, it sounds as if you are very concerned about your student’s welfare, and fortunately there is a lot of information out there that can help you help her.  I did a research paper last semester on O.C.D. and its spectrum (related) disorders, of which trichotillomania (T.M., the technical name for hair-pulling disorder) is sometimes considered.

Most research suggests that the most effective treatment for T.M. is a type of behavior therapy called habit reversal, which involves 13 steps to self-management of the habit through self-awareness, self-monitoring, and healthy learning habits.  Since you write that this girl is very open with her peers about her affliction and that “she is not aware that she is doing it [pulling],” I think a program in which she is encouraged to be more aware of when she is pulling (as researchers suggest) and provided with some healthy alternatives to pulling would be quite successful.  You as well as her peers could help with both these tactics, perhaps by pointing out to her the times when she is pulling and what she could be doing instead.  For example, if she is pulling during a somewhat “boring” math lesson, you or a peer could say, “I see that you are getting bored and need something productive to do with your hands.  Let’s all use manipulatives to demonstrate this math problem.”  In this way, the student is made aware of what she is doing (be sure to first determine that being singled out at times will not embarrass her, even though you have noted that she is open with her classmates about her problem) and the entire class can take part in the alternative of keeping their hands busy with manipulatives such as stringing beads, pattern blocks and base-ten blocks, which are available in most teacher-centered school supply stores.  And even if the “busy-hands” activity doesn’t relate to your lesson and cannot be used as a group-learning activity, your student with T.M. can still be listening and learning while she is kicking her habit—the Web site www.angelfire.com suggests many activities which can be done at any time and are not very distracting to other students.  Some of these activities include friendship bracelet making, playing with Koosh balls, worry beads or pipe cleaners, and coloring, doodling, or taking notes.

Many T.M. sufferers also keep diaries of when they pull the most and of any alternative behaviors that are most successful and when.  In addition to increasing this girl’s awareness of when she is pulling and giving her some alternatives so she can attempt to self-manage her disease, you as her teacher can establish a system like B.F. Skinner’s behavior modification, in which the girl’s desired behavior of not pulling is reinforced by social reinforcers (You say, “Great job!  You haven’t pulled during this entire lesson” or wink or high-five her when she is working diligently without pulling), graphic reinforcers (keep a tally of how many periods she can get through without pulling, or let her mark a chart herself with stickers or stamps when she doesn’t pull for a given amount of time), activity reinforcers (let her take part in some activity she enjoys when she doesn’t pull, like handing out papers or snacks to her classmates), or tangible reinforcers (food, certificates of achievement, letters home, etc.).

If you do decide to establish a behavior modification system in the classroom, I suggest that all students be able to benefit from it and not just the girl with T.M.  In other words, each child may have some individual desired behaviors that are reinforced and the class as a whole may have some group desired behaviors.  You can explain to the class that each student has a unique situation and that everyone can help each other reach personal goals as well as the common group goals (such as maintaining a quiet and clean classroom, etc.).  Some additional Web sites that may be helpful in your efforts are:  www.trich.org and www.trichotillomania.net.

I applaud your dedication to this student’s well being and wish you success in your endeavors!

Thanks Danielle!

Trish,

I can understand your concern about stepping on the teacher's toes, but there are approaches that can benefit both of you.  You might try addressing the issue by telling him that you are learning different behavior management strategies and your professor recommends that you use them during your field placement.  Then ask the teacher if he thinks a specific behavior management program would be suitable for the class.  Discuss the possibility together and how it might be implemented.

I would recommend Lee Canter's list of behaviors that are expected in the classroom, and the hierarchical penalties if they are not followed.  Basically, on a large piece of paper on the bulletin board, write about five appropriate rules for the classroom (e.g., Raise your hand if you want to speak; Use polite language; Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself; Respect yourself and others, etc.)  The list of consequences should always begin with a verbal warning, with each of the following consequences becoming more punitive (e.g., verbal warning, five minute time-out, 10 minute time-out, note sent to parent, sent down to the principal's office).

When using Canter's methods, you must be consistent so that the youngsters learn the predictable routines.  You must talk with your teacher and go over what method you would like to use, and should agree on all aspects.  Whatever you decide to implement will not work well if it is implemented only the two days that you are present in the classroom.  Once you talk with the teacher, explain your ideas and get his input.  I am sure that he will see that you are just trying to help, and more importantly, learn.  Make sure that when you are explaining the techniques that you would like to try in his classroom that you do not comment on the lack of any techniques being used at present.  Make the teacher understand that you want to see if these new techniques will actually help, and to what extent they are useful in the classroom.  There are many more techniques listed on the home page of this web site which I recommend you browse though in order to get other ideas for what you think will work best.

Good luck,