Course Description
Reaching
Today's Students: Building the Community Circle of Caring is
an exciting synthesis of the most current theories, strategies,
and practices to comprehensively address the needs of children
and youth at risk within educational settings. Building upon
traditional philosophy and educational commitment with current
research and proven strategies, Reaching Today's Students strives
to fulfill the promise that all children and teachers can succeed.
Reaching Today's Students, teachers begin by exploring the motives
and dynamics surrounding misbehavior and the desire to learn.
They learn how prevailing assumptions and practices within the
four worlds of socialization - school, family, work, and friends
- actually reinforce misbehavior while interfering with learning.
Before launching into strategies and techniques for dealing
with conflict, teachers first learn how to create a Community
Circle of Caring - a healthy and positive environment that meets
children's four basic needs: connection, competence, self-control,
and contribution. By building this foundation, teachers can
reclaim youth and prevent conflict before it occurs. For example,
teachers learn how to:
• Build relationships with resistant
students (connection)
• Use instructional strategies
that produce positive student behavior (competence and contribution)
• Instill a sense of responsibility
in children (self-control)
Meanwhile, teachers and administrators briefly examine their
beliefs, attitudes, and skills about instruction and behavior
management, considering their traditional responses to discover
various new alternatives to conflict situations. They also learn
how to decode student behavior in light of the four basic needs
model.
The course then describes specific interventions, strategies,
and techniques to avoid and to defuse potential conflict situations.
The course presents these strategies along a continuum of intensity.
For example: "low-key" responses can prevent power struggles
from escalating; "unconventional" interventions can be effective
when "low-key" responses do not work; and "interventions of
last resort" help to bring a situation under control safely.
This part of the course concludes with promising strategies
for resolving conflict and for drawing troubled students back
into the Community Circle of Caring.
In the final part of the course, the circle is intact. Using
a state-of-the art change process and several hands-on activities,
teachers look at ways to expand the circle and thereby strengthen
the opportunities for all children to succeed. First, teachers
develop a shared vision of their ideal school. They measure
this vision against the current structure and culture of their
schools. Then they learn how to realize this vision by building
consensus, by documenting the need for change, and by initiating
the change.
Course Outcome
Participants will increase their knowledge of techniques and
strategies proven effective for classroom instruction and individual
student behavior management. Specifically, participants in this
class will enhance their current knowledge of instructional
and behavioral approaches to use every day within their classrooms
and schools to productively create a more supportive, accepting
instructional environment. In addition, this course will describe
and present researched techniques and strategies to use within
a problem-solving format to address the needs of all students.
Objectives
Competencies to be mastered by participants in this class include:
• Identify, discuss, and enhance current beliefs and strategies
implemented to build a community circle of caring within individual
classrooms and schools
• Demonstrate enhanced professional knowledge of methodologies,
materials, and theories to be used with students with academic
and behavioral needs within the area of classroom and behavioral
management
• Demonstrate knowledge of classroom organizational and
management skills through various planning, self-reporting,
and observational procedures
• Demonstrate applied knowledge of planning of classroom
and behavioral prevention and intervention techniques for classroom
and individual students through use of planning and implementation
guide
• Demonstrate knowledge of and interventions for student
behaviors along the continuum of intensity, from low-key to
crisis management responses
• Demonstrate the knowledge of various techniques and methods
of problem solving approaches within a team setting given an
individual student academic and/or behavioral concern
• Demonstrate applied knowledge of problem solving approaches
within a team setting given an individual student academic and/or
behavior concern through actual implementation of procedures
• Demonstrate the continuation of the community circle
of caring on a school-wide basis through the development of
an individual implementation plan
• Demonstrate professional communication and collaboration
through participation in the class Forum, e-mail, and journal
writing
Time Requirements
Reaching Today's Students is a 13 week 3 credit graduate level
or sixty hour professional development course taught online. Modules
1 through 8 will be completed one per week. Modules 9 and 10
will be completed over a five-week period so students will have
time to revise and complete the final integration project.
Hardware & Computer
Skills Requirements
Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows
95 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing
skills and have internet access with an active e-mail account.
Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how
to use a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator, Microsoft
Internet Explorer or America Online's (AOL) browser. To download
a browser at no cost, visit one of the following Web sites –
Netscape.com;
Microsoft.com
and AOL.com.
Course Materials
The textbook for this course is Reclaiming Youth at Risk,
Larry K. Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg, & Steven VanBockern, National
Education Service, 1998, and the Reaching Today's Students:
Building the Community Circle of Caring Participant Workbook.
Session Outline
Module 1: Building Community Circle
of Caring
Objective: Identify and
enhance current beliefs and strategies implemented to build
a community circle of caring within individual classrooms and
schools.
Contents:
1. Awareness Activities
2. Norm setting for class
3. The community circle of caring: rationale
4. The community circle of caring: characteristics
Module 2: Caring Classroom Management
Objective: Demonstrate enhanced
professional knowledge of methodologies, materials, and theories
to be used with students with academic and behavior needs within
the area of classroom and behavioral management.
Contents:
1. Vision statements
2. Why do kids misbehave?
3. Four major theories for behavior management
Module 3: Outstanding Instruction
Objective: Demonstrate knowledge
of classroom organizational and management skills through various
planning, self-reporting, and observational procedures.
Contents:
1. Creating caring classrooms
2. Effective/ineffective teaching procedures
Module 4: Caring Environments
Objective: Review effective
strategies and techniques to develop an effective, caring classroom
environment for all students.
Contents:
1. Prevent, intervene, communicate, and motivate
students within the classroom
2. The principles of effective discipline
3. The strategies of effective discipline
4. Proactive action planning
Module 5: Planning for Prevention
Objective: Demonstrate applied
knowledge of planning of classroom and behavioral prevention
and intervention techniques for classroom and individual students
through use of planning and implementation guides.
Contents:
1. Decision-making context within classrooms
2. Classroom prevention/intervention planning
Module 6: Interventions
Objective: Demonstrate knowledge
of and interventions for student behaviors along the continuum
of intensity, from low-key to crisis management responses.
Contents:
1. Review classroom prevention/intervention plans
2. Anecdotal records/case studies
3. "Power"
4. Intensive interventions
5. Resolving conflicts to draw students back into
the community circle
Module 7: Crisis Management
Objective: Review strategies
of crisis management and diffusing power situations.
Contents:
1. Teacher strategies
2. Student strategies
3. Maintaining classroom integrity
Module 8: Team Problem-Solving
Objective: Demonstrate the
knowledge of various techniques and methods of problem solving
within a team setting given an individual student academic and/or
behavioral concern.
Contents:
1. Collecting observational data
2. Decision-making matrix
3. Problem-solving process
3. Brainstorming for positive environments
Module 9: Applying Team Problem-Solving
Objective: Demonstrate applied
knowledge of problem solving approaches within a team setting
given an individual student academic and/or behavioral concern
through actual implementation of procedures.
Contents:
1. Individual child change projects
2. Case studies
Module 10: Expanding the Circle
Objective: Demonstrate the
continuation of the community circle of caring on a school-wide
basis through the development of an individual, school-wide
discipline plan.
Contents:
1. School-wide vision
2. Building consensus, communicating the vision
3. Documenting the need for change
4. Assessing school organizational structure and
culture
5. Planning for school-wide change
Grading
| |
|
Assignment |
Points |
|
|
Grading
Scale |
|
|
| |
|
Forum
and E-mail Participation |
20
|
|
|
100
– 93 |
A
|
|
| |
|
Classroom
Self-Evaluation Checklists |
15
|
|
|
92
– 85 |
B
|
|
| |
|
Implementation
Log/Journal writing |
15
|
|
|
84
– 77 |
C
|
|
| |
|
Two
Action Plans (8 Points each) |
16
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Two
Child Change Problem-Solving Projects (8 Points each) |
16
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Final
Exam |
18
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Total
Points |
100
|
|
|
|
|
|
Student
Requirements
| |
18
points |
Formal
Assessment of Knowledge |
| |
|
|
| |
32
points |
Application
of Knowledge |
| |
|
| |
16
points |
Two Action Plans (8 points each) (Classroom/Schoolwide) |
| |
16
points |
Two Child Change Problem-Solving Projects (8 points each) |
|
| |
50
points |
Reflection
Activities. |
| |
|
| |
15
points |
Classroom
Self-Evaluation Checklists (Organization/Teaching/Schoolwide) |
| |
15
points |
Implementation
Log/Journal writing (Including Vision Statement) |
| |
20
points |
Forum
and E-mail Participation |
|
Participants
are expected to complete all Forum assignments and dialogue
with their colleagues. Therefore, assignments are due as per
the syllabus to receive full credit for participation. If
accommodations, modifications, and/or other arrangements are
necessary, all prior arrangements must be made with instructor
on an individual basis, as needed.
Final Grading
The quality of the participants' products (both tests and
projects), as well as Forum participation, will be evaluated
by the instructor as described above in determining the final
grade. In addition to the above, course instructors have the
discretion to either add or substitute course requirements
to address specific requests of course participants. They
may opt for a final examination or paper that test both conceptual
understanding and application skills.
Student Academic Integrity
Participants
guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic
dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from
another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student
academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering
colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary
action.
Register
To register to take TEI's Reaching Today's Students online
graduate course, go to the Course
Registration page.
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