Blog Response 2

What are some things that you will implement (or have already implemented) and/or do differently regarding your interactions with children and/or adults resulting from your understandings of Payne's framework?

            One of the main things that I will be doing differently in my classroom as a result of my understandings of Payne’s work is I will work on being more aware. One of the understandings gained from Payne’s book is the use of different registers among different groups of people. This knowledge of different registers goes hand in hand with the knowledge of hidden rules. Many students come to school without the knowledge that we as educators and administrators sometimes assume that everyone possesses. While we can not change what the student has learned at home, we can teach the student the language and hidden rules that are appropriate for school or the workplace. I plan to be more aware of those students who may need to be directly taught some of these assumed skills.

            I currently have a very small class of students with emotional disabilities in a separate facility. I have most of my students for two to three years. All of the students in my class lack at least one of the resources mentioned in Payne’s book. The staff at our school understands that we are often the only stable and “safe” place for many of the students. I feel that as a whole we do a good job of being positive role models for the students and giving them the emotional support and structure that they need. Part of my new awareness will be to constantly reevaluate the needs of the students. At times, I can get complacent and assume that the student has the same needs they have always had. In reality, things at home are often changing daily and in order to be fully supportive of my students I may need to change daily as well.

            Daily goal setting is another thing I would like to implement in my classroom. In our school setting, goals are set with the teacher and the therapist for the entire year. By setting daily goals, everyone can stay on track with what they need to be doing. Students can see immediate results and know if they are on the right track or if they need to be making improvements. As a teacher, I can assess daily where the students are and who may need additional support.

            There are several of the instructional interventions that I would like to implement that help to build cognitive strategies. One of the instructional interventions I would like to implement is using a kinesthetic approach. Many students have difficulty focusing on lessons that are always lecture type of lessons. Hands on lessons are much more appropriate and enhance learning. Teaching the structure of language is another intervention that is important for me to use in my classroom. Students need to be able to effectively communicate with those outside of their homes or neighborhoods. Teaching students to make questions is an intervention that I recently implemented. By looking at the questions the students have composed, I can quickly assess whether they comprehended the material. It also gives them another way to think about the text. These are three interventions that I believe would be very beneficial to the students in my classroom.