Oregon Technology in Education Network
Candace Hazlewood
The University of Portland
The Use of Gentle Teaching on Inappropriate Classroom and Playscape Behavior
I am a first year kindergarten teacher focusing on behavior
Instructional Design: My Project
In my project I drew many, many cartoons to help children understand their inappropriate behavior. This was done so they could see themselves in a picture and better understand what they were doing was inappropriate. I also drew many cartoons to show children what they should be doing instead so they could understand appropriate behavior. When I completed drawing the cartoons I needed to make a copy of the cartoon for the children so they could see it, have it and use it to help them remember what appropriate behavior they should be doing. If I did not have a copier the children will not be able to keep a copy of the cartoon and will likely forget how to handle other inappropriate behavior issues.
Learning Goals: What Worked
(1) The learning goals: Social Science Analysis: Design and implement strategies to analyze issues, explain perspectives, and resolve issues.
Common Curriculum Goal: Define and clarify an issue so that its dimensions are well understood.
By cartooning the children and I were defining an issue and implementing strategies to analyze the issue, explain perspectives, and thus develop a resolution to the issue.
(2) Specific Oregon Benchmarks: Benchmark 1: Identify an issue or problem that can be studied. As stated above by cartooning the children and I were defining an issue and implementing strategies to analyze the issue, explain perspectives, and thus resolve the issue.
So as you can see it was important for the children to have a copy of the cartoon so they could refer to it when issues arose. The use of a copy of the cartoon helped visual learners because they could see themselves in the picture portraying the inappropriate behavior. Non-visual learners also benefited from the use of a copy of the cartoons because there was lots of writing and talking that went along with the cartoon and they could read it to themselves (like a story) to help remember what to do and how to act when certain issues arose next time.
Assessment and Evaluation: What Was Accomplished
In terms of assessment I collected my data through direct classroom observation throughout the day during teaching and using triangulation with the use of field notes, a journal, and a tally notebook. While I was teaching I also observed their behaviors from the time students arrive at school until the end of the day. These observations were written in my field notes and I reflected on them in my journal. When the children displayed inappropriate behaviors I used heavy verbal language and cartooning to show them their inappropriate behaviors and the appropriate behaviors they should be doing. I also kept a tally notebook of all times I had to get involved in their inappropriate behavior(s). I compared the number of times I had to get involved in inappropriate behavior issues in the first few weeks of September and compare them to the number of times I had to get involved in inappropriate behavior issues in December. Since I cartooned for the children the whole semester, and since the children got to keep a copy of the cartoon for their personal reference, by December their inappropriate behaviors had dropped substantially.
The use of a copier was detrimental because the children needed a copy of the cartoons I drew for them so they could refer to them when other issues arose. Thru direct observation I was able to see if children were using their copies of the cartoons when issues arose. If I did not have a copier the children would not have been able to keep a copy of the cartoon to refer to and will have likely forgotten how to handle other inappropriate behavior issues. The children loved that they got to keep a copy of their cartoon. I saw them keep their copies at their tables or in their cubbies and they actually would refer back to them. I only had positive consequences with the infusion of technology thanks to the OTEN Grant.