There are only three more days left in the class I am currently taking. Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, pairs of students will present a demonstration of decreasing/increasing a student behavior. The presentation is based on a functional behavior assessment of a student (fictional or real) which was an earlier assignment. The presentation must include a summary of the FBA, an "acted out" planning meeting with parents, teachers, etc. for the purpose of developing a behavior intervention plan, the BIP itself, and a demonstration of how it will be implemented. Normally we would have been given the assignment and had three weeks to work on it. instead, we have three days! Aaarrrgh! We also have the final project, a behavioral intervention plan based upon the FBA we did, due on Friday, as well as the final exam. The instructor did not adjust the curriculum at all to take in consideration that the course would be completed in 15 days instead of 15 weeks, which has made it a challenge. Still, it is summertime, when most teachers are not working, and should have the time available to devote to the coursework. The problem is that with a major collaborative project like this one, it is almost impossible to squeeze in enough meetings in three days to draft, research, and revise. Oh, well.
My next class starts on Monday of next week. Same instructor, but longer day (9:30-3:30) and only two weeks long. If he does the same thing he did for this class, I am in for a wild ride.
This course has been very good. It focused on analyzing student behaviors, methods for increasing/decreasing behaviors, and developing behavior intervention plans. It all makes sense and could be useful. It's just that in the context of a classroom, with a thousand things going on at once, it is questionable how much of it will translate into use in the classroom.
One thing that was brought to my attention through a school critique paper, was that our school has no "schoolwide positive behavioral intervention and support program" (SWPBIS). Basically, we have no schoolwide program to encourage positive behavior and identify and decrease undesirable behaviors, other than a system of detentions and suspensions. We have never had any schoolwide professional development devoted to addressing behavioral issues, or creating a working, schoolwide plan for changing student behaviors. Our focus is strictly on punishment. Our schoolwide professional development has been total shit, (what color is your personality?) and writing the critique made me aware of the need for schoolwide training and some sort of across-the-grades continuity with respect to behavior expections and intervention plans.