Module 4 (Weeks 5 and 6): Increasing Desired Behaviors
Think about what motivates you to work or to learn something new. Is it the students with whom you work? Financial incentive? Perhaps a personal experience? Now, think about when you have attended a professional development session or a staff meeting. What keeps you engaged? What strategies does the speaker integrate that keep your attention focused on the topic? As adults, we can select jobs or activities that keep us motivated. We can identify characteristics that keep us engaged as we are learning. As a special educator, you also need to reflect frequently about what keeps your students with exceptionalities motivated and engaged and how each student may need different strategies to maintain interest.
When educators take the time to purposefully plan strategies to increase motivation and engagement, they will see undesired behaviors lessen in their classrooms and other school environments. Collecting student data helps professionals identify the strategies or interventions to put into place for students who need them.
In this module, you will analyze how technology is used to assist with the collection of behavior data and examine motivation and engagement strategies. For your Assignment, you will implement the interventions you identified in Module 3 and collect data to determine the efficacy of the identified interventions. Finally, you will create a professional development presentation on how to decrease minor behaviors in the classroom.
Note: This is a 2-week module (Weeks 5 & 6 of this course). Be sure to review all deadlines and submission dates for your Discussions and Assignments prior to beginning work on this module.
Learning Objectives
Learners will:
- Evaluate technology-based strategies for monitoring behavior and supporting interventions
- Analyze research on student motivation and engagement
- Evaluate practices to increase student motivation and engagement
- Analyze steps and practices for teacher collaboration on interventions
- Create professional development presentations on intervention strategies for mild disruptive behaviors
- Synthesize information on decreasing minor disruptive behaviors in the classroom
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Barrett, C. A., & Gilbertson, D. M. (2015). Functional behavioral assessment for academic concerns. In D. A. Crone, L. S., Hawken, & R. H. Horner (Eds.), Building positive behavior support systems in schools: Functional behavioral assessment (2nd ed., pp. 153–181). New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Jameson, J. M., Bruhn, A. L., & Hawken, L. S. (2015). Technology trends in functional behavioral assessment and intervention. In D. A. Crone, L. S., Hawken, & R. H. Horner (Eds.), Building positive behavior support systems in schools: Functional behavioral assessment (2nd ed., pp. 214–242). New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Kincaid, D., Fox, L., Dunlap, G., Kern, L. Bambara, L. M., Lane, K. L., . . . Knoster, T. P. (2016). Positive behavior support: A proposal for updating and refining the definition. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 18(2), 69–73.
MSED Documents
Review the following document located in the MSED Documents area under Course Home:
· RWRCOEL Technology Proficiencies
Optional Resources
Borgmeier, C., Loman, S. L., Hara, M., & Rodriguez, B. J. (2015). Training school personnel to identify interventions based on functional behavioral assessment. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 23(2), 78–89.
Courduff, J., Szapkiw, A., & Wendt, J. L. (2016). Grounded in what works: Exemplary practice in special education teachers’ technology integration. Journal of Special Education Technology, 31(3), 26–38.
Discussion 1: Technology Trends (Week 5)
There are a vast amount of software programs and technology-based tools designed for special education professionals to track and analyze student behavior. While technology can be helpful in allowing educators to record data that can easily be graphed or charted for analysis, special educators must realize that there are multiple, effective methods in use for the collection of behavior data. Not relying on one method, but using a balanced approach to technology and other types of data collection (e.g., observations, team approaches, paper-based approaches) is often the best strategy.
For this Discussion, you will weigh the pros and cons of using technology to record behavior data as well as how it can be used to share information with families. You also will review the RWRCOEL Technology Proficiencies and align those proficiencies with a technology tool you would like to implement in your professional practice.
To prepare
- Read Chapter 11 in the course text and reflect on the technology trends and technology-based strategies listed as well as how you integrate technology into your current professional practice. Where are some areas for growth with regard to your practices related to monitoring and supporting behavior?
- Review the RWRCOEL Technology Proficiencies and consider how these apply to your educational and professional practices.
- Research additional technologies that can be used to monitor behavior and help support interventions. What technologies have you tried in the past and what technologies are available now that you believe would best support your students?
- Reflect on how you collaborate with families regarding student behavior and interventions. Think about ways technology can support those collaborative practices.
Post a response to the following questions:
- Which technologies and technology-based strategies have you used before that worked well, and which did not work so well?
- What is at least one new strategy you found that you feel you could implement and that would best support your students with exceptionalities?
- What is at least one additional technology tool you found in your research that you would like to implement in your professional practice? How would this tool help support your students’ diverse needs and your professional practice? How does this tool align with the Walden Technology Proficiencies?
- How might you use technology to better inform families and to collaborate more successfully with colleagues about behaviors and interventions?
Support your responses with specific reference to the Learning Resources and outside resources as well as personal experiences.