Dor L’Dor	r«us‰k r«us
Temple Beth-El Religious School October 09, 2002          Number 6		5763 iuaj 3

The contact phone # during Religious School and Hebrew School hours is 382-4286.

Classroom Management Tips for Teachers
by Pete Molino, L.S.W., and teachersplanet.com co-founder

When the school year began and the tardy bell signaled the beginning of class, you set rules and boundaries for your students.   Amazingly, 97% of students figure out the dos and don'ts within the first three days.   But what about the other 3%?   For a variety of reasons, every teacher will face children who have advanced degrees in creating disruption, disorganization and chaos in their classes.   And no matter how creative you are at rearranging the seating chart, everyone eventually realizes (sometimes later than sooner) these "unique" children have a connection to each other that spans the classroom. Now what?   First, make a distinction between attention-seeking behavior and task-avoidant behavior.   Sometimes children discover they can engage in certain behaviors that elicit attention from their peers.   For example, Student A burps loudly in the middle of a lesson.   This behavior normally elicits a response (laughter, in this case) from Student A’s peers. Student A has been successful in eliciting laughter or attention from his peers and because he received this reinforcement, he is likely to engage in the behavior again.   This is an example of attention-seeking behavior.   Likewise, task-avoidant behavior is something every teacher encounters on a regular basis.   For example, at the same time every day, students are expected to begin silent reading.    The task-avoiding student, Student B, grabs a pencil and makes her way to the pencil sharpener."   This is silent reading, not silent writing.   Please return to your seat and begin reading," the teacher says to the student.   As the student contemplates the implications of this statement, she redirects her movements toward the teacher and asks to go to the bathroom.

When our teacher declines the student’s request and redirects her to sit down, the student begins a sophisticated debate regarding her ability to wait to go to the bathroom.   Eventually, the student slowly walks back to her chair, sits down and pulls out her reading book.   The teacher realizes the 10-minute silent reading period is now over and moves on to the next lesson.   The student's behaviors are task-avoidant behaviors and are effective in getting her out of the task.   Because the student was successful in avoiding silent reading by engaging in these behaviors, she is likely to try it again.   The behaviors described in examples A and B were preceded by other, avoidable behaviors—so be observant.   In the attention-seeking behavior example, Student A burps and gets his peers to laugh after he brought a soda from his recess and put it in his desk.    Then he demonstrated his guzzling skills right before the bell rang to come into class.   These are possible antecedents, things that happen before a behavior.   The reinforcer came after Student A's behavior, and the rest of the class howled with laughter.   What happens after the behavior is a consequence.   This term can be easily confused.   When most people hear the word "consequence," they can have a negative connotation about its meaning.   For our purpose, however, consequence means an event delivered after a behavior.   It can be reinforcing or punishing. In this example, the consequence delivered was laughter and it served as a very strong reinforcer for Student A's behavior.   Use the ABC Formula—Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence—to observe behavior.   It is an authentic method to evaluate and eliminate problem behaviors.   Teachers have the option of manipulating the antecedent by changing the stimulus before the behavior occurs.   For example, Student A can no longer have soda at recess.   The teacher can also manipulate the consequence by changing the event delivered after the behavior occurs.   In this situation, the teacher can use a typical punishment such as lost recess, detention, or being sent from the room.   The ABC Formula can be used effectively to identify task-avoidant behavior, too.   By observing problem behaviors in the classroom and trying to determine the Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence, implementing an intervention plan can be done effectively and objectively.

Family Education

This Sunday Kibbutz, our 4^th grade class will be having a Family Education Program.  Therefore, from 9:00am to 11:00am, parents and students will be in the Fiesta room with their teachers and ma’aseh from Kibbutz.  Rose Coste will be taking Jennifer Baker’s Alef level Hebrew and Brian Neuman will be working with Mitch for the Only Sunday Hebrew class.  Students in grades 5 that happen to be in Bet level Hebrew will go with Rose to the OSH class.  The 4^th graders will return to class with Jennifer and Kellie for the rest of the day.  This is our first family education program of the year, lets make it a great one.

Pinat Amy

Our Religious School is always adding exciting things; this year we have added two.  One is the Social Committee.  This was talked about briefly at our orientation in August.  A small committee was formed.  The members are Brian Neuman, Rose Coste, Natalie Joss, Sylvia Milette, and myself.  We have met and brainstormed some ideas for gatherings and get togethers.  Our first get together will be an Israel Party on, Sunday, October 20.  Rose has set up a great web site telling all about it.  Please go to it and look it over.  The web site is:  http://home.swbell.net/erhome/party.  Please talk to any of the committee members with ideas, questions, or comments about the social committee.  Hope to see everyone at Roses for fun, fellowship, and a great get together.

The other addition to this year at Religious School is the Va’ad Beyt Sefer, student government.  We had our first meeting and the students are ready to get started and add some new excitement to our already exciting Religious School.  Our next meeting will be on Sunday, October 13^th.  If you have not already selected an alternate, in the event your representative is out on meeting day, please do so.  You do not need to share the name with me.  Stay tuned for good things to come from the Va’ad Beyt Sefers.

Have your students clean up after hafsaka every Sunday.  The past couple of weeks I have walked out and can tell you what almost everyone had for snack as the wrappers were everywhere except the trash cans.  Extra trash bags have been placed outside along with the trashcans already there.  Thank you for your help in this matter.

Ma’aseh Quote of the Week

"growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional."

- Chicken Soup for the Teenager's Soul I

Other Notes

Please notice some of the changes in the schedule including room numbers for Tefillot, and times for Hafsaka.  There will be a Va’ad Beyt Sefer meeting this Sunday from 11:00 AM-11:30AM  in room 203.