Behavior Modification

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Behavior Modification

• Shasta Cole
• AmeriCorps Member Sept 08-09

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Observations

• The kids were very unkind to each other.
• They teased and made
• fun of each other
• constantly
• They also could be
• very disrespectful to
• their peers as well
• as adults.

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Observations cont

• Found that for many children, social and
  emotional instruction was not being taught at
  home and/or school
• Therefore, many of our students had very low
  emotional intelligence which led to them not
  being able to properly respond in difficult
  situations

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Emotional Intelligence

• What is emotional intelligence?
• a term that describes the ability, capacity,
  skill or a self-perceived ability, to identify,
  assess, and manage the emotions of one's self.

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It doesnt add up!

• Breakthrough Urban Ministries wants to create a
  safe (physically and emotionally) and supportive
  learning environment.
• Helping improve emotional intelligence is
  proven to reduce violence and aggression as well
  as improve academic achievement and ability to
  function in different environments

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Keys to Behavior Modification working

• Structure
• Starting hard and easing up
• Reviewing often
• Modeling good behavior
• Teaching different techniques/strategies/words to
  use in situations
• Building relationships outside the
• classroom
• My own professional and personal
• development!

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Focus

• 3 Key Focus Areas
• Cooperative learning
• Social development
• Emotional development

• Mainly used
• Im Committed To statements

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Technique

• Every T,W,TH my students have homework time
• In the beginning, I took 5-10 minutes to talk
  about the idea, commitment, or quote of the day
  with them
• Reinforced it, plus our rules throughout the
  allotted homework time and throughout the day.

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Example Lesson Plan

• This Week
• Im Committed to
• CHARACTER

• Wednesday
• Frank Outlaw Quote (Discuss)
• Whats more important, your reputation or your
  character?

• Tuesday
• What is character?
• Diff between character and reputation? (moment
  vs. lifetime)

• Thursday
• How can I live a life of Character?
• What behaviors do I have that arent reflecting
  whom I want to be?

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At first

• The students were very resistant
• They had to move to different zones a lot
• Said they could NEVER stop saying certain words

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Results

• Although it wasnt easy, students began to learn
  how to respect each other and use other more
  positive words when speaking to each other.

• Over the course of the year, I learned the two
  most important things that helped CHANGE the kids
  was
• 1. CONSISTENCY
• 2. RELATIONSHIPS

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The end