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In my previous discussion post the student I was referring to had three targeted behaviors after a full Functional Behavior Assessment was conducted: physical aggression, verbal aggression, and vacating. It is difficult to encapsulate what was causing the behavior as it relates to the brain in a post of this nature. However, I believe the distrust and apprehension towards male figures and his learned views on female figures in addition to his three targeted behaviors upon completion of the FBA stem to many causes. One I want to highlight is his association and understanding of emotions. Put a different way, his association growing up and making sense of relationships and actions by others, or, a response he receives for his contributions, was skewed to leave him feeling unwanted, unloved and “not good enough.” And I would argue also “not good enough for love.” Throughout his young life and as he went through school, his confusion anger and defiance resulting from his brains interpretation of his trauma on a physiological level, often and only led to more exclusion, time out of the classroom, and many non-trauma based responses from those around him to include his instructors. Thereby perpetuating the cycle and furthering his distrust of men, distrust in his abilities, and his aggressive/vacating behavior. Anger is rooted in fear. He refused and was genuinely scared to be in a loaded classroom with enormous stimuli and a teacher who sent him out only a couple periods before…Anger is rooted in fear.

I must re share a quote that another student cited from chapter 3, because it stood out to me when I read it in this modules reading as well. It is, “Optimism comes from mastering conflict resolution and experiencing a sense of belonging and acceptance.”

The formal behavior reset implemented was what I conducted and implemented. It was a tiered, level system whereby he “graduated” onto the next level after successful completion of predetermined expectations. Upon “graduating” he then had more privileges and more choices etc.

In reflection and hindsight, I have not until I read those chapters realized that actual general education teachers of his should have been physically involved in the environment and instruction both behaviorally and otherwise. There was, of course, tremendous collaboration with all those involved (including the student as with me they are always involved in their own education plans), but what I mean is his general education teachers having a predetermined segment of time with a predetermined consistency to allow for the student to gain trust and acceptance in an environment that he felt safe emotionally.

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In my previous discussion post the student I was referring to had three targeted behaviors after a full Functional Behavior Assessment was conducted: physical aggression, verbal aggression, and vacating. It is difficult to encapsulate what was causing the behavior as it relates to the brain in a post of this nature. However, I believe the distrust and apprehension towards male figures and his learned views on female figures in addition to his three targeted behaviors upon completion of the FBA stem to many causes. One I want to highlight is his association and understanding of emotions. Put a different way, his association growing up and making sense of relationships and actions by others, or, a response he receives for his contributions, was skewed to leave him feeling unwanted, unloved and “not good enough.” And I would argue also “not good enough for love.” Throughout his young life and as he went through school, his confusion anger and defiance resulting from his brains interpretation of his trauma on a physiological level, often and only led to more exclusion, time out of the classroom, and many non-trauma based responses from those around him to include his instructors. Thereby perpetuating the cycle and furthering his distrust of men, distrust in his abilities, and his aggressive/vacating behavior. Anger is rooted in fear. He refused and was genuinely scared to be in a loaded classroom with enormous stimuli and a teacher who sent him out only a couple periods before…Anger is rooted in fear. 

I must re share a quote that another student cited from chapter 3, because it stood out to me when I read it in this modules reading as well. It is, “Optimism comes from mastering conflict resolution and experiencing a sense of belonging and acceptance.”

The formal behavior reset implemented was what I conducted and implemented. It was a tiered, level system whereby he “graduated” onto the next level after successful completion of predetermined expectations. Upon “graduating” he then had more privileges and more choices etc.

In reflection and hindsight, I have not until I read those chapters realized that actual general education teachers of his should have been physically involved in the environment and instruction both behaviorally and otherwise. There was, of course, tremendous collaboration with all those involved (including the student as with me they are always involved in their own education plans), but what I mean is his general education teachers having a predetermined segment of time with a predetermined consistency to allow for the student to gain trust and acceptance in an environment that he felt safe emotionally. 

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My student was dealing with high anxiety, PTSD and exhibited Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)-like behaviors, especially when forced to go to the regular education classroom.  A wrap-around student support team consisting of a county social worker, a therapist, a school social worker, the mom and staff from school, including the IEP case manager, teachers and administrators met monthly to review progress and challenges at home and in school.  According to Danielson in Chapter 3 - the classroom environment sets the stage for learning - I feel we were unable to get to appropriately set the stage for numerous reasons.  In Chapter 1, Jensen states, “the brain is designed for survival not typical formal instruction” - this student was definitely just trying to survive and would regularly exhibit “fight or flight” behaviors.  In order to be able to approach and embrace the main tenets of brain-based learning including E - active engagement, S - purposeful strategies, P - based on principles derived from neuroscience and how would this student’s brain learn best, we needed to back up and determine and fulfill more of the student’s basic needs.  This student was experiencing chaos on the home front - lack of sleep and personal space, changes to psychotropic medications, homelessness, no contact with or empty promises from father who was in prison.  At school, the student’s peer group included other struggling students - together they were pre-identified as trouble-makers and received ODR’s daily prior to arriving in the regular education classroom.  The student’s math and reading scores were low, indicating a need for academic intervention.  In chapter 3, Jensen states, “Optimism comes from mastering conflict resolution and experiencing a sense of belonging and acceptance.”  I observed this student experiencing very little acceptance throughout his day.  Behavior room staff worked with this student in the following ways:

Developed a strong and trusting rapport

Maintained communication with mom and wrap-around team and other school staff

Supported the student in participating in a mentoring program where the student left school three times a week for 1-2 hours to walk dogs (service learning) at the local shelter

Took student to gym to play basketball regularly and when experiencing escalation

Unfortunately, the IEP team was unable to restructure the school day to set up a more appropriate state for learning.  The general attitude of many of the regular education staff working with this student resembled the ideals described in the “Determined Behaviorist” section of Jensen’s chapter 1.  This student spent more time in the principal’s office or the Behavior Resource Room than in the regular education classroom due to misbehaviors, indicating that 80% or more within the regular education environment was probably not right.

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The student that I discussed in the previous post struggled to be engaged and being disruptive. After reading through information and watching the TED Talk, this student was not having her basic needs met. That particular day, she had to "take a break" outside of my classroom. This student is in 5th grade, so I have 3 more years to establish a relationship with her, I hope to continue having conversations with her, so she can trust me in order to be open about when she is feeling hungry or when she knows she is having a bad day. I plan to have quick snacks available for students that may need this and allow for the first 5 minutes of class (while they are doing their daily drawing warm-up) as a snack break, so students can bring in their own snacks. We have hour long class periods, so I feel like there is enough time to incorporate this into our routine, especially for 3rd hour, when it is right before lunch.

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The students I am reflecting on are a set of twin boys with SLD. I taught them in a small group reading intervention class. They were ALWAYS tired, in fact their general education teacher would complain of them sleeping during her classes. Their mother insisted they were going to bed at a decent time. Right after my class was recess. These boys would come in dripping with sweat from playing so hard. I don't think they were tired in a lack of sleep sense. I think they needed exercise to wake their brains up. I am happy that I will be teaching these boys next year, and will be able to try incorporating a movement break at the beginning of our small group class.

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I did not mention a specific student within my Ecology class discussed in my post, but I will now.  One of my students was a 9th grade boy with autism who was a horror movie fanatic and loved to participate in classroom discussions.  Sometimes on topic, sometimes not, but rarely before raising his hand.  I believe this was caused by this student's abilities to change stimuli. People with autism experience cognitive connections / stimuli that persist for extended periods of time. They sometimes struggle to quickly change their train of thought because it is much harder for them to switch processes within their brain.  When this student would interupt off topic, I used to handle this by just telling the student "Save that thought! I will come back to you at the end of class." And then I would save a couple minutes at the end of class for him to share his movie facts.  Now that I know why this is happening at the cognitive level, I might try a couple different strategies to try and keep the lessons easier to follow and stay on task. Maybe start the class with a time for students to share their thoughts and get it off of their chest before begining to dive into the material.  I hope to continue to expand my knowledge in handling all types of learners in this class.

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I mentioned two students in my original post. Both freshman boys, who qualified to receive services in the category of an emotional behavioral disability. The first student I mentioned would typically start his day on a positive note, but as the day went on, he progressively lost focus and became more irritable. I had this student in my 5th hour study hall, right after his lunch, right in the middle of our school day. He would show up late, get argumentative and often use expletives and offensive language toward teachers and peers. He also had difficulty starting and staying on task. The rest of his day was usually off the rails, getting into arguments, getting kicked out of classes, etc. Of course some days were better than others. I love this kid. He’s funny, very reflective and has this old soul. He’s a tough cookie. He is an only child. Dad was never in the picture. Mom works 3rd shift so time spent with her isn’t much. He’s with his grandparents a lot.  He is multiracial - African American and caucasion. There were days we butted heads. Days when I didn’t hide my frustration with him. I tried to give him opportunities to be a leader. There were days when I worked with him one-on-one. Days when I encouraged him to go down to the gym or weight room to get some exercise. I paired him with two older schoolmates to serve as role models. These things were producing some change, but every step forward was followed by two steps back. I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. I felt like a nag. I didn’t like how our relationship was going. It was time to start over. I started to have one-on-one conversations with him. I’d pull him out of one of his classes, or have someone cover my 5th hour study hall. I’d buy him a pop and a snack, and we’d just talk. Through our conversations, I discovered he didn’t think too highly of himself. He didn’t like how he looked, or how people made fun of him due to his race or weight. He ran with a tough crew to feel tough. He didn’t have anyone to really unload on, in the “it’s okay no one is watching” kind of way in which you don’t have to impress anyone. He once told me that’s why he loves video games so much, because he can be whoever he wants to be. And I was learning more about what his triggers were. I really felt like a tide was turning. And then the pandemic hit and schools closed down. He and his mom have been really hard to get a hold of. I was and still am going to encourage him to get back into football (if it’s allowed in the fall) so he’s involved and active. So he has a “thing.” Cause he doesn’t right now. He couldn’t remember the last time he was proud of himself. It all clicked when I read in Jensen’s book that students will do what they need to do to survive their “schoolyard jungle.” This totally describes my student and the reasoning behind the “negative” behaviors he demonstrated. Next year, I’m going to continue our talks, but I’m also going to be more mindful and flexible in my study hall. Students need different things. Some students need and use a study hall to get their work done. But others need a mental break from the formal instruction. So if there are days he needs the study hall to decompress, I’m going to talk and work with him to find something for him to do that gives him that break, but is also productive and proactive.

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The student in my discussion post was a student that displayed behavioral upset and unexpected behaviors at, almost, a constant rate. This student would be physically violent towards other students and staff members, use expletives, take his clothes off and rip them, pee on the floor, refuse to do tasks, etc. Additionally, this student was a child of trauma and had, at the young age of 5, already lived through some horrifying experiences. Thinking of his brain and, more specifically, his right brain- responsible for stress response/sensory support, and the amygdala- emotions regulation and the fight/flight/freeze reaction. Knowing that his brain was constantly firing and that he was in the "fight mode", I worked to modify his schedule, reduce external stimulation, model behaviors, overvoice swear words, work one-on-one in a quiet/alternative setting, and work with the family to receive outside therapeutic supports. Moving forward with what I know now, I would focus on the  "rhythm" and "pulse" of his brain/learning- using deep breathing, physical relaxation, and content breaks...working to regulate the child's brain and body so learning and processing can take place.

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The student I referred to was one that struggled constantly to remain focused and seated during instruction time. I even experimented with using a standing desk for the student, which almost seemed to encourage his/her movement around the classroom.
As this was early in my teaching career, I did not have the amount of resources or knowledge of strategies that I would have now. Especially from the information provided in the Ted Talk video, the student would have responded well to being allowed to move and be active in a more positive way. Giving the student a break from the classroom (to do a lap in the hallway, get a drink, etc.) would have allowed him/her the opportunity to be active and then being able to re-focus after a short break. I have used these "breaks" with students more recently, and it seems to be more effective than constant redirection.

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The student I wrote about in my post was constantly disrupting class, causing others to do the same. For me, it was a constant spiral of refocusing students. I struggled to get through the content. I learned a lot about this student and his home life. I know his behavior was attached to the way the connections were made in his brain from a young age, and continued home life after that. I handled it by having conversations with this student so that he understood I'm not the bad guy, that I'm here to help him succeed. I'm not sure that I would handle it differently after reading the chapters from Jensen. I might have tried to nudge him a little more to do his work, rather than being content with him not distracting others and being respectful to me.

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The student I referred to is a student who is listed as SLD.  She seems to be tired all the time.  But I know from her parent that she goes to bed at a decent time.    I believe the lack of activity causes her to be tired.  I also believe that her struggles with staying focused on the learning is because she is not actively engaged in the learning.  This year, I had her go and get a drink of water to help.  Now, I would have had her do specific exercises to help wake her mind and then I would also adjust the activities to help her to be more actively engaged in the learning so that her ability to focus is better.

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Stephanie Pasch.The student that I referred to in the first discussion forum is a 10th grader.  He does have an IEP with Other Health Impairment due to ADHD, ODD, and mood disorder which impacts his functional performance in all school environments. He refuses to take medication because it makes him tired. We have tried to add two phy-ed classes into his day, 

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Stephanie Pasch.The student that I referred to in the first discussion forum is a 10th grader.  He does have an IEP with Other Health Impairment due to ADHD, ODD, and mood disorder which impacts his functional performance in all school environments. He refuses to take medication because it makes him tired. We have tried to add two phy-ed classes into his day, 

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use of treadmill or running on the track to release some of his energy.  His behaviors were off and on all day, but I did pick up on if he issues at home, which was usually every night, he was not able to complete any work until he talked about what was going on at home. He had to have a manifest pretty early in the year and placement changed from all day to just the first 4 hours. This helped him because he was able to feel like he was protecting his mother more hours of the day but still be at school to attain core credit classes. Once his brain was focused on more important things, he became much more successful. Finding the right balance for students with disabilities is key!

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The student that I wrote my forum post about does have an IEP, with EBD listed as the diagnosis. In the case of his flat refusal to turn work in, may have something to do with his brain not getting enough exercise. I know his home life is mostly sitting at the computer or tv playing video games and he rarely gets physical exercise when not at school taking a required PE course. As I said in my post, he was very engaged in class during activities, but when asked to sit at a desk and work on an assignment, all bets were off. I believe his brain needs movement, perhaps more than the average person, and that is how to get him to engage. Perhaps instead of filling out a worksheet, he could have a walk and talk conversation with the teacher or film himself answering questions as if performing a scene from a play. I am unsure how this could be altered for other classes such as social studies or math, but in my theatre class, I could easily find ways to make the assignments more physical and less writing.

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I had a student who’s behaviors were off the wall after lunch, this last year we had a resource period for 33 minutes after lunch (it was the last hour of the day the year before). This was designated for homework help, grade checks, and interventions that needed to be done. I have my 14 student caseload at this time as my resource group and really pushed interventions and homework completion. I have a few students that were so unmotivated to do work that we were butting heads almost every day. After completing our assigned readings I feel that I will be able to better focus my attention on the students during this hour. During lunch, the students get to be social and use the gym as recess time, they also get to check their phones.

I think a lot of this had to do with Biocylces, my student’s brains are still too wired after this time period to sit down and focus on something that is a lot less fun than their phones, or shooting hoops or gossiping with peers. Before I had handled it by punishment and ignoring the behaviors and hoped that they would get some work done. After our readings, I think I can use the first 5-10 minutes to find a cool-down activity, that will ease them back into their school work. Instead of expecting them to pick up where they left off before their lunch.

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Jennifer Grant-Brain-Based Behavior (Week 2)

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Jennifer Grant-Brain-Based Behavior (Week 2)

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The student that I wrote about in the first discussion post is a current 11th grade boy who has Autism. His intellect is at grade level, but his behaviors hinder his ability to be successful in the general education classroom. He demonstrates behaviors of avoidance or even laziness when it comes to his written work. He is extremely distractible by things he finds more interesting (video games & comic books) than the content, and has trouble with being redirected. He will shout, pout, slam things around, and even cry. I have worked with this student for two years now, I am his case manager and have had him in a few classes. During his sophomore year and prior his behaviors were seen daily. As I worked with this student I started to make changes in his schedule with things that were mentioned in this module of learning. One of the major changes that was made was a modified day schedule. The student started leaving school early and going to a horse farm that our district contracts with. The change in his day and the increased movement and exercise. I believe along with increased activity, the removal of the student from some of the gen ed academic classes reduced the stressors the student was encountering. Once this schedule change was made we went from seeing hourly and daily behaviors to next to zero behaviors. Reflecting on this situation, it was beneficial to move the student to smaller class sizes (SPED classes) and modify his day (afternoons at the farm), to reduce behaviors. I believe that although he was capable of the content in the class his stress and disruptive behaviors were so problematic that he was not actually learning in that setting. This situation gave me the insight to look at the students and what I am able to change to make them more successful in their learning.

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Kristi Condie - Week 2 Brain Based Behavior

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Kristi Condie - Week 2 Brain Based Behavior

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The 1st grade student I wrote about displays many behaviors.  He can be defiant and sometimes aggressive especially when he is being told to do something he doesn’t want to do (like schoolwork).  He does not respond well to criticism and does not yet acknowledge his behaviors.  He yearns for attention and absolutely loves being acknowledged for good behaviors. He is very hypervigilant to all that is going on around him.  I believe that this is a child who lives in a constant stress – he is always in fight or flight mode as that is his way of coping.  He is constantly in survival mode which makes it difficult to get his brain ready for learning.  I approach this student first with building a positive relationship.  Letting him know he can trust me, that I care about him, and that school can be a safe place for him.  At this time, I do not need to be so concerned for his academics as he is a very bright student.  This gives me more time for relationship building and easing him into a school structure and routine so that he feels safe.  Again – the pulse learning seemed to work for him, however I believe it was more due to him feeling more control over the situation than brain breaks for him. Again – basing this off his need for survival.

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Charles Gholson-Week 2 Student's Brain-Based Behavior

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Charles Gholson-Week 2 Student's Brain-Based Behavior

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The student I wrote about has been highly unlikely to perform academically, on most days, over the 2.5 years that I have been involved at the high school level.  Habitual academic nonperformance is the behavior of concern.

In elementary school the student was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD.  Combine those disabilities with sleep apnea and gaming sessions through the night and the student is unfit to perform in the mornings and unwilling most afternoons.  I believe that the disabilities combined with lifestyle choices have created a very challenging apathetic student who refuses to perform academically.

From the time the student was put on my caseload I have tried to remain flexible, supportive, nonconfrontational and understanding of his perspective.  Knowing that I had about 3.5 years before he could drop out my goal was to build a positive relationship between formal education and the student.  We tried a variety of curriculum delivery methods including the traditional classroom, special education small group, online coursework, independently paced textbook and packets, and one on one with an alternative or special education teacher.  The initial crack in the armor was when the district offered to pay for an online driver’s permit course and behind the wheel training.  Our district doesn’t offer driver’s education as part of the curriculum, however the IEP team felt that it might be a way to earn an initial high school credit, experience academic  success and get the ball rolling.  It worked, but the ball is not rolling fast enough yet.

I was not previously aware of biocognitive cycles.  Moving forward I intend to make an effort to be more aware of patterns in behavior or indicators that might tip me off to a biocognitive cycle in this student that I could use to more successfully academically motivate over time.  I feel good about my ability to evaluate learning readiness in any given moment but thinking more long term over time, when is the best time of day, day of the week, week of the month or season to try and get the most out of this student.

Perhaps next Fall entering Senior year, with peers running to the finish line of graduation, I can pick up on a positive biocognitive cycle for this student and find a learning rhythm that will pace through graduation.

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Week 2 Brain Based Behavior- Kaitlyn Vetsch

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Week 2 Brain Based Behavior- Kaitlyn Vetsch

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I have a student on my current caseload that often comes to school late because he will refuse to walk up and come to school or his family doesn't wake him up for school. He will be gone multiple days in a row. When you attempt to call his mom she will not anwser. When he is late to school he will often cry and throw himself on the ground because he would rather be home. Whenever he came to school whether it was early or late, I alwasy had our paraprofessional meet him and get him in the building and they would go over his schedule for the day. This helped with alot of the behavior issues he was having in the mornings. Before we went on break, he was coming to school more often. He was becoming more successful and wanted to be at school. He went from a nonreader to reading level C text in a matter of weeks. He needed to know he was supported. He no longer was dropping to the floor or crying. He understood my expectation and I understood him and why he was acting the way ehr was. I believed brain based strategies helped him become more successful and confident in himself when he was able to come to school ontime and he felt more included.

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The student that I mentioned in the week 1 discussion post Tony who responded so well to changes in his plan that incorporated more physical activity did in fact present behaviors to myself while working with him. I would often encounter Tony presenting argumentitive behaviors or even confrontational, physical behaviors with myself or more often, other students when I would supervise rides to Common Threads (a resource center that will coordinate services for some of our students with such behaviors). I handled it with a bit of uncertainity or perhaps even trepidation whereas now I would probably consider using the extra minutes waiting for the ride to physically engage with this student preemptively instead.

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The student that I mentioned in the week 1 discussion post Tony who responded so well to changes in his plan that incorporated more physical activity did in fact present behaviors to myself while working with him. I would often encounter Tony presenting argumentitive behaviors or even confrontational, physical behaviors with myself or more often, other students when I would supervise rides to Common Threads (a resource center that will coordinate services for some of our students with such behaviors). I handled it with a bit of uncertainity or perhaps even trepidation whereas now I would probably consider using the extra minutes waiting for the ride to physically engage with this student preemptively instead.

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A prior student often came to school very groggy and had periods of extreme difficulty in paying attention and focusing. In talking with him, I discovered that he had difficulty sleeping at home with frequent interuptions in his sleep. The days he exhibited sleepiness were days in which his learning ability and demonstration of learning were significantly lower. I handled this by offering suggestions to the student in which he may find solutions to the issues causing his lack of sleep at home. I also communicatied concern to his parents regarding the student's ability to focus during the day due to extreme drowsiness, but it resulted in little change. I chose to reduce expectations of the student's workload on the days in which the student exhibited extreme exhaustion and attempted to encourage him as he struggled through the school day. I suspect that the student's biocognitive attention cycles were impacted by his lack of sleep and with improved knowledge of brain-based strategies, would apply several of them. Today, I would offer the student a chance for a nap or rest period to help him regain some lost sleep so that for the rest of his day, his attention may be improved. I would ensure that he received learning in blocks with increased breaks to rest his brain from content. I previously offered 3-5 minute brain breaks in class, but would increase them to ten minutes, per suggestion from Jensen as a necessary step in supporting the biocognitive cycle.  Jensen advises that the learning brain needs pre-exposure to content in small time chunks, followed by a brief down time, then time dedicated to processing the content and finally time for brain acquision of the content. I would be mindful of this in providing spurts of learning with increased time for brain processing and acquision, as this may help the student retain more learning content. In addition, I would offer movement that included cross-lateral exercises, in which the arms cross the body to the other side, which is a brain-based stategy that Jensen suggests as a method to energize thinking. According to Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscientist studying the effects that physical activity have on the brain, studies strongly suggest that exercise increases attention and long-term memory. Applying proven brain-based strategies could be helpful to students that are lacking sleep and struggling to focus during school.

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The student I am reflecting on is one that come from a high stress home. He carries a lot of trauma with him each day. He was unfocused and often wanted to be sleeping which I believe comes from his circadian rhythm being off. He doesn't sleep at home with the traumatic situation. He is deeply attached to his cellphone and when asked to turn it over, he shouts and quickly becomes defiant. This, I attribute to his brain being in survival mode. His phone is his lifeline at home. Lastly, he has very high levels of stress stemming from his home life which lead to increased cortisol production. Increased cortisol leads to unfocused behaviors and decreased learning according to Jensen. The first time I tried to handle the situation, I approached him and asked for his phone. He blew up and I had to call his case manager to remove him from my room. I learned that was not the way to go about things with him. The next time I had him in class, prior to him entering the classroom, I stopped him to talk. We discussed simple things to build a rapport between us. At the end of the conversation, I made my expectation clear that he was not to be on his phone, but I was mindful and did it in a way that he didn't feel personally attacked. That prevented his cortisol levels from going even higher. On his bad days, I offer to send him to our school's relaxation room. He will not learn if his basic needs are not met, so I stepped back and focused on doing what I could to help meet those needs. That led to lessening of his negative behaviors in my classroom.

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The student in my eighth grade co-taught class did not want to do any work and was constantly in a daze. This student has had a lot of trauma in his life. He gets punished with food, there are bugs in the home, very poor hygiene, etc. I believe his brain in was in survival mode. I handled this situation by providing him a snack, bringing him to a quiet environment, and working with him one on one to get his work done. Next time I might have him do this work at a different time of the day. In the text by Jensen, he said the brain is more focused at certain times of the day. Maybe this was not a good time for this student to work on the material.