At Risk Students
Reaching and Teaching Them
A Mountainous Task Before Us
Presented by Sharon Mock, LPC-S, Ed.S.
Goals for this Workshop
• Factors and history of the At Risk
population
• Models used to change the at risk
population
• Discover ways to assist them in gaining
their education
• Look at techniques to grab their attention
Factors Affecting Student Achievement
•
Factor
Example
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School
Teacher
Student
Guaranteed and viable curriculum
Challenging goals and effective feedback
Parent and community involvement
Safe and orderly environment
Collegiality and professionalism
Instructional strategies
Classroom management
Classroom curriculum design
Home atmosphere
Learned intelligence and background knowledge
Motivation
Poverty
Identifying Characteristics of
Successful and At-Risk Students
Student Characteristics
Students headed for success
Students headed for Failure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1.poor parent support
2.reactive
3.apathetic
4.no organizational skills
5.defense
6.not self motivated
7.physical needs not being met
8.poor readers, unidentified l. disabilities
9.low self esteem
10 substance abusers
Strong parental support
Inquisitive
self-motivated
creative
Surround themselves with postitive role models
Respect for self and others
Comfortable with self
Good teachers
Positive visiion of their furture
Not a vicitim , take responsibility
Emotional Characteristics of an At
Risk /Discouraged Learner
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Low self-confidence
Avoiders
Distrustful
Limited notion of future
In intermediate they fall behind
In fragile homes, parents suffer similar characteristics
Lack of school social engagement
Impatient with routine
“practical” learning preference
Do no see correlation between effort and achievement
Basic Psychological Needs of
At Risk Youth
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Competence
Belonging
Usefulness
Potency
Optimisim
THE “A” STUDENT
• abrupt
• abusive
• adamant
• aggravating
• aggressive
• aloof
The “A” Student (cont)
• angry
• anxious
• apathetic
• argumentative
• asleep
• attention seeking
• awful
The Abrupt Student
The Abusive Student
The Adamant Student
The Aggravating Student
The Aggressive Student
The Aloof Student
The Angry Student
The Angry Student
• A student who displays angry outbursts
can throw a classroom into turmoil. She
also can trigger strong feelings in you.
Your challenge in working with a student
whose emotional temperature often
reaches the boiling point is to control your
own feelings as well as those of the
student.
The Angry Student
• Model the calm behavior
• Do no take angry words personally
• Have a private, non-threatening talk with
the student
• Problem-solve with the student
• Support the academically frustrated
student
The Apathetic Student
• One of the hardest things for teachers to
deal with is an apathetic student. Students
are apathetic for a number a reasons.
They may be having difficulties at home.
Their self-esteem may be low. Apathetic
students may also suffer from a learning
disability. They could feel a lot of guilt and
shame.
The Apathetic Student
• Find out what is causing the apathetic
behavior. Once you've established a
rapport with the student, try to get to the
bottom of what is causing the apathetic
behavior. If the student is having problems
at home, make sure to help him or her feel
secure in your classroom. If the student
feels that he is not smart, reinforce good
behavior with compliments; try to help
build the student's self-esteem.
Apathetic Student
• Don't let an apathetic student keep you
from teaching the rest of the class
effectively. Make sure to stay focused on
teaching the class as a whole. An
apathetic student should not keep you
from your teaching goals, and an apathetic
student should not affect the other
students who want to learn.
Apathetic Student
• Realize that ultimately it is up to the
student to learn and change their attitude.
The Argumentative Student
The Asleep Student
The Attention-seeking Student
The Anxious Student
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Attitude and Behavior conflict =
Stress
• Attitude and Behavior congruence =
Reduced Stress
Cognitive Dissonance Cycle
Behavior
Role
Attitude
Evidence Based Interventions
Establish an orderly • and positive
classroom
environment by teaching and
reinforcing
rules and routines.
Reinforce the appropriate • behavior of
individuals and groups of students.
Practice instructional principles that
incorporate presentation of new
materials
with modeling and practice.
Offer a variety of activities and
materials
at a pace and level of difficulty
appropriate to the range of student
abilities in the class.
• Encourage collaborative peer support
(peer tutoring) as an instructional
strategy.
Cooperative Learning
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•
•
•
Group Investigation
Jigsaw
Circles of Learning
Cooperative Structures
Cooperative Team Learning
• Teams
• Games
• Tournaments
Dominant Theories of At-Riskness
• Perspectives that presume that a clinical
pathology exists in the student or his/her
home environment
• Perspectives that assume that cultural and
Environmental deficits exist that are
changeable
• Perspectives that allege that at-riskness is
the result of alterable institutional
insufficiencies
Clinical Pathology
The Medical Model
• Something is wrong with the child
• The child inherited or caught a defect
• Increase of Inferred conditions:
– Hyperactivity
– Attention deficit disorder
– Dyslexia
– Learning disability
Interventions for Medical Model
• Identify the defect
• Treat/cure the defect
• Student no longer at risk
Cultural/Environmental Deficits
• Problem didn’t grow organically
• Deficits came from interaction with the
environment
• Can be corrected through environmental
interventions
Interventions for Cultural/Environmental
Deficit Model
• Identify missing experiences and/or skills
• Provide experiences
• Support the student during transition
• Student no longer at risk
Institutional Pathology
• School
• Family
Interventions for the Institutional
Pathology Model
• Organizational practices produce
differential treatment
• Differential treatment places students at
risk
• Change organizational practices
• Support student during transition
• Student no longer at risk
Three Program Types
• Treatment Programs: Attempting to fix with
counselors, social workers and remedial
programs
• Pacification Programs: Caring for and managing
by housing in alternative schools or classrooms
along with other at risk students
• Prevention Initiatives: Alter school practices in a
manner that will insure that all students
experience success in the mainstream
Children’s Brain Development
At-Risk (gets worse)
Normal (resilient)
Prenatal:
More serotonin receptors
More right brain development
Fewer dopamine receptors
Fewer serotonin receptors
More dopamine receptors
Fewer steroid receptors
Infancy:
Damaged hippocampus and other limbic
areas
Weak frontal lobe
Young Child:
Poor frontal functioning
Symmetry persists between hemispheres
Weak aboration of neurons
Teen Years:
Heightened sensitivity to “stress” hormones
“Random” neural pruning
Internal opiate sensitivity increased
Declarative/procedural memory circuits
strong for reinforcement
High frontal metabolism
Dopamine pathway strong for instrumental
learning
Brain asymmetry
Loss of about 1/3 cortex, neurons, pruning,
symmetry
Less of synaptic serotonin
Increased need for dopamine
Good Behavior Game
• A Way to Inhibit Negative Behavior
• First Test Completed in 1969
• Highly disruptive 4th Graders coded in
math and reading for 3 hours daily
• Results showed them out of their seat
talking about 80-96% of each class period
• BEDLAM……
Good Behavior Game (CONT)
• Two teams in their math class
• A team or teams could win privileges
• Whenever rule broken, teacher would make
mark on board against that team
• Team with lowest marks or if both teams got
less than six marks, each would wear a victory
tag, get a star on the winner’s chart, got to lunch
first, or have free time at end of day
Good Behavior Game (cont)
• If a team received less than 20 marks in a
week, it would get extra privileges at the
end of the week.
• In math class, disruptions fell 10-19%,
immediately, a great improvement
• In reading, it stayed the same
Good Behavior Game (cont)
• Two weeks later, the game was switched
into the reading class and discontinued in
the math class.
• Disruptions in reading fell
• Math disruptions increased to meet the
baseline at the beginning of this study.
• After a week, game was played in both
classes and disruptions fell
Second Test of Good Behavior
Game
• 1972
• 2 groups of 14 fifth grade reading class
students
• More rules were included:
– Rules
– Lights (response feedback)
– Group consequences of extras recess and
extra free time
Behavior Game (cont)
Baseline: 5
Game: .005
Baseline: 3
Rules only: 2
Rules and signal lights: 2
Game: .001
The Praise Paradox
• YOU ARE SO SMART…KIDDO
• YOU MUST HAVE TRIED SO HARD
• YOU DID A GREAT JOB…
Practice Makes Perfect
• LION
BEAR
TIGER
LION
BEAR
BEAR
TIGER
Now try this list:
• RED
GREEN
BLUE
RED
BLUE
BLUE
GREEN
10 Years of Practice
What Material Merits Practice
• The core skills and knowledge that will be
used again and again
• The type of knowledge that students need
to know well in the short term to enable
long-term retention of key concepts
• The type of knowledge we believe is
important enough that students should
remember it later in life
Issues Regarding Assessment
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The Appropriate Role of Assessment
Clear Thinking and Effective
Communication
Teachers in Charge
Students as Key Users
Clear and Appropriate Targets
Stopping to Look Down the Road
What are some Myths about
Word Learning
• Explicit teaching doesn’t work
• Word meanings can usually be inferred
from context
• Students can learn word meaning from the
dictionary
• We can understand texts in which we
know 75% of the words
• We can learn a word from just a few
exposures
Continued
Word meaning is simple – a word means what it
means
There is only one route to word study
False cognates dominate the cognate world
All infrequent words are of equivalent importance
Discourse connectives get learned incidentally
Students know when they don’t know words
If you can spell or pronounce a word, you know it.
The Uniqueness of Our Learners
• Retention of learning
• Building Mental Trellises
Building Feelings of Student
Competence
Model 1: Classical Positivism
Instructed Skills
Success
Application
Meaning
Model 2: Developmental Constructivism
Meaning Construct/Invent Skills
Application
Success
Mastery Learning Model
(Enables all learners to be successful)
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Variable 1:
Variable 2:
Variable 3:
Variable 4:
Motivation
Prerequisite Skills
Quality Instruction
Adequate Time
How can you motivate
the A Students
– abrupt
– abusive
– adamant
– aggravating
– aggressive
– aloof
– angry
– anxious
– apathetic
– argumentative
– asleep
– awful
Modeling and Giving Feedback to
Students
• Teach students self- and peer assessment
skills to
– Teach students where feedback comes from
– Increase students’ interest in feedback
because it is theirs
– Answer students’ own questions
– Develop self-regulation skills, necessary for
feedback
Feedback (cont)
• Be clear about the learning target and the
criteria for good work
– Use assignments with obvious value and interest
– Explain to the student why an assignment is given - what the
work is for
– Make directions clear
– Use clear rubrics
– Have students develop their own rubrics, or translate yours into
a “kid friendly” language
– Design lessons that incorporate using the rubrics as students’
work
Feedback (cont)
• Design lessons in which students use
feedback on previous work to produce
better work
– Provide opportunities to redo assignments
– Give new but similar assignments for the
same learning targets
– Give opportunities for students to make the
connection between the feedback they
received and the improvement in their work
Minute Math Student Prediction
and Record Sheet
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
date
Test score
Student prediction
Form for review and feedback
on tests
Anita Archer
Active Participation
Managing Your Class When Many
Students Are Reluctant Learners
• Many students decide in advance that the
work is going to be too hard for them and
they may retreat into themselves or they
may act out.
First
• Be sure the child knows exactly what to
do. Structure the learning situation so that
the student fully understands the process.
An anxious student will worry about what
might happen or what could go wrong and
what mistakes he or she might make. Do
not assume the student knows what to do.
Second
• Have the student compete with his or her
own past performance rather than another
child in the class. Eliminate peer pressure
as much as you can. Ask questions like,
"How did you do compared with last time?"
or, "Is this what you expected on the test?
Third
• Assure the student some success in
learning. If the student is fearful of reading
aloud in class, provide some practice time
or allow the student to use a tape
recorder. Let the student draw a book
report instead of writing, if necessary.
Fourth
• At first, accept less. Reduce the criteria for
success or correctness. Gradually raise
your standards to meet the level of the rest
of the class.
Whole Brain Teaching
Rules
• Simple
• Short
• No more than 5 rules: 3 would be best
Three Simple Rules
• Respect
• Stay in your Seat
• Raise your hand
Structure in the Classroom
• Plan your classroom environment. Set up listening
areas, activity centers and various curriculum corners.
• Arrange your books and materials according to subject
area and use color coding to help children know where
to return things.
• Prepare a simple profile for each child; include scores,
observations, test marks, strengths and weaknesses.
• Have the students help you set up rules for these
learning stations.
Structure in the Classroom
• Schedule learning station work. Decide where the
students should go and have a list or board with
assignments.
• Use contracts with students; decide what is to be done
and what the time limits are. Allow students to be
involved in the decision making process.
• Use the activity centers for part of the day, and whole
class and small group instruction for another part of the
day.
• Share the record keeping with the students; many
activities can be self-checking.
Structure in the Classroom
• Take your time in implementing this plan; try one
or two centers at a time. Evaluate the process as
you go along. In this type of classroom even the
most reluctant learners may find something of
interest and be able to succeed in learning.
Approaches for Implementing the
Instructional Process of Mastery
Learning.
• The Deluxe Mastery Learning Model Model
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Know skills
Provide instruction
Divide instruction into sequential units
Teach as group instruction mode
Unit test
Enrichment activities or peer tutoring or alternative learning activities
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Small group
Alternative instruction material
One-on-one tutoring
Intensified homework
Retest to success
continued
• The Economy Mastery Learning Model
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Teach one unit at a time
Preview
Instruction
Check test
Retesting
Retesting
Next unit
Management and Grading
• Premises:
– All essential objectives must be mastered
– Everything expected in class have value
– Intensity of effort is expected
• Requirements:
– To receive credit, the objective portion of each test
must be completed with 80% proficiency
– 90% of all participation grades must be (+)s
– “A” and “B” grades are earned through performance
on the application/analysis assignments or tests
The Dichotomy to Cognitive
Development
High Stakes Standards-based reform
Review the pedagogical recommendations
Spend time and energy teaching for depth of
understanding using good constructivist
techniques
Make certain that you teach test-taking
strategies to your students
Do all you can to relieve as much of the stress
as possible (high levels of stress debilitate)
Helping Students Develop a Sense
of Belonging
The Hidden Curriculum
Stated Curriculum
Stated Curriculum
Organization behavior
Instructional Program Organization behavior Instructional Program
in conflict with
in conflict with
consistent with
consistent with
Stated Curriculum
Organizational Behavior
Stated Curriculum Organizational Behavior
Student will Learn
A Hidden Curriculum
Limited Success with the
“stated curriculum”
Student will learn the
“stated curriculum”
Multicultural Education and the
Hidden Curriculum
• Extending Membership to all
• Valuing Students by Valuing their Interests
• Learning Styles and Developing Feelings
of Belonging
The Gregorc Style Delineator
Concrete/Sequential
Concrete/Random
Abstract/Sequential
Abstract/Random
Conrath’s At-Risk students
Preferred Learning Style for
Success
Learning Style - At-Risk Student - Teacher
• Analytical:
7%
28%
• Intuitive
20%
28%
• Practical
54%
17%
• Experiential
19%
27%
Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT System
Teacher Expectations and
Feelings of Belonging
Good and Brophy Study (2002)
When At-Risk students see that students
who are doing well are consistently receiving
different treatment than they are receiving, it
telegraphs low expectations that can have a
devastating impact on their sense of belonging.
We need to treat the lows in the same
manner in which we treat the highs.
Wait Time
• Of all the differential teaching behaviors,
none may give our students as
pronounced a message as to whether they
belong than:
“Wait Time”
“Research has shown that teachers tend to provide less
than 1.5 seconds wait time from students they deem low
achievers and provide more time for the academically
able”.
Gardner’s Intelligence Revisited
• The use of IQ exams has a deleterious
effect on students’ sense of belonging,
because it has a general belief that there
is a category of aptitude called intelligence
or IQ.
• The true exciting fact is that intelligences
can be learned and developed. The are
not innate and immutable.
Garner’s Multiple Intelligences
• Linguistic
• Musical
• Logical-mathematical
• Spatial
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Naturalistic
• Existential
In working with students, we need to realize that addressing the above
intelligences when presenting material in the classroom provides for
a higher learning within the classroom.
The J-Curve of Success
Time needed
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Number of
students
Helping Students Develop and Construct
their own Feelings of Competence
• Constructivist Learning
– Uses the student’s innate interests
– Uses the student’s current level of understanding as a
platform for further building
– The constructivist process will result in deeper
understanding of the relationships present in the
world.
– Goal is to see that the student understand is is able to
do independently rather than what was covered by
the teacher
Developmental Constructivist
Learning
• Foremost Pioneer is Jean Piaget
• All children can learn anything
• Terminologies:
– Assimilation and Accommodation
– Motivation
– Prerequisite Knowledge
– High Quality Instruction
– Allowing Enough Time for Learning
Building Belonging with
Constructivist Learning
• If students cannot make sense of the content in the
class, it is difficult to for them to believe they belong
there
• Certain critical differences can be revealed through
assessment
• Students need to have the option of messing around with
objects so they can gain concrete experiences they need
to make sense of the relationships present in class
• Students with lack of experience will lack reflection and
not benefit from planned activities
• It is important to have optional activities that can be
easily moved in and out without any down time.
Helping Students build Feelings of
Usefulness
• Problem Based Learning and Student
Directed Inquiry
– Ask the students to do the organizational work
necessary to solve a problem or launch an
investigation
– Teacher needs to move away from the direct
instruction approach
Developing a Sense of Personal
Potency
• Goal Setting/Achievement/Celebration
– In working with at risk students, setting long term
goals historically brings failure
– Goal setting efforts will work best if one begins with
short-term targets that can be easily monitored and
achieved with a minimum focus and committed effort
– Criteria in assisting students in framing goals
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•
•
•
Is it desirable?
Is it achievable?
Is it believable?
Is it measurable?
The Teacher as the Lead Manager
Glasser’s Four Elements
• Engages the workers
• Shows or models the job so worker can
perform
• Asks workers to inspect or evaluate their
own work for quality
• Facilitator in that the leader shows the
workers that he/she has down everything
possible to provide them with the best
tools and workplace
Four Links to Success for At Risk
Students
Kay Alderman’s motivating factors (1990)
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Proximal Goals
Learning Strategies
Successful Experiences
Attribution for Success
Causes of Student Misbehavior
Attention Getting
Power/Revenge
In-school Causes of Discipline
Problems
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Student Boredom
Powerlessness
Unclear Limits
Lack of Acceptable Outlets for
Feelings
• Attacks on Dignity
Students’ Academic Needs
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To understand the teacher’s goals
To be actively involved in the learning process
To relate subject matter to their own lives
To follow their own interests
To receive realistic and immediate feedback
To experience success
To experience an appropriate amount of structure
To have time to integrate learning
To have positive contact with peers
To have instruction matched to their own level of
cognitive development and learning style
Jones and Jones
Schools Where Discipline is
Effective
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Low levels of corporal punishment
Praise for work in class and frequent public praise
Schools well decorated with plants, posters, and pictures
Willingness to see children about problems
Students given some position of responsibility
Schools with a high staff turnover
Staff felt their views were clearly represented in school decision
making
An agreed upon set of consistent standards
Frequent homework and a check on staff regarding administering
homework
Little class time used to set up equipment and materials
Starting class on time
A high proportion of topic time per lesson spent in interaction with
whole class rather than individuals
Principles and Processes for
Effective Discipline
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•
•
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•
•
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Letting students know what you need
Providing instruction at levels that match the student’s ability
Listening to what students are thinking and feeling
Using humor
Varying the style of presentation
Offering choices
Refusing to accept excuses
Legitimizing behavior you cannot stop
Using hugs and touching in communicating with students
Being responsible for yourself and allowing students to take
responsibility for themselves
• Realizing that you will not reach every student
• Starting fresh every day
Assumptions for Effective
Classroom Management
Good and Brophy (2002) Looking into Classrooms
• Students are likely to follow rules they
understand and accept
• Discipline problems are minimized when
students are regularly engaged in meaningful
activities geared to their interests and attitudes
• Management should be approached with an eye
toward maximizing the time students spend
engaged in production control of misbehavior
• The teacher’s goal is to develop self-control in
students, not merely to exert control over them
Systems
Obedience Model
Responsibility Model
Natural and Logical Consequences
Reality Therapy
Social Contracting
– Teacher/student
– Student/student
Conflict Resolution/mediation process
Peer mediation
Assertive Discipline
Proper Use of Praise
Effective
Delivered contingently
Specifies an accomplishment
Show spontaneity
Rewards attainment
Provides information to students
Orients students to appreciate their accomplishment
Uses students prior accomplishments
Is given recognition of noteworthy effort
Attributes successes to efforts
Fosters attributions
Focuses student’s attention on their task relevant behavior
Foster appreciation of task-relevant behavior
Gaining Parent Support to
Discipline
• State your affection for the child
• Express your concerns in terms of the
consequence for the child
• Solicit ideas
• Agree to a plan
• Develop a feedback loop
• If it works, send a than you note
System Guidelines
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•
•
•
•
•
Avoids anger
Provides students with choices
Deals with the present behavior
Is consistent in application
Is purposeful
Builds feelings of potency
School-Wide Initiatives
•
•
•
•
Early Intervention
Parental Involvement
Teacher Advisory Program
Push in not Pull out programs
The School of the Future
• 10 things.docx
• http://www.edutopia.org/10-assessmenttips-for-class
Whole-Brain Teaching
Using Groups and Centers
• You will have fewer discipline problems if
you make the learning as individualized as
possible.
Using Groups and Centers
• Plan your classroom environment. Set up
listening areas, activity centers and
various curriculum corners.
• Arrange your books and materials
according to subject area and use color
coding to help children know where to
return things.
Individualize
• Prepare a simple profile for each child;
include scores, observations, test marks,
strengths and weaknesses.
• Have the students help you set up rules
for these learning stations.
• Schedule learning station work. Decide
where the students should go and have a
list or board with assignments.
• Use contracts with students; decide what
is to be done and what the time limits are.
Allow students to be involved in the
decision making process.
• Use the activity centers for part of the day,
and whole class and small group
instruction for another part of the day.
• Share the record keeping with the
students; many activities can be selfchecking
• Take your time in implementing this plan;
try one or two centers at a time. Evaluate
the process as you go along. In this type
of classroom even the most reluctant
learners may find something of interest
and be able to succeed in learning.
• Be sure the child knows exactly what to
do. Structure the learning situation so that
the student fully understands the process.
An anxious student will worry about what
might happen or what could go wrong and
what mistakes he or she might make. Do
not assume the student knows what to do.
• Have the student compete with his or her
own past performance rather than another
child in the class. Eliminate peer pressure
as much as you can. Ask questions like,
"How did you do compared with last time?"
or, "Is this what you expected on the test?
• Assure the student some success in in
class, provide some practice time or allow
the student to use a tape recorder. Let the
student draw a book report instead of
writing.
Rhyming