The Importance of Behavioral Management

Behavioral management is a difficult teaching skill to learn while in college for teaching. In my opinion, we should begin student teaching earlier, just to prefect this skill. There also are no classes that focus on behavioral management at SNHU. There should be a group of classes devoted to how to deal with behavioral issues in the classroom and the best way to promote good behavior. In the classroom that I am currently observing in, I have found that the teacher I am working with is extremely skilled at behavioral management. She uses a card strategy. On a poster behind the door there are numbered envelopes. Each envelope has a a blue, green, yellow and red card. When a child is misbehaving she asks them to "go get a card" the child gets up, finds their number and changes blue to green, green to yellow, or yellow to red. Ms. V. has not had to give a red card in two whole years! The students know the consequences of their behavior and act the best they can to avoid getting a card. A green is a warning, a yellow is a stern talking to during recess and a red is a meeting with the vice principle and a call home to parents. I think this is a great way to control bad behavior in the classroom! I hope someday to be a behaviorist and I think that observing different behavioral management skills will help with my career!

Why Special Education?

When I first began my college career I wanted to be a nurse. I felt that the best way to help a child was to be a pediatric nurse. As I went through my nursing training I realized more and more that I should have thought through all the other professions that also help children. At the time I was working in a small hospital daycare. I loved it. I love the other teachers, the children and knowing that I was teaching them new things. From there I had to sit down and think about what I truly wanted. Not what paid more, or what was the easier route, but how I pictured my future. I liked the biology of nursing but I had a hard time with nursing ethics. Watching a person die was not something I thought I would be able to handle. Also I knew that as a nurse new to the field you are often placed in geriatrics which was very far from my ideal of being a pediatric nurse. My last and deciding factor was when we were told that only a few spots were open for clinical, and I realized that my heart was not in nursing to push myself and compete. I made my decision. I still wanted the biological, emotional, and behavioral parts of nursing which was when I decided that special education (particularly behavioral and psychological) was the right path for me. I love finding out why a child acts they way they do and the teaching methods used to help them through their disabilities. I transferred and started my new major, elementary education with certification with elementary education.  My family supported me every step of the way and they were excited for me because I finally was confident in my career choice. I have three aunts, one on my dad's side and two on my mom's and they are all in special education. I am actually named after two of them! Jacqueline (Jacqui) and Rebecca (Becky) were ecstatic to hear about my interest in special education. It is very fitting that I am following in their footsteps! 

My Experiences with Technology K-12

In elementary school I remember my technology integration to be limited. There was computers in the library and one in the classroom but they were rarely used. When we did use the computer for educational games it was slow and the graphics were very simple. It was a huge reward to be able to use the computer however, and I remember how excited I was when I could use it. Sometimes my teachers would roll a TV into the room and we would watch a movie. In middle school I remember using a computer lab for the first time. My entire class would sit down together at our computers and do typing programs or use paint for projects. We had a whole block for just computer usage for our work! It was a big change from elementary school and I really enjoyed it.

High school was a very different experience from elementary and middle school. Many classes borrowed laptops from the library and we used them for research during class. The library had two computer labs alone! There was a small computer lab on the second floor and a larger one on the first floor. We were not only allowed to use technology for school work and projects but we were pushed to! I remember my favorite class senior year of high school was videography. We were given a hand-held video camera in groups and were sent out into the school to make our own videos. Once we had the footage we needed we went back to class and edited on the computers right in the classroom! The editing program was very neat and I have not forgotten it. They were Macs, and with my family being a PC family, it was a new and exciting experience.

Now technology is a huge part of my everyday life. My laptop is used everyday for school work and social media. I have a smart phone which is always on my person and I recently got a Fitbit Flex to track my activity and my sleep! Since technology is so prominent now I know that integration into my classroom will be vital. Students will learn how to research correctly and how to use a computer properly. Cell phones will not be used in my classroom, especially with the younger children. My students will also have an iPad to use when they finish their work early, as a reward. Since I plan to be in special education, I think that Apple is a great choice for a tablet because of the extensive educative applications for both general and special education students! I am very excited to integrate technology into my lesson plans and my classroom!

Coming to SNHU!

Hello,

My name is Jacqueline Mathis but you can call me Becca. I came to SNHU last semester as a transfer, from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH. At CSC I was a nursing major. I was a nursing student there for a year and a half before I decided that nursing was not my true calling. I wanted to be a pediatric nurse because I wanted to help children in need and change lives. However, when I though about my reaction to doctor and nurses, I knew that I could not handle a child being scared of me. I slowly realized that the best way for me to help children long term would be to teach. Before I made my final decision to transfer, I changed my major to early education. While attending classes for my new major I decided something was missing and I was not being challenged enough.

I have three aunts and all of them are special educators. I knew that they all felt that special education is a challenging yet rewarding career. When early education was not enough, I knew that elementary education with a background in special education would be the perfect fit. Since Colby-Sawyer did not have those majors, I decided that it was time for my to transfer. I liked the idea of SNHU because it was close to home, it was cheaper, and it had the major I dreamed of. By late January of this year I had moved back home in Merrimack, NH and was attending SNHU for Elementary Education with certification in Special Education. I could not be happier. When I was put into EDU235 I had not given much thought to what it would be about. All I knew was that it was required and it was about learning with technology. I was not overly excited when I ventured into the class for the first time last Wednesday but now I could not be more excited to be back in class tomorrow! Knowing what technology is vital for your students is a great tool to have in your tool-belt as a new teacher!