This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Rick Lavoie Videos
The Rick Lavoie video series should be included in the orientation process for all school systems. Mr. Lavoie has a gift for making the language of dealing with students with special needs less complicated and easier to understand. After viewing the video series, I understand the social skills of the special needs child better and I have made conscious efforts to communicate the subject matter on a level that all can understand without labeling. I was most impressed with the definitions for "no attention span" and "distractibility". Now that I am more aware of these students, I have made adjustments to ascertain successful outcomes. On a daily basis I am making every effort to make sure all children, especially those with special needs, "go to bed with more poker chips than what they woke up with. I am making more of a conscious effort to look at the world in the eyes of the students I am working. Most important "consistency" in dealing with children, not just adolescents, has always been a key factor in raising children to realize their fullest potential.
This is a great idea. It should be a requirement for staff development and offered to new teachers during their orientation week. It is quite disheartening to see teachers with years of experience incorporating negative feedback systems to manage students. The technique that Lavoie uses to convey his message allows the instructor to introject themselves into the students' world. What is best of all is that once we become cognizant of your ineffective ways, he provides us with realistic, common sense techniques for correcting the behavior, getting positive results and helping the student to succeed overall. Once we have come up with our game plans and poker chips, we must be consistent in this behavior and provide continual structure so that successive approximation toward a desied behavior is eventually reached and maintained.
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