Donna Raschke

Teacher Stress: The Elementary Teacher's Perspective.

The Elementary School Journal Volume 85, Number 4 ? 1985 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984/85/8504-0008

The Effects of a Buddy Skills Package on Preschool Children's Social Interactions and Play.

01 .00 There is a serious crisis in teaching in the United States. It jeopardizes this nations ability to conduct its own public affairs through the workings of an informed electorate. It endangers the nations capacity to compete effectively in a shrinking world where technological skill and inventiveness will determine

Candid Camera Catch 'Em in Action

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a buddy skills package on the social and play interactions between three preschoolers with developmental delays and their peers. Each child participated in sociodramatic play activities with two peers who exhibited age-appropriate social and play skills. Following baseline, the children participated in three sessions of training on the strategies of stay, play, and talk with your friends. The intervention consisting of teacher feedback, praise, and picture cards was then used to support children’s social interactions and play. A multiple baseline design indicated that the package was effective for increasing children’s cooperative play in the exchange of activity-related comments. In addition, each playgroup continued to demonstrate these positive outcomes during a maintenance condition.

Motivating Reluctant Learners: Innovative Contingency Packages.

A technique that enables the teacher to focus the students attention on what behavior interactions really did transpire

Taming the Young and the Restless: Strategies for Positive Classroom Control

Contingency packages are one way to provide reluctant learners with these tangible reminders of potential rewards. A contingency package is a threedimensional structure designed to attractively advertise and display the incentives and rewards that students may earn. As part of the classroom management system, rules are developed that specify the conditions and behaviors • Motivation is a major area of concern in the education of exceptional learners. Because many pupils enter the learning environment with long histories of failure, they approach educational activities overwhelmed by feelings of intimidation and anxiety rather than excitement and enthusiasm. Maintaining student interest in scholastic tasks day after day can be an awesome task for even the most skilled educator. Traditional rewards such as stars, stickers, and happy faces lack the pizazz to entice many reluctant learners to participate in educational activities. A more unique, novel approach is frequently required to spark their interest. This article addresses one innovative approach for helping students who have experienced chronic academic failure assume a more active and responsible role in the management of their own educational activities.

The Predictive Capabilities of Three Sources for a Promised Consequence.

This article describes strategies for reducing disruptive classroom behaviors. The literature relative to classroom management and discipline contains numerous strategies (First & Mizell, 1980; Usher & Taylor, 1981), based on varied theoretical, research, or philosophical positions. For example, Purkey (1978) suggested strategies based on the building of self-concept; Ernst (1972) supported an approach incorporating a transactional analysis orientation; Kraus (1974) posited a cognitive-behavioral basis; while George (1980) emphasized the value and importance of personal reference groups. Regardless of the basis of the many approaches currently used, three elements are, in varying degrees, common to all; (1) the structure of the learning environment; (2) the teachers behaviors; and (3) the teacher-student interaction pattern. The authors believe the utilization of strategies representative of these three elements can significantly rechannel the energies of disruptive young adolescents thereby increasing the probability of successful teaching-learning transactions. THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT The optimal learning environment provides the psychological and physical context necessary for maximizing the amount of time students spend actively engaged in academic tasks. Glassers (1965, 1969) work suggests that when students lack involvement in the learning environment, disruption may be a likely outcome. A number of current classroom

Using a Buddy Skills Package to Increase the Social Interactions Between a Preschooler With Autism and Her Peers

The present investigation evaluated the predictive capabilities of three sources frequently used for the identification of effective rein forcers for 54 students with mild learning and behavioral disabilities. The effectiveness of parent, teacher, and student rankings of a given set of consequences as predictors of the strength of an anticipated consequence in influencing the subjects performance on a basic math skills task was investigated. Ten cards depicting various consequences were independently ranked from most to least preferred for each student by the parent, teacher and student. Then the ten stimuli on the cards were each evaluated for their “anticipated” consequent strength for each student. This procedure involved presenting the student with (a) a 1-minute sampling of the particular consequence being evaluated and an explanation of the contingency to the subject; (b) a 2-minute presentation of an 84-problem single-digit addition fact worksheet; and (c) the presentation of the consequence contingent upon the number of problems correctly computed. Performance rates under ten anticipated consequating conditions formulated the promised consequence rankings. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were computed in an effort to access the predictive capabilities of the three sources of information (parent, teacher and child rankings) with regard to the promised consequence ranking (strength). Results indicate that the consequence rankings reported by the child were the only scores that significantly correlated with the anticipated consequence ranking performance. Although neither parent nor teacher rankings significantly correlated with the anticipated consequence rankings, they did significantly correlate with each other. These findings appear to suggest that the student him/herself is the only source which can significantly predict in advance the potential influence of an anticipated consequence.