Celebrate Research

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own."  - Nikos Kazantzakis

As I begin up my sixth week of data collection for my action research project, I feel that for what I need, I have enough data  to analyze for this project.  When I first sent in my proposal to HRC I wanted to collect data for 6 weeks, but then I second guessed myself and felt that in order to have a clear picture of the intervention strategy I should collect data for 8 weeks.  Now that I am wrapping up my sixth week of daily data collection, I believe I have what I need.  I reviewed my time management plan and I am right on track with what I had initially hoped for in terms of time.  Although I am a little ahead of schedule in my data collection, I am right on the money with my DSIL and website.  In my last post I expressed a lot of things that I would have done differently if I could do the project over again.  While I do agree with those reflections, I feel like I need to celebrate all of the things I did right!  Over the past two weeks, I have seen some amazing growth from my student and I wanted to post some of the things that I implemented for this project that have had a positive effect on his overall behavior.   

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Here you can see the pocket schedules that I created for my student.  He has trouble remembering his daily schedule so I can switch these out each day and make amendments as necessary for presentations, schedule changes and any other activities so he always knows what to expect.  I have found that this has drastically cut down on daily anxiety that was occurring with my student because of the unknown in his transitions from subject to subject.  They also have Velcro on the back so he can keep it in place on his desk. 

   

 This is the "safe place" that I created for my student in the small space between the file cabinet and his teacher's desk.  There is a small pillow inside that he can sit on when he is having a meltdown, or in his terms, a "blow."  He helped me pick out the space and also helped me hang up the curtain.  I wanted him to have a spot inside his classroom without any visual stimulation.  When he is having a blowup, he is so overstimulated that the only way he can focus his energy is through anger.  When we first set it up, he needed several verbal cues to go there when he was having a meltdown.  After two months though, this is immediately where he goes if he is feeling that uncontrollable anger.  He also uses it when he is feeling extra sad or frustrated. 

Here are his "Be Cool" cards.  These are located inside his safe place, and also in my binder.  Once he has calmed down, he is supposed to "be cool," and choose one of the tools to use in order to calm down so that he can talk and process what happened.  This is part of my data collection points (self reflection journaling).

Now that I am nearing the final days of my data collection, I can begin working on analyzing it and developing my findings from this incredible experience.  I have truly enjoyed it so far, and look forward to the rest of the process as I organize my data.  Wish me luck!!! 

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats