Vanessa M. Johnson
Managing Impulsivity
In the English and Reading classroom, students engage is discussions, class activities and readings that enhance learning or to help them to apply what they have learned to new content. Teaching the students to manage impulsivity helps them to gain a sense of self control and focus, which is imperative to their learning environment. These artifacts outline the students introduction to this habit of mind and shows student growth through reinforcement activities.
Annotated Lesson Plan
The lesson plan offers an introduction and explicit instruction to the Managing Impulsivity habit of mind. The lesson includes activities that examine the student ability to think before responding after viewing examples from video and listening to their peers. The lesson also offers annotations to show how managing impulsivity and developing self control influences the classroom.
Managing Impulsivity Survey
Pictured below are two student survey samples. After the students completed the survey, they wrote a quick reflection in the margin to get them to start thinking about their actions. I enjoyed this activity because though the students really believe they can manage impulsivity, the activities that follow help students to understand that there is much work needed to improve.
To see if the students best understand the importance of activities like these, student testimonials offer the students the opportunity to reflect.
Managing Impulsitivity Photos
In the picture below the students are watching a video from Youtube called, "The 22 Types of Students." From the video, the students shared out the impulsive behaviors they observed. It is important for the students to see how impulsive behaviors can influence learning and to get them to reflect on their own actions.
In the pictures below the students are responding to impulsitivity questions. I told the students how what they want in the classroom is possible, if they choose to manage their impulses and remain on task. With this, I told the students to think of all of the ways they learn the best. This activity allows students to develop a sense of awareness. It was important for my students to read and respond to these questions so that they can see how managing impulsivity influences learning in our classroom.
3-2-1 Lesson Reflection
At the end of each lesson, students complete the 3-2-1 Lesson Reflection questions. These questions request that the students reflect on learning. By completing these questions, the teacher knows if the students have mastered the content taught, and also provides insight of how the students feel. In the reflection below the students answered the following questions:
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Write 3 things you learned about yourself today
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·Write 2 things you found interesting about the managing impulsivity activity.
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Write 1 thing you want to do to improve.
From this lesson, it is clear that the students have learned about managing impulsivity. In order to improve behavior in the classroom, offering the opportunity to reflect gets the student to first be aware of their actions, which is the first step of developing this new habit.
Reinforcement: Cooperation Rules
To ensure that the students understand the habit of mind taught, reinforcement activities are needed for the students to practice making it a habit. These activities show that the student have internalized the trait and applied it in their daily routines. As a class the students came together to create Cooperation Rules before starting group work. As i reflected on how groups work in my classroom, it was clear that my students struggle to make the most our of it due to impulsive behavior, To better manage the groups, we collectively created a set of rules to learn how group work should look and sound. To build awareness and self control, these rules helps students to practice managing impulsivity and holds them accountable. The student reflections were used to evaluate the success of the rules. The class created rules remains posted in the classroom, so that I can always use it as a point of reference for what is expected when we engage in group activities.
. Student is writing what cooperation should look like for group work assignments before engaging in reading circles.
After completing group work, the students completed reflections to see how the cooperation rules helped them to manage impulsivity.
Students need constant reminders to manage impulsivitiy. I believe that anchor charts reinforce the habit of mind and create a positive classroom culture. The posters shown below encourage positive language, behavior, and offer students self control when referenced by a teacher or peer.
Reinforcement: Anchor Charts
Reinforcement: Mindset Monday Activity
Building a mindset requires that students have opportunities to practice over time. To build motivation and to reinforce, I created a space for students to engage in positive language that helps them to grow. In the picture below, the students are discussing and writing alternatives to words such as “This is too hard” and “I can’t.”This activity does not only happen on Monday's, but it also happens any time the students are about test and are low on motivation. When students engage in language that targets managing impulsivity, it grows their mindset. These positive affirmations promote on task behavior and thinking critically, even when they don't have the desire to.
Teacher Reflection
Managing impulses is a daily challenge for my students. The lesson and activities shared here, demonstrate my explicit teaching of managing impulsivity. Through a variety of strategies, I provided the students multiple examples of how impulsitivity has a large impact on our learning. The students were able to developing a sense of self-control. With that, the students learned that this is a skill that theycan take with them into adulthood. Through the reinforcement activities, the students can practice having self control and I think that benefited them the most.
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In reflecting about how I want students to gain a sense of self control, I had to think about myself. As a teacher, it is up to me to model positive behavior and expectations that I desire to see in my students. I had to simply change the way I talked and interacted with them to help them identify that habit of mind and to follow suit. By giving the students the language to identify their feelings and thinking through their actions helps them to develop good self control. Collectively, these activities encouraged positive behavior demonstrated how students grew over time.
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