The Leader In Me Book Report

Teachers use the technique of proximity control daily with all students, but it can be immensely helpful with students with behavioral disorders. They may also ensure that tasks are manageable for the student(s), offer choices whenever possible, and make sure that students reach out for help. When handling in-the-moment concerns they suggest, apologizing, ignoring, praising, or reducing privilege access. As teachers, it is immensely important to get to know each of our students and what individually works for them. Some students don’t respond well to praise and instead need to be ignored when making a good decision, but quietly redirected when making a bad decision.

Every student is different; therefore every student has different needs. It

Covey. The book discusses how the program works and the many ways it has changed the lives of students, parents and teachers. It was derived from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which was written by the same author. The seven habits are as follows: (1) be proactive, (2) begin with the end in mind, (3) put first things first, (4) think win-win, (5) seek first to understand, then to be understood, (6) synergize, and (7) sharpen the saw. The Leader in Me provides many ways to integrate the program into a school or classroom, but something that I noticed right away was its focus on the importance of modeling. A lot of behavior programs train teachers about how the program works and the language that should be used school wide. The problem that I have found with that approach in my personal experience is that half of the staff is being left out. The Leader in Me opts to train ALL employees in a school and/or district. That includes the paraprofessionals, the janitors, the kitchen staff, and everyone in between. With that many adults on board and modeling correct behavior for students, it seems unlikely that most students would not be successful. The book states that, “While integrated instruction and direct lessons are important ways to teach leadership skills, the highest order of teaching is always modeling. Not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Students learn more from what staff members do

In order for student’s to receive those services at school, a behavior intervention plan and/or a functional behavioral assessment may need to be completed along with his or her individualized education plan (IEP). The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) defines a functional behavioral assessment as “…a process to identify the function of a student’s behavior. The information collected during the FBA process should be used to create effective behavior supports and plans. DESE also notes that “Behavioral intervention plans (BIP) are detailed plans that include data gathered during the FBA such as function, frequency, severity, consequence, etc. The BIP also includes specific information regarding the target behavior, behavior goals, etc., in addition steps are proposed to decrease occurrences of inappropriate behavior and to increase occurrences of desired or replacement behaviors. The plan should also include information on progress monitoring and review of the plan”. A functional behavioral assessment should be completed before designing a behavior intervention plan, since the data derived from the FBA is used to write the BIP. The two go hand in hand and aid teachers and other special education staff in creating a successful plan for a misbehaving student. Specifically, a FBA