OPAL (5 Feb 2023) Functional Behaviour Assessment

An OPAL course: SEN:se Online PD Unit 4.1

I wonder: What is "Functional" behaviour? What does it mean, and what has it got do with managing situations arises in the classroom?

Indeed, it's my understanding of the word "Functional".

After attending the online module,

I understand: 

The word "functional" seems to inform what is the "function' of the behaviour we see 

i.e. what the children intends to achieve through demonstrating a certain behaviour

Based on this - what the module intends to achieve: 

Helping us, the adult learner to understand what's was the intent behind the behaviour

e.g. what the child hopes to that, through demonstrating this behaviour, it will make the adult to respond in a certain manner to meet his/ her need. [wow! sounds like using behaviour to manipulate responses to meet one's needs 😱]

Through understanding this not-so-simple psychic behind, we are better prepared to manage this (and prob not fall into the "trap" to make things worse. It also means, it helps us better understand why the child behaves in a certain manner and better address his/ her needs, and hopefully helping him/ her to overcome his/ her fear, anxiety, discomfort, etc.. that could possibly hinder them from moving on. 

It's NOT so much of 知己知陂; but to enable use to 对症下药💉 

The 4 steps are systematic and logical:

Step 1: Systematically identify and understand the behaviour of the student

• The observable behaviour, which we need to be able to describe clearly. Indeed, it's a skill, which we normally 'summarise' rather than to make it descriptive, which is is necessary to be helpful for diagnosis.

Step 2: Collect and Analyse Info of the Behaviour

• This helps us to understand the cause, which includes what happens before, during and after - being observant not just on the 'subject' (child), but also its environment, and the people around (and what they do)
• What could be the triggers - which is very helpful to pre-empt and prevent the undesirable behaviour

• ANTECEDENT (a thing that existed before or logically precedes another): Environment, Triggers
• BEHAVIOUR: Intensity, Duration, Frequency
• CONSEQUENCE: Responses from child and others

Step 3: Identify reasons of the behaviour

• Indeed, this is where the blackbox "mystery" unveils - to diagnose the cause in order to be able to 对症下药 - identify and prescribe the most suitable strategy to manage or change the behaviour

• SENSORY NEEDS: What makes one feels/ looks/ sounds/ smells/ tastes good?
• e.g. when walking around helps to dispel pent up energy; rocking chair
• ESCAPE: To stop an undesirable behaviour or interaction that the child does not like to be engaged in (from child's perspective)
• e.g. Being rude to the teachers so that he would be sent out of class and need not attend to a task
• ATTENTION: Hence, the behaviour that the child exhibits to create/ elicit a positive or negative reaction from others (e.g. Teachers, Peers) 
• e.g. clowning around, repeatedly asking question 
• TANGIBLE: To provide access to a desired item/ activity, teh child will do something to create a response
• e.g. Throwing tantrums, time on the mobile phone, crying to get a toy

Step 4: Apply appropriate strategy to correct problem behaviour

Targeted strategies were suggested for each general type of reasons... though not exhaustive:

• SENSORY NEEDS: 
• Replace a behaviour with a more appropriate skills
• Scaffolds seems to be one way to help the child to gradually get phased into action, more importantly, I think it is to let him/ her know that it is manageable and there is really a way to achieve it. 
• ESCAPE: 
• Teach child to ask for a break, if needed
• Offer choices within the work goal
• I also like the reminder that it should not be removing the task totally, which means compromising the learning objective (from the teacher's perspective). Hence, it should not be a win-lose kind of situation.
• ATTENTION: 
• Teach appropriate replacement behaviour or skill (e.g. raise hand, ask for help)
• [IMPORTANT] Ignore inappropriate behaviour; give attention fo appropriate behaviour
• Praise others for demonstrating the appropriate behaviour (proximal praise)
• Quite like this... is not to reject a behaviour directly, but to re-direct attention so that child learns "how" to get the attention he desires in an appropriate way by looking at how others achieve the same intent.
• TANGIBLE:
• Teach communication skills (e..g requesting)
• Teach waiting
• Token economies - e.g. Group point, star chart - something that the child sees himself making progress

On the whole, the module puts together what we know (but sometimes forget to practise) very succinctly. 

• Some strategies (or to-dos) seem generic, but when packed together, they make sense to provide support in a more targeted manner.
• It reminds me of some things that I can do with some of the kids in the class. 
• On the other hand, just thinking aloud:
• It seems more feasible to be applied to students new to the environment (at the start of the year) rather than half way through the year, though possible, but probably requires more effort to undo/ address certain perception that the child might have already created (mindset).

Part of Singapore History, through the lens of Zubir Said

Semoga Bahagia - May you achieve happiness

Playlist

Watched the musical "Don't call him Mr Mari Kita" (online), as part of the National Day celebration by/ for the global Singapore community.

Bought the ticket to the life performance this July; unfortunately it was cancelled as a few of its cast members were infected by Vovid-19.

It's a musical of a very different style... Would not have imagine myself watching one with all songs in Malay yet enjoyed thoroughly. I think, the magic is the "connection" between me & the context presented - It's about Singapore. 

• An interesting discovery: The national anthem was first composed for the reopening of the Victoria Theatre before it was tweaked to be the national anthem. 
• The very familiar songs we learnt in our primary school days - "Singapura", "Chan Mali Chan", "Children's Day song" are composed by Zubir Said; however, this info was never in our memory
• Indeed, the song "Singapura, Sunny Island" was originally a song composed in Malay with heartwarming words that guides. It's a pity that the meaning was lost along the way, in particular, for those of us who do not know the language.

Reflection 6 Polarities of Humanity

This article was introduced in the recent meeting. As mentioned to us, most of us will look inward as we reflect. However, this could also be used to understand others' action or choice; and probably their belief system, too. 

• LINK to article 
• Human KPI: Human Key Polarity Indicator

There are the 6 sets of indicators.... if we look at them carefully, they are important 

Just to pick a few that resonates with me more....

These 6 pairs provide deeper insights to my thoughts and actions; it also gets me to articulate the rationale of my action or choice of action. It certainly also touches my belief, what I hold dearly to. As I reflect, I notice more flashbacks, too.

Looking from SELF (i..e internal), I desire assurance (be given to me), especially when I'm working on something new. Am I on the right track? That's a natural question. I do not wish to detour (i.e. continue to do the wrong and digress further from the goal). It is fine be told that I'm not in the right track, but just tell me as soon as possible, or when I check. The important thing is, I would take the first step to check to seek assurance. That's part of confidence building. Be it from the supervisor or from my peers. Yup, It is about looking up to someone who's more knowledgeable or had the experience. Hm... is it about trying to address the fear of making mistake? Yes, it's one of the reasons. 

Of course, this also means being open to changes and being receptive to feedback and advise. On the other hand, it needs to be moderated, too. Else, it is going to hinder or 'kill' growth when one becomes entirely dependent on others. Being open is necessary for growth. However, that's not enough, discernment and the ability to manage to manage the inputs is important, too. 

Change the role: How about giving assurance to OTHERS? 

Yes, I think that's important especially when an individual is entirely new to the job. This would be helpful to ease someone into the role, especially for someone who's identified to do the work (i.e. not self-volunteer). This is the first step to build confidence, and hopefully being able to give suggestions or make decisions independently after sometime. Agree that this needs to be moderated, too else, two things may happen: 

• It may increase the dependency on us, and may ended up the "tell me I'll do it" situation. Hence, this needs to be managed differently as the individual develops the skills and grows. E.g. when one could fully take over the responsibility, the 'assurance' is no longer needed, but probably only needed to apply when the individual consults.
• For those who are eager to fly and wanted to climb quickly, assurance may not work at all, and they would probably see it as a hindrance. To manage this, we'll need to constantly review the reactions/ responses from these individuals. Nevertheless, monitoring from far is still necessary - to render support when the need arises. Definitely, it cannot be an entirely OPEN situation. 

When I saw this, the immediate experience drawn out was my days in Part as the Computing Teacher to the first two cohorts of the ICT teachers. The context is important here. Reason being I was working with individuals who were enthusiastic but did not know what they did not know was possible or relevant then. My experience back in Singapore had enabled me to seek and create new experiences for them which they might not even thought it was possible. From my perspective, these were not "hope" plucked from the air because I knew that what I proposed were already workable (and happening) back in my home country. But to them, it was hope. I am pleased that I could do this.

Still, I think HOPE comes with "awareness" hence we know, how realistic it is to give hope. What are the chances of success. And yes, I operate on realistic grounds. 

I think, similarly, when I ask someone to dream, I have already done some calculated risk. Definitely, I would have at the same time drawn some parameters for the dreamers. It's not a blank cheque, basically.

(HSSTF) My Thoughts: Chap 1

How Stella Saved the Farm Chapter 1 Three Months Earlier

Something simpler: 

• What advantages do human run farms have over animal run farm like Windsor?
• Why does Marcus believe the farm needs a new kind of leader?

Something more chim: 

• At his last act, Marcus wanted to create change on Windsor Farm. What options other than turning the farm over to Deirdre might he have considered?

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As highlighted in the story, it seems like farms managed by human are more responsive to the changes out there, e.g. it adopts new technology, when it's available. The human world seems to be a "bigger" world compared to the "animal" world (as Marcus described McGillicddy's "giant operation") - hence could harness more resources (due to its size). Comparatively, the animal-managed farm is smaller, giving the impression that it's more enclosed and operated based on limited knowledge, skills and even wisdom. Human-run farms also leverage on size, hence tapping on the advantages that small-size companies do not have. 

On the other hand, McGillicuddy was described treating animals poorly, which illustrated the limited or absence of "humanity" or the welfare, well-being aspect. Was it trying to say, without taking into consideration (or with limited consideration for) the well-being is among the many that constitutes to success of big corporations? 

Marcus described Windsor's approach to run business - a family-run company.  "...but family first has always been our most cherished principle." It highlights one of the strengths (or success factor) in Windsor is about relationship and affection, care aspect. Perhaps at this point, we should Aso 

The farm needs a new kind of leader because...

"Operational excellence" contributed to Windsor's success. However, Marcus had rightly pointed out "efficiency is no longer enough". Though it is still important - there are more to that's needed so that the organisation can keep up with time, keep up with changes, and remain competitive (to survive). 

To do these, creativity, courage and the ability to take the organisation in new directions (i.e. visionary) are  qualities that Marcus highlighted. 

• Creative: To be able to do things differently, probably not just to "do" differently, but also to 'lead' differently - to bring about change, not necessary to 'rock' the boat (I think), but to build on to minimise the turbulence that change could create?
• Courage: To pick up the courage to make the first move, and continue to move despite it might be difficult to move on and sometimes even having to deal with self-doubt
• New Directions (Visionary): To remain relevant when time changes, and at the same time heading towards what we might not even able to imagine???

The journey would definitely be exciting, that it requires perseverance and unweaving belief & trust of the leadership, too.

What would "How Stella Saved the Farm: Prologue" bring?

Thanks to the new school leader, the book "How Stella Saved the Farm" would be introduced as a professional learning materials... very timely... and really hope that it is going to spur the school to the next turning point (of the S curve). 

- I hope that it would re-ignite our passion and excitement and help us to leap far from where we are now

In my humble experience, anxiety, uncertainty and tsunami-like come-and-go action are part of the process as we rise above our status quo. 

Looking back, when the school first started, all of us came from different places. We brought with us our dreams and hopes, and probably somethings that we knew might not be easily attainable through the normal circumstances (i.e. mainstream context). At least, I did. There were things that were difficult to move quickly or tried in "set" contexts - which means introducing changes & new things to rock the status quo. 

One advantage to start a new context was from ground zero, there were no existing proven practices that we would hold tightly (because of its value, or because it had played an important part in our past, when we grew). At the same time, all of us came with our knowledge from the previous contexts that we were ready to value-add or choose to 'try again' - something we thought worked well and might help the new entity to grow? or ideas that we learnt from the past - to be carried differently. More importantly, we all knew that we were embarking a new beginning, and our energy level was hight. Strong visionary leadership was definitely a critical success criteria.

Now, to move on and leapfrog, compared to the beginning, would mean having to manage another element, which could be seen as an obstacle, indeed, sometimes. It's the "baggages" that we have created over these years as we grew to who we are today. It's scary! (Isn't it?) Now, with the established practices and what had proven to be working, and working well... They had brought us to where we are today. They are the ones that others (external) would probably recognise or know who we are because we had done it so well. So, are we going to drop them? What's the price that we would have to pay.

On another note, is there a price to pay if we just continue to hold on to these "baggages" tightly - including our practices? Yes, definitely... 

• we need to maintain our status quo to survive while others are catching up - as others surpass us, we are actually lagging behind as days go by, despite this 'maintenance' of effort. It is not sustainable
• when other move forward, they become responsive to the environment and changes around, and would have picked up the momentum as they move, gathering new knowledge and capabilities as they grow. On the other hand, if we were to remain in the 'maintenance' mode, to what extent are we responding to the new needs and new changes out there? An important question that we need to ask ourselves. However, the dilemma is, how to manage this "change" - the need to keep up with the pace (the change) yet not to lose what we are doing well and recognised for?

From Google Search... Bypass Strategy or Leap Frog strategy is defined as way to surpass or overthrow the superior competition in the business field by usually by engaging in one enormous, determined, ruthless, brilliant leap of mastermind that results in extraordinary growth, profit, and management position....

Hopefully, we could gather enough courage and sharpen our sensing - to move forward yet keeping true to what is uniquely us, uniquely our niche.

After almost 4 years... Hello... I'm back!

Thanks for the recent discussion on crafting KPIs for the strategic objective related to staff professional development. We spoke about the possibility of setting up some form of structure to kickstart/ support teachers to document their learning and reflection. 

eDocumentation was something we piloted implementation last year... while purpose was absolute clear to us, to help students cultivate the habit of reflecting their learning experiences and how they could work on it to improve themselves, not just the subject matter, but their metacognition development. Looking back, it did not occur to me that I had long forgotten how I had benefited from this in the past.... Quite shamefully... I lost the habit that had helped me to grow over these years (though I might not have noticed how much I gained when I was working on it). 

It was lost in the busyness of many many things... probably busyness was the best default excuse. 

As I dug out this blog to show the team that this (i.e.blogging) could be one of the many formats that one could choose to document their learning, I now recalled how much I lost in the past 4 years. 

I have not stopped learning. I have not stopped reflecting my practices (of course, sometimes it was part of the PD sessions)... but I had forgotten to include it in a very intended way as part of my personal growth. 

Something that I should pick up again... and I hope to sustain this effort... 

Activity Strategy: Role and Hashtags

This is one idea generated when attended an activity at the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.

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The idea:
There are 2 sets of materials:

• One stack of cards with different roles
• One set of 'hashtags' that are related to the topic of discussion 

In the activity I participated in, I was told to draw a card, which turned out to be student.
Which means, I was supposed to speak from the students' perspective.

Then I was given a hashtag - supposed to describe today's student in 6 words (from the student's perspective). The hashtag is used, in this case, to collate information.

•  In other words, hashtags come in handy when twitter is the choice-platform. However, we can modify the 'role' of hashtags in this case.

This strategy is probably useful for activities that links 2 areas together (similar to the many-to-many function relationship)

How we can apply this strategy in our practice?
(from the above example)

 It depends on the nature of our task and the scale (i.e. the number of respondents involved)

Strategy 1: To generate ideas from multiple perspectives
The learning activity requires participants' to adopt a role and provide views on one aspect of a broad topic.

• When platform harnesses on hashtags to collate information (e.g. Twitter)
• Task requires respondents to adopt roles to provide perspectives in several aspects of a topic
• Example: To gather perspectives of different stakeholders of students' well-being.
• Stack of cards: Stakeholder's role - Parent, Student, Teacher, School Leader, Board members
• Hashtags: Areas pertaining to Topic - cyber well-being, physical well-being, socio-emotional

Strategy 2: To carry out major revision

• One aspect: The sub-topics
• Another aspect: Examples/ Illustrations
• Example: Mensuration - Study of Shapes and Properties
• Stack of cards: Shapes
• Hashtags: Properties/ Attributes and formulae to calculate area/ volume

Everyone-Can-Create Project: Improving Pronunciation of words

In the institute, one key deliverable of all ADEs is to come up with a project that they would like to work on, that calls for action.

Having been exposed to several of 'new' tools at the various sessions in the past few days, I've scoped it to address an issue that students who are weak in language would face - word pronunciation, which personally I think I would have benefited if technology was available during my school days, ok... that nearly 40 years ago... 😕

The clip below, created using CLIPS, is version 2 of the idea generated (supposed to be posted in a social media with hashtags #ade2018 #EveryoneCanCreate #AppleEDUchat.

Version 2 has been refined. Below is probably the closer-to-final version of proposed idea.

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Background

Language is a means to communicate and make connections. Being able to speak and express one's idea clearly is important.

In the language curriculum, one of the many desired outcomes for language learning is students being able to use language to express themselves clearly and effectively. In particular, pronunciation plays a fundamental role. Through my own experience, the confidence and fluency to express one's ideas affects one's confidence and ability to articulate words clearly. OK, I guess that explains why I prefer to write than speak in English language most of the time 😔

What's up?

So, what did I find at the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute that could probably be helpful to address the 'area of concern' described above? To sharpen the area of focus: How can students use simple technology to acquire good pronunciation (over time)?

Well, I can think of at least 2 tools, but after one round of discussion (this morning), I think I can further incorporate another tool to make the entire experience a complete one.

Through this process, the proposed approach, apart from achieving skill acquisition, aims to impact learners to become

• During the Process: Self-directed learners (who will leverage technology to check on own's learning progress)
• End Product: Confidence speakers (as they practise in a safe environment with the computer giving non-bias feedback; and they can work at their own pace)

The Approach

Note: The device used in this context is the iPad

1. Listen to Learn
Listening is an important skill. It's also through listening that we acquire new knowledge.
The new knowledge, in this context, is correct pronunciation of words. 

Technology: "Text-to-Speech" tool to read text/ words
Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech

Activate #1:
When text is selected, a "Speak" button will appear when you select text.
Tap on the "Speak" button - the computer will read the selected text.

Students can listen to how the words are read to learn how to read them.
The text selection works as long as at least one word is selected.


Activate #2:
For the computer to read the entire page, use 2 fingers to swipe down from the top of the screen, the following will appear:

The speed of speech can be adjusted by tapping on the two buttons (shown above).

The above will enable the device to read the text (be it one word or more) clearly to the learner.


2. Speak to Practise

Practising speaking with technology is not new.

• For instance, we can use Quicktime Player or iMovie, or even just a simple sound recorder to record our reading (voice); then play back to listen. 
• However, feedback is given only after it's heard by the teacher (who is the 'expert' to correct our pronunciation). In a language class, practice is necessary to get into how a word should be pronounced. After practising many times reading a word in the wrong way, the error becomes a 'habitual' way of saying, which will be difficult to change.

Is there a way that technology can help us to point out the errors - in a simple way that learners can manage themselves, hence promote self-directed learning & self-evaluation?

Technology: Clips

This apps that runs in iOS devices (i.e. iPad, iPhone) provides a simple way to do the job!

It's easy to use - as it offers very few options to enhance the product.
In this way, students will focus on the task rather than spending time to work on the ascetically part.

OK, if we want something to be really professionally done - Clips will not fit the bill.
However, it marries useful features from several apps!

Here are some of them

• It can 'stitch' images and videos together - though it looked abrupt at the 'cross over'. Well, who cares if ascetic is not the key, but the content
• It can record video at a press of the button
• The most important feature: It has the '"live text" feature that translates speech to text which makes it the key reason why Clips is relevant here.
• Language - we can set it to Singapore English! (I think that's what I liked most)
• Other feature that is irrelevant to this context but useful is: "screen/ display time" of each image/ video can be 'trimmed' - can be used to lengthen or shorten the duration

With this, students can record and review their own recording - to check for accuracy (which can be done with the "Text-to-Speech" tool (in #1) - which promotes self-review and monitoring of own learning.




3. Converse to Consolidate

Last but not least... practise conversation with Siri

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Version 2 of my thoughts... before I complete it with the consolidation stage... 
- my very first masterpiece created using "CLIPS" 



My Experience with CLIPS...
It was a bit of struggle at the start, when I was trying to figure out how to add 'sections' without losing what's created. In addition, also need to take note of the sequence of animation. It took me more than an hour to complete this clip, which, I am now more confident to say that the time taken should be halved. Other than that, the editing is really easy - just need to take note that "trim" does not just limit to "reducing" the length; but also includes extending the duration of display.

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Implementation

We will need to look into Teachers and Students' readiness

• Teachers - a short introduction on how to use the recording feature would be helpful so that they can demonstrate and guide students who will benefit from this approach - to address pronunciation issue
• Students - selected students to be given reading materials for practice, and to submit their evidences of learning at the end of each practice - their best piece of work.

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Removing Distraction from Text-heavy Webpages

This is one of the takeaways from the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.

Though it's not the first time I come to know about the feature... Well, one may not appreciate the feature until one really needs it...  (needs-driven)
OK, I start to appreciate this feature in the recent months - it is very handy when now I need to read with reading glasses!

Note: The following applies to internet browser - Safari (in both Macbook and iPad)
The feature automatically appears in text-heavy webpages.

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When we load webpages in Safari, how often do we notice changes to small icons at the address bar (i.e. where the URL is)? 

Look out for the following: (see the red box on the left of the URL?

Click at this button.
Images (in particular, the advertisements) will not longer be displayed.

This is how it will look like:
Well, the image (illustration) that comes with the original posting remains.

All irrelevant distractions are removed!
This is definitely useful when we prepare resources for teaching and learning :)

In addition, once this mode is activated, more features are available - look! the button on the right of the URL provides two useful options 

• Resizing of text - yes! text can be enlarged!
• Changing the colour of the background. This will definitely reduce the glare that the eyes have to tolerate when we view the text in the dark!

Needless to say, the resizing of text can come in very useful to students who probably needs to read lots of text-heavy pages when doing research online. With this,  they need not strain their eyes to read narrow lines of text.

Let the Device does the Talking

This is one of the takeaways from the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.
One of the workshops discussed the use of tools developed for greater accessibility (for those who have physical challenges). Some ideas triggered how we could use this tools for Teaching & Learning in a normal classroom, too.

The following tool was created to support the community with visual disability.

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Instead of reading with our 'eyes', we can use of the Speech tool in iOS to "read" the words to us. This is in particular helpful to those of us who have no time to 'read' with our eye (as we need to be engaged in other work) s but to listen to the text. Ops! Isn't it the concept of audio-book; however, now it's applicable to any text in a webpage?

The feature can be activated through SETTINGS > General > Accessibility > Speech > Speak Selection (where a Speak button will appear when we select text)

Bring it into the classroom

Who will benefit from it most? 
How can we bring this feature to benefit learners in the classroom?

• Auditory learners, definitely!
• Those who are learning pronunciation of new words

Instead of having the eyes to 'crawl' through lines of text,we can now use the feature to read out the text loud and clear to us. This matches the learning style of the auditory learners! 

Given the option to change to speaking rate, we can slow down the speed so that one could listen to how the word is pronounced more clearly when learning the new word. Well, for non-native speakers of English Language, this is in particular useful when we need a slightly longer time to digest what's said.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6StvZVqyY&feature=youtu.be