Was I Paying Attention?
• Listening to the teacher
• Doing my work
• In my seat
Yes No
FIGURE 6.3. Example of a self-recording sheet.
From Robert Reid and Torri Ortiz Lienemann (2006). Copyright by The Guilford Press. Permission to photocopy this figure is granted to purchasers of this book for personal use only (see copyright page for details).
“OK, Steve, now it’s your turn to practice. Let’s do some spelling practice. Do it just like you normally would. Remember to listen for the beeps. When you hear the beep ask yourself, ‘Was I paying attention?’ and mark your sheet.
Let’s try it.”
Mrs. Barrett starts the tape and lets Steve use the procedure for two or three minutes to make sure he can do it properly. Finally, she establishes when and where the self-monitoring procedures will be used.
“Now, Steve, tomorrow when you do your spelling work we will use the beeps to help you pay attention and do your work better. We will do it just like we practiced today.”
Step 5: Independent Performance
The next day, she gives Steve the self-monitoring sheet, then gives him a brief reminder.
“OK, Steve, remember to listen to the beeps. Every time you hear a beep ask yourself, ‘Was I paying attention?’ and mark your sheet.”
Now she starts the tape. The first few times it’s a good idea to monitor students unob-trusively to make sure that they are properly following procedures. Most students have no trouble mastering these procedures. Total time to train the student in procedures should be less than half an hour.
Step 6: Evaluation
To evaluate the effects of SMA Mrs. Barrett repeats the procedure used to collect base-line data. She counts the number of times that Steve gets up from his seat and graphs the daily results. Typically there will be a marked improvement in behavior very quickly.
Example 2: Self-Monitoring of Performance
Self-monitoring of performance (SMP) is an excellent intervention for children who need to improve the rate at which they work or have problems finishing work. It is especially useful for drill-and-practice or seatwork situations when building fluency is important. SMP typically uses graphs for self-recording. The graphs provide visual feedback on performance and can be quite motivating. For this example we use another hypothetical student, Karen, to see how self-monitoring of performance could be used with spelling. Karen hates spelling; she’d much rather think about riding her horse.
During the time when she is to practice spelling she does very little practicing, which in turn means that her scores on the weekly spelling tests are poor. Her teacher, Mr. Gra-ham, decides to use SMP along with a simple spelling practice strategy (the Fitzgerald method) to help improve her spelling. Note that self-monitoring will not in and of itself
create new skills or knowledge. However, increasing the amount a child practices can help improve fluency or retention. Here’s how training would look.
Step 1: Defining the Target Behavior
The target behavior here is the number of spelling practices. Each word written out cor-rectly counts as one practice.
Step 2: Collecting Baseline Data
To collect baseline data, Mr. Graham collects Karen’s spelling practice work for three days. Each day Mr. Graham counts up the number of practices and graphs the number.
Step 3: Obtaining Willing Cooperation Mr. Graham sets up a conference with Karen.
“Karen, I want to talk to you about your spelling. I know that you don’t like spelling and that you’ve had some problems on your spelling tests. On your last report card your grade was a D and I know you didn’t like that. I think that one problem is that you need to practice your words more so that you can remember your words. You know that old saying ‘Practice makes perfect.’
Well, it’s true for spelling. I know a way to help you practice more. I used it with Bobby last year and now he does much better on spelling tests. Plus it helps in your writing class. It’s a lot easier to write when you can spell the words. I’d like you to try it for two weeks and see if it helps. How about it?”
After Karen agrees he explains the procedures.
Step 4: Instruction in Self-Monitoring Procedures
Here is how instruction in procedures might look. Note that because the target behavior—spelling practices—is familiar to Karen, Mr. Graham doesn’t need to discuss or define it.
“OK, Karen, we’ll use our regular spelling list. You will practice the words for 10 minutes a day. On Friday you’ll take the test just like we always do. Now, the first thing we’re going to do is to show you a good way to study your words. Here’s how we’ll do it. First, you look at the word and say the word.
Then you cover the word with your finger and practice writing it three times.
After you write it, you check to see if you spelled it correctly. That’s important because you don’t want to practice a wrong spelling. If you got it right, then you can go on to the next word. Now let me show you how you’ll do it.
[Models and verbalizes the steps.] Your turn. Show me how you’ll do your practice. Tell me what you do at each step. [Karen models and verbalizes the
steps correctly.] You’ll keep doing this for the whole 10 minutes. If you get to the end of the list, then you can go back and practice any hard words or just start at the beginning of the list.
“We’ll set a timer for 10 minutes so you’ll know how long to practice.
When the timer goes off you need to check to see how many practices you did.
To help you see how much you’ve practiced, we’ll use this graph [shown in Figure 6.4]. What you do is count up the number of practices and then put them on this graph. [Lets the student examine the graph briefly.] Now let’s practice what you’ll do. Here’s your spelling list. I’ll set the timer for 3 min-utes. Remember to look at the word, say the word, cover the word, and copy it three times. Ready? OK, let’s go.”
He starts the timer. After 3 minutes he cues Karen to count up the number of practices and graph them.
“Good job, Karen. Now tomorrow we’ll start doing this for real. Would you like to decorate your graph now? Maybe you could draw a horse and see how high it could jump? The bars on the graph could be like fences that the horse could jump over.”
Letting the student personalize the graph helps with ownership and makes the process more enjoyable.
Step 5: Independent Performance
Before starting self-monitoring, it’s a good idea to briefly review the procedures. Mr.
Graham reminds Karen how to practice and to count up and graph her words at the end of 10 minutes. After Karen graphs her words he checks to see that she is counting and graphing correctly.
Step 6: Evaluation
To evaluate the effects of SMP, Mr. Graham compares the graphs that Karen made to the baseline data. This technique can be very helpful at increasing effective practices and improving weekly spelling test scores. We used it with one class and raised the average score on weekly spelling tests to 100%.