Weeks 8 & 9

Weeks 8 & 9

I finished my Best Practices presentation this week which was a pretty frustrating and stressful project. It was my first time ever using power point, so as you can imagine it took me awhile to figure out the program on my own. I also was on a family vacation. And if anyone other than Dr. Jones is reading this, be forewarned. Never take homework with you on vacation. You cannot relax. All you have in the back of your mind is that you should be doing your project and not having fun at the beach. Or whatever pleasant place you might be. Though in the end, after I finished the project I was happy to have learned a new skill set. And I will definitely be using power point presentations when I am presenting as a BCBA.

The two last online tutorials were very interesting and helpful as I am learning about implementing ITUs. In regards to planning day-to-day activities, the tutorial showed me how I can organize all the thoughts and notes I have written on the subject I will be teaching on, and how I can write a plan to apply them. The video demonstrations were also helpful as I got to hear teachers experiences with ITUs and how they used them to further the learning of their students. I always like hearing topics I'm learning about from the professionals who are using those techniques. It seems that I learn much more by watching video. With the advent of Youtube and other websites of that nature, I can just about search any topic and have access to so much knowledge. Regarding the videos, I was particularly affected by the story of the teacher who was doing a thematic unit on snow. I really liked the idea of having students put things in a data bin and from there the teacher would form their lesson from the students questions about what was in the bin. That example really showed me how we can take the inquiry of the students and use it to teach. This example will be something I will definitely use for students I will be working with in the future as I help behaviorists try and teach new behaviors to their clients.