Education – Kimberly L. Winters

The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Framework

Educator Kimberly L. Winters has a BA in English and an MA in teaching: secondary education from James Madison University. She has been working as an English teacher for the last several years. Kimberly L. Winters is also a Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) team member, and in this capacity has created and taught lessons about positive behavior protocols.

PBIS is about impacting student behavior by changing the system. For students, the goal is to improve both academic and social performance. For educators, the objective is to reduce disciplinary issues as well as increasing teaching effectiveness.

PBIS seeks to accomplish its goals through a three-tiered framework.

The first tier is called universal prevention. In this tier expected behaviors are communicated and encouraged, problem behaviors are discouraged, and school-family cooperation is fostered. Specific activities under this tier include regular leadership team meetings and data-led decision-making.

Tier 2 is called targeted support, and is for students for which tier 1 level is insufficient. This tier includes adult supervision for the students through an intervention team. It also encompasses the use of behavioral expertise and access to technical assistance and training.

The final tier is tier 3, and it is called intensive, individualized prevention. This level of intervention is for students who need even more support than can be found in tier 2. Students who come under tier 3 typically comprise 1-5 percent of the student population. Under tier 3, students experience wraparound support practices from a multi-disciplinary team that assesses each student’s challenges and creates a tailored support plan.

The Popularity of National Parks in America

Kimberly L. Winters received her master of science in education from James Madison University, graduating magna cum laude in 2010. She has served the Virginia School System as an educator for more than 4 years, with an emphasis on reading. When she is not teaching, Kimberly L. Winters enjoys traveling, including trips to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.

Located in Utah, Zion National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the United States. In 2019, parks received about 327.5 million recreational visitors. Zion was one of 11 parks to see more than 5 million visitors over the course of the year.

Of the 62 parks with the “national park” designation in 2019, Zion ranked as the fourth most visited, trailing only Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, and Rocky Mountain National Park, while surpassing popular parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone. Zion, perhaps best known for its extensive hiking and canyoneering routes, welcomed approximately 4.5 million recreational visitors.

Total park visitors were up from 2018, and park attendance has been on a long-term upward trend, increasing by about 122 million annual visitors over the last four decades. Great Smoky Mountains is the single most popular national park in America, with 12.5 million visitors in 2019, though the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Blue Ridge Parkway both received about 15 million visitors for the year.

Differences Between Project-Based Learning and “Dessert Projects.”

The recipient of a master’s degree in education from James Madison University, Kimberly L. Winters counts over five years of experience as an educator. As an English teacher, Kimberly L. Winters is responsible for preparing and implementing differentiated lesson plans. She also holds certification in Project-Based Learning (PBL).

A dynamic teaching method, the PBL approach engages students in the creation and development of personally meaningful projects and exploration of real-world challenges.

There are some differences between PBL and regular school projects (often called “dessert” projects). The latter are typically done at the end of a unit or series of traditional classes. They happen after the delivery of content (main course), through readings, teacher-focused lectures, and worksheets.

In PBL, students work on a project over an extended period, which allows them to demonstrate their skills and knowledge while developing a final product, such as a presentation to a real audience, for instance. With PBL, students collaborate and develop critical thinking, while the instruction is integrated into the project, making it the unit by itself.