Today’s blog post is a guest post written by Kaylan Long of Caffeinated Behavior Change. She is a school district behavior specialist and BCBA who supports classroom teachers and students in special education. She shares all about the what and why of staff training in a Special Ed Class.
Continue reading “The What and Why of Staff Training in a Special Ed Class”Tag: special education teacher
Welcome to the first post in a new series I have dubbed, ABA in the classroom. My goal is to share some ABA concepts and knowledge with you as well as how you can implement these strategies in your classroom. I hear so often from teachers that they aren’t allowed to use ABA and that blows my mind! We use so many ABA concepts every day without even realizing it. There are many many districts and staff that think discrete trials at the table are the only way to use ABA and that simply isn’t true. So here is your first post on ABA in the Classroom: Chaining.
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Mrs. Smith has a student that has started displaying behaviors that disrupt the classroom. She has tried a myriad of different strategies and nothing seems to help! Sound familiar? I think we’ve all been there before. I get contacted fairly regularly on my Instagram account by teachers just like this. Unfortunately, I can’t give specific suggestions or strategies to try because I’m not a provider for their student and I don’t have data to guide decision making. It’s often hard for me to help in these situations even though I want to so badly! I always attempt to share guidance on what they can do to create an effective plan for their students. A blog post that any teacher struggling with behavior can reference back to seemed a great way to help share this information. So where do we start when creating an effective behavior support plan?
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Summer means warm weather, pools, beaches, time off, oh yah…. and Extended School Year. This year, I decided to work Extended School Year and at the time of this blog post, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. My district decided to take a cautious approach and we engaged in virtual learning. I truly believe that virtual learning is here to stay for awhile so we might as well make the most of it! I’ll share what ESY looks like for our district and then share some resources that I plan to use. Most are still FREE at the time of this post but a few will be paid resources. I won’t be updating this when those free resources become paid again so do your research.
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Collaboration… that’s a pretty tricky topic that can be difficult for so many teachers (special education and general education teachers alike). While they are few and far between, there are some teachers out there that think they know it all, and you best not be telling them what to do (and they typically do NOT know all). That can be so so hard. As a behavior teacher, I was not only responsible for my self-contained students, but I also served as a resource teacher, social skills teacher, and case manager for students with behavior plans in general education. It was a fairly unique role, but it allowed me the opportunity to collaborate with so many teachers, aides, administrators, and related service providers. So here are my top tips for collaborating with general education teachers and related service providers.
As a general note, I refer to teachers throughout these tips but it really applies to any staff member you might need to collaborate with.
Continue reading “Creating a Collaborative Atmosphere with Gen Ed Teachers”We’ve all heard the horror stories of teachers being driven out of their classrooms and out of the education field because of student behavior! It seems like these stories are popping up across social media more and more these days and it can be so scary as a new teacher. While I don’t have a perfect solution or a one size fits all approach, I have found that a systematic and structured approach to classroom management can make sure that you avoid a classroom that looks like this…. Yikes right?!?!
If you work in special education, chances are that you have at least been a witness to a major behavior incident or even been part of a school wide crisis team. This is the part of our job that no one wants to talk about, but it is extremely important that we do. We shouldn’t shy away from the difficult conversations because they are uncomfortable. I’ve even heard teachers complain about administrators or parents who ask “Is there anything that could’ve been done differently?” And honestly… I hated that too for so so long! I wanted to shout “NO!” because I took it as them questioning my ability to do my job rather than asking me to reflect on the situation for the next time.
Reflection on one’s teaching practices is the hallmark of any good teacher. It shouldn’t begin and end with lesson plans. We should be extending this to all areas of our teaching craft because lets face it, the actual teaching method is such a small portion of what we do. When I really started to think about it, I realized that these were not judgmental questions. How else are we to change our approach if things are not working well unless we incorporate reflection into our process? In 2018, I began asking myself 4 questions after each event and it has transformed my approach to behavior incidents and the aftermath.
Continue reading “4 Questions to Ask Yourself After Every Student Crisis”
We all have those days right? Those days where nothing goes right in the classroom and we have to scrap the plans to manage behavior or because our students don’t have the skills needed to continue on. Those days where you go home and want to crawl in bed and never come back out. Am I alone in this? I hope and pray that those days are far and few between. I know especially now in the COVID era of teaching it can be so hard to maintain a positive attitude. If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, unhappy, or extremely stressed, it might be time to revamp your self-care routine.
Self-care has been something I’ve had to really work at over the past few years. I struggle with mental health disorders that can often be made worse when I am not partaking in self care strategies. I am by no means perfect, but I have come to realize these strategies are useful in helping to prevent burn out.
Continue reading “10 Tips for Taking Care of You”