META TAG

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Team Teaching and Behavior Management


I LOVE teaching! For as long as I can remember, I have been teaching using an inclusion model.  Inclusion is different from mainstreaming.  Mainstreaming is the practice of gradually moving special needs students into the regular education settings. They may be included in art, music, physical education classes, as well as academic subjects in which they function best.  On the other hand, in inclusive settings, all special education students remain in the regular classroom for the entire day and are taught by the regular education teacher with support from a special education teacher.

I LOVE team teaching! Team teaching means that teachers gain partners to share everyday responsibilities.  Team members need to agree on the philosophy and structure of their program, and this continues to evolve over time. In inclusive setting they should agree that all students learn differently and have different needs. They must trust each other as professionals and commit to fulfilling their separate responsibilities. Team teachers in inclusive classrooms must be open to using a variety of teaching methods and agree on behavior management techniques. This way teachers are available to help all students, so everyone benefits. 

As I said before, I love teaching.  I must say that I LOVE team teaching even more.  It affords me the time to work with 1 or 2 students, and similarly my teacher partner is able to do the same.  (I just wish she were with me for a longer period of time.) 

Benefits of Team Teaching
1.One teacher delivers the lesson while the other is free to circulate around the classroom, checking students to be sure that they are on task and understand what to do.
2.Teachers can present lessons in areas of their greatest skill and interest.
3.One teacher is always available to do small group or individual instruction with students who need to have skills retaught or reinforced.  The other teacher continues to teach the rest of the class.
4.Students questions can be answered more efficiently, be back in be provided immediately, and positive reinforcement can be given more frequently.
5.One teacher can administer an oral test while the other gives the written version.

Behavior Management
Including students who have  inappropriate behaviors may be a challenging task for you as a regular classroom teacher.  As an effective teacher, you must manage the surface behaviors while designing strategies that focus on discovering the underlying reasons for these behaviors. You and your team teaching partner can work together to figure out Why these behaviors are occurring. It is important to help students with work through their problems. The goal is to teach students self control and help them make choices that are appropriate. I recommend documenting your behavior management techniques with anecdotal records so that you will know what is most effective with your students. It doesn't need to be an entire page, or even a paragraph. All you need is to keep a log with the date and time an inappropriate behavior occurred, in 2 or 3 sentences saying what the behavior was, what you did to deescalate it, and did your strategy work.  I keep my records in a spiral notebook – nothing fancy.  J

Behavior Management Strategies
Here are some suggestions for managing behavior problems. Some of these our strategies that I have used with my own students over the years, while others are strategies that my colleagues have used. Choose strategies that are appropriate for use in your classroom and that you are comfortable with using.

1.Keep classroom rules as simple as possible. Post the rules in plain view. Be sure that consequences are easy to enforce and clearly understood. Be fair but consistent with discipline. 
2.Get students’ attention before giving instruction. Have students repeat your instructions to be sure they are understood.
3.Keep a reliable daily routine. Post a written schedule each day and follow it. Students will feel more comfortable if they are able to predict what will happen in their environment.
4.Tell students ahead of time what is going to happen before changing activities . allow time for them to make the change.
5.Break each last period into short work statements whenever possible. Permit movement and noise within acceptable limits.
6.Allow students to run errands or do active classroom chores.
7.Use point charts for students to keep track of the academic tasks that they complete.
8.Seat students away from distractions such as windows, pencil sharpeners, thanks, doors the hallways or bathrooms, and talkative friends. (I realize this is much easier said than done.)
9.Assign “buddies” or “peer tutors” who can answer questions or provide help if you are busy with other students.
10.Praise good behavior frequently. Be specific by pointing out the behaviors that are appropriate. For example, you could say, “Thank you for raising your hand to ask a question.”

I cannot say enough about praising good behavior. It is the cornerstone of my behavior management system. I pass out tickets during the day for on task behaviors, when students are participating, for raising their hands, really for any positive behavior that I want to see become routine.  Click on the link below the photo to get a copy of the tickets I use in my classroom for free!

During the first two to three months of school, the teacher I team teach with and I pass out a minimum of twenty tickets per day.  (It is imperative that if you use this strategy, that BOTH of you are passing out the tickets.) What do they do with those tickets? I tell them why they are receiving the ticket – they write their name on the ticket and why they earned it (not in a sentence, just a few words), and then put it into a basket.  At the end of the day, I pull 3 tickets and those students get to choose a little prize.  (During my explanation of tickets in the beginning of the year, I teach about probability.)  The prizes are all things that I have bought at the Dollar Store, Target Dollar Spot, or clearance racks.  Prizes range from stickers to pencils to activity books.  Super inexpensive, but highly effective.

During the first month of school I pull three tickets per day.  Yes that is three students per day receiving a prize.  But I pull away from daily to 2 to 3 times per week…. Then by November I am pulling tickets once a week.  Students still earn tickets, they still have an opportunity for prizes, but you shouldn’t be passing out as many tickets for the same things as at the beginning of the year because the appropriate behaviors have been reinforced so often it is almost second nature for your students.

Do you team teach in your school?  What works for you and your colleagues?  Please leave a comment below and share.

Enjoy the rest of your year!  

No comments:

Post a Comment