On April 24, Chenango Valley Special Education Director Tara Williams Whittaker and Director of Curriculum Tamara Ivan led a "Warrior Learners" workshop for Chenango Valley teachers and teaching assistants on “Supporting Behavior in the School and Classroom."
The workshop referenced the document “Supporting and Responding to Behavior: Evidence-Based Classroom Strategies for Teachers” and discussed topics such as objectives to support and respond to behaviors positively and proactively. Teachers were also asked to take a self-assessment to answer some questions on key strategies they may or may not have been using.
Additional topics of conversation included setting
foundations (including the importance of classroom management, effective
classroom design, and routine), prevention techniques (such as active
supervision, behavior-specific praise, and prompts), and response techniques
(including maintaining instructional time, preempting escalation, and
minimizing an inadvertent reward of problem behavior).
During the workshop, Mrs. Ivan and Mrs. Whittaker asked attendees to keep in mind ideas including that behavior should not be taken personally, the benefits of acknowledging positive behavior, and the advantages of working on changes that can help to prevent a behavior from occurring.
There was also time allocated for teachers to ask questions and share input of strategies that currently work best for them in addressing behavior in their classrooms.
This workshop was part of a series of professional development "Warrior Learners" workshops. Past "Warrior Learners" workshops: