Collaboration With School Personnel

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Learning Goal

I can reflect on strategies to implement with school personnel collaboration.

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Recap: We have discussed a strategies teachers can implement to support behavior management in their classroom. However, with frequent and unsafe behaviors, it can be beneficial to partner with school personnel for support.

Who do we look to for this support?

Other teachers
School Administrators
Counselors
Psychologist

If your school has any of these individuals available, they should be equipped with strategies to continuously help you support your students.

Explain

School support staff are important players in creating a structured learning environment students can thrive in. They support relationship building and encourage family involvement. So how do we pair with them to find assistance?

Not every teacher feels support for their support staff, and this can make it hard for them to seek additional help. However, on a professional level, everyone is required to develop a plan that is in a student´s best interest. Strong collaboration skills need time to develop. Different professions can have different ideologies. Different people can have different response methods. It is not a debate on who is right or who is wrong. When collaborating with school support staff, it

Strategies for collaboration with school support staff:

Develop and maintain an open mind.
- It is important to understand that there may be a difference of opinion on how to manage a behavior. When you are asking for assistance, it is usually because you do not know interventions to implement, or you have tried some, and they did not work. Someone else may have an opinion that is different that yours, and it may work for the child´s benefit. That is our goal, anyway. So, try to remain open minded and ready to hear different ideas.
Create shared goals
- It is important to develop a shared vision in order to create goals a child can reach. By being on the same page, there is support surrounding the overall purpose in intervention.
Develop a sense of community.
- The same way it is important to create a shared vision, it is also important to develop a sense of community. When students see others collaborate, it lets them know that they have expectations with a variety of personnel. This sense of community also requires trust among colleagues. You have to trust the person you are planning with as well as their ideas.
Identify group norms.
- We can all agree that sometimes collaboration is scary or uncomfortable, especially if we are new. However, identifying group norms supports the development of a safe environment. This can look like defining roles or responsibilities, so no one ever steps. It can also look like setting boundaries or being clear on the exact problem you are looking for assistance on.
Work through conflict.
- Conversations that are based around professionalism are crucial when working through conflict. As stated before, there are many occasions where professionals have different opinions. Being open minded and using dialogue can provide opportunities to

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Your task: Self - Reflect on your experience or mentality when it comes to collaborating with school support staff. Provide answers on typeform.

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References

minute, teaching. (2012, May 4). Teachingminute: Positive reinforcements. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ml1tih5zSY

Epstein, M. H. (2008). Reducing behavior problems in the elementary school classroom. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Dept. of Education.
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YouTube. (2014, September 16). How can behavioral support staff collaborate with General Education Teachers to support students?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG7Wb8u6rTI
School Support Staff. School Support Staff | National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE). (n.d.). https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/training-technical-assistance/roles/school-support-staff
Support, A. (2020, June 4). Building teacher collaboration school-wide. AMLE. https://www.amle.org/building-teacher-collaboration-school-wide/