Ideas for Teaching Expectations

Stations

• Schedule of rotation for each class to go through each station (typically non-classroom settings: hallway, cafeteria, playground, bathroom, library, etc.)

Considerations

• Who presents content at each station? (ideally the people working in that environment ~ i.e. cafeteria workers/paras in cafeteria, custodian/admin in hallways and/or bathrooms, librarian in the library, etc.)
• Schedule should be made to help rotations run smoothly
• Document plan to use and/or adjust for future use
• What is the plan for students who start after the teaching rotation occurs?

Benefits

• Empowers staff members in each area to “own” the teaching
• Allows all staff members to model respect towards one another in front of students
• Ensures consistency of language in each area
• Provides an opportunity for students to practice the expected skill and receive acknowledgement
• Ensures accountability (most students and staff participated)
• Teaching schedule can be used several times throughout the year and/or videoed for future use

Challenges

• Can be time-consuming

Focus of the Week

• A pre-determined focus of the week (expectation or area) is taught to students by classroom teachers

Considerations

• How and when are expectations to be taught? (i.e. lesson plans for each expectation/area, every Monday at 2:45 p.m., etc.)
• How is consistency encouraged?
• Who is responsible for getting staff lesson plans and/or materials?

Benefits

• Less direct teaching time
• Can be driven by needs in the building (i.e. playground/safe behavior)
• Can be incorporated into academic lessons (i.e. writing prompts, etc.)
• Can drive specific acknowledgements for the week (i.e. giving out tickets for hallway behavior only)
• On-going to catch students who have entered late (and remind students who have been there)

Challenges

• More time overall (i.e. over several weeks vs. one-shot)
• Consistency of teaching amongst staff members might be limited
• Less accountability (how do we know staff is doing it? How do we know staff is reviewing expectations in the setting?)
• More pre-work to be completed (i.e. creating lesson plans, etc.)

Individual Lessons by Classroom Teacher

- Expectation lessons are determined and taught by classroom teacher

Considerations

• Has staff bought in to PBS and teaching of behavior? Do they feel it is their role or someone else’s?
• Is staff knowledgeable enough about the teaching matrix, etc. to feel comfortable teaching the expectations?
• Who is responsible for getting staff lesson plans and/or materials?

Benefits

• Less direct teaching time
• Can be incorporated into academic lessons (i.e. writing prompts, etc.)

Challenges

• Consistency of teaching and language amongst staff members extremely limited
• Less accountability (how do we know staff is doing it? How do we know staff is reviewing the expectations in the setting?)
• Easy to get caught up in academic content and “forget” about teaching expectations