Supporting teachers in problem solving and planning for challenging behaviours in the classroom can be a very difficult task as each teacher comes with a different background, experience level, teaching philosophy, and personality. School administrators and support teachers can have ideas, materials, and plans, but they would do well to consider the main players. Typically time is spent collecting data to understand the function of challenging behaviour and determining the antecedants or triggers to a behaviour. The classroom environment, curriculum delivery, and classroom management style may be attributed indirectly to the teacher, but these meetings can be very child-centered.
Because there are so many differences at the table, I wonder if acknowledging or establishing the commonalities will set the stage for innovative behaviour planning. In reading my colleague, Jessica Manson's blogpost on cultivating a space in her post-secodary classroom that would foster risk-taking and creativity, I was reminded of the importance of establishing connection (https://jmpme811.blogspot.com: Week 3, Entry 6). She shares something personal at the beginning of her class to build connection and community. I thought of Indigenous introductions and land acknowledgements, and, when done authentically, this can connect the speaker to the audience or listener. School-based team meetings typically begin with individuals introducing themselves by name and their role in the school or workplace; this may be skipped if parents are not in attendance and everyone at the table is familiar with the other. However a land acknowledgement, besides paying respect to unceded territories of Indigenous people, also can connect the speaker to place, which also in turn can establish a connection to the listener.
In their blog, Khelsilem (2015) writes about being more meaningful and authentic with acknowledgements: "If you’re acknowledging the territory you are on, and you agree it’s unceded or dispossessed territory, then perhaps include a centreing of yourself on what it means to be living on unceded or dispossessed territory and perhaps on how you are actively working for redress or restitution"(Khelsilem’s Tips for Acknowledging Territory 1.0)
Perhaps one way to start a meeting might be to introduce self and include intention as a team member. Sharing something personal and attempting to provide some kind of connection will likely put the parent and teacher at ease and create the enironment for creating and planning.
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