By Chumi Millman, M.S., CCC-SLP, SHEMESH Special Education and Support Consultant

So many preschool teachers I meet want to know why I so highly recommend using a visual schedule.  There are so many reasons and you can check out some for yourself here.

Also, I find that visual schedules so effectively incorporate my top 3 Principles of Behavior Management.  Curious what these principles are?  I think you’ll be surprised…

Principle 1: Be Proactive.  Ensure students’ success through thoughtful, preventive action

Principle 2: Use Action.  Increase alertness, interest, and compliance through using common active classroom techniques like proximity control, multi-sensory instruction, modeling, and sandwiching high and low energy activities.

Principle 3: Less is Always More.  Use embedded first/then incentives, gestures, visual cues, and proximity to support compliance.  The less the teacher talks, the better!

If you look closely, you’ll see that these principles are less about managing misbehavior and more about supporting the right behavior from the start.

Quick Thought Exercise– Take a minute to think about how you envision a well-managed classroom to look and sound… What words come to mind when thinking about the hallmarks of a well-managed a classroom?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Maybe you thought about words like…

-quiet

-purposeful

-focused

-responsive

-compliant

-respectful

-prepared

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Consider maintaining that kind of classroom over several hours with 10+ students per adult.  That’s a lot to hold together for hours at a time.

Now, think about transitions.  If you ask me, transitions are a key opportunity for things to fall apart.  Students are moving, they’re not engaged in a given activity per se, teachers may be distracted, students may need to leave teacher proximity to get a coat or lunch, etc.

Which is why smooth transitions, in my opinion, are the hallmark of a well-managed classroom.  Transitions speak volumes about the way a classroom functions.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where you’ll learn more about visual schedules and how to use the 3 principles in conjunction with them…

Happy Chanukah!

Chumi