Communication

Teachers talk about the importance of communication all of the time, though most of the conversation is around home-school communication. When you have a room full of staff members, keeping in contact with one another and sharing information is important. I’ve found that keeping important information at our fingertips help both assistants and students succeed. Here are three ways to improve communication.

Radios

I had to advocate for these, but WOW are they worth it! Each staff member in a high-support classroom (behavior, life skills, autism, etc) has a radio. This gives a direct line of communication to other staff members no matter where they are in the school building. If a staff member needs support, they can just call on the radio. Help will be on the way in a matter of minutes.

A few bonuses of using radios:

• Our office told us that our schedule was hard to follow and we were always all over the building, so I got the office a radio to use so they could call us when they needed us.
• We use a different frequency than the building radios, so we stay off the main feed.
• We can keep our cell phones put away. My staff is amazing about not using cell phones, but when they needed help the fastest way to get it was to text. Now there is no need to bring their phones along with them.

Visual Necklace

You know I love a good set of visuals, and this is a set I can’t live without! I use these visual necklaces every single day. And I use them with every student I encounter, if they are on my caseload or not! Visuals allow for better understanding of a direction and they reduce power struggles.My favorite part of these visuals is that they allow other staff to see the direction you are giving the child. My classroom is a revolving door, so I might walk in on a child refusing to sit and the teacher is holding up a ‘sit’ visual. I can very easily see what is happening and don’t accidentally give attention where it isn’t needed. In fact, I love these so much I made a whole set for every assistant in my building.

Contact Cards

I love these contact cards because they keep my roster and caseload at our fingertips. In one short glance we know how a student arrives, gets home, their lunch number, general education teacher and how to spell the student’s name. I use a google doc, use the table feature and shrink it down until it fits in our badges. At the bottom, I add the extensions of all of the teachers and staff we may need throughout the day. I add our general education teachers, specialists, administrators, nurse and secretaries. This gives us a way to reach help immediately if needed. Plus, no more hunting for lunch numbers!

With a few simple additions to our classroom, our communication among staff has never been better. While communication tools don’t need to be fancy or expensive, communication does need to be prioritized. Not only does it help students, it helps staff, too!