Predictability in a Behavior Classroom

I teach students with behavioral disabilities.

We know these students (and all students) benefit from predictable schedules.

Students must begin to be productive from the moment they walk into the room. I’ve discovered an excellent method for this!

It’s called a “daily warmup.” Wow, I’m good. Actually, this is good. Keep reading.

Education World has a collection of daily warmups, or, as the site calls them, “Every-Day Edits.” Education World provides this as a free resource.

I use them in the following manner. I have shelves on the wall, and I put a stack of Every-Day Edits on each shelf. Each day has its own edits. For instance, Monday might be Ellis Island. On Monday, the students walk into the room, pick up Monday’s Every-Day Edit, sit down and work. Each one contains ten errors. Students attempt to find all ten. After a short time (use a timer; make the amount of time the same every day) students bring their corrected edits up to me. I count correct answers on each sheet and give the winner a reward. I then put a blank edit up on the document camera (or you can make transparencies and use an overhead projector), and have a student walk up to the whiteboard and correct it. The class offers suggestions. I guide the discussion.

The entire procedure should take no longer than about 15 minutes. The amount of time should never change. Students should not be allowed to ask, “What should we be doing? What’s happening today?” or any other similar questions. They know what to do when they enter the room. This predictability eliminates downtime or off-task behavior.

Additionally, Education World offers what they call “Animal Edits.” These edits are similar but geared toward a lower grade level. So, you can use Daily Edits and Animal Edits to differentiate instruction. Both require students to find ten errors; both can be printed in pdf format (from the site), and both have answer keys.