Are you a new behavior support teacher? A veteran looking for some fresh ideas? I have been sharing tips, tricks, ideas, resources, and research for a few years now. This post exists to be a hub for the blog posts I have that would be best for new behavior support teachers! I’ve broken it down into categories and I hope it helps you find what you need to get off on the right foot!
Setting up your classroom
It can be super intimidating to set up your new classroom. Should you have a theme? How do I teach all these IEP goals and content standards? What supplies do I actually need? Is there anything I’m missing? Check out these posts for some answers.
- 3 Reasons Classroom Decor Should be Functional
- Teaching Multiple Grade Levels in One Special Education Classroom
- 10 Unconventional Musts for the Special Education Classroom
- How a Calm Corner Can Transform Your Classroom
- 3 Ways to Use Visuals to Prevent Student Elopement
- 8 Ways to Create a Class Calm Corner that Actually Gets Used
- Why You Should Use an Interactive Calm Corner
Instructional Ideas
You likely have curriculum you have to teach, I hope you have resources for that! These blog posts help fill in the gaps for all of the middle ground, like some SEL teaching, explicit behavior instruction, and fostering independence.
- Morning Meeting Ideas
- Increasing Student Independence with Plants
- 5 Ways to Teach Size of the Problem
- Effective Tier 1 SEL Strategies to Try at Your School
- Understanding Coping Skills and How to Teach Them
- The Magic of SEL Fine Motor Centers
- How to Use Read Alouds to Support Student Behavior
- Using SEL Workbooks in the Classroom
- Meaningful Uses for SEL Conversation Cards
Behavior Support
If you’re a behavior support teacher, this is likely where a lot of your questions will lie. There are so many unknowns in new classrooms, you don’t know anything about your students yet! Here are some tried and true strategies and knowledge I built over the years working with students in need of extensive behavior supports. I hope they help!
- Supporting Students That Elope
- Supporting Students with Anxiety
- Sensory Tools for Elementary Students
- 5 Words to Avoid During De-Escalation
- Using Calm Books to Assist in De-Escalation
- How to Effectively Debrief Student Behaviors
- Using Choice Boards as a Proactive Behavior Intervention
- Building Genuine Relationships
- Supporting Children with Attachment Disorders
- Navigating Back Talk and Defiance in the Classroom
- Understanding Aggressive Behavior in the Classroom
- The Power of Attention Contagion
- Supporting Our Students with ADHD
Looking for MORE, like courses, books, and memberships full of resources? I made these with you in mind – teachers with a focus on behavior support!
My course Beyond Clip Charts gives tons of ideas, meaningful mindset shifts, printable resources, and tangible strategies for supporting positive classroom behavior that don’t include punitive and shameful concepts like public clip charts. This course is fully self paced and never expires, making it perfect for busy teacher life. This is ideal for general ed teachers, behavior support teachers, instructional coaches, and honestly, anyone who wants to move past compliance based behavior strategies!
My resource membership, The Behavior Supports Library, has over $1500 worth of behavior and SEL focused materials and trainings for only $10.99/month! The best part is that is grows monthly, giving you access to MORE resources all the time. It also happens to include every social script I have ever made – literally! Ideal for the overwhelmed and passionate behavior support teacher!
My first professional development book, Their Best Behavior, hit shelves on June 11, 2025. Eek! It covers 10 of the most common behaviors that we see in classrooms, gives some background on the why, and offers tangible strategies to try that are rooted in research. This book has been such a labor of love, and it’s so important to me to share my passions from the heart of an active teacher in the field. As a former behavior support teacher and a current instructional coach, it’s literally from my heart to yours.
