Back to school season can be SO stressful! The amount of to do lists just keeps building up. I asked veteran special education teachers their number one piece of advice for back to school. Here is what they said!
“Make sure you read IEPs and BIPs. But remember that these are documents; you are going to have a living, breathing child in front of you and you may have to make modifications to your plans in order to be responsive to the students needs. But reading the IEP and BIP thoroughly will allow you to have antecedent strategies prepared for when your student comes into the classroom. Having these preventative strategies already prepared when your students arrive allow you to decrease power struggles and increase student success right from the get go.” – Arielle
“My tip for veteran school-based therapists is to find balance. This goes for during the school year as well as during the summer. We all need time to “turn off” in the summer to rejuvenate, so make sure that when you are taking a break, you are truly taking a break. Be where your feet are both physically and mentally. However, there is something to be said for getting yourself organized and setting yourself up for success. Set aside specific times with specific goals, and get stuff done! I have two hours set aside per week in the summer where I plan to chip away at some clerical things that I know will set me up for success in the fall. Get that documentation system prepped and ready! Create those Google Forms to make collecting teacher feedback simple. Update your website so families and teachers can be directed to one place for all your tips/tricks. Organize your caseload list, and send those welcome letters! As you well know, the school year gets crazy with many unexpected things that tend to pile up. What can you do now that your future self will thank you for later? “- Allison, OT
“Set your classroom up before school starts! It really helps me to not worry about that every year. The first week of school (maybe even 2- 3 weeks) is for setting up your schedule. You don’t have to have it 100% ready right away.” – Stephanie
“Use a zoning plan for your classroom schedule! Scheduling can be a nightmare in special ed, but a zoning plan can make scheduling simple! Essentially in a zoning plan, you’ll make a Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet and put all your time blocks in the rows and staff members of the classroom in the columns. Within each time block, fill in what each staff member is doing during that time and which students they are responsible for. This scheduling system is extremely beneficial in the special ed setting because we typically have the classroom teacher and paraprofessionals in our classrooms. A zoning plan is the perfect tool for managing the schedule and staff in your classroom. I start with a pretty bare zoning plan at the beginning of the year with just the basics plugged in, lunches, recesses, special area, morning meeting, inclusion blocks, etc. Once those are plugged in, I start adding the elements of my classroom instruction, centers, IEP goal work time, social skills, etc. The first month of school I keep a copy with me at all times and jot down notes of things I need to add or change. Try a zoning plan this year!”- Whitney
Learn more about zoning plans in this blog post.
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What back to school advice do you have to share? Leave it in the comments.
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