Using a Classroom Schedule in High school Special Ed

Students in Junior High and High School Life Skills are at a level where practicing independent skills is important for their post graduate planning. These students may benefit from the use of a single visual classroom schedule to stay on track. A single classroom schedule can hold students accountable, and help you as the teacher keep up with all of those visual pieces! Read the post to find out how I set mine up!

Our Visual Classroom Schedule

In my Self-Contained Special Education class, I found that my students were all on similar schedules. Their schedules all looked the same. I had 6 copies of the same schedule hanging on my wall. Because my students are in Junior High and High School and working on being independent, I opted to use one main visual schedule to keep our class on track. I started with large symbol supported schedule pieces with Boardmaker visuals. You may choose a variety of symbol types. I also love to use real pictures.

Need whole group labels? You can find some amazing visual schedules with real pictures here!

Set Up for a Classroom Schedule is Easy!

The picture above shows my visual classroom schedule attached to the wall with velcro. Each schedule piece has soft velcro on the back. I used a long hard velcro strip on the wall to adhere the schedule pieces in order. When it’s time to make a transition, I give the reminder to check our schedule. One of my students will move the piece from the top of the schedule to the “Information Center” board for everyone to see.

The Information Center

The current schedule piece goes on our Information Center board to show what we are working on. Depending on their level of independence, students may get started after simply seeing the visual schedule change. You can decide who may need to sit with the teacher or paraprofessionals to work versus who can get started independently. For example, some of my students see the “math” piece added to our information center and head right to the shelf to get their math bins. They can complete work from their bins and then wait for a teacher to check it. Other students may need extra reminders to check the schedule and get started on a task.

The All Done Basket

The red basket at the bottom of our Information Center is for moving on from a subject or task. It’s our “All Done” basket. Students get a break when they have completed a task or subject area. My paraprofessionals and I work on assisting each of my students during a subject. Some students finish and get to make a free choice or move around. When all students have finished, we move the schedule piece to the All Done basket. We go through our entire schedule just like this from top to bottom!

Note: If you would like to learn about whole group classroom schedules in the lower level/ elementary classroom, check out this blog post.

Schedule Changes

Changes to the schedule can be simple! I keep extra pieces close by and swap them out when needed. For example, if it’s a bad weather day, I can easily switch out “Play Outside” with “Indoor Recess.” I always make sure to tell students there is a schedule change if that is something that will be hard for them. For others, I have seen reduced behaviors when the schedule is changed to reflect what we are doing.

Could a single classroom visual schedule be beneficial for your students? Let’s foster growth and independence for our upper level students. I usually find when I give my students the opportunities to do tough things, they always surprise me! They’re always proud of what they can accomplish, too!

NEED HELP SETTING UP YOUR CLASSROOM? WE GOT YOU!

Learn more about Simple Self-Contained Setup 101®: the bingeable online course made specifically for self-contained special educators! Reduce overwhelm and anxiety during back-to-school season with the proven methods I teach you in this course! We walk you through EVERY step of classroom setup! Click here to learn more and join the waitlist now!