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Three Tips to Prep Your Caseload
I am fortunate enough that I leave for the summer with a tentative caseload for the following year. Obviously, kids move in and out over the summer, or parents request specific teams, but I usually know what to expect. This gives me the ability to do some preparations over the summer to get ready. The stipulation is, I only do as much work as I am in the mood for that day. Most days I do very little, but occasionally I will want to get a head start and I will invest a couple hours. Many teachers don’t like to do work for school over the summer because that is…
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Tips for Tracking Data
Tracking data is one of the things that I have struggled the most with. I have tried digital tracking methods, Google Forms, keeping massive work sample binders, just notes, word documents with information, and each method has had its pros and cons. This year I have finally settled into a method that I think is sustainable for me. Here is what I have learned through this journey: Track often The worst feeling is when you realize that you’re approaching progress notes and your data is not neatly tracked. I hate having to sort through and track word samples at the end of the term because I have let it pile…
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How to Organize the IEP Background Section
Filling out the history section on an IEP can get cumbersome, especially as students get older. I have students in eighth grade who come to me with information about their gestation. If there is nothing of note in the gestation that is relevant to the current educational profile of the student, leave it out! This advice is how I write an IEP, your school district may have other expectations and requirements so put their priorities first. I am not an expert, I’ve just been doing this for a while and have seen hundreds and hundreds of IEPs written by different people. History: Use this section to include all relevant information…
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Accommodations for Students who Struggle with Reading Comprehension
What some teachers I work with don’t realize is that students who have deficits in reading comprehension are affected in all of their classes, not just ELA. Most classes, especially as you get into middle school and high school, require you to do independent reading of some kind. Often reading out of a text book in social studies or science, reading novels in ELA, and even comprehending word problems in math. Here are some tips that you can use to help support your students: Read Aloud Whether you read the passage or text out loud to them yourself, find an audio book, or use text to speech software; students who…
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Distance Learning: Supporting Math Students
Distance Learning has provided me with so many new challenges that I feel like everyday is a new adventure. I am in my seventh year of teaching, sixth year with the same co-teachers, and I really was beginning to feel like I knew what I was doing, and then BAM! Coronavirus… Here are some tips as to how I support my inclusion students in math during this period of hybrid learning. Reference Sheets I use reference sheets in math all the time. But I feel like they are a great tool to keep posted on Google Classroom, or other online platform for the students to keep referring to. Reference sheets…
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Teaching with Google Forms
Transitioning to teaching from home was a tough change for all of us. Some teachers were probably more equipped than others, teachers who already use a lot of technology in their lessons. But then there are the rest of us who have to figure everything out on the fly! Personally, I have spend a lot of the summer learning how to do this better so that if we do have to go online again, I will be prepared! Here are some ways you can use Google Forms in your classroom. Surveys Google Forms is a great way of providing your students in school, or at home, with a questionnaire. Are…
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Tips for Co-Teaching Online
I am currently prepping for next year, and like the rest of you, I have no idea if I’m prepping for face to face teaching, or online teaching… or both. Because of this I am really starting to stress about how I am going to do my job. It has been made clear to us that we are still expected to meet every accommodation and service delivery minute of our students’ IEPs. I get why they’re setting that expectation, but how do I deliver the amount of inclusion minutes when I am not together with the other teachers and a lot of the other teachers aren’t doing live classes? I…
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Tips for Difficult Behaviors
Working in an inclusion setting leads to many different challenges. You are trying to manage many different learning styles, abilities, and often you are trying to juggle some behaviors as well. I think juggling really is the best description for what I do on a daily basis! I put together some of my best tips for dealing with behaviors in the inclusion setting. Be on the Same Page I work in a teamed middle school. My team consists of a math teacher, ELA, Science, Social Studies, a supplementary math class teacher, a specialist, a paraprofessional and myself, the special education teacher. I find that dealing with students who present behavior…
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Tips for Distance Learning
There are so many unknowns leading into the fall. Personally I live in Massachusetts, our COVID cases are going down and things are reopening without a huge jump in numbers. Also, we go back to school later than a lot of the country, allowing our officials more time to figure this out. But we still don’t know for sure if we are going to go back to school, in person, online, or a combination of the two. The thought of going back to school with distance learning is scary, but so isn’t the thought of going back in person. Because of this, I also have to mentally prepare for both…
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7 Things to Do This Summer
Take a Course This summer you can take a course. I try to take courses often. Learning about teaching helps me stay with the research and up to date on all the new information. Personally, I use Learners Edge to take courses, their courses are reasonably priced and well designed. Reflect on Your Year What went well this year? What didn’t go so well? Reflect on the year that you had. Your successes, your failures, and everything in between. What can you do differently this year based on what you learned last year. Do you always feel rushed before homeroom so you may benefit from getting to school a little…
