Improve Editing In Your Classroom

If your students are anything like mine, they don't mind writing until we get to the revising and editing part.  So many times, once they get their ideas on paper, they think they are done.  Just like everything else, the more you practice a skill, they better you get!  Here are some tips on how to improve editing in your classroom.

Change Their Mindset

A lot of students are reluctant to revise and edit their work because they feel like they are having to go back to "fix mistakes".  Instead of thinking of editing as righting all of the wrongs, it is important to make it clear that revising and editing turn good writing pieces into great writing pieces.  Something I need to continue to work on is changing my own language from "let's fix our writing pieces" to "let's make our writing pieces better".

Tracking Accommodations Easily and Efficiently

Special Education teachers are the masters of data collection!  At times, collecting data can be overwhelming, especially when you sometimes have to outsource the collecting to other teachers, specialists, or teaching assistants.

Tracking accommodations is necessary to make sure an IEP is being followed and can be helpful in determining which accommodations should be added to or removed from the IEP.  Believe it or not, collecting data on accommodations and modifications does not have to consume your life!

Pull-Out Related Service Transitions Made Easy

Special education teachers are no strangers to the revolving door of students coming and going to various services.  It can be overwhelming and distracting but my team put together some procedures that made the transitions a few years ago that made a huge difference.

Organization Tips for IEP Meetings

It is back to school season again!  Special education teachers around the country will have a stack of IEPs in front of them with various dates and loads of information to process and remember.  

Don't get overwhelmed.  Get organized!

#KindnessRules - Teaching Kindness in Your Classroom

Teaching kindness is just as important as teaching any academics.

Choosing to always show kindness is a life-long challenge.  It takes a lot of practice and maturity to be able to set aside your initial reaction and choose to show kindness instead.  Eventually, kindness WILL be your initial reaction.  Isn't that the goal anyway?

There seems to be a lot of negativity around us, but you never need to look far to find kindness around you.  As teachers, we need to focus on that kindness, highlight it, and encourage more of it.  In the classroom, it is important to hold your class to a high standard of kindness.

A General Education Teacher's Guide to a Special Education Meeting

For a general education teacher that has never attended a formal special education meeting, it can be very intimidating.  Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are prepared before you attend.  

Surviving That Difficult (parent, administration, IEP) Meeting

We have all had those meetings that we dread.  The ones that keep us up a night for days leading up to it.  The ones that make your stomach hurt and your head ache.  Whether it is a meeting with a parent, an administrator, or an IEP team, you can survive and here is how.