I recently got an email from a newly graduated teacher headed towards the first classroom of her very own.  She wanted to know what were some must-haves for her special education classroom.  I tried to think of some of my favorite items and some less-obvious things.  I came up with 17 things that made my classroom life easier and better. If you're not a special education teacher, that is okay!  Most of the things on this list will apply to you and your classroom too! ...

It seems that as soon as spring hits, teachers start fantasizing about what their classroom will be like in the fall.  We start thinking of all of the ways to improve what we have been doing this year.  We say things like, "Next year, I will always have my attendance in on time" or "I'm going to be so much more organized next year."  You may already know your teaching assignment for next year.  You may be getting excited for a new classroom configuration you want to try out or a whole new grade level you've never taught before.  But, my tired teacher friend, I urge you to slow down and remain present in THIS year. ...

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". ...

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. ...

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.   ...

With back-to-school season here, it's a great time to start thinking about implementing student led goals in your classroom! One thing I have found is that students work so much harder when they have created their own goal.  They put forth even more effort when they are involved in the progress monitoring.  And, boy, do they celebrate their success harder when they reach a goal they set for themselves.  Feeling that success makes them crave more! ...

As a special education teacher, I work with a lot of kiddos with tracking issues that impact their reading, writing, and math skills.  In addition, many of them also struggle with fine motor skills and have larger than typical handwriting.   One of the ways that I help my students during math is to have them use graph paper when solving problems.   Handing out graph paper for your students to use to work through problems is a very simple way to help them keep their numbers aligned correctly.   ...

We're about 6 weeks into school and the newness of the year is starting to wear off.  Our desks are getting messy with papers to grade, parent letters to answer, and post-it reminders to complete.   ...

I have a love-hate relationship with behavior charts.  I LOVE them because I have seen them make a huge difference in the behavior of some kids.  I hate them because I hate clutter.    ...

A lot of my students have issues with organization (most kids do!) and a few of my kids need a visual behavior monitoring system.  The system that has worked for my students since Kindergarten has been the Red, Yellow, Green Light System.  We have used it as a class-wide system in the past, but by last year we didn't NEED it for most of the kiddos. However, a few kids still need that visual and I have been racking my brain about how I will give them what they need.   Finally, I came up with an idea to make the behavior management system that they are used to using portable!   ...