SPED Q + A #3

I’m finally finishing up answering everyone’s thoughtful special education questions! This was sooo much fun. I seriously love talking teaching and education. If you ever have a question or just want to chat… Please, please, please reach out 🙂 In the meantime, here is the final set of q + a’s from my sped series!

How do you incorporate foundational skills and below grade level IEP goals while also setting them up for success with their current grade’s curriculum?

When planning for and delivering specially designed instruction, there is a hard balance to find between foundational skill instruction and strategy instruction. I think often times, teachers focus on the two types of instruction in insolation, vs. concurrently. When I think of foundational skills I think of decoding, how to write a complete sentence, math facts, different algorithms, etc. When I think of strategy instruction I think about “what skills do these students need to access the grade level curriculum?” That’s where the power lies in accommodations— implemented by the general education teacher, with instruction on how to use the tools by the special education teacher (strategy instruction).

For example, if a schools master schedule has one hour of math every day, and you see a student for 30 minutes of the math block. In your group, they are working on multiplication facts, but in general education they are working on fractions. Taking 5-10 minutes of your math group time to teach the students how to use a step-by-step follow along guide for fractions, will help access their grade level curriculum. I’m definitely guilting of giving a kid a resource for general education with the incorrect assumption that they know how to actually use it.

To answer the question– teach the foundational skills but carve out time to create and teach strategies (typically accommodations) that will help them make sense and follow along of the general education curriculum. I had to find this balance a lot when preparing my kiddos for middle school. It’s quite a bit more work but in my experience has been worth it.

Any tips for when you start teaching at only 22?

Often times tips are way easier said than done. My first reaction is to say, “be confident, you’re the special education expert” but how does one actually embody confidence?

Here’s my best take! 

If people use the number of years they have been teaching to discredit something you have said or in a way that makes you feel “they think they know more than me because I am new or young” stand up (or sit up) straight, smile nicely, and saying something along these lines: I can’t wait to learn from you while we support our students and each other this year. It’s really important to me that we pull all of our years teaching and expertise together to best support students. I hear what you are saying, but I’m sure as you can appreciate the learning I just experienced in my teacher preparation program, it’s important we (reiterate your idea, suggestion, etc).

If people say, “that’s not how we do it here:” take a deep breath, you aren’t doing anything wrong… sometimes people are just really stuck in their ways. You can either smile and walk away… not letting it bothering you… Seek to understand more about how they’ve does it historically… or explain your reasoning. I’ve had that phrase said so many times to me and I ignored it… I wish I would have stood my ground and explained how sometimes people do things over and over again and if they don’t yield results or change, it’s not effective… so we need to try something new. But… That’s just me 🙂

Tip: Make a conscious effort towards getting to know some of the veteran teachers in your building. I know that we often gravitate towards people similar in age and appearance. Taking the time to get to know people who have a different expertise than you and have an understanding of the staff and student population will only feel like you have more support on thee hard days.

Tip: don’t stay silent if you disagree with something… but don’t hog all the talk time.

Tip: don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you don’t feel comfortable asking anyone in your building, you can always ask me! theteacherdresscode@gmail.com 🙂

How do you prepare to teach something completely different than you learned in your program?

This might sound silly… but something I did after my involuntary transfer from middle school to elementaryland was drew a venn diagram and compared and contrasted them. It made me feel sooo much better because I realized there was a lot of information that I could apply in both settings and also helped me focus on what I needed to learn and figure out. I’m laughing aloud as i’m typing this because I think this might have actually saved me from a major mental break down.

Recognizing that you aren’t going to be able to learn it all over night. After I created a list of what I needed to figure out, I set weekly intentions that focused on one or two things. At this time the program was total chaos, in massive crisis, and kids were running around every where… and doing this, taking the time, going slow, paid off long term. It was really hard for me to not know how to run groups and feel like I was wasting kids time, but I had to remind myself I was learning with them, and we never actually know everything.

While learning elementaryland, I can recall two different incidences with colleages where I put myself first, something I use to never do. I remember being asked to sit down and learn read 180 and I responded with, “I am so sorry, I just have too much on my plate right now. I can’t.” That was really hard for me as I can be such a people pleaser. It’s okay to put yourself first. You have to. Your students need you to.

So… in short:
-Compare and contrast your program to your new job.
-Highlight the similarities
-Make a list of the difference
-Prioritize that list
-Set weekly goals
-Treat yourself to ice cream, wine, new pajamas, chocolate… whatever your comfort strategy might be 🙂

Best advice for new special education teachers

Check out my blog post about technical tips for some of my advise 🙂 And read above for standing strong your first year!

Strategies to prepare classroom with limited supplies and time

Your classroom does not need to be perfect on the first day. Every one has different beliefs when it comes to classrooms and all beliefs are valid, mine is all creations should be done together. I will never have a classroom that looks perfect upon walking in the first day. It will slowly come together with the help and ideas of my students. After all, it’s their space too!

For limited supplies: make a donors choose project, go to local good wills and thrift stores, shop sales, or even talk to local companies to see if they will make donations. Use websites that offer great free materials and even classroom decor. Check out my post on favorite free websites here! 

For time: focus on the layout, the colors, and dream. Let your students do some of the work. If you think that idea is totally crazy… a couple different strategies could be: planning everything out at home and bringing it into your classroom, bribe your friends with wine, have a planning party with some colleagues before school starts, create draft classroom and plan everything, buy the materials, and then go to town your execution.

I loved answering your questions! If you all have any more, please let me know 🙂