3 Crucial Things New Special Ed Teachers Should Focus on (and 1 to avoid!)

Hello new special education teachers, welcome to the wild world of sped! If you are new to teaching children with disabilities, there are 3 crucial things you need to focus on in your first year of teaching.  And one to not worry about.

1. IEPs

This is a doozy. You have to follow them, write them, present them to parents, and progress monitor.  The first year can be overwhelming with how long it takes to write an IEP.  But don't panic.  It gets easier the more you do it and I can whip out high-quality IEPs in warp-speed these days.

Reach out to your mentor, other special ed teachers, and your principal for help on writing goals.  SLPs are a fantastic source of help as well!

2. Quality Instruction

Focus this year on delivering fabulous instruction.  Lessons don't have to be "cute" but they should be engaging and standards based.  If you don't get to visit other teacher's classrooms for support in the general education setting, or for observations, ASK to visit some.  It's great to see how other teachers manage the classroom and present information.

Find a professional development and ask your admin to send you.  Participate in Twitter chats.  Look for a free webinar.  Make your goal to deliver superb instruction.

3. Build Relationships

With staff: 

• Don't gossip!  
• Be friendly to everyone.  
• Say 'thank you' every time the secretary or janitor does you a favor. These people are THE key to school.  We know teachers are underpaid.  School secretaries and janitors are paid even less! 
• Participate in the staff events. Dinner night out, lunch time pitch-ins and secret pal swaps all let others get to know you and will help you form relationships.
• Let others overhear you talking POSITIVELY about someone else "Did you see Mary's bulletin board? It's so clever!"  "I heard one of Mrs. Jones' students say the cutest thing..."

With parents: 

• Send newsletters with updates on lessons you've taught, a resource (article from Understood.org or local event happening). Always include your contact info. Never include photos of students due to privacy laws.
  
  
• Send positive notes home with students frequently.  A ton. As much as you can.
  Sammy told a cute story.
  You're so glad to get to work with Tom. 
  Alice read 4 new sight words today! 
  Maria helped tidy the room. 
  Luis had a wonderful day!
  
  
• Call all parents the first week of school.  "Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying getting to know Ayden.  He's got such a good sense of humor!"     "Tanya is just precious! I'm so glad to get to work with her this year."
  

With students:

• Greet them by name.
• Show an interest in them. Discuss the character on their t-shirt, ask about the Pokemon backpack when you see them in the hall.  Compliment their headband.  
• Smile. A lot. 
• Celebrate successes with them.  "Mr. Jones said you were so good at the recorder he had you helping other students! Man, that's awesome."     
  "You read more sight words today than ever before! A new high record!"
  "I saw you out there with the hoola hoop.  You go girl!"
  
• Leave them positive notes on their desk. I like to leave one before I go home for the day so that they will discover it when they come in the morning "Hi Alice!  Hope you have a great day!"   

The one thing a new special ed teacher should not worry about:

A cute classroom.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with having an adorable classroom. However, cute classrooms don't make students learn more effectively.  A perfect double-border bulletin board with a punny saying has 0 effect on whether or not your students learn the difference between long  and short vowels.

And quite honestly, if you have students with emotional challenges, the cute decor you spent hours laminating can get ripped off the walls and destroyed in a matter of seconds.  

You can have a theme. You can hang cute stuff. But don't spend hours and hours on it right now.  Book bins can be labeled with hand-scrawled post it notes.  Even if your handwriting is meh.  

Sometimes the best teachers have the blandest rooms.  

Your hours are better spent on webinars, learning the curriculum, hanging out with the kids at recess if you have the chance, fine-tuning lesson plans, and observing other seasoned teachers.  Let's not forget, you're going to be busy writing IEPs too!

Related: {8 Essentials for Special Education Teachers}

{Games to Boost Executive Functioning}

{Using Post-it Notes for Classroom Management}

25 Ways to Teach Sight Words

Sight words.  Words you can't "sound out."  They comprise most of what we read.  It is crucial that children learn to read sight words, but how can you do it in a meaningful and fun way?  

As a special education teacher at the elementary level, I've taught lots of sight words! Merely drilling flashcards is not going to cut it.  Don't get me wrong, flashcards are fine. Just don't try to teach sight words by using only flashcards.  Kids need a multi-sensory way to learn new words and I'm here to give you the 25 best ways to do that!  

Ready?  Here we go!

1. Have the child use sidewalk chalk to write the word. Important: have them say each letter while they are writing it and then say the entire word. Example "t...h....e....the."  

2. Parent writes a few words on the driveway with sidewalk chalk.  Have your child use gross motor skills to get to each word. Example "Hop to 'was'!"   "Tiptoe to 'of'."  "Stand on your right leg on 'goes'."

3. Make a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk and have your child spell and say the word they land on.

4. Post It Note Parking.  Write one sight word on each sticky note (5-8 total). Give your child a toy car.  Say "Park on....the."  Child drives the car to that sticky note.  "Park on....was."  Child drives the car to that sticky note.  

5. Spray shaving cream on a cookie sheet and have your child write the word with their finger. Bonus: The room will smell good!

6. Find a mud puddle (or make mud on a cookie sheet) and have your child write the word with their finger!  Messy and fun!

7. Use homemade dough (or Play-doh) and have your child roll out the down into a long 'worm' and then use the worm to shape the letters of each word.

8. Use homemade dough (here is my favorite recipe for homemade play-doh) and give your child clean alphabet stamps. Have them stamp the sight word into the dough.

9. Use letter beads and a pipe cleaner or string to build the words.

10. Hide sight words in Easter eggs and have your child go on an egg hunt. When they open the egg, have them read the word.
11. Have your child "sky write" the word. Point their finger and make their arm straight. Use their whole arm to make each letter. (Gross motor practice can help the brain remember!)

12. Carpet writing. Child uses their index finger to "write" the word on the carpet.

13. Magazine collage. Have child look through magazine and find as many of the target word as possible.  Cut them out and make a collage if desired.

14. Use abc stamps to stamp the words.

15. Use abc stickers (Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot often have big books of them for $1) to build the sight word.

16. Use a song to teach the sight word. Heidi Songs on Youtube has lots of great sight word songs. I've used "There" "His" and "She" frequently in my classroom!

17. Closed-eye writing. Have your child close their eyes and use their arm in the air to 'spell' the word while picturing it in their mind.

18. Get scented markers and let your child use those to write their words. (I like these fine tip Mr. Sketch markers!)

19. Wikki Stix are fun ways to build sight words!

20. Incorporate whole-body learning with having your child jump or hop each time they say a letter in the word.


21. Read your child a picture book. Have them snap every time they hear the sight word you are working on.

22. Play Tic Tac Toe but instead of using X's and O's, each player has a designated sight word that they write in the box.  They must say each letter and read the word each time they take a turn!

23. Play the game HeadBandz but instead of using the cards that go with it, use index cards of sight words.  Child has to say your name to get a point.


24. Here's another way to use a popular game!  Instead of using Don't Break the Ice to teach social skills, use it for sight words! Have a stack of sight word cards that your child is working on. Before they take their turn, they have to turn over and read one of the words.

25. Connect 4. You can put a little garage sale sticker dot on each piece and write a sight word on it. Players have to read their word before playing their piece.  OR if you don't want to alter the game pieces, simply set out a stack of sight word cards. Before each player takes a turn, they read a word card (just like above in #24)!

Weary Mothers

Ever have something smack you upside the head?  A real light bulb moment?  That was me recently.

This Bible verse has been a favorite for a long time:

source

I've always applied to to other things in the Christian life such as serving others, serving within church, doing what's right when no one else is, following God's standards.

Then came a light bulb moment.

This can apply to motherhood too.

One friend of mine has a son with limited immunity.

One friend's daughter was born with Trisomy 18.

One friend's son has ADHD.

One friend's daughter has SPD.

One friend has a child with learning disabilities.

One friend has quadruplets.

One friend has twins.

One friend's son has autism.

Several friends are single moms.

Several friends struggle with depression, anxiety, or other chronic illnesses.

Several friends are military moms with all the extra work and worry that comes with it.

It's not easy.  Moms get weary. I know these friends and their constant therapy appointments, doctor visits, day to day needs, special education meetings, interventions, hospitalizations, expensive experimental treatments, and more.

Some seasons of motherhood are excruciatingly exhausting.  Hang in there Moms.

Let us not grow weary in doing GOOD (good here being doing what our children need.  Maybe you're the mom who devotes 8 hours a week to occupational therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy for ONE child.  Maybe you're the mom who has to work extra hours to afford the tutor for your child.  Maybe you're the mom who dealt with yet another meltdown in public.  Keep doing what you know to do, what your child needs), in due time you will reap the harvest.

(Here are some graphics in case you want to pin this so that on your bad days you'll remember to keep pressing on!) 

 

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P.S. Jen Hatmaker had an excellent post about Sweet vs Spicy families.  I highly recommend you read it!

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P.P.S. This post was shared at Serenity Now and Trust Me I'm A Mom.