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}