I never would have thought I would be tracking data digitally, I am really not that savvy when it comes to tech, however, when someone pointed out how easy it was, I had to try it. You guys, its sooo much easier than my typical paper and pencil tracking system. I had data sheets EVERYWHERE!! […]
Being a new special education teacher can be overwhelming and stressful. Check out The FIRST thing to do as a new special ed teacher.
Special Educators Resource Room - Find the tools and support you need to feel calm, collected, and totally together as a special educator.
An IEP binder for teachers is the key to tidying up your daily caseload, organizing special ed info, and focusing more on your students than the paperwork.
IEP goal bins will help you keep your students' goals and materials organized so you can focus on what's important: the students.
I never would have thought I would be tracking data digitally, I am really not that savvy when it comes to tech, however, when someone pointed out how easy it was, I had to try it. You guys, its sooo much easier than my typical paper and pencil tracking system. I had data sheets EVERYWHERE!! […]
Find out how to organize your classroom to easily work on different levels of IEP goals while maintaining data collection on a regular basis.
Progress monitoring in special education can be super overwhelming! I have a few time-saving tips to help you get organized today...
Self-Contained Special Education Music Classes: tips and resources. Organized Chaos.
You know it as well as I do, keeping organized in a Special Education classroom can be a disaster. Case managing involves keeping IEPs, student work samples, student data, parent communication, and so much more! There is so much paperwork that finding a functional way to keep paperwork is not only a life saver, but ... Read More about Conquer the Clutter: How My IEP Cabinet Got a Full On Makeover
One of the best feelings about starting a new school year is getting organized. Even if it is just for 0.2 seconds. That feeling that everything is one place and your paperwork is nice and neat. Yes, I know, that is a perfect world, but a girl can dream. Being a special education teacher, brings ... Read More about Summer Plan: Get Organized! Special Education Teacher Must Have Binder
Special Educators Resource Room - Find the tools and support you need to feel calm, collected, and totally together as a special educator.
Take a peek inside 7 special education sample schedules to get some schedule ideas for your own special education classroom!
Special education classrooms need decor and organization tweaks to fit the program needs. Read the tips on how to make the best decor choices for your sped classroom.
These printable cheat sheets can be used to help special educators with planning, organization, and classroom management. Save time and effort by taking advantage of these free resources today!
Starting a task box center and system in your special education classroom is a way to increase student independence and free up staff.
Special education teachers -learn about different types of data collection and get the link to Especially Education's FREE Special Education Data Sheets
Use the special ed inclusion documentation forms to keep track of service times, lesson plans, and more. Streamline it all quickly and effectively!
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! Share Information Be sure to share vital information with all teachers and assistants that work with your students. I have an accommodations organizer that I organize all of the information of my class. The information is in one place which is helpful for sharing information with assistants, special area teachers, and substitutes. When I first began teaching, I did not bother sharing such information with special area teachers until it was brought to my attention that a student of mine did not complete a test in physical education class. That student had trouble reading and was supposed to have his tests read. The PE teacher was unaware of his accommodations and therefore did not deliver them. I use a special form that reminds me of who needs to be informed of accommodations and modifications at the beginning of the school year and after an IEP annual review. Train Your Team If you have paraprofessionals in your classroom working with students, it is important to train them in how to deliver and how to track accommodations and modifications. Some interventions are more detailed than others. Observe your team while they are working with students and provide feedback as needed. The time you put in to properly train your team to record data the same way you would is so well spent! Use Checklists When I first started teaching, I used to write notes on a post-it that included which accommodations and modifications were used on assignments along with their effectiveness. It was very time consuming and often times, I forgot to add some things. Finally, I came up with a few checklists and forms to help the process. Level of Support One of the forms I use tracks the level of support a student needs from an adult. I use this one to determine the need for a 1:1 teaching assistant. It is useful before adding a TA and to collect data to see if continuing the intervention is a necessity. The adult that works with the student at that time fills it out while working with the student. Accommodations and Modifications Tracker I use this form two ways, depending on what I am collecting data for. As an IEP meeting approaches, I like to review the need for the interventions on the IEP. I can track the types of interventions are needed for different types of assignments and activities. More importantly, I can track the effectiveness of such interventions. I can also cut this tracker apart to staple it onto work samples. The work samples can be to show the Committee on Special Education the student's growth or regression. I also like to send work home with students with the form filled out from time to time so parents can see what kind of help the student needs in order to complete assignments at school. Frequency Tracker Another way I like to track the use of accommodations and modifications needed in school is with a frequency tracker I created. This gives me a quick visual of which interventions are being used and which are not. I focus on this during the weeks before a meeting so I can determine which accommodations and modifications need to remain, be added, or be removed from an IEP. Data collection is so important but it doesn't have to take over your entire life. Once you create a few checklists that fit your classroom or purchase one of the many checklists and charts from my TpT store, you will save yourself a ton of time and will have more data than you've ever had before!
Beginning of year special education forms - As an inclusion intervention specialist, your first week of school can get hectic fast. You are playing the...
Back to school time is a great time to get organized in your classroom. In this post, I collected all of my favorite organization and storage tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your classroom space. Enjoy! Shoebox Plastic Bins with Lids It is unreal how many of these shoebox bins
special education,organization, data collection, freebies, assessment, special education assessments, special education data collection, data simplied
Being a special educator means you have a lot of tasks to manage. First, getting everything organized can be a task in itself! The Special Educator's Everything Binder will help you keep all your information in one convenient place. Here are some essential pieces for your SPED caseload binder! Calendars First, start your binder with
Special Education Task boxes, Teacher Tools, IEP Meeting Management, Caseload Tracking Spreadsheet, Student Progress Monitoring, Organized Caseload Checklist, Colorful Caseload Tracker, IEP Meeting Preparation, Student Data Management, Quarterly Progress Reports, Teacher Productivity Tool, Special Needs Students, Educator Resources, IEP Meeting Scheduler, Google Sheets Template, Teacher Time Saver, Student Support Planning, IEP Compliance Tracker, Customizable Teacher Tool, Caseload Organization, IEP Team Collaboration, Education Administration, Teacher Planner, Inclusive Education, Effective Teaching Strategies, Educational Productivity Don't get overwhelmed by IEP meetings! This Special Education IEP Caseload Meetings Checklist Planning & Tracking Sheet is an organized way to manage your caseload, track IEP meeting dates, and ensure you're fully prepared for each meeting! Features: Colorful and User-Friendly Design: Our spreadsheet features a visually appealing design to keep you engaged and motivated. IEP Meeting Date Tracking: Easily input and track IEP meeting dates with the help of convenient pop-up calendars. Checklists for Meeting Preparation: Stay organized by following the checklist of essential tasks to complete before each IEP meeting. Quarterly Progress Reports: Keep tabs on student progress by using our comprehensive quarterly progress report checklists. Dropdown Menus for Eligibility and Grades: Quickly select student eligibility status and grade levels from user-friendly dropdown menus. Editable: Change or add tasks to make this spreadsheet as useful as possible for you! Printer Friendly Version: Enter data on the printer friendly sheet if printing and checking off tasks is easier!
Download these Free Special Education Planner Inserts to create your own IEP binder. Perfect for parents and teachers handling IEPs.
A color coded classroom isn’t just for the looks, it helps make a classroom extremely functional! Not only does it help staff locate things quickly, but it also allows students take ownership of their own supplies! Color coding is a win-win for all. Below, I’ve compiled a list of ideas of our favorite ways to
Teaching in special education classrooms can be tricky! We often teach students in a variety of grades and with a variety of needs. We have to figure out how to teach SO MANY standards and IEP goals & differentiate based on each student's needs. Something that has helped me with this SO much over the years is creating scope & sequences for content areas (math, reading, morning meeting, science, social studies, etc). Scope & sequences are also great because they remove the question "What am I going to teach next week?" and ensure that you cover all of the standards/ IEP goals required. What are scope & sequences and how are they helpful? Scope & sequences are also often called curriculum maps. A scope & sequence lays out the content that will be taught (the standards, IEP goals, etc.), the order that the content will be taught & often also includes materials and activities for lessons. They help you plan how you will teach different standards/ skills across lessons and units. If you have boxed curriculum in your classroom, it likely includes a scope and sequence. However, many special education teachers don't have boxed curricula that meets the needs of all of our students... So creating a scope & sequence based on your state standards and your students' needs is a great alternative! Steps for creating a Scope & Sequence: Start by creating chart or document with all of the standards for each grade you teach. I start with one content area at a time. I make charts in a Word Doc for Math, Reading, Science and Social Studies. This year I only have 4th-5th grade, but I also did this when I taught K-5. These charts will help you look at all of the grade level standards at one time. Now it's time to start grouping standards that have similar outcomes/ tasks. Here is an example of how I did this for 4th and 5th grade math standards > I color-coding standards that aligned with each other (i.g. there are multiple 4th and 5th grade standards that relate to money). After I grouped all of the standards with similar outcomes, I identified 13 broad math units. I picked 13 because that would allow me to do 3 week math units, but you can pick whatever number of units that works for your classroom and standards. I know this is harder when you're planning out more than a two grade levels, but it's doable with creativity! Now you're going to create another chart (sorry!) for each unit. I put each grade level side by side for each unit. For each unit, you can include: The standards you're targeting IEP goals you will target Materials you will use or activities to do How you'll differentiate Any other important information or reminders! (I left some of this information off of the scope & sequences I'm sharing due to confidentiality) Creating scope & sequences can definitely take a few hours for each content area (depending on how in depth you make them and how much info you add), but they will save you time in the long run! I pretty much use them as my "lesson plans" and guide for the entire school year, so it saves me a lot of planning time during the school year! If you're looking for math units to use with your scope & sequence, check out this bundle of math units! Each unit includes differentiated worksheets, hands-on centers & digital Google Slides!
A round up of blogs with tips for the first year teacher in special education as well as first week of school ideas to get your year started right!
IEP goal bins will help you keep your students' goals and materials organized so you can focus on what's important: the students.
Explore top-tier special education resources at Supporting Special Learners for educators and parents, your go-to destination for aiding students with autism.
Paraprofessionals play a vital role in the classroom. After many years of working with different paras, I quickly realized that not all paraprofessionals have the same level of experience and teaching background as others. I also realized that their expectations and my expectations for their role in the classroom sometimes varied greatly. As the teacher, […]
I absolutely love being a special education teacher, and I’ve learned so much throughout my time teaching students with disabilities (…and I know I have so much more to learn!). SIMPLE Special Education Tips for NEW Teachers! If you are new to special education, I want you to know that there are many days when you’ll […]
As a related service provider, IEPs are an almost constant part of the job. Read for tips on how to stay organized!
sped curriculum, sped scope and sequence, special education scope, special education curriculum map,
At the beginning of the school year, it is the special education teacher's job to share IEP information with school staff. This blog post includes some important things to think about when completing this important back to school task.
Today, I'm excited to introduce you to a free digital data tracker that can change the way you monitor the progress of Individualized Education Program (IEP)
What do you do when paras are not doing their jobs? These tricks and tips can help get them back on track in the classroom.
Structure is a crucial component to your SPED classroom setup. This is something I learned quickly in my first year of teaching and something that worked well once structure was increased. Below I’ve listed five easy ways to increase structure in your classroom. Individual Schedules Whether it’s visual schedules, checklists, object schedules, or agendas, they
Listen to this Special Ed Podcast with 15 great ideas for Functional Centers for students with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism in High School. Read more and subscribe today!
The complete IEP Binder for parents is a simple, effective organizational tool to keep all of your child's important IEP information in one, organized place. As the most important advocate for your child, you know how overwhelming all of the paperwork and special education jargon can be. You no longer need to feel stressed about a meeting, because you'll have all you need in one systematic place. You can fully concentrate on the meeting, making the meeting more meaningful to both you, your child, and the IEP Team. This is the key you've been searching for! Created by a special education teacher, tested and effectively used by special needs parents.
As the ONLY special education teacher in my building, I ALWAYS wanted to get a peek inside other classrooms. Get a peek inside 10 classroom tours!
As a special education teacher, you have about a hundred things on your to do list per hour. One way that I’ve been able to save time is through having a good system for organizing my reading intervention materials and prepping as much as I can ahead of time. Step 1: Print Reading Intervention Materials […]