Organizing the FILES (Sped Help)

The beginning of a new school year brings so much joy, anticipation, excitement and PAPERWORK!  Ahhhhh!!  A new school year is a great time to reorganize and decide what has worked for you in the past and what no longer works.  For years, I have a had a Special Education binder that included a copy of my students' IEPs, IEP at a glance, accommodation checklist, progress monitoring, and parent communication.  It was helpful that all of the documents were in the same place, but it could be some cumbersome to carry home when I needed to work on a student's IEP for a meeting.  This year I was inspired by my blogging friend Erin at You Aut A Know and how she organized some of her files.

The first thing I thought of was how awesomely beautiful the color coding looked!  After I got past the initial beauty and realized just how great this would work for me, I knew I had to get right on doing this for this school year.

Hanging files in my desk drawer

What's inside a hanging file

This file is ready to hang

Here's a little explanation of what you will find in each folder:
 Each of my students has one hanging file folder and inside that hanging file are three matching manilla folders.  Folder number one is a copy of the current IEP, folder number two hold monitoring sheets (completed and blank ones and copies of progress data), and folder three is copy of parent notes and other communications.  I like this organizational system so much better than my binder, because it allows me to grab just the one folder I need.  I can take this one folder to a meeting or home to work on it without lugging around a whole binder.

Of course, I couldn't totally do away with a binder, so I do still have one binder I use for progress monitoring.  This binder is 1 1/2 inches and only contains data sheets for current data I am tracking.  I also keep my accommodation checklist in this binder, a copy of my schedule and my para's schedule, and a copy of the IEP at a Glance.  I like to have this information on hand at a moment's notice to check if a certain student receives a certain accommodation (hello...it's the beginning of the year and I don't have this all memorized...YET!)  This binder is much thinner and easy to carry with me from class to class while I am coteaching.

Good luck getting the beginning of the year paperwork filed and organized!

Where Are You????

I have a classroom.  I have a desk.  I have very few opportunities to be there! :)  

The life of a special education teacher usually means that I am most always on the go.  If I am not in a general education teacher's classroom, then I am in a meeting, or doing assessments, or maybe even at lunch.  Sometimes I can be hard to find! 

Kristin over @ http://kcummingsslp.blogspot.com/ had a great idea and simple idea for other people to know where you are when they need you.  

She has some cute signs over at her blog and that inspired me to make some of my own.  Here is a sample of what I came up with:

If you would like some signage of your own, leave me a comment and I will send you the PowerPoint so you can customize it for your needs!

My plan is to print, mount on sturdy cardstock, laminate, and hang outside of my room.  Pics soon...

The background used in the sign is from The 3AM Teacher.

MODIFICATION Checklist FREEBIE

I have an organizational, special educational, super fantastical...(okay, okay...I'm getting a little carried away with the ...nals) freebie! ;)  I know my special education peeps are going to love this (and you regular ed. peeps will love it too---you can share it with your peers)!

We all know how much paperwork is involved in special education and writing IEPs and sometimes if you are not skilled in what to look for in an IEP it can be difficult to see the simple, yet important, stuff.  This is why I like to give a modification checklist to grade level teachers and all special area teachers.  Our regular education teachers have access to the IEP through our online record keeping system, Infinite Campus, aka the Devil, but if you don't know just what to click on it can be confusing.  This checklist is a simple, at-a-glance way to see if a particular student in your class has a certain modification/accomodation.  This list is by no means exhaustive, but it contains the most common classroom mods (reader, scribe, behavior plan, etc.)

Here is a picture of an example of what it would look like with student data filled in:

And here is a link to a PDF version of the checklist.  You can print this out and fill in your student data.  If you would like a Word Document or a PowerPoint Document of this checklist, please comment below and I will get one sent to you ASAP (just remember to leave me an email to send it to).  

Kim

PS...I even like to keep a copy of this in my "special ed. binder" as a handy reference for when my brain is fried from a long day and I can't remember who gets what! :)

A "Tweet" Little Note!

Just a quickie tonight, folks!  A cutesy new letter to send home with my special friends.  Over the years, I have discovered that some of my parents do not know who the special education teachers are in the building.  We send home notes saying who the homeroom teacher is, but rarely do we let them in on who will be servicing their child's most special needs.  I thought this would be a cute way to give some positive communication right from the beginning!

Here is a link to my parent letter that I am sending home with all of my special friends.  Enjoy!!

Kim

BACK 2 SCHOOL BLOWOUT---#2

As promised, monitoring sheet are on the agenda for today.  What special education teacher is complete without her monitoring sheets?  This is a tedious process for me year after year.  I think that for each of my 8 years teaching I have found new way to collect data.  Last year I found something that worked for me.

Here are a few steps to follow to create your own data sheets:

ACADEMIC GOALS:
I like to use easyCBM for monitoring math, reading, and fluency goals.  http://www.easycbm.com/index.php
This program gives you the ability to test, score, and generate a report online.
Sometimes, though, my goals do not match what is on easyCBM.  If this is the case, I use http://www.interventioncentral.org/.  This allows me some flexibility in making my own probes.

BEHAVIOR GOALS:
This is the tedious process I am talking about!  I finally decided to use a calendar like one seen here.

I use the calendar monitoring sheet with student's with behavior goals, but are not EBD.  I have a different process for those students (a little more involved).

Here is a visual of my behavior monitoring:  (I hope it will be of help while I try to explain my process to you)  :)   Please note: This is a pretend child and pretend pluses and minuses...all of the real ones are filed away in due process folders! :)  I just put enough data on here to try to make my idea make sense to you!

1.  I put the student's name at the top.
2.  I write out the student's benchmarks (1, 2, 3, 4) at the top.
3.  Along the side I write each class I monitor the student in (Morning Work, Writing, Reading, Math).  Then I use the good ole +/- system to note whether the student was displaying the behavior indicated in the benchmark.
4.  I use the notes sections and the back of the calendar for anecdotal notes.
5.  At the end of every week, I count the number of pluses out of the total number of available pluses to get a percentage.

EBD MONITORING:

For students labeled with Emotional/Behavior Disorders, I create a daily points program.  Each morning I meet with these students and we have a social group time.  During this time, we practice social skills, anger management, making friends, etc.  We also decide what reinforcer the student is work toward for the day and how many points it will take to earn the reinforcer.   The student places the desired reinforcer on my desk and can carry a picture of the object if wanted throughout the day as a reminder.  Below are links to my daily points sheets and summary sheet.  The summary sheet just gives me a good place to put my percentages.  I can look at the percentages quickly and look for ups and downs and patterns over time.

Daily Points Sheet
Daily Points Weekly Summary Sheet

In summary, I use an EXCEL sheet to make graphs of my data.  Graphs make the information easier to read for parents and teachers!  This is so easy to use.  The dates for this  school year are already plugged in on one axis.  You just type in the percentage for the week.  A running average is kept and data points are plotted on the graph!  A teacher from my previous school district developed this spreadsheet! Kudos to her!

So this is just a picture of it from my computer.  I could not get the EXCEL file to post on here.  (IF you know how...I would appreciate the directions).  :)   Until then, if you would like a copy of this, leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you.  

I hope you found some inspiration here and that you find monitoring a little easier this year!  It doesn't have to be difficult and we all know it's not pretty, but it is SPEC ED!!!  Whew!!

Here's to a great new year and to hoping we don't all drown in paperwork!! :)

Kim

Lesson Planning

Sunday nights are created for teachers.  I spend Sunday nights doing lesson plans.  I do some planning during the week, such as coming up with new ideas, but for the most part the heavy duty, common core studying, nose in the books, lesson planning night is Sunday night!

Here is a link to a Google Doc of my lesson plan template.  It is VERY simple.  No bells or whistles.  I teach five resource classes throughout the day. On this template I have room for those five classes and a column for notes.  PS...this is the first time I have published a Google Doc.  Hope it works out!
Lesson Plan Template

And one last thing!  A big thank you to those of you that are already following this blog!  I am so excited to be part of a teacher/blogger community!  I am looking forward to sharing and exchanging ideas!

Mrs. H

The Grand Tour

Welcome to my room!!


I thought a guided tour of my corner of the world would be a good introduction to me.
I share my room with a lot 6 other people.  1 primary spec. ed. teacher, 1 speech therapist (2 days a week), 1 school psych. (2 days a week), 1 SAM (school adminstrative manager), 1 guidance counselor, and one OT (2 days a week).  I know!!!  Three of those people have "offices" or glorified closets in the room.  The rest of us all share the big part of the room.

I teach in an old  antique building.  My room has been everything from a Ag Shop, to a preschool, to a it's current day Resource Room.  It is a very large room, but when all of us gather in there and other staff starts walking in and out, and the phone starts ringing, then the rooms resembles Grand Central Station instead of  a classroom in an elementary school.  I hope this didn't come off whiny, because I truly love all of my roommates!  It wouldn't be the same "living" without them!! :)

This picture is taken from the back of the room.  This is my desk (and I have no idea who L. Whitaker is...I just inherited that chair).  Sometimes its is clean, sometimes it is hidden under a pile, this is a Tuesday desk.   That means the piles are beginning!   Beyond my desk you can see another desk belonging to our school psych and past that, beyond the divider and filing cabinets, is the area of my partner in crime (our primary spec. ed. teacher).

This is behind my desk.  These are my "important" binders.  One day I will give you a little tour of my organization.  Yes, I do have a system.  :)  The red pocket chart holds behavior charts.

This is my reading area.

This is my bulletin board of Homeworkopoly.  (More on that to come!)  It is not the best looking BB, but I threw it together in a pinch when I had some kids decide that homework was not for them!  Amazingly, this really works to get those reluctant homework doers busy!

This is my table where all of the real work takes place.

Yep!  You know what this is.  The poster says, "What to do when you're angry."  This isn't necessarily my desk, but I do have kids frequent this area!  The door to the right is our SAM's office.  He is in charge of discipline, so most of the time his friends are sitting at that black desk.  :(  The door to the right is the OT's closet.   My own daughter loves going in there to see what kinds of "toys" that are on the shelves.

This is my shelf with the curtains I MADE!! Oh yeah!! My first sewing project since 4-H in the sixth grade.  I know the patterns don't line up, I realize that it is patchy, but it works and covers the MESS you will see below!!

That's the MESS!!  This is an assortment of resources that desperately needs to be organized.  It will happen...   Somebody shut the curtain!!!

So, there you have it.  My little piece of space in the Bluegrass!  It isn't exactly the way I would like to look and I always have new ideas ready to try out, but for now it is what it is.  And, maybe now that it is out there for the world to see, maybe I will be inspired to do a little bit of redecorating/organizing!  We shall see...  ;)

Mrs. H  :)