Special Education Teachers: Here’s How to Get It All Done

In special education, many of us share a room with other adults. For me, I share my room with another special education teacher and three assistants. My prep is also during the lunch breaks of several of our assistants and others in our hallway. There are always people around once the school day begins. This makes it difficult to “get it all done“.

I like to think of tasks as either quiet tasks or busy tasks. My busy tasks are things I can get done with other people in the room. My quiet tasks, on the other hand, are the tasks when I need peace and quiet. I usually come to school early and have the room to myself. I like to use this time to do things that require full focus and concentration. I struggle to read and understand when there are other people in the room. It’s also hard for me to type reports when there are conversations that I want to be a part of. I know, I’m nosey!

I try to get one quiet task done every day. Maybe that’s writing a report or reading several of the weekly reading stories. Either way, it is something I can accomplish while the room is silent. 

I like go to to school early, so I can get one quiet task completed for the day. I also have one day each week where I stay after school. I stay after school until everything (within reason) is accomplished. Usually, these tasks are the same from week to week.

On Fridays, I do not leave until all of my reading and spelling tests are graded. I lay out all of my homework for the upcoming week and make sure that my intervention booklets are in my folders for the next week.

My family knows that this is my routine. They know I’m going to stay late. Every other day, I try to leave school right when contract time ends or soon after. For me, that feels like balance! 

Batching tasks is my biggest time saving tip! Whenever possible, I don’t make just ONE week of copies. I make 6-10 weeks worth of copies. If I’m going to assess one student, I try to assess several. Here’s what I mean:

Readings Tests

I like to sit down and do all of my accommodations for a whole unit of reading tests. When I’m done with a unit, I add them to a binder that I keep for each grade level. 

After I get done with each grade level, I take the binders to the copier and and make whole units worth of test copies. This allows me to be ready for the next six weeks of reading tests! I store them in order in the magazine files shown in the picture above.

Interventions

Homework

Homework is something that many grade level teachers like me to give my students. I have a product from TpT that allows me type all my spelling words to generate homework right away. I can print homework for weeks at a time in minutes.

Classroom Observations

In my school, I handle the paperwork for our evaluations. Part of that includes completing classroom observations. I like to pick an odd day, like right before break, to do my observations. My goal is to try to get as many done in one day as humanly possible. Then, I work to type those reports the following week. 

Assess Students on Present Levels of Performance

With evaluations, I also have to assess each the students prior to holding their meeting. My goal during my prep for one week is to get all those assessments done. Depending on how many students there are this could be quick and easy. Other times, this is quite a large list. 

Here’s a link to a blog post about assessing your students. 

IEP Writing

After assessing students, I add writing IEPs to my to do list. I use the assessments to write their IEPs. After a good assessment, this part is easy! 

Lesson Plans

I use a template for my lesson plans. I usually print 6-10 weeks of the template and begin planning. I have a bucket for each group. I add any materials that I’ll need to the bucket, and I’m done!