Shew! This is a tough one. Juggling in person and online teaching is going to be a BIG part of our school year. Here are the things that I’m planning to try. Will it work? I don’t know. Will I likely have to revise this blog post a few weeks into school, probably! But here are my thoughts. Set a Schedule I am going to set a schedule, just like I would do if it were a “normal” school year. I’ll share this with parents and let them know what time their child will need to be present in my…

I have a feeling we’ll be doing a lot of virtual learning this year. Our special education students need structure and routine more than ever, and it’s our job to help make virtual learning successful with our small groups. Here are five simple ways to make your small groups a success as you dive in to virtual learning. Set a Schedule When will you meet with your virtual small groups? Set a daily or weekly schedule where your students KNOW that they’ll be meeting with you using a platform like Google Meet or Zoom. Communicate with Parents Let your parents…

Some of us will be starting the school year doing virtual learning. For others, like myself, I’ll be starting the year in the classroom, but Lord knows how long that will last. I feel like we’ll quickly be finding ourselves back in the virtual learning world.  Last year, I was looking for a way to motivate my students and give rewards to them during virtual learning. Here are a few simple ideas to make virtual learning more successful and motivating for our students.  “Lunch Date” A lunch date is a great motivator for students. Using Zoom, Google Meet, or another…

Google Meet was a HUGE blessing to me as a special education teacher. I was able to continue to hold small groups throughout distance learning and meet with parents for case conferences. I couldn’t have continued to teach my students without Google Meet. How to Set Up a Google Meet For special education, I found myself constantly needing to schedule a Google Meet for one reason or another. I used Meets for small group sessions, one on one tutoring sessions, and annual case conferences with parents and other staff members. How to Generate a Permanent Meeting Link I found that…

Zoom has been a life-saver since we were thrown head first into digital learning. I especially loved Zoom in special education. It was a great way to continue to hold small groups even though we weren’t together in person. It was also useful for annual case conferences and other special education meetings.  How to Set Up a Zoom Meeting After setting up an account, you can set up meetings with many different features. Decide what is right for you and your students. I like that I can set recurring meetings for my small groups.  How to Share a Meeting with…