Tips for Teachers

13 Ways to Avoid Power Struggles

April 15, 2018 by pathway2success 4 Comments

As an educator or parent, getting into a power struggle can be an awful thing. We waste so much of our energy trying to get we we want that we sometimes forget what our goal was in the first place. Power struggles can be especially difficult with kids with ADHD, autism, oppositional-defiant disorder, and other social-emotional challenges. After teaching middle school special education in a behavioral classroom for ten years, I’ve picked up a few strategies on how to avoid (and get out of) power struggles.

If you find yourself needing more support with de-escalation strategies for kids and young adults, consider this De-escalation Strategies Guide with a detailed educator guide, sample scenarios, proactive strategies, and de-escalation techniques.

Here are some strategies for avoiding power struggles that you can use right away:

1. Develop a relationship early on. This is by far the most important element to reducing power struggles with kids and young adults. Talk to kids about what they’re interested in and spend time learning about those topics. That often means talking about non-school related topics, and that’s okay. Time spend on relationship building is never time wasted. It’s a prerequisite for learning.

2. Hide your frustrations. We all get frustrated with students sometimes! When that happens, take a breath and walk away. Kids really need more positivity in their lives. By showing our frustrations, we are just making kids feel poorly about themselves instead of helping them reach their individual potentials.

3. Be kind. A kind tone and “please” really can go a long way. Sometimes this can be all the child or young adult wants. Other times, kids are so shocked that someone would ask them so politely, they just end up following through right away. Be reflective with yourself frequently about how you might be coming off to another individual.

4. Give the expectation and run. That means what it says! Literally tell the child your expectation or direction privately and then get out of there. Don’t give the child a chance to talk back to you or tell you they aren’t going to do it. Get out of there!

5. Ignore what you can ignore. If a behavior isn’t interfering with the learning of others, try to ignore it. Even if it bothers you personally (like pen clicking or tapping), let it go. Most likely, another student will end up politely correcting the child. This is really the best thing when this happens because kids listen to each other much more than they listen to adults! Additionally, sometimes our reactions are actually the reinforcement that kids are looking for. By ignoring many behaviors, we are helping to extinguish them. When you want to correct a behavior, consider if you can ignore it or not first.

6. Let the child or young adult get the last word. This seems counter-intuitive in the education world. Adults always feel the need to get the last word with kids, but so often it really does not get us anywhere except further argument! My favorite strategy is just to pretend I didn’t hear it when a student talks back or says something negative under their breath. Things like, “I’m not doing it,” and “This is a stupid project,” can just be completely ignored! It will make your life easier in the end.

7. Listen and validate. If a student is having a problem or starts to argue, listen to them without interrupting. Validate them by saying, “I see your point,” and “So what you’re saying is…?”. Spending that extra time just listening to a student and letting them have a voice can defuse power struggles before they start.

8. Explain your reasoning. Let students know, “I really need all eyes on me right now so I can explain the directions to the lab and then you can go off with your groups.” Kids need to know why they should be paying attention and following rules. So often, a simple explanation can make a big difference.

9. Give choice. It’s healthy for kids and young adults to have choices. On a math homework page, let kids choose any ten to finish. For a presentation, allow students to select whether to do an oral report, a multimedia presentation, or write a report. Even really small choices can make a big difference. For example, if you have a student who struggles working with group work, ask them to choose between two groups.

10. Be flexible. Kids and young adults need structure, of course, but adults need to show they are flexible and compassionate, too. Don’t get stuck on having one right way to do things. My favorite example is letting students use gel pens to complete their work. I have never in my life seen middle schoolers so excited to complete homework. If students are working and growing, it’s okay to be a bit flexible in how they do it.

11. Know how to back out of power struggles. Finally, if you do happen to get in a power struggle, here is a winning phrase that can stop the battle right away: “Let’s talk about that later”. It defuses the situation, lets the child or young adult know you will follow up, but puts the disagreement on hold. This is a great way for teachers to address the behavior without making a huge deal of it in the moment. It tells your other students that you are handling the behavior, just not at the moment. Get this list of over 50 free de-escalation strategies you can use right away.

12. Compromise with a goal in mind. Consider what your goal is for the child. Do you want them to finish an assignment? Work in a group? Finish their test? Stay quiet during a lesson? Be willing to make accommodations and compromise with the student in order to have them meet your expectation for them. Let’s consider an example. Let’s say a student is outright refusing to start their math homework. They tell you it’s too long and they don’t do homework. If your goal is to help that student work on some math problems, ask them how many they think they could finish before the end of class. Compromise on a number and assign only those ones. While it’s not where you want the student to be, it’s a stepping stone to get there.

13. Embrace the behaviors you can. If a student has their phone out in class when they shouldn’t, direct them to look up a question about your curriculum and then give them time to share the answer with the class. When a student makes a joke, make a joke right on back! This has to be done thoughtfully, but it’s healthy to embrace the challenges when you can.

If you are interesting in this topic, be sure to read my article on 50+ de-escalation strategies with a free printable list!

25 Ways to Integrate Social Emotional Learning

March 15, 2018 by pathway2success 4 Comments

Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships, and make better decisions. Without a doubt, these are critical skills for all learners.

In my years as a teacher, I know there is just not enough time for everything. So often, social and emotional learning gets put on the back burner to other important skills like reading, writing, math, history, and science. While these skills are certainly important, I would argue that it’s even more important that kids develop their emotional intelligence through social emotional learning activities. Simply put, if kids are mentally and emotionally healthy, they are better equipped to face the challenges life brings. We just have to make the time to teach, discuss, and practice these skills! Best of all, there are many ways to integrate social-emotional learning into what you are already teaching.

Here are 25 ways to integrate social emotional learning into your classroom:

1. Use Journal Writing. You can use daily journal prompts to help kids think about social-emotional skills in all areas. For example, you might ask kids, “When was a time you used self-control? What was outcome?” to focus on self-management skills. After writing, it’s helpful to have students share their responses with a partner and with the class as a whole. Kids will be practicing writing, partner work, group discussion, and SEL skills all at the same time. I love this yearlong Social Emotional Learning Journal for just a few minutes of writing and discussion every day.

2. Teach Perspective-Taking with Read Alouds. This is one of my favorite strategies for integrating SEL into everyday learning because it is something educators do so often already. While reading, spend time talking about how some of the characters might think and feel. Use this time to highlight that this is perspective-taking, a skill we use to understand others’ emotions and thoughts. Best of all, it can be done with any text you are already reading.

3. Incorporate Art Activities. Art can be a powerful way to target social and emotional skills. Creating a self-collage can help kids develop better self-awareness about who they are. Painting and drawing can serve as positive coping strategies to manage stress. Having partners work together on a shared drawing can increase collaboration and relationship skills. There are lots of opportunities for learning with art!

4. Hold Class Meetings. You can choose to hold a class meeting once a day as a “morning meeting” or just once a week. The purpose of a class meeting can be to boost each other up, to help solve problems, and plan class events together. Having this space for community can help promote a positive climate for all kids.

5. Talk About Managing Emotions. No matter what age, all kids and young adults need practice managing their emotions. This is another skill that can be weaved into literature as you talk about character’s feelings and needs. You might say, “How did Theresa feel when her mom left? How did she manage her emotions? Do you think it was a healthy way to manage them?” Additionally, be open with kids about how to manage their own emotions and give strategies for what kids can do in your classroom. For example, “If you are feeling nervous about the test today, remember to use positive self-talk. Tell yourself that you’ve got this!”

6. Give Responsibilities. Giving kids responsibilities and jobs helps build their sense of self-worth and gives the message that we are all part of a larger community. It’s important that every student has some type of responsibility, whether it is a class librarian, lunch counter, or part of a “clean up crew”.

7. Practice Problem-Solving Skills. If students have an issue or challenge to overcome, avoid solving it for them right away. Encourage kids to think about how they could solve their problem and have a 10 minute policy – students can get your help but they need to think about the problem for at least 10 minutes first. Often, kids will figure out a solution on their own or with a friend during that time. You can use these free social problem solving task cards to get started! Again, this is another skill that can be strengthened through literature by discussing characters, problems, and making predictions about solutions.

8. Build Community with Teamwork. For class projects and assignments, have students work in larger teams to complete a task. Teach students to assign different jobs when working in a team, so that all students have important responsibilities.

9. Encourage Positive Self-Talk. Self-talk is voice in our minds that reassures and encourages us. It also helps us control our emotions so we can deal with problems appropriately. Today, kids hear a lot of negative, so teaching positive self-talk explicitly is really important. Model this and encourage this every day.

10. Celebrate Diversity. Spend time discussing and learning about people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and ability levels. Kids need to hear, see, discuss, and understand that we are part of a larger community within our countries and world. Early discussions about diversity can help promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion for everyone.

11. Incorporate Hands-on Crafts. If your students need a craft break or activity before a holiday, use that time to promote social and emotional skills. The craft below is a Positive Self-Talk Flower Craft. Kids can add their own positive self-talk statements, color the craft, cut it out, and then keep it to help remind them how to use this helpful strategy. This is just one small example that can help to maximize your learning time by incorporating SEL into activities like crafts.

12. Encourage Reflection. After students complete a task, assessment, project, or assignment, encourage them to reflect about their own progress. This is a critical SEL skill that can be used across all curriculum, such as math, reading, writing, science, history, and more.

13. Practice Mindfulness. Using mindfulness in the classroom can help teach kids how to calm down before a big test, manage their emotions when they are upset, and just feel happier in the moment. Sometimes, kids don’t really know how to calm down on their own. Teaching mindfulness can help kids learn breathing strategies, how to focus on just one thing at a time, and relaxing our bodies. You can use these Mindfulness Activities to teach kids these strategies right away.

14. Create a Calm Down Area. Not all kids will use this area, but there are some students who truly need it. Set up a small area in your classroom with a bean bag, a few books, a calm down jar, a few fidgets, and anything else you have that is calming. Students who need this space can sit, use coping strategies, and return back to class when they are calm again.

15. Promote a Growth Mindset. Embracing a growth mindset helps kids and young adults learn that we can accomplish our goals with hard work, good strategies, and persistence over time. Sometimes kids feel they are just as smart as they’ll ever be (i.e. “I’m just never good at math, so there’s no use in trying). This mindset can be detrimental to student growth, so it is worth investing time into teaching kids to embrace a growth mindset and instead say, “Math is tough but I’m going to study, work hard, and ask for help so I can accomplish what I want to.” Use these free Growth Mindset Task Cards to get yourself started!

16. Encourage Kindness. One of my favorite ways to promote kindness is encouraging random acts of kindness. Set up a bin where students can write and add a note when they notice someone else doing something kind or helpful. Once a month, draw from the bin to award a small reward. You can also post the random acts up on a bulletin board so that everyone can see.

17. Play Games. It’s helpful to have an assortment of games that focus on social-emotional skills, such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving. You can also read my blog post about games you can use to strengthen executive functioning skills, such as self-control, planning, attention, and more.

18. Provide a Daily Check-in. You can do this either through a morning meeting, or just a quick check-in for specific students in need. Have students identify how they are feeling and consider what they might need to improve their emotions in the moment.

19. Discuss Empathy. To me, empathy is one of the most critical skills for kids to develop. It is the foundation for considering about how others think and feel so that we can respond in socially appropriate and compassionate ways. You can practice empathy on its own or through literature by discussing characters and how they might feel in a variety of situations.

20. Create SMART Goals. SMART goals are another way to help kids have control over what they want to accomplish in life. You can have students write SMART goals for an academic area that they need to improve or a social area that needs work. Make sure to check-in on these goals periodically so that students can identify if their strategies are working or not, and make decisions about how to change their approaches to make their goals a success.

21. Teach Coping Skills to Manage Stress. All kids and young adults experience stress even when we don’t see it. It is so important to teach them actual strategies they can use when they are feeling overwhelmed. It’s critical that kids practice these strategies when they are actually calm and don’t need them. That’s so they can effectively use those skills in the moment when they are struggling with emotions. I love this Coping Strategies Wheel to teach and practice some of these skills in a hands-on way.

22. Highlight Skills Throughout the Day. Just teaching or addressing some of these social-emotional skills isn’t enough. When you see them in action in the classroom, highlight and encourage the skill! For example, you might say privately to a student, “I noticed you were frustrated when you couldn’t work with the group you wanted and you did a great job using your self-control and flexibility to go with the flow and choose another group. Thank you.” You can highlight the skills to the whole class, too. You might say, “Before this test, I want everyone to just stop and use some positive self-talk. Give yourself a compliment.”

23. Teach Active Listening Skills. All kids need to learn strong active listening skills for success at school, with friends, and at their future jobs. Kids will use them in your classroom when you are teaching, when they are working with a partner on an assignment, and when they are just chatting with a friend.

24. Teach Group Ground Rules. Group work is an important part of learning in the classroom, but it is not a strength for all learners. Have your kids develop “Group Ground Rules” for what is important when working in a group. Some examples might be: Do your fair share of the work, stay with the group, and give everyone a chance to speak up. Continually remind students of these rules when working in groups or partners.

25. Practice Respectfully Disagreeing. People are going to disagree sometimes, so learning how to disagree respectfully is a critical skill (especially in our digital world). Have students discuss and debate topics, making sure that they actively listen to the other person and respect that opinion even when they don’t agree. You can use these Free Communication Skills Lessons to practice!

Remember that a social-emotional learning isn’t just one thing. It’s an approach that brings all of these aspects into your classroom and supporting your learners every day. These are just some ways you can incorporate social-emotional learning into your already-busy classroom. If you have more ideas about SEL, please share!

Teaching Kids Self-Love in the Classroom

February 12, 2018 by pathway2success 5 Comments

Today’s kids and young adults have too much negative energy all around them. Whether it is negative comments on social media, means texts going back and forth, or just overhearing the daily news, kids are drowning in negativity. With all of that considered, it can’t be said enough how much kids NEED positivity in their lives. Having a more positive mindset increases our abilities to overcome adversity, deal with challenges, and ultimately meet our personal goals in life. The good news is that kids can be taught these skills for positivity and self-love.

After reading, make sure to scroll down and enter in the giveaway so I can share some LOVE with all of you! (edit: Giveaway ended! Thank you all for entering!)

Here are some ways you can teach kids and young adults self-love in the classroom:

1. Teach positive self-talk. Positive self-talk is the internal voice that encourages us, comforts us when we feel down, and pushes us to keep going. We can teach kids to use positive self-talk by practicing statements like, “I can do this,” and “I am enough just the way I am.” The more we say and practice these positive thoughts, the more we will truly believe them. It’s a healthy coping strategy that every child and young adult should have in their toolbox for managing emotions.

2. Model and teach gratitude. Practicing gratitude just means stopping and reflecting about what you are thankful for. Benefits of gratitude include improved happiness, improved relationships, developing stronger emotional skills, and much more. Take just a few minutes each morning to reflect about what you are grateful for. Teach kids to recognize when they are thankful for seeing the sunrise in the morning, having basketball practice after school, having a supportive family member, or just having a great lunch packed for the day. Whether big or small, each situation you are thankful for helps you develop your skills of gratitude overtime.

3. Encourage a growth mindset. A growth mindset teaches us that skills can be developed over time with hard work and practice. By encouraging kids to adopt a growth mindset, we help them learn they can accomplish their goals by working hard, learning from our mistakes, and pushing our way through challenges that pop up. Rather than feeling bad about themselves when they encounter a challenge or make a mistake, help kids learn that mistakes actually teach us valuable lessons. One of my favorite ways to do this is to study successful people who failed at fist but got back up. Some famous people include Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, and Steve Jobs, to just name a few. I always want kids to realize they can do anything the want if they put their mind to it.

4. Promote kindness. I love teaching kids that when they are kind to others, it actually makes them feel good, too. Once kids begin to realize this, it helps create a positive learning environment all around. Still, it takes practice! Use Random Acts of Kindness slips to have kids record when someone else is kind to them. Post these up on a special kindness bulletin board so that the kindness-giver can be recognized.

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50+ De-escalation Strategies

October 15, 2017 by pathway2success 7 Comments

Being able to de-escalate and defuse situations with kids and young adults is an extremely helpful skill. Kids and young adults who become emotionally overwhelmed or irritated in a situation may begin to express their emotions in aggressive or violent ways. Some examples of these behaviors might include aggressive posturing, yelling, throwing items, swearing, and making threats. Quite often, without training, these situations become a power struggle between the young adult and the teacher. These power struggles only make the situation worse, though.

The best way to handle these types of behaviors is to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. It’s very important to recognize that this does not mean letting the student get away with the behavior. Instead, de-escalation focuses on helping the student return their emotions back to a normal level. It is critical that the student is calm for a period of time before behavior and expectations are discussed again.

Kids and young adults with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and trauma are just some examples of those who need these strategies utilized to be successful.

If you need further training and support in this area, consider the De-Escalation Strategies Guide that includes extensive training materials, information on Oppositional Defiant Disorder, proactive strategies, reference lists, and a quick-guide to store in a spot for use on the fly.

Also, remember to download the free printable list of over 50 de-escalation strategies. They are ideal to keep on a board by your desk, in the team room, or in a binder to bring to student support meetings. Let me add that they are not only for teachers. Parents, counselors, and administrators could use them, too!

Here are over 50 strategies and phrases you can use when de-escalating a situation:

Act calm even if you’re not.
Say, “Let’s talk about this later”.
Use humor to lighten to mood.
Lower your voice.
Give a choice.
Walk away.
Ask, “What would help you right now?”
Change the subject to a positive one.
Give personal space.
Say, “I see where you are coming from.”
Distract with a positive photo of something they like.
Show that you are listening.
Remove the audience.
Say, “I want to help you.”
Talk about something they like.
Make a joke.
Encourage the person.
Remind them of something amazing they did.
Say, “You can do this.”
Call another adult for help.
Say, “Let’s call… I think they can help.”
Be willing to find a solution.
Offer to change the way you are doing something.
Re-state what the person is saying.
Validate their thoughts.
Avoid over-reacting.
Use active listening.
Offer a solution.
Let the person talk without interrupting.
Say, “I see your point.”
Offer to take a walk with the person.
Clarify expectations.
Remind them of something they love.
Apologize for something you did wrong or the way it was taken.
Invite them to do a preferred activity.
Ask if they can explain more about how they’re feeling.
Try to understand the person’s perspective.
Slow yourself down to avoid getting worked up.
Say, “So, you’re upset because… right?”
Don’t say “calm down”.
Show empathy.
Encourage the person to use a coping strategy.
Don’t take items or personal property away from them.
Encourage the person to take a walk or get a drink.
Give the person an “out” (i.e. letting them go to another room or walking away).
Ask, “Would it help if… ?”
Keep escape routes open to the door.
Coach the person with positive remarks.
Acknowledge where you agree with the person.
Remind the person, “You’re not in trouble”.
Tell the person, “I’m here for you.”
Say, “Talk to me,” and listen.
Tell the person to take a minute to themselves.
Ignore the behavior if it’s minor.
Distract by saying, “Hey, let’s go…”
Be respectful in your tone.
“Do what works” in the moment.
Spend time debriefing after the incident to identify ways to improve.
Ask them to draw a picture of what happened.
Avoid needing to get the last word.
Just give wait time.

If you love this topic, read my post on 13 ways to avoid power struggles with kids and young adults!

Clipboard Progress Monitoring

August 2, 2017 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Progress monitoring is often a lot of work for educators. In this video, I explain how how to use clipboards in your classroom to help you manage student data and progress monitoring. I love this tip because it’s a simple solution for how to take quick and easy student data on the go! After watching the video, check out the links below to find the right progress monitoring forms for you and your learners.

Resources I discussed in the video:
Free Progress Monitoring – A free set of progress monitoring forms you can use to help track student goals and progress.

Editable Progress Monitoring – An editable set of progress monitoring forms for tracking student data. The benefit to editable forms is that you can copy and paste your students’ goals right into the forms, save them on your computer, and print them. This gives you a computer file of student goals as well as a printed form for on the go progress monitoring.

Progress monitoring should help you track trends and make critical educational decisions for kids. It shouldn’t take up all of your time! Find a method for tracking data that works for you and stick with it to help your kids grow.

12 Things Special Educators Need

August 1, 2017 by pathway2success 4 Comments

Being a special educator is an amazing title that comes with lots of prep work and responsibility! There are just some resources that a special educator really needs to have in their classroom to help keep them organized, data-driven, and their students on track. Whether you are prepping your classroom for the back to school season

Here are 12 things special education teachers need for back to school:

1. A timer. These come in all shapes and sizes. My personal favorite is a visual timer that shows how much time has passed. These are just critical when you are timing a transition, a lesson, or during a student’s time out period. I like to have multiple timers all around the room. Encourage students to use them, too! It’s great to have kids timing themselves on how long an assignment will take or seeing if they can beat their past fluency rate.

2. A hanging file folder. Words cannot express how critical a hanging file folder can be! They are the perfect place to add folders with individual student names. I like to add any outstanding work, assessments to be finished, or important materials to go home to these files. Kids know when they walk in the door to check their files first. If there is anything in that file, it is a “do now”. Hanging file folders are also a great place to store reflection sheets, goal pages, homework logs, or any other resources you’re going to need frequently.

3. Extra pencils. I mean LOTS of extra pencils. Buy so many you think you will never use them and then stockpile them in a cabinet. You will probably be out by halfway through the year!

4. Magnetic tape. This stuff is the best for putting posters, index cards, artwork, and more up on your board. I personally love making an index card for each class I teach and then putting it up on the board with magnetic taper. Underneath, I’ll list the expectations and plans for the day in that class. These are great because you can use them over and over throughout the years.

5. Coping strategies notebooks. These are extremely helpful for kids with emotional challenges. A coping strategies notebook is just a binder with individualized coping strategies inside for each student. Kids can develop their notebooks with the help of an adult and use it on their own in times of stress. Use this free coping strategies notebook to get started with one in your classroom.

6. A craft bin. Add any assorted craft materials and add them to a bin or cabinet in your classroom. You just never know when a project is going to require popsicle sticks, shoe boxes, or yarn. As a special ed teacher, I end up saving everything for that one time I might need it. It comes in really handy when you do!

7. Books. A classroom library really should have a bunch of books. As a special educator, you are going to need many different levels to meet the needs of your students. Consider asking your friends and family member to donate any old childrens or teens books that they have. My first year, I was very lucky to have a friend set up donation bins at their work and church for me. I ended up bringing about ten big boxes of books into school completely free. If that’s not an option, consider checking out tag sales or sales at your local library for some deals.

8. A binder for every student. I love to use reflection binders to help kids chart their progress over time. It’s important that every student has their own individual binder to store their goals, progress, charts, data, and anything they are proud of and what to keep throughout the year.

9. Alternative seating options. In the past I’ve used mini-rugs, exercise balls, bean bags, beach chairs, and wiggle stools. Kids just love having the option to sit a different way. This is especially important for kids with ADHD. While some seating options can be on the expensive side, you don’t have to go broke to invest in some seating options in your classroom. Many options exist at your local dollar store or discount store.

10. Progress monitoring sheets. Every special ed teacher needs a simple and easy way to take data. Use these free progress monitoring sheets to print, fill out, and clip to clipboards. This makes them easily accessible for you or a paraprofessional to utilize and fill out data throughout the day. If you need an even easier solution, use these editable progress monitoring forms to copy and paste your students’ goals into, print, and go.

11. A reward system. The options are really endless with reward systems. You can choose whether you want a classwide behavior system or reward systems that are more individually based. This might also depend on your age/grade level. I’ve found that the best reward systems are developed WITH your students. That means involving them on how they can earn points or classroom currency and having a class discussion for what types of rewards can be earned. The best types of rewards are really free: listening to music, a half homework pass, lunch with a friend, taking a walk, leading the class, and a free time pass.

12. Task cards. I love task cards because you can get them on any subject you need. They’re so helpful in the special education classroom because you can have students working on different sets of activities with task cards simultaneously. They are small and can fit in a folder or bin for safe keeping. It’s helpful to have a variety of task cards on subjects like reading comprehension, vocabulary, social skills, writing, math, and even study skills.

What else do you think special educators must have in their classroom? Let me know!

7 Tips to Survive the End of the Year

May 8, 2017 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

After state testing finishes, many kids (and adults) struggle to survive the last few weeks of school. Summer is coming and everyone knows it! Here are seven tips that will help teachers and kids have a positive and fun ending to the school year.

1. Assign end of the year projects. Kids love projects with a final result. One of my favorites is an End of the Year Time Capsule Project. Kids can select and bring in three items that symbolize important events, people, or places in their lives this school year. Then, they write essays detailing why each item is important to them. Best of all, this is an easy project to differentiate. You can have kids write longer or shorter essays, depending on ability level. Another option is to include fewer or more items that are meaningful for the school year. The end project is a time capsule in a shoe box that they can share and then bring home to talk about with families. Other options for end of the year projects include designing their own perfect school, creating a list of “must read” books, creating a class book of favorite class activities, and planning a pretend field trip to anywhere in the world.

2. Cut back on grading assignments. You can always give extra practice, activities, and projects without grading them all. Give yourself permission to reduce the amount of time you spend grading papers and entering those grades.

3. Assign organizing jobs to kids. Some students seriously love being given a job by the teacher. Use some of those students to help you organize materials that can be tidied and put away early. You will be happy that you got to it during the school year so you don’t have extra to do during the summer or on the first days back.

4. Plan a bulletin board that kids can help with. One of my favorite end of the year bulletin boards is a project that kids create for next year. That means the kids will be doing the bulk of the work while reflecting upon the school year, with the intent to leave it up for your next years kids. It’s just genius. Kids can write reflections on what fun activities they did this year, what advice they have for next year’s kids, how they felt challenged, what they did in each subject, and more. You can make your own or purchase the What We Learned Bulletin Board here.

5. Plan some fun downtime. Plan a movie afternoon. You can choose a movie aligned with something in your curriculum, or just make it a fun kid’s choice selection. Another alternative is having games centers that kids can play on their own. Games like Scrabble, Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, and practically any other board games make perfect center activities. You can have kids play just for fun or answer a task card of your choice before taking a turn. These downtime activities also give you the time you need to correct assignments, finish reports, or get grades in.

6. Consider materials and resources for next year. It’s never too early to get a head start for next school year. While the year is winding down, I find it helpful to inventory what I have and what I need for next school year. Make a list and purchase some materials and resources if you find the time. You will thank yourself in the fall!

7. Get outside. Spend time doing a read aloud outside underneath a tree. Consider an outdoor scavenger hunt or take a nature walk that you plan to write about. Getting outside can be fun and give you the dose of sunshine that you need during the springtime months.

If you find yourself needing some fun materials, see what end of the year resources I have available to keep your kids going for the last few weeks of school!

Best of all, TpT is having a Teacher Appreciation Sale on May 9th and 10th, which is a great time to stock up on resources for the end of this school year and the beginning of next. To celebrate, I’m hosting a $10 TpT gift card giveaway below. Please enter to win! Good luck and happy shopping!

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Using Sticky Notes to Teach Reading Strategies

March 15, 2017 by pathway2success 2 Comments

All grade and age levels need to concretely learn and practice active reading strategies. Just because reading comprehension strategies are more explicitly taught and focused on in primary grades doesn’t mean that middle and high school level teachers shouldn’t be teaching and reinforcing, too! Actually, as the content gets harder (around 5th to 7th grade) it becomes more critical that kids and young adults become stronger at utilizing active reading strategies on their own for continued success.

While there are many ways you can teach and reinforce reading strategies, one of the easiest methods includes think-alouds and sticky notes. It’s really that easy. The teacher should model reading a text aloud (which can be on ANY subject). As the teacher reads, he or she should stop and “think aloud” while using reading strategies. You might stop and say, “This part lets me really picture how water evaporates from the ground and becomes a gas” when reading a text on evaporation. You might stop and question, “I wonder why the Nile was such a valuable land for the early settlers” when exploring a text about early Nile civilizations. Besides just saying your thought, though, stop and actually make a sticky note. Then, add it to your text. Have your students practice the same.

Once your students understand how to use sticky notes while reading a text, have them do the same in partners, groups, and eventually independently. The ultimate goal is that learners are reading and stopping to think about what they are reading. It is helpful to have a foundational understanding of all the specific reading strategies, such as visualizing, making connections, questioning, and so on. This is especially true for struggling readers who need more concrete and explicit instruction. However, it’s more important that teachers expose their students to “stopping, thinking, and writing” than it is to wait until all reading strategies have been taught and mastered.

Some of the best specific reading strategies to teach include: monitoring comprehension, activating prior knowledge, making connections, visualizing, questioning, getting the gist, making inferences, determining importance, and synthesizing. Here is what each of those reading strategies really mean:

Monitoring comprehension is the first and most important strategy. It is teaching yourself to think about what you are reading. You might stop and highlight when parts are interesting or identify when you have no clue what you really read. It’s the most important strategy since it is the basis for all other reading strategies.

Activating prior knowledge means thinking about the topic of a text and considering everything you know about that topic. This is helpful for readers because it helps set the stage in your mind for further learning. Give a set amount of time for students to brainstorm what they known about a topic prior to reading about it. Then, give time for students to share out.

Making connections means relating what is read to things in real life or in other texts or movies. Making connections can be especially helpful when learning challenging science or math topics. Once you can relate a new concept to something else, it becomes much easier to generalize and concretely understand.

Visualizing is using the words in the text to create a picture in your mind. I often tell kids that it is like making a movie in your head using the text itself. This is also one of my favorite strategies to teach because you can use drawing or role playing to show how you visualize a text. A student might write, “I can picture when…” or “I can visualize this part in my head by seeing…”.

Questioning is coming up with questions about a text before, during, and after reading. This can also be a really fun strategy to teach, since it inspires students to engage in research and continued learning. Let students start with some stems such as “I wonder…” and “This part makes me question why…”.

Getting the gist means to put the “gist” or main idea of a passage in just a few words. This is the essential “did I really get that?” strategy, and a great tool for kids to use to make sure they are understanding what they are reading.

Making inferences is finding clues in the text to figure things out that aren’t explicitly stated. While this strategy is important in many texts, it is critical with higher level language and challenging novels. This can also be fun to teach when using news articles. Students might use this strategy starting off with “I can tell…” or “One thing I can infer is…”.

Determining importance is exactly what it sounds like: finding the most important parts in a text. While it sounds simple, it is often more challenging for students to learn. By forcing kids to identify what the three most important parts in a text are, they must really look critically at the text and use higher order thinking skills. Students might write, “I can tell this part is important because…”.

Synthesizing means being able to change your thinking after reading a text. It is putting different texts or media together to have a new understanding on a topic.

So get a few stacks of sticky notes and practice reading strategies in your classroom today! Note that it can be fun to have a variety of different sticky note sizes and colors so that your students can choose their own.

Reading Comprehension Lessons

If you are looking to get started right away, consider for the full reading comprehension lessons guide. It includes lessons for teaching: monitoring comprehension, activating prior knowledge, making connections, visualizing, questioning, getting the gist, making inferences, determining importance, summarizing, and synthesizing.

If you find yourself needing more than lessons, the Reading Comprehension Bundle includes 27 lessons, task cards, posters, journal prompts, a bulletin board, and more!

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How to Progress Monitor Goals and Objectives

January 7, 2017 by pathway2success 2 Comments

As a special education teacher, I work to stay on top of my progress monitoring for the kids on my caseload. Between juggling IEP meetings, parent phone calls and emails, collabing with regular education staff, prepping, and teaching my daily lessons, it gets challenging. This problem is even more difficult at the middle and high school level, when the kids need their valuable resource room time to focus on complex homework assignments and projects they genuinely need help with. So, to solve this problem, I developed a Weekly Goals Worksheet that you can download for free and use right away. The idea is really simple: I give each student one worksheet a week on Friday. I make the worksheets far ahead of time, using their individual goals and objectives from their IEPs (Individualized Education Program). That way, I keep track of data on all goals and objectives for all my students throughout the year.

Here is how I do it:

Get your free Weekly Goals Worksheet

1. I make several copies of the Weekly Goals Worksheet. Download the free Weekly Goals Worksheet if you don’t have it yet! I always keep extra copies on hand. Essentially, you’ll need at least 2 per objective, so the number will depend on your students.

2. I print out my students’ IEPs. I personally love having a paper copy to reference, but you’re welcome to just work from the online document if that works for you. Working on one student at a time, I go through their goals and objectives.

3. On the Weekly Goals Worksheet, I write the first goal and first objective on top of the page. Then, I’ll create 5 sample problems for that specific objective. For example, if the student’s math objective is to add and subtract fractions with common denominators, I would write out 5 different problems on the worksheet. I always make at least two separate Worksheets for the same objective. I make copies of them, too. That way, I can reuse the same worksheets for the student, as needed.

4. I continue this process for each goal and objective. I then place all the worksheets into a student binder and label it “Weekly Goals”. Using simple tab dividers helps you separate the different sections.

5. On any specific day (I choose Fridays), make it a routine for your students to complete a Weekly Goals Worksheet in their data binders. For most students, you can probably assign which page to complete. For students who are more work-avoidant, you can allow them to work on any page of their choice.

For some goals/objectives that are more difficult to measure this way, I’ll ask the student to turn in a piece of work to me. For example, let’s say the objective is to “Answer open-ended text response questions by turning the question around”. I will ask the student for a piece of writing that would require this, such as history textbook questions or reading response questions. I’ll choose the first 5 questions. Then, on the Weekly Goals Worksheet, I use those 5 questions to assess his or her progress on the objective. How many of those questions did the student actually turn the question around? If it was 3/5, the score would be 60%. I staple the student page to the Worksheet (or make a copy if he/she needs it back!).

I will admit this does take some time and work to prep ahead for. However, once you do the work, you are all set to take all the data you need. Best of all, it allows you to be totally prepared with data for all the IEP meetings and parent conferences. Of course, this makes it so much easier to write specific goals and objectives for the next annual review. You can start small by choosing just 2 or 3 students you know you need to collect the most data on. Then, once you get more comfortable, you can grow from there.

If you are a special education teacher needing ideas for more progress monitoring, consider my Special Education Teacher Binder. Materials focus on IEPs and team meetings, progress monitoring of academics and behavior, classroom materials, building a classroom community, planning, lessons, organization, and other forms to make the life of the special education teacher easier. For many forms, there are two different versions so that one is editable for your individual need as an educator.

5+ Ways to Encourage Gratitude

December 26, 2016 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Gratitude means feeling thankful and appreciative for what you already have. By just taking the time to recognize what we are grateful for, we can become happier, more relaxed, and keep a positive mindset. Encouraging kids and young adults to develop gratitude has been an interesting area of study. Some research highlights that getting in tune with your gratitude help social, health, and emotional well-being. Just a few examples include better relationship skills, more trusting of others, fewer feelings of stress, better ability to bounce back from challenges, reduced feelings of jealousy, and improved quality of sleep. In order to really teach and encourage gratitude with kids and young adults, we have to first understand it ourselves, though.

So how does gratitude really make us happier? It just makes sense, really. The more you pay attention to the positive things in your life, the happier you will be. Best of all, there are truly SO many things to be grateful for each and every day. Too often, we overlook the small things (and even the big things) that add to our lives. You might be grateful for: Your sister helping to clean up after a family dinner, the smell of rain in the spring, how great you feel after a morning workout, the taste of your favorite dessert, or the ability to stay in touch with your cousin who is thousands of miles away. Talking and writing about those things we are grateful for really brings them back to life. Once you do, you realize how much you really have to be grateful for.

Here are some simple ways you can encourage gratitude with kids and young adults:

1. Start a daily practice. Have students write down at least one thing they are grateful for every day. This can be a simple routine first thing in the morning or before students go home at the end of the day. It doesn’t have to take long, but it will start to positively impact kids and young adults. By recognizing what they are grateful for, both big and small, students will see that there is so much positive around them. You can start with this free Gratitude A to Z printable.

2. Say “thank you”. And encourage others to say it, too. Make it a normal routine to express gratitude when someone does something kind. Not only will it help you express your gratitude, but it can be a quick statement that means a lot to someone else. Best of all, it really doesn’t take any time at all.

3. Use gratitude slips. These are a simple and really fun way to tell someone else you appreciate them. Print these free gratitude slips on different colored paper and hang them around. When someone wants to use one, they can just simply rip the slip off and kindly say “thank you”.

4. Start gratitude journals. One of the best ways to practice showing your gratitude is by writing in a gratitude journal. All it takes is 5-10 minutes per day that you dedicate to writing in a journal about what you are thankful for. If kids struggle with writing skills, they can simply make bullet points or lists. Gratitude journal writing is a fantastic activity to do in the morning to start the day off with a positive mindset, or in the afternoon to bring positive closure to the day. Teach kids that they can write about anything: feeling healthy, a certain best friend who can be trusted, or being able to watch the phases of the moon. Over time, research indicates that gratitude journals help build positive thinking skills and increase happiness. These effects don’t just happen overnight, but are grown over time.

Strategies for practicing gratitude with kids and young adults do not have to be challenging! Have students use an empty jar or tissue box and add their gratitude slips to it every day. They can read the slips when they are feeling anxious, worried, upset, or just need some extra positive in their lives! #gratitude #pathway2success

5. Make a gratitude jar. Just use any old jar. Clean it up and place it somewhere special. Once in a while (or every day, if you choose) practice writing down at least one thing you are grateful for. Write your gratitude note on a small slip of paper, fold it up, and place it in the jar. When the jar gets filled, open the jar and read all the things you are grateful for. Not only does it encourage kids to find and write more things to be grateful for so they can fill the jar, but it’s fun to reminisce and remember all the little things we have in our lives when we review them. This is also something easy that kids can do at home with their families.

6. Create a gratitude club. Find some eager students who want to work together to create a more positive community in your school or organization. Students can develop ways to share and encourage kindness and gratitude with others.

Teachers, parents, support professionals, and other adults can get a lot out of teaching gratitude to kids and young adults. If you focus on the positive things in life, you are just more likely to feel happy. In turn, you will return that happiness by being kind to others. It really becomes a cycle of kindness and a positive climate. While focusing on gratitude is great for all students, it can be especially beneficial for kids with special needs or emotional struggles. This includes kids struggling with managing their emotions or behavior. By focusing on the positive, kids can build their confidence levels over time. I have created a Gratitude Workbook where you can get all of these ideas and more resources for teaching gratitude. Best of all, not only will kids benefit from practicing gratitude, but all adults will, too.