Tips for Teachers

50+ De-escalation Strategies

October 15, 2017 by pathway2success 9 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.

Teaching Kids to Work Together

December 11, 2016 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Having kids and young adults working in groups (and partners) is just part of everyday life as as teacher. It can feel wonderful when you see a small group of kids collaborating effectively and learning together about a new topic. It’s true that many kids really learn best from each other when compared to learning from a teacher at the front of the classroom. On the flip side, though, sometimes setting up groupings in your classroom can be a nightmare. Whether or not the groups work well can have a huge impact on your classroom management, lesson, and the entire flow of the classroom.

Here are some simple tips that teachers can implement in their classrooms to support and facilitate cooperative partners and groups.

Tips for Teachers During Group Work
1. Choose the groups ahead of time. It might be tempting to let kids pick their own partners, especially since it is quicker and easier on the teacher. Most of the time, this doesn’t work out nearly as effectively as teacher-chosen groupings. Spend the extra time up front to pick your groups and it will pay off ten fold. Ahead of time, you can make a list of a few possible groupings that work. Keep this as your backup if you forget to make groups ahead of time.

2. Give directions in many different ways. Once it is time to get started in a group, there are always a few kids who didn’t hear the directions and aren’t sure what to do. This can really create mayhem in group situations. Set up a routine with having directions written on the board, written on paper, said aloud, and/or listed on your website. Give kids multiple opportunities to go back to those directions without needing you right there in order to promote independence.

3. Teach skills for working in groups. Don’t assume that all kids know and understand how to work cooperatively in groups. Many don’t. Spend time teaching how to work effectively with partners and in small groups. Giving some “group ground rules” can save the day (and year).

4. Identify the kids who need stronger supports. Some students will need extra attention during partner and group time, such as reminder cards, frequent check-ins, or a checklist to keep themselves on track.

5. Give choice and differentiation in your group work. Provide choice and supports so that all kids have the opportunity to find success. Perhaps a student who struggles with writing doesn’t write the paper but draws for the group. You may also choose to have different groups doing different things. Give a lower level reading passage to those who have similar reading skills, for example. As long as each group is working and making progress, it’s okay if they get to their learning goal in different ways.

6. Modify assignments for students with special needs. Assignments that are just too challenging for kids with disabilities are a recipe for disaster when it comes to group work. Again, make sure that every student has a way to find success. Modifying each assignment specific to student needs is a way to reach that goal. Consider learning more about how to modify for students with special needs.

Working With Others – Groups and Partners

If you need more support in helping kids learn how to work effectively in groups, consider this Working With Others Workbook. Using this workbook, a teacher or specialist can work with a small or large group of kids to develop those cooperative learning skills necessary for success. The workbook is set up to be completed in order, with skills that build on each other. For example, kids will first learn and understand why it’s important to work effectively with others, understand how to be a responsible partner, and then even identify problem behaviors they might exhibit when working in groups.

When it comes to learning to work together, lots of guided practice will make the difference. Not only is group work is often something that kids really love, but a time when lots of student to student learning occurs. It will be worth the effort in the end!

How to Modify for Special Education

November 12, 2016 by pathway2success 3 Comments

Supporting kids with special needs works best when both regular education and special education staff work together. That’s why it is helpful for all teachers to understand how they can modify and accommodate for students in their classrooms. For newer teachers, learning that you need to modify work for kids of various levels can be a bit overwhelming. Even teacher who are highly experienced might struggle with how much to modify. It’s really a balance because you are constantly trying to find out what is “just tough enough” to push your students, with it still being at an appropriate level that can help them grow. Too easy and the work doesn’t really challenge them. Too difficult and kids might shut down, causing them to not learn anything at all. It’s okay (and actually good) to fine-tune your level of modifications over time.

Most importantly, if a child requires a modification according to their IEP, the teacher needs to provide it. The IEP is a legal document and those modifications and accommodations were agreed upon the child’s planning team. Some modifications are specifically listed, such as having a word bank or being able to use a calculator. Other times, modifications are left up to the discretion of the teacher. If there is something you are unsure about in the child’s list of modifications, talk to the spec

ial education teacher and get further clarification.

Here is a quick reference list for some ideas to pull from when you need to modify for a child’s assessment, homework, or other assignment:

Reduce the Workload:

Assign even or odd problems only – This is a great strategy for homework. It’s simple and quick for the teacher, but still gives the child similar practice to everyone else.
Select specific problems and omit extra ones
Give 1 essay question instead of 3 or 4
Give choice – Let the student select 10 problems to do or let them pick whether to do the front or back of a worksheet. This will help with motivation, too, since the child sees they have a choice in the assignment.
Put fewer problems on each page – This will be less visually distracting.
For matching, reduce the number of items to match or break them in half
Reduce the number of multiple choices – There will be less to select from. For example, if everyone else has a quiz with 4 possible multiple choice answers, your student might only have 2 or 3 options to choose from.
Eliminate true or false questions – These questions can be extremely tricky, especially for kids with language-based disorders.

Modify the Content:

Give a similar but different assignment with lower grade level material in area of weakness (math, reading, or writing) – For example: if the topic is computing with fractions, the student might be drawing fraction pictures. This will also help you target the “most important” concepts for the child to learn at the time.
Provide an alternative assignment – This can be a research project, hands-on project, lab experiment, or making a poster to show understanding of a topic.
Align student interest to the content – For example, you might focus on reading strategies while learning about trains.

Provide Supports:

Give a word bank for fill in the blank or when writing an essay
Allow students to type or orally report their responses
Give a specific list for steps to complete a task
Provide concept cards with an assignment
Allow the student to use their book or notes
Provide specific examples
Highlight tricky or key words in questions
Allow extra time
Allow student to work in quieter setting
Allow calculators
Allow for brainstorming prior to the assignment
Have adult read assignment to student

Learning to modify can be hard work at first. It’s best to give it a try even if you are not entirely sure it’s the right modification. Remember that you can always tweak your modifications as the year goes on. Most likely, you will need to continually reassess modifications and supports, since your students will be growing and making progress. And when in doubt, work with your special education staff to ask for feedback, support, and ideas.

If you are a special education teacher in need of a toolkit, consider the Special Education Teacher Binder. It is a huge compilation of special education resources. 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 help make the life of a special education teacher a little bit easier.

9 Tips for Motivating Unmotivated Kids

October 22, 2016 by pathway2success 1 Comment

Many kids and young adults struggle with motivation. These are the kids who are slow to start classwork, often don’t turn in homework, and may even refuse to attempt any assignment they view as a challenge. It can be extremely frustrating, especially because these students are often bright and capable in their own way. Here are some strategies you can use within your classrooms to help support their needs while still holding them accountable.

1. Keep your expectations high. Even when kids are struggling with finding motivation, you want to give the message that you expect greatness from them.

2. Give choices. Allowing a choice in an assignment or task gives kids power and helps them feel more in control of what they are accomplishing. Choice can mean choosing between two different worksheets, choosing their own lab group, or choosing whether to write or type an assignment. Consider finding a choice that fits a student’s individual strengths or interests. If a student isn’t motivated to write a research paper on a famous poet, allow them to present about their favorite musical artist. Instead of completing a lab report on cells, have your artistic student draw and label a diagram of a cell. It’s okay to think outside the box with this.

3. Allow accommodations when necessary. Simple accommodations, like a word bank, a calculator, or a word processor can help kids get in a better mindset for finishing a challenging task.

4. Talk to the student. Find out what is behind the lack of motivation to complete work in your class. Perhaps the student struggles with your content area, doesn’t understand the way you give directions, or is having some major issues at home. Talk privately and compassionately with the student and you can find out a lot.

5. Work out a plan. For students really struggling with getting tasks done in your class, try working out some incentives. Find out what the student would like to work towards – extra points on a quiz, a homework pass, or sitting in a special spot in your classroom. Then, make a plan so that your student can work towards earning that incentive. Maybe when he or she finishes homework for an entire week, they earn something special. Not only does this give the student something to work for, but it also helps build your relationship, too.

6. Work through motivation challenges together. Use this Motivation Workbook to teach about motivation, identify motivational challenges, and make a plan for success. Consider trying the Free Motivation Workbook Sampler which includes identifying what motivation is, understanding lack of motivation, strategies for improving motivation, and a motivation journal.

7. Talk to other adults who work with that student. Look for trends. Find out where the students does well and find out how you can replicate that in your class. For example, I worked with a student who did considerably better in his history class than his science class. With some investigating, I was able to notice that the science class lacked the same structure that his history class had. It was a simple thing to replicate once the teachers were made aware. Another important consideration is the time of day that the student is struggling. Is it in the morning when he or she didn’t get enough sleep? Or maybe around lunch time is challenging after being in a less structured social setting? These are just some examples of what you can consider.

8. Talk to parents. When you find yourself not making enough progress with your student, talk to his or her parents. Share what you have tried and see if there is anything at home the child can work for and if parents could talk to the child, too.

9. Keep your cool. It’s easy to get frustrated at kids who lack motivation but remember that they are just kids. There is often a reason why students won’t initiate tasks, even if we don’t know that reason at the moment. Take your time working with the student and show you are proud when you see progress – even just a little means baby steps in the right direction.