RTI – Response to Intervention – has made its way to the top of the list of most commonly used education acronyms. Since changes to policy language in the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the Response to Intervention framework has emerged as the favored way to identify students with learning disabilities. After a decade […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
5 Tips For Returning to Teaching after Parental Leave
Ahhhhh…. Maternity Leave. I can remember being nine months pregnant, ready to pop, and filled with pure excitement to be at home with my baby for twelve weeks. Twelve weeks of pure joy. Little did I know what those weeks at home with a new baby would really be like. They are filled with anxiety, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Looking for Joy? Find It In Your Classroom
I don’t blog as much as I would like these days, but in my first year of teaching, I kept an almost daily record of my experiences. My family and friends would read these posts, and for the most part feel very sad for me. But my uncle, a teacher, had a different reaction. I […]
Posted inSpecial Education
Making Special Education Work For Everyone
I teach in a mild/moderate special education classroom, meaning that all of my kids are on IEPs and have been placed in my room because they meet disability criteria that my school district recognizes. They are able to attend a regular education classroom for all other subjects besides reading, language arts, math and adaptive behavior. […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
5 Things I’d Tell Myself in My Earlier Teaching Years
My first few years of teaching were spent scrambling to assemble the perfect lesson plans that would engage my students and still be fun. I spent hours at work instead of with my family. I was completely dedicated and yet afraid of failure. Sometimes, I felt a little lost and sometimes wondered if I had […]
Posted inBack to School
Making Sense of Special Education Paperwork: 3 Systems That Save Me Each and Every Time
I took a new position this year, one where the teaching I’ve been doing is the same, but the paperwork is not, I am a special education teacher in a resource room for kindergarten through third grade. For those of you are new to the special education area (like me) and are literally wallowing in […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Gun Violence in America: 4 Ways To Talk About the Elephant in the Room
I woke up Monday morning to the horrific news of yet another mass shooting in America, this time in Las Vegas, where 59 people tragically lost their lives and more than 500 people were injured in an act of senseless gun violence. When I sat down to write today, I was hoping to come up […]
Posted inTeacher Burnout
The Off-Duty Teacher: What I Do to Feel Relaxed and Refreshed
It’s Monday afternoon, you’ve just spent the last 9+ hours on your feet teaching 130 students. You’ve barely had time for lunch and now two hours after dismissal, you’re ready to go home. However, you find that it’s hard to program your time at home because you’re still processing the events of the school day. […]