Setting Up the Socially Distanced Self-contained Classroom During COVID-19: The Tough Questions

People are popping up all over with great examples of what a self-contained classroom can look like during the global pandemic. Michelle Clark from Powhatan, Virginia, ran a summer school program and created a number of creative ways for students to connect …

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Setting Up the Socially Distanced Self-contained Classroom During COVID-19: Where to Start

If you find yourself staring blankly off into space because you can’t even imagine where to begin with setting up your classroom, it is ok, you are not alone. From what the experts (other teachers who have already set up their rooms) have taught us, it is clear that it …

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Setting Up the Socially Distanced Self-contained Classroom During COVID-19: The Masks

Whenever it is that your students return for in-person instruction, one significant change they will have to adapt to is the number of people wearing masks. While wearing a mask is an important skill to teach your students, teaching them about the world of mask wearing is a completely …

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Setting Up the Socially Distanced Self-contained Classroom During COVID-19: The Layout

Setting and up and running a self-contained classroom during COVID-19 brings about a number of complicated logistics that can quickly start to make your head spin.  When you boil it down, we are really just trying to maximize safety while students are able to benefit from in-person instruction once again.  …

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Setting Up the Socially Distanced Self-contained Classroom During COVID-19

Special education teachers, let’s be honest, this is not the great summer of 2020 any of us had envisioned.  Though you may not be at work, you can’t escape it.  You …

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How to Teach Your Child with a Disability to Wear a Mask

While wearing a mask is not a skill we have traditionally taught our children, we can still teach it the same way we would any other skill. Since this is a routine that is unfamiliar and potentially uncomfortable for a child with a disability, you will need to keep it …

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Five Rules of Five for Educators to Live By

 

Lets keep it simple today.  Improving classroom climate and your own effectiveness as an educator does not need to be exceedingly complex.  Here are five rules for all educators to live by to improve your day to day performance.

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Strategies for Promoting Independence for Students Who Have a 1:1 Paraeducator in General Education

 

If we are not deliberate with how we support students in special education, in trying to help them we unknowingly could be hurting their future.  For students who spend most of their day in the general education classroom with a 1:1 paraeducator, there can be a large tendency to …

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Targeting Independence: A Shift in Mindsets for Students Who Have 1:1 Paraeducators in General Education

 

Promoting independence for students with disabilities does involve a number of specific strategies, but it starts with having the right mindset.  As it has been said before, culture eats strategies everyday.  If school staff wish to empower their special learners in being more independent, each team member first must be bought in.  …

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