New Year's Resolutions & a GIVEAWAY!

Happy holidays! Phew, it's been a busy year here. I have so much to look back on and be thankful for. This past year, I started grad school, started my second full year as a teacher, and most exciting of all, started teachers pay teachers! Just this week, I hit 100 followers on TpT and 200 followers on Instagram. In December,I said goodbye to my current school building and moved to a holding school with the rest of my coworkers. We'll stay there for 18 months while they build a big, beautiful new school for us! For me, 2015 has gone out with a bang!

However, with all of that said, I'm SO looking forward to 2016! Professionally, I will sum up my first year of grad school, second year of teaching, and more. Personally, I will get married in May, move towards the end of the year, among other things. So, with so many exciting things happening, I am setting some personal and professional goals for 2016! Hopefully, sharing them here will help keep me accountable. :)

Goal 1: Network, Network, Network!
Joining TpT and Instagram (with a teacher's lens) this year has helped me to realize just how important networking is, both in schools and online! I've been able to do some collaboration with some wonderful, helpful sellers and bloggers this year. In 2016, I want to expand my knowledge and abilities around collaborating and networking! I hope to build better relationships with other teachers, share resources, and create new resources together.

Goal 2: Take advantage of leadership opportunities
As the only special education resource teacher at my school, I have some advantages over classroom teachers in the leadership area. I'm also a team leader, so I have additional responsibilities and leadership opportunities here. However, I want to really explore and take advantage of all possible leadership opportunities that may come my way in 2016. I want to develop my leadership skills through these opportunities and through my graduate classes (educational leadership and administration program). I really hope to support and be a resource to classroom teachers in my current position this coming year.

Goal 3: Grow and improve my Instagram
I really like am slightly obsessed with Instagram. I've had my personal account for several years now, but just started my professional account in September. I hope to continue to learn about Instagram and how to use it to connect with others!

Goal 4: Take some time for myself
On a weekly basis, I teach once dance fitness class, tutor 3 kids, take one (four hour) grad class, and teach full time. Add in TpT and wedding planning, and there's not much time left for me! I hope to carve out some time to relax and recenter now and then. I've let myself get bent out of shape this school year over various stressor. Instead, in 2016, I hope to be able to take some me time to relax instead.

Goal 5: Be a little better to myself and my body.
I know, this sounds like the cliché New Year's resolution. But this is something I would like to focus on this year. Not in the get-to-the-gym-daily-follow-fad-diets way, but just thinking about what is healthy for me. This includes food and exercise, but not just that. I also want to be able to think about what's good for me in terms of taking on responsibilities and jobs. I have the tendency to over-schedule myself, because I can't stand having lots of extra time. But this is finally catching up to me this year!

What are your New Year's resolutions? Are you stuck for some? This Buzzfeed article has a ton of great, meaningful suggestions!

Lastly, a giveaway! As I previously mentioned, I hit 100 followers on TpT and 200 followers on Instagram this week. Not a huge deal, but my first personal milestone for TpT. I'm so thankful for all of my followers and customers! To celebrate, I will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card in addition to any one product from my store! This giveaway will run from Thursday, 12/31 to Thursaday, 01/07.

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Tips for Successful IEP Meetings

Most educators can agree that IEP meetings are not the best part of the job. But most of us have to participate in one capacity or another throughout the year. As a special education resource teacher, my Thursdays are spent in IEP meetings and preparing for upcoming meetings. Today, I want to share some tips for running or participating in an IEP meeting.

Come prepared. Parents are taking time out of their day to come for a meeting. It looks so unprofessional when you don't have your documents and information ready to go! Shuffling through papers and stammering is a turn-off to the parent, and probably your administrator as well.

Know your students. Whether you're the classroom teacher, service provider, or an administrator, it's so important to know the child you're talking about! You don't want to be confusing your students with each other or making up something about your student just to have something to contribute. Sad, but I've seen both  happen before! Parents notice these things and it can make or break the parent-school relationship.

Listen the parents. Parents want to be heard in the meeting. It's so discouraging for parents to feel like they're not able to participate in the discussion or that their thoughts are not important. Even if you disagree with what they're saying, give them an opportunity to be heard and try to be understanding, at the very least. Remember, they're as vital to the IEP team as much as anyone else!

Check for understanding. IEP meetings are usually filled with a TON of information, which can be totally overwhelming for parents. After every section of the IEP, I ask parents if they have any questions about what was just shared. This way, they understand everything as we go and don't have to wait until the end to ask 42 question!

Share positives! Whether it's the first IEP meeting or the 10th, Parents usually know what their child's difficulties are. They see it on a daily basis and hear about their child's difficulties regularly. Be sure to start and end with some positivity! This helps parent's to feel more positive about the meeting and the plan, and reminds them of the strengths their child has! At the beginning of the meeting, I like to share why I enjoy working with the student or a funny anecdote about the student. When wrapping up the meeting, I remind the parent that I enjoy their student and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with them!

Send home documents in advance. If you're sending home a draft IEP, make it clear that it is a flexible draft, not a finalized document that can't be changed. Send work samples, reports, draft IEPs, etc., home in advance. This allows parents to review the information comfortably and avoids surprise from the IEP meeting.


Hopefully, you've picked up some tips for successful IEP meetings that will lead to better meetings. Let me know what tips have worked for you in the comments!

-Georgia

Classroom Reveal!

Phew! It has been a CRAZY two weeks of school! I was hoping to have everything completed a long time ago, but that just didn't happen. My caseload increased from 16 to 21 this year, with other kids on the IEP horizon. I didn't think it would make a big difference, but it has! But anyway, back to the original purpose of this post: My classroom reveal! It's still not perfect, but I wanted to share the what I'm starting the year with, and possibly update as I create more resources for my classroom.

Classroom view from the door.

CLICK HERE to see my entire classroom reveal. If you enjoy reveals, I have good news for you! In addition to this reveal, you get another reveal in January! Since my school is moving to a holding school over winter break while our current school gets rebuilt, I'll be setting up a whole new classroom. Enjoy this one for now! :)

-Georgia

Success in Special Education

Hi again! I hope everyone is off to a great school year! (Or preparing for one, if you haven't gone back yet!) I just published another guest blog post on Student Savvy! In many districts, it’s becoming more common to see 25-30 students in a classroom at once. Adding students with IEPs into the mix adds to the stress, especially for educators who don't have a degree in or experience with special education. Head over to Student Savvy to check out my tips for setting special education students up for success in your classroom!

Do you have kids with IEPs in your classroom? It can be overwhelming with all the laws to follow, goals to meet, and service providers to collaborate with. If this is something you struggle with, you're certainly not alone. I just shared a guest post on What I Have Learned with tips for collaborating with service providers. Click on the picture to visit my guest post!

Teacher Week - 5 Fun Facts About Me!

I'm constantly learning new things as I venture into blogging! Today, I learned that this week is Teacher Week over at Blog Hoppin'. Monday's post is:

5 Fun Facts About Me!

I'm a little late to the game, since it's 11:30 on Monday evening, but I wanted to join in, so here it goes!

1. I'm Getting Married!

I'm super excited to get married in May on Memorial Day weekend. I met my fiancé when we were in high school. I absolutely couldn't stand him when we first met, but obviously he grew on me! We dated for 5 1/2 years before getting engaged on Memorial Day weekend, 2014. We've had a two year engagement because we had a lot of other things going on {moving to MD to start teaching while Jon was still in PA, Jon moving down to MD and starting a job}, but we're finally getting close! :)

My fabulous coworkers!

2. I LOVE My Job!

I'm sure this goes without saying for most of the people reading this, but I truly love everything about my job! I was super lucky to be hired at a wonderful school mid-year, two months out of college. I could not have imagined working with such a wonderful administration and staff. I am a special education resource teacher {the only one at my school}, so I get to work with all the students with IEPs in K-5. I think it's the perfect job because I get to see and do a little bit of everything. 

3. I Just Started Grad School!

So I'm not sure if this actually counts as a fun fact; I'm not feeling too fun about it yet! I just started my masters program in Educational Leadership and Administration, which will take 3 years since it's a part time program. I'm taking a research class currently, so it's not overly exciting. However, I'm looking forward to learning more about the education field in a different light! It will be great to have more career options for down the road. :)

That's me in the orange!

4. I Teach Dance Fitness!

I've been a dancer since I was four years old. I just can't get enough! I've done a ton of different styles, but hadn't danced seriously since high school/college. When I moved to my current city, I found a WONDERFUL dance fitness studio and started doing hip-hop/latin dance. Luckily, they allowed me to complete some trainings with them. Now, I'll be teaching my own class starting in September. I'm super excited to start out this new adventure.

I'm the one wearing the red jersey :)

5. I Played Rugby for 6 Years!

When I started college, I went to a bunch of activity meetings so I could maybe meet some people and stay busy. I decided to attend a rugby information session just for the heck of it. It was one of the best decisions I made in college! I played for four years in college, and for an addition 2 years with a club team in Maryland. I recently stopped playing due to grad school, but I hope to be able to play summer 7s rugby in the future again!


So there you have it! There are 5 fun facts about me. Remember, check out Teacher Week at Blog Hoppin' to see some more fun facts from other fantastic bloggers!

-Georgia

Classroom Pictures - BEFORE

August 24, 2015
I am officially back at school for inservice week! Here are some "before" pictures of my classroom. My classroom is an L shape, with one section for working with students and the other section for my computer, filing cabinet, and desk.

*Here's a quick tip for making your classroom ready for summer: cover all of your surfaces and bulletin boards in plastic table cloths! It was a thousand times easier than trying to cover everything with paper. I think I used three from the dollar store for my whole classroom. Such a time saver!*

The above picture shows my classroom as you enter the room. I use this area for instruction. I typically have 1-4 kids in my classroom at a time. I use the closer small group table as my math center and the small group table in the back as my reading center. Looking at this picture, my "teacher area" is behind the wall on the right.

Above is my area! This contains my printer, computer, filing cabinet, and desk. I don't like to have students back here because it's not easily seen from my door. This past year, I left it pretty plain as it was my first full year in the building. This year, I hope to decorate it and spice it up! :)

Here's the view of my reading center from the filing cabinet area. Below is a picture of my math center from the reading center.

That's my room before I set up! I will be sharing pictures of my fully set up classroom this weekend or early next week. I typically don't see students for at least part of the first week of school, so I get a few extra days to finish up the odds and ends.

Do you have any great ideas for my oddly-shaped room? I would love to hear them! I'm slightly obsessed with rearranging my furniture at least once a year. Send some suggestions my way!! :) This school year will be unique for me because I'll only be spending four months in this classroom before my whole school packs up and moves to a holding school for 18 months. So I'm going to make it look the best I can for these four months!

-Georgia