Special Education Teachers Are Awesome!

Special education teachers have jobs that are more challenging than ever these days. There is more and more paperwork that must be filled out, even if it is on computers, it still takes valuable time to get it done. With the economy causing systems to make budgets cuts, these teachers are having to do more with less. The student to teacher ratio is beginning to change in some classes, so some teachers have more students then ever and these students have individual educational needs that must be met according to IEP guidelines. How are these teachers doing it? They are educating our students with special needs and doing a fabulous job!

• They love their students—It is obvious that special education teachers love children.

• They engage their student's parents—These teachers make sure there is a home-school connection. This may be by sending a newsletter by email, phone calls, daily notes, etc.

• They are creative educators—With each student in their class having an IEP and each IEP having individual goals, these teachers have to be creative to come up with ways of meeting multiple goals at the same time. That is the ultimate in multitasking.

• They create safe classrooms—Special educators have classrooms where their students feel safe to make mistakes as they are learning. You will often find that these classrooms are where a lot of “typical” students will gather because they feel the security within that class provided by that teacher.

• They have patience—Oh do they have patience! Special education teachers know that they may have to go over and over an educational directive many times before it finally clicks. They also know that they may have to change the approach and these teachers never give up.

Special education teachers are so incredible and so vital to our students. We know (as mentioned in our How To Spot A Great Teacher post) that graduation time is coming up soon and student teachers are in classrooms. We are grateful to those individuals who are going into special education and we have the perfect online resource to help them get started. Our Teacher Toolbox is a compilation of advice from Dr. Claire Coles' team of experts at the Marcus Institute and the Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

We also have the perfect Graduation gift to help them get their new classrooms started. In fact it is a wonderful resource for ANY special education teacher! Our Special Needs Handbook for Teachers will help create an organized and efficient classroom where special needs students will thrive. Resources to help students develop problem solving in reading, language and math skills are included with a whole lot more.

Making this purchase for your favorite special education teacher will be received with such appreciation. They really need all the support and encouragement they can get these days for all the wonderful ways they are providing priceless education to our children.

How To Spot A Great Teacher

Do you remember your favorite teacher?  Why were they your favorite teacher? I bet learning was fun in class and you never realized you were learning. You looked forward to going to school because you knew you were not going to be bored and that you would feel encouraged when you left school at the end of the day. Of course when you were younger you may not have been able to express your feelings in this way, but your parents could tell that you liked your teacher by how happy you were and how much you learned. Even if your favorite teacher had to scold you they did so in a way that effectively taught you how to do the right thing the next time you were faced with a similar situation.

As a parent I have witnessed both my daughters become enamored with teachers and those teachers all share some of the same qualities. Of course I viewed my favorite teachers differently as a parent then I did as a student. The qualities that come to mind time and again in those top teachers my daughters were fortunate to have are:

• Organized—they have the classroom ready to go and they themselves are structured and appear prepared for what the day may bring.

• Good listeners—this always helps form strong genuine bonds with their students.

• Makes learning fun—they know what motivates students to learn and they know that learning happens in and outside of the classroom.

• Good communication—with the parents as well as with the students. Teachers who are clear about expectations in the class with both parents and students, and are not afraid to contact parents about any issue good or bad.

• Break it down—having a teacher who can explain concepts in an understandable fashion is priceless to both a student and parent.

We are nearing the time of year where student teachers are working in classrooms with students. This means they will be graduating in a few short months and then off to their own classrooms. This is such an exciting time for those “soon to be” new teachers. Perhaps you know a student teacher or even a teacher who is still “new” to teaching and you would like to be encouraging and offer support as they begin their new career. Do2Learn has developed a Handbook for New Teachers that is specific for teachers K-5. This handbook is really a great way to show a new teacher how much you care and support them.

The Handbook for New Teachers is an essential and easy-to-use guide for K-5 teachers that is designed to make the first day of teaching stress-free and organized. Practices proven effective by experienced teachers are presented in a visually clear format, with all needed forms and examples to make them work. This handbook contains over 60 pages of reproducible forms. These include room centers and book labels, passes, parent contact letters and communication sheets, student contracts and behavior point sheets for graduated behavior levels, special education schedule forms, procedures lists, student homework and weekly folders, seating charts, work overdue and field trip notices, complete substitute teacher instructions...plus much more. Building on its teacher and special educational experience, Do2Learn has developed and tested this thoughtful and valuable resource for the new teacher.