Summer Series Blog Link-Up Week 3: Scheduling

A while back, I posted about how I make my schedules in my classroom as part of the SPED Summer Blog Hop.  After reading everyone's posts on how they make their schedules, I went back and revised mine.  This is what I love about blogging and participating in blog hops!  You get to read about different ideas and then incorporate them into your own teaching practice!  I love this online collaboration and idea sharing!  So, today I thought I would write about my revised schedule and go into more detail about the process of making class and staff schedules and link up to Delightfully Dedicated's Summer Series on scheduling.

After reading everyone's posts in the SPED Summer Blog Hop, I decided to go back and make my schedule in Google Forms. I choose this method so that when I need to make changes to schedule, I can access it from any computer, at home and school.  The first thing I did was to put in the activities in the day that are non-negotiables, such as lunch, recess, etc.

Then, I filled in the rest of the activities for the day and colour coded it.  I assigned each student a colour for the times of the day that are not group based learning activities to make it easier to read.  For Literacy, Math and Fine Motor Centers, I used the colour of the group that the student is in.  This way staff know exactly which group that student is in during that time period.

For the staff schedule, I assigned each staff member to rotate through students and tasks each day.  We have a separate schedule for each day of the day to ensure that all of us are doing each of the required tasks throughout the week.  I do this for three reasons:  1) to ensure generalization across people, 2) to ensure that the EAs can run the program when I am away and 3) to avoid staff burnout.  If someone is assigned to the same student all day, every day, there is a higher chance of staff burnout, especially if it is a student with challenging behaviours.  Having my EAs lead lessons also promotes a team approach to the classroom and creates a positive working environment.  It also lets us do inter-rater reliability tests on the data collection periodically to ensure we are all scoring the data in the same manner.  I also colour-coded the staff schedule, and assigned each of us a different colour, which just makes it easier to read.

You will also notice that during group-based teaching times, I have one person leading the lesson, while another one prompts and reinforces and the takes data.  I have found that if I don't assign the EAs specific jobs to do during those times, they either start talking during the lesson or check their email, Facebook, etc.  I have found that scheduling them specific tasks is the most efficient use of their time.

I hope you found this helpful and I would love to hear who you schedule your day for your students and staff!  Leave me a comment below!

And don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the Special Education Back to School Blog Hop!

Until then,