Practical Strategies for Special Education Teacher Organization ·

As teachers, we have tooooons of papers to deal with. And when it comes to IEP paperwork for our students in Special Education, the paperwork load is immense. A lot of this data and paperwork is necessary for supporting our students but can become overwhelming. That’s why it’s important to talk about special education teacher organization strategies that are easy to implement.

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If you feel overwhelmed by all of this, have no fear! You are not alone. I have felt stressed out by all the RTI and SPED documentation that is required of general ed teachers.

Many of you have reached out to me to ask about organizing Special Education paperwork, RTI interventions and alllll of that data we have to keep up with. I am not an expert in that area. That’s why I am sharing my conversation with Brandie Rosen for this topic.

Brandie is a Special Education Teacher who now trains and coaches teachers in the area of Special Education.

She has a wealth of knowledge and shares so many great ideas for organizing and managing all the paperwork and interventions for our SPED kiddos. We also spend a few minutes at the end of the episode talking about dealing with severe behaviors in the classroom.

Organizing Paperwork

Special Education teachers and general ed teachers with SPED students have a lot of paperwork to contend with.

The most important thing to keeping up with all of the paperwork is to ensure that you have effective paper systems in your classroom.

Inside the Classroom Paper Organization Course I teach you how to sift through and organize your classroom papers so that you can create those systems.

I also show you what systems you need for your papers as well as strategies for managing all of the IEP paperwork and responsibilities that go into teaching SPED students.

Create Systems to Keep your Papers Organized. Enroll Now. Mock up of computer screen with Classroom Paper Organization Course, iPad with workbook and two sample workbook pages

Be sure to check out the other Simply Teach episodes on paper organization:

Special Education Teacher Organization

Since so many of you have been asking about tips for special education teacher organization and IEP paperwork management, I had a long list of questions for Brandie! Be sure to listen in on the podcast to get all the tips Brandie shares about organizing IEP paperwork.

Here is a quick recap of a few of the big things we talked about in our interview.

How to Manage All the Paperwork

I start out my conversation with Brandie by asking her the most common question y’all ask me on this topic.

How do you manage all the paperwork? Brandie shares answers for both general ed as well as Special Ed teachers.

Brandie encourages general ed teachers to keep a one-pager for each of your students in the SPED program. There is no need for classroom teachers to have allllll of the IEP paperwork at their fingertips.

Blue jar with pens of multiple colors. Clipboard with white paper. Pink and green thumbtack and silver paperclip.

A one-page sheet with the most pertinent information is an easy way to ensure you are meeting all the requirements for each of your students without having tons of papers to deal with. She shares what information is necessary to include on the one page in the episode.

Brandie then goes on to share ways that Special Education teachers can organize and maintain paperwork for each of your students.

Managing IEP Paperwork for Multiple Students

If you are teaching in the elementary level with only one or two classes, the paperwork load is not likely to be too heavy- especially if you follow Brandie’s one-pager tip!

However, if you are a secondary teacher with multiple classes and multiple SPED students in each class, that is a lot more to deal with!

Brandie recommends having a page for each class with the most important information for the students in that class on that one piece of paper. This way you can quickly reference it at the beginning of each class.

I also like that Brandie encourages students to be an advocate for themselves. Many of your high school SPED students are aware of their accommodations and should be learning how to ensure that their teachers are providing the necessary accommodations for their success.

Managing Students with Challenging Behaviors

Part of Brandie’s work also includes working with teachers as they prepare to get SPED help for behavior with their students.

I remember when I had my very difficult year with numerous behavior issues in my classroom, I felt so lost because these students did not yet qualify for additional support through the SPED program.

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That meant I was stuck to figure out how to support these students on my own while also trying to advocate for additional support for them.

Brandie shares a simple process for working through those difficult behaviors.

Behavior chart with a grid for different subjects. 1 smiley face, 1 neutral face, and 1 frowning face. Goals and Rewards listed

I have also written a blog post as a result of my really difficult year on strategies I used to deal with difficult behaviors that presented themselves in my classroom.

IEP Untangled

Brandie has released a course to help teachers write IEPs. The course is called IEP Untangled and is a “course for teachers and by teachers. It makes writing IEP’s simple so you can focus on what you truly love.”

I love that she has created this course to help teachers take back their time. That is a core value of The Simply Organized Teacher and I am happy to share this course with all of the Special Education teachers out there who are looking for ways to improve the IEP paperwork process.

Classroom Paper Organization Course

Connect with Kelly

Connect with Brandie

In Conclusion,

If you feel stressed and overwhelemd about all the paperwork you have to handle as a Special Education or General Ed teacher, have no fear! We are all struggling with it!!!

Luckily we have Brandie to guide us through some steps to help reduce the overwhelm.

Create a paper routine for all your papers
Use a 1 page sheet for each student with the key info
High School Teachers- Make a 1 pager for each class
Track data with difficult behaviors to qualify for additional support

Quick Recap

Here is a quick recap of all the links shared in this post:

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Until next time,

Practical Strategies for Special Education Teacher Organization

Organizing Paperwork