How do we find time to teach IEP goals?
Being a special education teacher is no joke. All the paperwork alone is enough to bury the best of teachers…and unfortunately sometimes the paperwork seems to just take over teachers lives….but on the rare occasions that we do get to actually teach, so many of us are inundated with demands to teach grade level skills. But that is part of the reason that many of our students with special needs are falling further and further behind their grade level peers. We need to teach IEP goals, but how?
If you are anything like me, you deal with daily pressure to basically make magic happen for our students with special needs. This pressure gets heavier the higher you go in grades….it starts with teaching students to read, but also teach them the more advanced skills they need to pass their grade level benchmarks….and don’t forget to the teach the students about test taking strategies! But, we have goals in IEPs that we need to address too…. It can be so hard to find time to teach IEP goals!
I’m going to go ahead and say the thing that shouldn’t be said….when we are prioritizing our time….what is more important? Meeting grade level benchmarks or filling in the gaps in foundational learning addressed in the IEP? My absolutely no-question response to this is…Filling in the foundational learning gaps! Fixing the foundational gaps in learning is the only way to actually close the learning gaps between our students, and the students who are on grade level. The fact is, we have to teach the students how to read and understand basic math so that they can begin to understand more advanced concepts, and eventually really learn the grade level concepts.
But, this does not fix the time constraints, and the fact is, we want our students to be able to move on with their peers to the next grade… AH! the pressure just makes my head hurt!
So, what do we do?
When you get to see your students, the first 5-15 minutes needs to be set aside to work on IEP goals…. this could include practicing fluency facts, working on letter sounds, or phonics skills, or maybe even teaching executive functioning skills if that is one of your goals. During that time, giving the student direct instruction that is very short, and to the point is really helpful….then giving just a little bit of practice is needed to solidify the learning.
After IEP goal time, you will need to work on grade level learning. Before you jump into this, try to find some way to connect the IEP goal work to the grade level learning. In math, this can be pretty easy. Math fact fluency connects directly with word problems, or place value connects easily with learning about money or regrouping. Finding those connections helps students to understand and value the goal work that you do with them, as well as continue to practice the goal skill while they generalize it to the grade level work that they are doing.
Why we must prioritize teaching IEP goals
By prioritizing the IEP goals, we are limiting the amount of time that we can practice the grade level skills…but let’s be honest, how much are the students really going to truly understand the grade level work, if they don’t have the foundational skills they need to build to that level? Yes, the students can make it work, but is that really as beneficial in the long term as getting to really and truly understand the materials being presented? We must prioritize teaching IEP goals if we are going to close learning gaps and help our students be successful.
How wonderful would it be if we could have all the time we need to really close the learning gaps, and help students learn the grade level skills they need?
Someday, I truly hope that special education teachers receive the recognition they deserve for the work that they do…. While we wait for that day to happen, we will have to keep prioritizing our time and figuring out the best way to get as much done as we can. The first step is prioritizing teaching IEP Goals…the rest will follow.
