Summer Prep Looks Different This Year

Normally I have an entire list of things I’ve accomplished before I leave for the school year, along with a whole list I want to accomplish over the summer. COVID-19 has impacted just about every area of teaching, including summer prep and how I’m working on getting things accomplished for my classroom. While we are still waiting to see how the 2020-2021 school year will shake out, I’m doing a few things to prep for the fall.

Online Professional Development

I’m packing my summer with online PD. Like so many things, many professional development opportunities have made a swing from in-person to online. I’m loving the ability to grow as a teacher around our crazy summer schedule. One of my favorite opportunities is the Behavior Course from the Autism Helper. It’s AMAZING! I highly recommend. In addition, If you haven’t already, sign up the next time it’s open! I was also given the opportunity to become a CPI trainer. While I’ve been trained in CPI for years, I took additional training so I can help further the knowledge of my staff in de-escalation. I was able to take the majority of the professional development that was required online. 

Creating Items I’m Sure to Use

It doesn’t matter what kind of scenario we are in this fall, my students thrive on first/then boards (check out these from Especially Education!). If my students are in school, I’ll be using these in the classroom. If they are at home, I’ll send them home. If we are in a hybrid version, I’ll send them home and keep some at school. In addition, I’m making duplicates of any items my students share to reduce items that are shared.

Online Curriculums

I’m digging deeper into the curriculums that I use and any online components they have. Many of the curriculums I already use have online components that will help if we need to do online or hybrid learning. The more I’ve dug into options, the more excited I am to bring them into my classroom. I think things like online versions of Edmark for Reading will be a huge help! I’m also looking at how I can use The Autism Helper’s curriculums electronically through Google Classroom and SeeSaw. I’m thrilled to be able to use these tools no matter how we are learning this fall, in person or online.

Even thought things are different this year, we can still keep moving forward, growing as educators, and preparing for our students.