Trying something new in planning

   Tomorrow my grade level will have its first ever summer planning days since I have been working at the school. It is typical for general education teachers to be given 10 paid hours to come in and plan together over the summer but it has been unheard of for special education. However, our new principal recognizes our special education teachers value as much as our general education teachers, which is refreshing. On our agenda is to tackle the hurdle of scheduling which we will accomplish through group decision making. Our ILT team worked on the master schedule for the school in April so it's time to dive deeper into the scheduling of our special education department. If you have ever worked in special education or are familiar with scheduling you know how difficult it is to ensure all student's service hours are met, teachers are utilized to promote maximum student achievement, and the amount of personnel allotted by the county is sufficient to meet the needs of all learners and support teachers.
   Previously we did not schedule together which I quickly recognized was leading to less effective use of staff and lack of effective communication. So, we're going to try something new tomorrow and tackle the task together, attempting to create schedules that maximize staff and ensure that we are doing what's best for children.
   I'm curious how scheduling is handled in your school? Does administration set the master schedule with input from the staff then support teachers create their schedules from there? How much discussion is involved? I have worked at schools where the schedule is set by administration without any teacher input, and on the other end of the spectrum I have worked in schools where the teachers created their own schedule without any administrative oversight. Where does your school fit and what are some best practices you have observed?

Comments

  1. Karen DozierJuly 8, 2017 at 8:39 PM

    Many of our schools have committees that help with the schedule. Often times this involves our district special education department coming to the meetings to help with the scheduling. Our special education/ESOL classes are placed first and then we go from there. Schedules have to be flexible as the students' needs must be met first. This can be hard when certain grade levels want to have their planning or recess at a certain time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cbernardoJuly 9, 2017 at 7:11 AM

      WOW! I love the idea of the district being involved.

      Delete

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