Time, Time Management, Organization (Unit Two)

My cooperating teacher is the only special education teacher for grades 8-12. Because of her large caseload, she is required to have a detailed schedule and float around between classrooms each hour. The main thing that she said took more than she would like is documentation of things like FAPE, IEPs, MDRs and the various meetings that accompany all of these. She feels as if these are never ending and hard to manage. My CT also doesn’t take home with her on most nights, as a sign of how efficient and productive she is during school hours. She told me that their school used to require teachers to submit lesson plans and documentations of certain interventions, but that this rarely occurs now. The teachers all seem to be on the same page and communicate very effectively with her, as they co-teach all the subjects she has students in. Because she seems like she always has to be two places at once, she wishes she could simply spend more time with her students, helping them learn and perform better in their classes. She also desires to spend more time with students and their parents developing plans to be more successful. She wishes to focus more on teaching goals and objectives and evaluating progress rather than constantly multitasking. When she is working with students individually during test read alouds, she will often be on her computer working during the time they are solving the answer. She said that without the ability to multitask, she would have a 12 hour work day regularly. She seems to be always on the move and demonstrates a great amount of flexability. The ability to work with whatever comes her way and still create positive relationships with her students is what makes her a great teacher, even when she is insanely busy and as organized as possible.