Special Educators Resource Room

125. Time Hacks for Special Ed Teachers

• Jennifer DeBrosse

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There’s never enough time in the day—you already know that. This episode is packed with practical strategies to help you use your time more intentionally, without staying late or bringing work home.

We’ll cover:

  • How to stop relying on overwhelming to-do lists
  • Ways to block time and build micro-habits
  • Routines that make planning more efficient
  • Gentle boundaries that protect your energy

✅ Don’t miss Episodes 123 and 124 for more tips on simplifying your systems and finishing the year strong!

Episode 123 - Progress Monitoring in Less Than One Minute

Episode 124 - Paperwork Batching Tips

If you're a busy special education teacher looking for tips, tricks, and resources to save you precious time, I've got you covered! I'm here to help you regain your confidence in the classroom and feel calm and collected as a special educator.

Tune in every Friday for practical tips, tools, and the support you need to to THRIVE in the classroom.

Grab your FREE Special Educators Cheat Sheets at positivelylearningblog.com/free-resource-library/

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I'd love to hear what's working for you! Send me a message on Instagram @positivelylearning

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Special Educators Resource Room. I'm Jennifer from Positively Learning and today we are wrapping up a unintended three-part series. So way back in episode 123, we talked all about getting more efficient with progress monitoring and data collection, especially for quarter four, and then in episode 124, we talked all about your paperwork and getting more productive using batching. Today we are wrapping it up with the third episode in the series and it's all about time management hacks for special educators.

Speaker 2:

Hey, special educators, I'm Jennifer from Positively Learning. Welcome to the Special Educators Resource Room. If you're like me, you're always looking for ways to save time and streamline your work. That's why this podcast was created to give you the systems and solutions you need to get your time back. Tune in for tips, tricks and tools that will help you manage your workload and make the most of your time. Whether you're brand new or experienced, all are welcome in the Special Educators Resource Room.

Speaker 1:

Now, before we even start, I want to make something super clear. This episode is not about doing more. It's about helping you protect your time so that you can do what matters and feel a little more in control of your day. Because, let's face it, you have so much on your plate the IEPs, the paperwork, the small groups, the behaviors, the emails and the meetings that could have been emails it's easy to feel like the day runs you instead of the other way around. In this episode, I'm sharing a few of my favorite time management strategies, specifically designed for special educators. These are things that have helped me and the teachers I support use time more intentionally, without staying at school until 6 pm every night or bringing work home. There are five tips and, as you're listening, you can take them or leave them. Let's dive in Number one.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with the classic to-do list. You know the one 12 things are scribbled on a sticky note or typed into your digital planner. And here's the truth Most traditional to-do lists are too long or too vague. If you're writing things like catch up on documentation, organize your files, ieps, those are categories, not actually tasks, and your brain doesn't know where to start. So here's a idea Pick your top three Every day. Identify three specific and doable tasks that would make your day feel successful. So instead of IEPs, you might write draft present levels for Jennifer Email parent about Jennifer's meeting time. Update service minutes in the system for Jennifer. Email parent about Jennifer's meeting time. Update service minutes in the system for Jennifer. This narrows your focus and helps you make real progress, even if the rest of the list waits until tomorrow. Remember, being busy is not the same thing as being productive. So you want your to-do list to reflect what actually moves the needle.

Speaker 1:

Time-saving tip number two block scheduling and micro-tasking. So let's talk about time blocking, or what I like to call making an appointment with your paperwork. Time blocking just means you're assigning a specific type of task to a specific time on your calendar. So instead of saying I'll do paperwork sometime during my planning, you decide from 115 to 145. Today I'm writing progress notes. This makes it real You're committing to that task like you would a meeting.

Speaker 1:

Now, if your day is unpredictable because hello, it's special education, you can still use micro tasking. These are the short tasks that do fit into a five or 10 minute gap. So, for example, while your small group is transitioning, you're jotting down a quick observation. Or while your class is lining up for outdoor recess or specials, you can check off completed tasks on a student's checklist. During morning arrival, you can print one progress report. You don't have to wait for that perfect hour of uninterrupted time. Those small moments can add up fast. And yes, I feel like I'm contradicting myself. Last week I talked all about batching, but what I want to do is offer a menu of time-saving strategies, not so that you do all of them, although that would be amazing but that you pick the one that works for you.

Speaker 1:

The third time-saving tip is a good one Create anchor routines. It is such a powerful thing that you can do for your time. You're building habits that are going to start running automatically. Think of it as muscle memory, but we're going to call them anchor routines because they ground your week. So think of it like this Monday you check goal progress. Tuesdays, you update communication logs. Fridays, you file all the folders and documents and you prep for next week and you don't have to think what should I be doing, because it's already decided. You can even take it smaller and build anchors into your day. The first five minutes of planning you're checking your top three list the last five minutes. You're logging any data from the day. When these routines are consistent. They're going to remove decision fatigue. You're not spending energy planning what to do, you're just going to be doing it and, best of all, you don't have to finish everything in one day, because you're spreading the work in a way that's sustainable. Oh, I'm thinking that this could be another episode talking all about those anchor routines, but for now, let's move on.

Speaker 1:

Number four probably should have been what I led with. It is all about protecting your time, also known as gentle boundaries, because boundaries are hard. But if you want to actually get things done, you're going to need to protect your time like it's a meeting with admin, because it kind of is. Here's the trick Boundaries don't have to be harsh, they can be kind and clear. So you could try. I'd love to help with that. Can I follow up with you after my paperwork block at 3.30? Or you could say I have about 15 minutes right now. Should we meet briefly, or would it be better to schedule time tomorrow? And here's one I've used often. I have a few IEP tasks I'm working through right now, but I'll check in as soon as I wrap up. You're not being difficult. You're being professional and focused, and the truth is people often respect those boundaries more when you're modeling them. Clearly, if you always stop what you're doing to respond immediately, people are going to assume you're available 24 seven.

Speaker 1:

So start protecting just one part of your day, maybe your planning period, if you get one, or the first 20 minutes after dismissal, if you're still there. That small shift can create big results. Time-saving tip number five is actually just a challenge. I want you to try one thing this week. Let's make this actionable. So here's a few small tweaks that you can try this week. You can create your top three task list each morning, just three things. You can block off one specific time this week for paperwork and protect it. You could build one new anchor routine. Maybe every Friday becomes folder audit day and you can communicate one small boundary, just one, and notice how it feels. You don't need to overhaul your whole schedule. Let's just try one thing and see what shifts.

Speaker 1:

Time management and special education isn't about being perfect or doing it all. It's about working with the time and energy that you do have and making that work feel just a little less chaotic. So whether you try batching, blocking or just choosing your top three for the day. You're moving in the right direction. You are doing such important work, so I hope these time-saving strategies give you some space to do it with more clarity and a little more breathing room.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for sticking with this episode of Special Educators Resource Room. I'm so excited to share these strategies and I'd love to know what's working for you. I'll link the previous episodes that came in this time-saving series. It's episodes 123 and 124. I'll put it in the show notes. I can't wait for you to listen to them. They are very short so you could binge listen to all the episodes in a row, but they are packed with tips that you can take it or leave it. I truly believe if you even put one new strategy in place, you can see a difference. You're also invited to come back next week. We have a really special topic. We're going to be talking all about creative ways to celebrate student progress at the end of the year. That moves way past that perfect attendance certificate. So stay tuned next week. I'll catch you next time in the Special Educators Resource Room.

Speaker 2:

Thanks so much for tuning in and I'm dying to ask what'd you think? Be sure to hit the follow or subscribe buttons that you never miss an episode. You can find the show notes and links for everything mentioned in this episode at positivelylearningblogcom. See you next week for more special education solutions.