Sharing my experience in the classroom as a life skills special education transition teacher and providing resources and solutions for fellow educators.

5 Resume Tips When Applying for a SpEd Transition Teacher Position life skills teacherspayteachers teaching experience transition Jul 03, 2023
Whether you teach high school, middle school, or elementary, when you long to teach transition (special education programming for 18-22 yr olds) you’ll search far and wide for that coveted position.  Since so many schools are interviewing candidates, now seems like the best time to...
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IEP Goal Bank : Transition Skills consumer math life skills resource teacher experience teacherspayteachers transition Jun 13, 2023

Are you tired of ‘Dollar Over’ being your go-to functional math and independent living goal?  Because let’s be honest, how many people carry a $20 bill, $10 bill, $5 bill, and four $1 bills with them at all times?  

 

Are you also over ‘Will develop a...

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Lesson Ideas for ESY for the High School & Transition Life Skill Classroom life skills teacherspayteachers teaching experience transition Jun 05, 2023
By IDEA definition, ‘extended school year services means special education and related services that are provided to a child with a disability beyond the normal school year of the public agency; in accordance with the child’s IEP; and at no cost to the parents of the child.’
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Safety Skills Worksheets: The Comprehensive Weekly Workbook You Need life skills teacherspayteachers teaching experience transition Apr 03, 2023

 

When you think of safety skills you probably think of teaching students to wear oven mitts when using the oven, to not share their personal information with strangers, and to lock the door when they are home alone.
 
You probably embed safety skills into specific lessons (like kitchen...
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Vocational Skills Worksheets for Students with Special Needs life skills teacherspayteachers teaching experience transition Mar 06, 2023
I love routine.  I love having to think 1 time and just automate from there.  It frees up my brain and allows my students to know what to expect and when, which we all know is helpful on multiple levels.
 
Well, I’ve been expanding my ‘weekly’ resources (beyond...
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A (FREE) Guide for How to Write an IEP Transition Plan life skills teaching experience transition Feb 06, 2023

Whether you are new to teaching special education or a 15 year veteran…

You teach at the middle school level or transition…

Your students are on track to attend college or a rehab day program…

Your families are highly involved or they trust the school to take the lead with...

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What is the PUNS list in Illinois? Making the PUNS List Make Sense for Parents benefits life skills teaching experience transition transition planning Jan 03, 2023

If you live in Illinois and your student is in Special Education then you may have heard of PUNS at an IEP meeting or from fellow parents/family members.  With a funny name and less than stellar history, it probably left you either scratching your head or with a sour taste in your...

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Transition Plan Student Workbook for High School and Transition Students functional life skills life skills special education teachers teacher experience teacherspayteachers transition Dec 12, 2022

I love a really good transition assessment.  I love when parents/family members give quality feedback.  I love when staff share their ideas and insight about a student’s future.  But, I really love when students are open, honest, and (most importantly) realistic* about their...

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Functional Reading Comprehension Worksheets for High School and Transition Students functional life skills life skills special education teachers teacher experience teacherspayteachers transition Dec 05, 2022

What is ‘functional reading?’ According to me, it’s being able to read and understand enough to get what you want or need AND what you don’t want or don’t need. This includes weeding out the fluff stuff that doesn’t matter.  The fluff detracts you from...

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Transition Assessments for High School and Transition Age Students functional life skills life skills special education teachers teacher experience teacherspayteachers transition Nov 01, 2022

You are sitting down to write a student’s IEP and you get to the Transition Plan section.  You plug in the same phrasing you use to every other student.

 

GASP!!!!

 

You would never do that!!!  You are a better educator than to copy + paste (even if it would save you a...

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Paraprofessional Trainings for Support Staff in Special Education life skills special education teachers teacher experience teacherspayteachers transition Oct 17, 2022

Every school year comes with a lot of excitement, overwhelm, and new support staff to train.  While we may have the best of intentions to provide hands-on training for the newest of staff, schedules may not always allow this.

 

Give your paraprofessionals the training they want and...

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The Life Skills Daily Warm Up Activity Resource You Wish You Had Time to Create functional life skills life skills special education teachers teacherspayteachers transition Oct 03, 2022

You know that starting off each school day with consistent structure, meaningful engaging activities, and skill-focused conversation will really set up your students for a great day. 

 

Well, I always wished I had a daily resource with fresh questions that were life skill related, but...

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5 In-School Vocational Jobs (That Isn't a Coffee Cart or Dog Treat Business)  functional life skills life skills transition Sep 05, 2022

 I can picture it now…

 

You are an effective, student-focused teacher who wants to provide valuable vocational experiences to give students work-based practice beyond a vocational box in the classroom.  You want them to get out of your room, work with new, less familiar...

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Creating Teaching and Student Schedules: What to Consider life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition Jul 01, 2022
  • Create schedule

 
It’s the thing that lingers on your to-do list and weighs on you all summer because it is NEVER just a one-and-done sort of thing. The first student schedule draft will take you a few hours and you’ll hesitate to even remove the task from your to-do...
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How You Can Help Families Prepare to Access Benefits Over Summer Break functional life skills how to teach life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition May 17, 2022

Let me preface this by saying that YOU won’t be doing any work for your well earned summer break. Instead, you’ll give your families a summer to-do list to help them be ready to dive into the benefits/service/support application process in the fall.

 
 
 

Here are...

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How To Teach: Eating at a Sit Down Restaurant and Tipping functional life skills how to teach life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition May 16, 2022
 

Importance of Knowing How to Behave in a Sit Down Restaurant and How to Tip

 

Your students may enjoy a sit down restaurant every week with family, they may go periodically on the weekend with friends, or they may go a couple times a year for special celebrations. Either way, they...

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How To Teach: How to Behave in a Restaurant functional life skills how to teach life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition May 09, 2022
Importance of Having Manners When Eating at a Restaurant
Besides the grocery store, restaurants may be the community environment your students will visit the most. Therefore, it is important that they know what restaurant manners are expected of them in that setting. There are endless...
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How To Teach: Ordering Food at a Restaurant functional life skills how to teach life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition May 02, 2022
Importance of Ordering Food at a Restaurant
No matter what kind of restaurant you are ordering food at, your food order with a cashier or wait staff is a conversation. If your students struggle with bilateral conversations (ask question, respond, ask follow up, respond, etc), then ordering...
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How To Teach: Restaurant Meal Budget Skills functional life skills how to teach life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition Apr 25, 2022
Importance of Using a Restaurant Meal Budget
We may want to order everything on a restaurant menu that sounds delicious (including cheese fries, cheese curds, and a chocolate shake), but we just don’t have the money or stomach space for that. So, deciding how much money to spend on a...
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If I Had $1,000 to Spend on My Classroom life skills special education teachers teacher experience transition Apr 19, 2022

I’m going to give it to you straight right from the get-go: Some teachers will NEVER be given a budget to spend on their classroom, some will be given various amounts of money at various times with a strict timeline of when to spend it or what to spend it on, and some will have the luxury...

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