Back to School Blog Hop- What to do When You're New!

Welcome to the Back to School SLP Blog Hop!

I'm so happy you are here! You will get the chance to collect great back to school ideas for SLPs, win prizes, and get freebies by touring 17 wonderful blogs! 

Use the Linkytools at the bottom of this post to hop around the 17 blogs, collect ideas, and most importantly, the clues!

Now for my post... (and hang in there, it's a long one!)

Help!! What to do When You're New!

I just graduated with my Master's Degree this May (yay!!). So like many of you, I'm starting my CFY this fall in a school district. You're in my same shoes- you're so happy to finally be done with school, but slightly terrified at this new and exciting adventure you are about to begin.

Am I really the only SLP in  my building? In my town? In my district?

While these questions can by scary- and possibly true for you!- just take a big deep breath and relax. You've made it this far. You CAN do it. Sure, it's going to be tough. But you made it through that horrible Neuro class, suffered through having clients in the clinic in addition to your schoolwork (not to mention your actual life), and managed to pry your eyes open long enough to make it through that Thursday night class after a full day of school and clinicals. Trust me, I've been there. And guess what, I'm surviving! (See, there is hope!)

Now that you know you're going to make it, sit back and take in some tips and hints from me as I explore entering the beginning of a CFY year. 

First, you have to get ORGANIZED! My school didn't have an SLP last year. So, all the materials were thrown aimlessly on the shelves. Student files were everywhere. My little broom closet was a mess!

My OCD just can't handle all of this- not to mention its not ethical to just leave student files all over the place!!

So I spent almost a week at school this summer just organizing all my stuff. Yes, you read that right. I spent a week on organization! Why? Well for one thing, if you're new, you really need to know what you have to work with. I cleaned out every shelf, opened every binder, and looked at what materials were there. That way, when I get my teeny tiny budget from the school district, I know what materials I don't need and what materials I do. 

For the open shelving unit, I organized all of the games by topic- Artic, Game pieces, Grammar, Books, Board Games, and Language Games. I took a label and slapped it on the shelf underneath where that section starts, that way, when I use a game I know exactly where to put it back. (As a side note, I really wanted to put the games in the closed cabinet and use this cabinet for my binders so the kiddos aren't occupied with looking at the games. But, the shelves were screwed in place so I could move them. I plan on getting fabric to cover the shelves so no one gets distracted!) 

Like I said above, I also took out all of the binders and organized them by topic. I put labels on the sides of all of the binders so I knew what was inside.

 Here's a close up of my labeling. (Told you I was OCD!)

Now I know all of you have found some wonderful Teachers Pay Teachers activities. But how do you organize them? I've tried a couple different ways and most recently changed to this method. First, I laminate and cut out all the cards and extra sheets and put them in a gallon sized ziploc baggie. That way, I can still see the title of the activity, and all the cards and worksheets are in the same place (and can't get out thanks to the handy dandy zipper!).  

I'm storing these baggies in hanging files in a milk crate I got from Wal-Mart, but I know you can get them basically anywhere. Mine is going next to my filing cabinet under the table. They are organized in there by topic. I don't have enough seasonal activities to do mine that way, but I might change it up once I get some more! The milk crate on top of the table is going to house my students' working files, where I will keep their IEP goals, attendance sheets, and data sheets (which I plan on having my students help with). The filing cabinet houses old student files, current files, and loose worksheets. If you get nothing else from this post, for your own sanity, please organize your materials!

I don't know anyone! Not even the principal can remember my name...

Starting at a new school can be terrifying. You're the fresh face. Do you really know what you're doing? Can you be trusted to make important decisions? YES YES YES! You DO know what you're doing! You've just spent the last 6 years of your life dedicated to furthering your education and learning in depth information about our field. You can do this. Now you just have to prove to everyone else you can.

My biggest advice here is introduce yourself to everyone you meet. It will be harder for you to remember everyone's names, you do, after all, have a lot more names to remember than everyone else! But really try to make an effort. Come up with a mnemonic device you can use, use associations, anything that will help you remember! Not only will your fellow teachers be impressed you remembered their names, you will feel more comfortable talking to someone if you actually know who they are. 

Make good friends with your principal, office staff, computer guys, and janitors. These people will be able to get you basically anything you need. Make yourself known to them, tell them thank you for what they do. Spend some time getting to know them. You'll be surprised what you can learn from them. And who knows, making friends with them might get you something you want in the future (like maybe an IPAD or a larger classroom!).

I have 50 students on my caseload and don't know a single one of them...

It can be overwhelming taking over someone else's caseload. You don't know any of the kids. You don't know what motivates them, what makes them tick, their likes and dislikes, or even if their goals are appropriate for them. You'll spend a lot of time with your nose buried in various IEPs, so make it worth your while. Start making lists of who have similar goals, when IEPs are due and when their annual reviews are. It may seem like a lot of work, but it will help you in the long run, trust me. 

My favorite way to get to know someone is to play a fun game. My freebie for the hop is on initiating conversation, and I think it would work perfectly for the first day of school!

It includes 36 different topic cards. Your students must use the words on the topic card to form a question. I've included a hints page if your students need help with this. And if you like the freebie, check out the full version here. 

A few other things I like to do on my first day with students:

• Go over IEP goals with your students. It is so empowering for your students to know what their IEP goals are and why they are working on these goals.
• Make goals for the speech room. Does your student want to master that tricky sound, use the correct pronoun, graduate from speech?! If your students are working towards a goal, they are more likely to work harder during your sessions.
• Have fun! Remember, these kids are young, and they are only going to be young once. Try to have a little fun with your students, they will appreciate it, and you will too!

Find Speech with Sharon on:
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Thanks for reading, I hope you learned a thing or two! And now for the really fun part- what do you get if you win the blog hop!?

5 Winners: 

• A goodie basket full of TPT products from all of our wonderful bloggers on the hop!

1 Grand Prize Winner: 

• A goodie basket full of TPT products from our stores
• a $50 TPT gift card
• Articulation Station from Little Bee Speech, School of Multi-Step Directions from Virtual Speech Center, and Kid in Story from LocoMotive Labs! (Be sure to go like their pages and thank them for donating an app! Tell them you came from the SLP Back to School Blog hop!)

The Rules:

• You must decode a SECRET MESSAGE
• In order to complete this task, you will need to visit each of the 17 blogs and find the OWL CLUE
• The OWL CLUE will include one word that is part of the code
• When you enter the Rafflecopter, you will be asked to enter the secret code
• The contest will run from August 11- August 17!

Enjoy reading through the blogs, downloading the freebies, and participating in our Blog Hop! Good luck everyone!

And now for my clue:

Think you have the secret code? Insert it in the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway