Independent Study Special Education Resources
Compared to a tradition school setting the independent study environment many times your curriculum will be fixed, there will be a greater amount of paperwork, and limited amount of time to spend with students and curate resources to meet their individual needs. I have three resources that will help: Mail Merge on Word & Excel, Khan Academy, and Vocabulary.com.
Mail Merge on Word & Excel: With mail merge function on Word you can keep all your students information and data on one Excel spread sheet. From there you can automatically generate all of your special education forms once you set them up. (Believe me there are many. J) This eliminates your need to repeatedly look up and enter the same information over and over again. If your special education documents are only in PDF form you will need to use http://www.pdfonline.com/pdf-to-word-converter/ or another free online program to make your PDFs into Word Documents before you use mail merge with them.
Kahn Academy: Many students struggle with math and have missing pieces that cannot be addressed by set curriculum that is above the students’ level. With Kahn Academy You can have a teacher account that monitors all your students’ progress. You can assign students individualized lessons to do or allow them to work at their own pace. It is easy to set up, does not require you to spend hours searching for resources, it customizes itself to your students level, provides small lecture videos and hints when students do not understand a topic, and provides immediate feedback to students.
Vocabulary.com: Many of our students also struggle with reading comprehension. This often comes from a lack of vocabulary knowledge. Like Khan Academy you can have a teacher account that monitors progress, and assigns tasks. Also, like Khan Academy the site will alter itself to the individual level of the student. It is fun and slightly addictive so students will be engaged while learning.