A first-year special ed teacher explains why staff training is harder than managing students. Getting experienced colleagues to buy in takes a year of building rapport and involving them in decisions about behavior plans and data systems, not a one-time workshop.
Do you want to know what I think is one of the hardest parts about being a self-contained special ed teacher? Staff training. I was wildly unprepared for this as a new teacher. I, as a first-year teacher, had to tell adults who had been in the field way longer than I had what to do, right? Effectively leading and managing your team is extremely difficult. If you feel this, drop me a note in the chat because it is so hard. My biggest advice with staff training is stay at it. It is a year-long endeavor. It is not one and done, and you will always be getting better at this. And two, get the buy-in. That's, I know, the biggest struggle. My staff doesn't buy in. Get that buy-in. You get buy-in by building rapport with your team and by involving them in the process. Involve them in the process of your behavior plans, your data systems, your classroom setup. That's how you get buy-in. And really, don't give yourself a hard time if it's really hard, because it's hard for everyone.
