133. When Routines Go Sideways: A Special Educator's Reboot

You’ve prepped the tasks, taught the routine, and set up the system… so why does it suddenly feel like your independent work time is falling apart?

In this episode, I’m walking you through what to do when your once-reliable routine starts unraveling. From students checking out to paras feeling unsure—this is a real-talk guide to getting things back on track without starting over from scratch.

Be sure to grab the Free Student Independent Work Routine Checklist

Check out the low-prep library of tasks: Task Box Dollar Club

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.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Independent Work Gone Sideways
• 1:43 Pause and Observe First
• 3:21 Make One Strategic Change
• 5:15 Building Momentum with Success
• 6:56 Re-anchoring and Documenting Success
• 10:22 Resources and Wrap-up

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to Special Educators Resource Room Podcast. I'm your host, jennifer, from Positively Learning. Today we're talking about something very real that happens in classrooms all the time. Even when you've done everything right, it's that moment when your independent work routine whatever you have in place that one that you'd spent time prepping and modeling and organizing it suddenly goes sideways, starts to feel a little bit off. You know what I mean. Students aren't engaged, task materials go untouched or, worse, they're rushed through or scattered all over the floor. The para that you're working with keeps asking are we still doing these task boxes today? And you find yourself troubleshooting constantly instead of teaching your small groups. In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through exactly what to do when your independent work system hits that point. And the good news is rebooting doesn't mean you have to start all over. It just means we need a little bit of adjustment. Let's get into it.

Speaker 2: 1:10

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: 1:43

When things start to feel off, our first instinct is to usually fix it right now. We might rush to change out all the tasks, or we might move the workstation or start printing new visuals, but here's the thing that can backfire. So instead I recommend hitting pause just for a day or two. Become a quiet observer of the routine. Don't change anything yet. Just take mental notes or use actual sticky notes of what is happening. So watch for which students are off task and when do they lose focus. What specific steps are breaking down? Is it finishing tasks, is it transitions, or is it even just getting started? Are visuals being followed or completely ignored, and do the tasks still feel like a good match for each student? This observation window is so important. It can tell you if you're dealing with student boredom, missing pieces, unclear expectations or something else entirely. And often the issue is just one part of the system, not the entire thing. You can also take time to check the physical setup. How's accessibility? Are the bins accessible? Are materials falling apart? Has the finished area disappeared under a stack of papers? These little things can make a big difference in how the routine flows. So before you change anything, I recommend slowing down, watching, listening and letting the system show you where it's glitching. Once you've taken a day or two to observe, choose one small thing to change. That's right, just one. Because here's what I've learned If you try to fix five different things at once, that often leads to more confusion, especially to a student who thrives on everything feeling predictable.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Students don't necessarily need a brand new system. They just need one key thing to shift so that routine starts working better again. Here are some suggestions to try out. Remember, you're just going to choose one. Number one you could swap out a few tasks, especially if they're starting to feel a little easy or too repetitive. Number two you could reteach the visual routine, especially the start and the finish steps. Number three check the match between students and tasks. Are you giving tasks that are at the independent level, not instructional? Number four review expectations if you work with other adults, making sure everyone's reinforcing the same steps that you are. And number five reestablish the reinforcement system like a token chart or mini reward for completed tasks. These are small steps, but they're very strategic and they can give your system a refresh without adding extra hours of work to your day. And the best part is, if you try one of these. You'll usually see results within 24 hours. Students might re-engage, things might start to feel smoother and you might start to feel that sense of calm again. Now let's build on that.

Speaker 1: 5:03

After you've made the small adjustment, you're going to shift into momentum building, because sometimes what students and adults need most is to feel successful again. This means we're going to stack the system in a way that guarantees early wins. For example, you could intentionally choose tasks that you know are going to be automatic wins. Maybe they're high interest. They're at students' independent level. Students are going to be able to finish them quickly and feel confident. You also might want to consider going back to errorless or lower frustration tasks for a few days, just to reestablish flow. And, of course, you want to add praise and reinforcement. Nice job, starting right away, look at how you finished that task. For students who have been shutting down or avoiding tasks, you might even sit with them for just one round, not to help them with the task, but just to reteach the routine in a calm, non-rushed way and you're providing positive feedback. If you are working with support staff, you may want to provide a quick two-minute mini refresher on expectations. Something like two-minute mini refresher on expectations, something like today. Let's keep an eye on making sure everyone's working independently and putting the tasks back when they're done.

Speaker 1: 6:23

This momentum phase isn't about pushing academic rigor. It's about getting everyone back into a positive rhythm and then, once the system feels smooth again, then you can reintroduce more challenging tasks. We started off with using observation to determine one small adjustment that could be put into place and then build on that momentum. Now that, hopefully, we're seeing students start to re-engage or things are feeling a little bit smoother, it's time to re-anchor the routine. This is where you're gonna reinforce what's working so that it sticks. It's almost like it was when you introduced it at the beginning of the school year, but just much shorter and much simpler. So here's what it could look like you could repost visuals that might've fallen behind a cabinet or just generally gotten ignored. You could print a fresh copy of a task schedule or something to make it more noticeable. You could add mini checklists to your task boxes or binders so students can track their own steps, or you could have a class or small group conversation about the routine. Like you've all been doing a great job getting started on your own, let's keep practicing how we finish our tasks and clean up the materials. This phase is all about cementing the flow so that next time the system starts to unravel a bit, it doesn't collapse completely because you've built in these layers of support to hold it steady.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Here's one final tip that's going to save you from repeating the same mistakes over and over. Keep a short running log of what worked. Nothing fancy, it could just be a notebook or a sticky note. After you've made a successful adjustment to your independent work system, write it down. What did you change, why did you change it and what was the result? It could be something like this Switched student A to three errorless tasks. This stopped work avoidance and now the student completed everything independently or moved task bin closer to finished bin. This cut down on wandering and off-task behavior. These notes are so important if you're ever rebooting mid-year or even when a student returns from an extended break and things start to feel off again. It also can help if you're ever training others.

Speaker 1: 8:52

If a new paraprofessional joins mid-year, you can say here's what we've done that worked well. This clarity is everything. To recap, if your independent work system has started to feel a little bit stale or a lot, here's what you could do. Number one pause and observe. You're giving yourself space to understand the problem before reacting. Number two pick one lever to adjust. You're going to make one small change that's going to solve the biggest issue. Number three rebuild momentum, choosing confidence, boosting tasks and targeted reinforcement. Number four re-anchor that routine so this might look like refreshing visuals, expectations and student supports. And then, last, you're going to track what worked, just keeping a very simple record, so you're not starting from scratch next time, because we're talking about resetting, not reinventing the wheel. You've already done the hard part. You've built the structure. Now you're just fine hard part. You've built this structure. Now you're just fine tuning it to keep things working for your students and for you.

Speaker 1: 10:01

If you're thinking, okay, this all sounds great, but I don't actually have a system in place that works, or I don't have time to create visuals right now, you don't have to. Inside the TaskBox Dollar Club, you will find hundreds of tasks. There's also visual routines and student supports that you can print and use the same day. You are not in this alone, so I will link everything in the show notes. I'm also going to put a link to a blog post that has a free student checklist, a visual checklist that you could print out and add to a individual task or post in your independent work systems area. So be sure to check the show notes for that link. Thank you so much for listening today and thank you for being an educator who doesn't give up on the system just because it gets a little messy. You are leading with heart and now with strategy, and that's exactly what your students need. I will talk to you next week in the Special Educators Resource Room.

Speaker 2: 11:02

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.