Independent work centers have saved my butt this year. What felt overwhelming in September now runs like a well-oiled machine in May. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, but it is well worth it now. This is something I didn’t do my first 4 years of teaching and I wish I had started. So use this blog to get ready over summer and hit the ground running come fall!
Decide on the System
The first step to implementing independent work is to decide on the system. Will you have a station in your room for students to visit or will each student have their own system? How will you present the work? I am fortunate enough to have a large classroom so each of my students has their own work center next to their desk. See below for 4 ways to present the work!
- Three tier system
This is my favorite way to have students complete work in my classroom. If you have room to fit the containers, I think it provides a super clear-cut expectation that helps my students be more successful. Each of my students has a drawer system, a set of baskets and visuals. I love the drawers but there are drawbacks in some cases.
Christine explains in her blog why she DOES NOT like the use of drawer carts. Her blog explains some important key points about drawers but I do find that if you are just starting out, drawers are the way to go. Bottom line is you need to figure out what works BEST for YOUR STUDENT at that TIME.
2. Letter Organizer
This is another way I present tasks to students in my room. This can be placed on a table and takes up less valuable space in the classroom. Students still follow the 1-2-3 model but I also love how this looks more “office-like” and I love the idea of this presentation in a secondary setting.
3. Binder System
This is IDEAL for taking tasks into the general education setting. It is very age appropriate but still provides students with the structure necessary to be successful. This can easily fit in a desk, eliminating a lot of the space issues. The best part is this is the easiest way to move an independent work system back and forth between special education and general education classrooms — all you need is a binder and pocket dividers.
4. Number System
Alyssa breaks it down to an even simpler format. Just Velcro numbers to file folders! This is another space-saving strategy because you can simply slide all 3 tasks into their desk. Just teach students to look for Number 1 and complete that first.
Set Up the System in Your Classroom
There are two main ways of setting up independent work: incorporate it into each student’s work station or make it its own station. As mentioned above, I have it in place in each student’s work station. Each student has tasks next to their desk. In an ideal situation, there would be a “finished bin”, but that didn’t work for my class this year and THAT IS OKAY! If you want to read more about the finish bin concept, watch this short tutorial from Sasha.
The other way is to have this be a center in your classroom. This is what I did last year. Students would visit the center in groups of 2-3 while other students worked with me. If your students are able to independently navigate the classroom, I love this idea to help break up your groups. Michela has a great example of this (and a ton of other tips) in her blog and I have a photo of what this used to look like in my room above.
Determine How to Store Tasks
One of the questions I get most often is how I store tasks in my classroom. This year, I divided all my file folders up by students. Each student’s file folders are stored in trays with pieces of tape that match their color for my color coding system. While I do move file folders between kids throughout the year, I try to ensure I have a minimum of 25 tasks assigned to each student at any given time. This allows my staff to have a wide range to choose from while ensuring the tasks are appropriate for each student. See a picture above.
Previously, when I had an independent work center rather than a system at each student’s desk, I stored all the tasks in book bins on a shelf behind the center. Tasks were organized by levels and topics. Not only did this help define the area, it helped my assistants find tasks that worked on specific concepts easily. See a picture of this above.
Other ideas for storage include storing in file cabinets using hanging file folders or storing in milk crates. Figure out where the students will complete the independent work then decide where to store the tasks. This will make it easier for staff to run.
Acquire All the Tasks!
Another common question is where do I get all of my tasks. I have a HUGE collection and a lot of affordable options. Check out my Amazon Storefront to see where I get my file folder prep supplies and see below for tons of links from amazing sellers! Please note — these photos were taken in May so you are seeing my file folders after a lot of use (hence some of the missing pieces!)
The dog file folder comes from the Errorless Real Photos from Jenn at Teach Love Autism. Carrie from Adapting for Autism has the doughnut file folder in her set and Kim’s penguin set can be found in her store, Little Miss Kim’s class.
Erin from You-Aut-a-Know has great anytime tasks that work perfectly in an independent work center. I most often use her identical and non-identical matching sets, as well as her sight word set.
Gabrielle from Teaching Special Thinkers has a huge math set that has file folders that cover a ton of skills. I also love this color sorting set from Melissa over at Autism Adventures-I have been using them for years!
Brie from Breezy Special Ed has a fun twist on counting with this dice set, and her calendar skills set is an awesome functional addition to my collection.
I use this color sorting set from The Designer Teacher with a lot of my students, and I’m head over heels with these digraph file folders. File folders that work on harder ELA skills are ideal for some of my students on higher reading levels.
The sorting pack from Ashley at Spedtacular Days is VERY beloved by one of my students, which explains the wear and tear. I also love using her pattern pack because it reduces the number of patterns, making it less overwhelming for some of my students.
Alyssa is one of my go-to girls for file folders. Her store, Simply Special Ed, is filled with amazing sets. The 5 senses file folder is from her basic skills set, the safety sign is from her safety signs set, the alphabet is from her ELA set ,and the patterns are from her math set.
The Autism Helper is the FIRST PERSON I ever bought from and boy do the fish alphabet and weather file folders take me back. I first made those back in 2013! You can grab the warm/cold weather file folder here and the pattern set here. Grab the money set here and if you have students that finish tasks fast, you NEED that complex file folder in the top left corner, available here.
Kayla is my other go-to person for file folders. Her store, My Special Learners, was basically created for a classroom like mine. The apple file folder is an example of her intermediate monthly file folders, whereas the leaves come from the original monthly set. The gumball set can be found in her counting 1-10 pack and the CVC set in the bottom left corner is from her reading skills set. Grab the penguin file folder in her shapes pack and be sure to pick up her colors set while you are there!
Errorless learning holds a special place in my heart (read more about that here), so I have made 4 different sets. Grab the yogurt folder in my real photo food set and the sunflower in my real photo color set. The unicorn is in my original set and the counting set is perfect for learning one-to-one correspondence.
I have made a lot of other sets to meet specific needs in my classroom. You can grab my basic classification set here and the patterns set here. I adore the quantity set with the sort and the one to one correspondence with real photos is so age appropriate! Grab my initial sounds set here and check out the touch money math set (one of the first sets I ever made!)
I hope this blog has been helpful in encouraging you to try independent work systems in your classroom! Let me know below if you have any questions!