Reclaiming Your Prep Period (Without Working Longer Hours)


Good morning!

Have you ever walked into your prep period fully determined to get things done… only to spend the whole 45 minutes answering “quick” emails, tracking down a lost fidget, and redirecting a student who mysteriously reappeared for a hoodie?

And then the bell rings.
Prep over.
Nothing checked off your list.

In Special Education, time isn’t money it’s sanity. And January is already hard enough without feeling like your prep periods are disappearing into thin air.

That’s why I wrote a new blog post all about reclaiming your prep with systems that actually work in a middle school SPED setting—not Pinterest-perfect routines, but realistic, chaos-aware systems you can start using right now.

In the post, I share:

  • How to use AI ethically as a first-draft partner (without risking student privacy)
  • A simple color-coding system that reduces data overload
  • A batching strategy that saves serious planning time
  • My favorite “No-Ask Zone” setup to stop constant interruptions
  • Easy ways to automate parent and gen-ed communication

👉 Read the full post here

My hope is that one (or two!) of these systems helps you protect your prep, and your peace, this month.

Let me know which one you’re going to try first 💛

You’ve got this,
Katie
Adventures in Inclusion

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