As a special education teacher, staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the field is important. One way of doing this is by completing professional development hours each year.
However, keeping track of these hours can be challenging, especially when juggling a busy schedule and other responsibilities. In this article, there are 15 tips and tricks for special education teachers to help you keep track of your professional development hours. With these strategies, teachers can focus on their learning and growth while meeting certification requirements.
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Using a calendar or planner is one of the most straightforward ways to keep track of your professional development hours. You can mark down upcoming workshops, trainings, conferences, and online courses you plan to attend and note the hours completed.
One of my favorite things to do is to add up all of the professional development hours at the end of the month and jot it down on the monthly calendar page. Then, at the end of the year, I can quickly go through the planner and add up the hours I have completed.
A logbook or spreadsheet dedicated explicitly to tracking your professional development hours can help you stay organized. Be sure to include the date, name of the event or training, number of hours completed, and any other relevant details about the event.
If you do a lot of training on the go or are attending a conference and need to track hours, a Google spreadsheet can be an easy digital way to keep track.
Set reminders on your phone or computer to remind you of important deadlines or upcoming professional development opportunities.
Working with colleagues can be an effective way to stay accountable for your professional development hours. Consider forming a study group or attending workshops and conferences together.
Nothing makes tracking professional development hours more fun than attending trainings with your teacher bestie!
Online professional development opportunities make it easy to copy and paste the hours that you spend in trainings.
Here are two trainings from our free YouTube channel – these closely mirror the types of training and the training style of our Trainings Vault inside The Intentional IEP.
A filing system for certificates and documentation of completed professional development events can help you stay organized and easily access proof of completed hours.
This could be as easy as a color-coded file folder that you keep on your desk or in your filing cabinet.
Use a digital timer to track the time spent on professional development activities, such as reading articles or books that might count for continuing ed credits.
Attending conferences or workshops that offer certificates of completion is an easy way to prove that you’ve completed professional development hours.
If you attend conferences that do not provide certificates, save your brochures, notes, and registration information so that you can prove you attended.
Participating in webinars or online courses that offer certificates of completion is another way to prove that you’ve completed professional development hours. Create a dedicated folder on your computer where you save the PDFs.
At The Intentional IEP, we have the following free webinars available:
Don’t forget to track informal learning opportunities, such as reading articles or books related to special education, watching videos, and attending meetings. In some instances, these can also count toward your professional development hours.
Attending professional development events that align with your personal interests and goals can make the experience more engaging and memorable. You are more likely to jot down your hours and remember what you learned if you are invested!
Check out local resources, such as libraries or community centers, that offer free or low-cost professional development opportunities.
Getting involved in professional organizations can provide access to additional resources and networking opportunities.
Setting specific goals for your professional development and tracking your progress toward those goals can help you stay motivated and focused. It can also help you remember to track the hours!
Reflecting on your professional development experiences can help you identify areas where you’ve grown and areas where you still need more hours. Use this information to plan out future learning opportunities.
By following these tips and tricks, special education teachers can keep track of their professional development hours and continue to grow as educators.
Remember – investing in your professional development is a requirement and an opportunity to enhance your skills and provide better support to your students.
No one teaches us how to advocate – they just tell us to do it. But real advocacy requires real knowledge. The Intentional IEP gives you that: clear goals, training that actually makes sense, and tools that save you time. Because when you know better, you advocate better.
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