You’ve been prepping for your virtual IEP meeting; you have all your talking points prepared and ready to go… Then you sign on, the conversation goes all over the place, and awkward silences fill your screen. I’ve been there, and it felt uncomfortable, rushed, and not focused on the student. Sound familiar?
It is safe to say this has been a crazy year. On top of everything else, one of the most challenging aspects of our jobs, leading IEP meetings, has become even more difficult as we navigate virtual options.
I started to feel very discouraged during my virtual meetings; my students loved our fun student-led IEPs. Incorporating students was challenging in the virtual space, but I was determined to find a solution.
My solution was to create PowerPoint presentations with a student-centered focus. I started to use PowerPoint presentations to control the conversation flow and make sure it always circled back to the student. These PowerPoints were a big light bulb moment for our IEP team! The parent wasn’t just left staring at a screen of faces hoping they would be able to hear everything said. They could see the plan, who was speaking, and the main talking points/takeaways on the shared screen. Yay!
These meetings were starting to feel like a big success. But I was still missing one of my proudest teacher accomplishments, student-led, and student-centered meetings. My organized presentations kept the team on task, but they were missing student flare and student voices.
While we were still virtual, my solution to this problem:
- Amp up conversations with the parents before the meeting
- Ensure you get appropriate input from the family and the student
- spend extra time on my presentation, make it fit the individual student and their interests
- Add student pictures!
Once we were officially in-person/hybrid model, my solution to this problem:
- Have students involved in the planning (help pick pictures, colors for presentation, etc.)
- Have students create a video of themselves talking about their strengths and needs in school to embed in the presentation
It has taken a while, and we are still learning, but our virtual meetings continue to improve! Keep scrolling to check out my virtual IEP meeting templates! I hope some of these tips help you create a more enjoyable virtual IEP experience for you and your whole team!
Adding a visual element to your virtual IEP meetings makes the meeting run more smoothly, keeps the flow of the meeting in the control of the person presenting, and ensures the meeting is student-centered.
If you’re interested in trying out this IEP meeting tip click on the image to check out my templates!
Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store for updates and new products to help make your IEP meetings run more smoothly!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Educationpotential