A Midyear Reality Check for Special Education Teachers

January can feel brutal in special education.

You’re not starting fresh—you’re restarting the same school year, but this time even more tired. After winter break, many special education teachers return feeling overwhelmed, behind, and questioning whether they’re doing enough.

So many teachers find themselves with that heavy feeling of being behind at the midpoint of the school year.

This episode is designed to help you slow down, refocus, and give yourself permission to prioritize what actually matters right now.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• Why January feels harder than we expect (and why that’s normal)
• What many beginners—and experienced teachers—get wrong about feeling behind
• What actually matters at the midpoint of the year
• What can wait without harming your students or your program
• How routines, expectations, relationships, and paraprofessional alignment set the foundation for growth
• Why January is a checkpoint—not a verdict
• A mindset shift to help you ease back into the school year with clarity instead of guilt

If you’re looking for ongoing encouragement, practical support, and reminders during the school year, join Jennifer’s email list. It’s a place to reconnect when things feel heavy or uncertain.

👉 Join here: www.spedprepacademy.com/podcast

Sign up to be notified each time a new episode airs and get access to all the discounts!

Don't forget to leave a review of the show!

Follow Jennifer
Instagram
TPT

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Rebrand Context
• 1:07 New Four-Question Format
• 1:45 Stay Connected Invitation
• 2:14 Naming The Midyear Slump
• 4:20 What Beginners Get Wrong
• 5:06 Stability Over Speed
• 6:18 What Can Wait
• 7:04 What I Wish I’d Known
• 7:44 Permission To Slow Down

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey there and welcome to Special Education for Beginners 2026. I'm really glad you're here and joining me for another year of the podcast. I started this podcast back in 2020 during the shutdown, and since then it has continued to evolve and grow right alongside the work we do in special education. This podcast has a little history. You might notice that some of the older episodes are listed under a different name, the SPED Prep Academy podcast. But as the work I was doing shifted and the audience grew, I realized that what teachers needed most wasn't just professional development. It was a place to come back to when they felt unsure, overwhelmed, or like they were just starting over in some way. That's when special education for beginners really took shape. But when I say the word beginners, that doesn't mean you have to be brand new to teaching. It means you might be new to a situation, a new student, a new role, a new expectation, or honestly, just feeling overwhelmed, even if you've been doing this for years. So if you have ever needed extra support, encouragement, or clarity, I would encourage you to scroll back and listen to some of those earlier episodes. They are still just as relevant and they all build toward the work we are doing now. As we head into this new year, I also want to share a little bit about what's new for the podcast in 2026 because it will sound a little different, but in a very intentional way. This year, each episode is going to focus on one topic and walk through four questions that will help guide each topic. What am I getting wrong? What actually matters? What can weight? And what I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. These episodes will be more direct, more supportive, and more honest, focused on cutting through the noise and the guilt that so many special education teachers carry. The goal is to help you focus on the right things and let go of the rest. And then as we start this new year and this fresh format, I'd also love to stay connected with you outside the podcast. My email list is where I share additional support, reminders, resources, and encouragement, especially during those moments when things feel heavy or uncertain. If you are looking for a fresh start or a study guide through this season, you can join us at www.spedprepacademy.com slash podcast. That's SPED PrePacademy.com slash podcast. And that brings us right to where many special education teachers find themselves in January, feeling behind, worn down, and questioning whether they are doing enough. So for this first episode of 2026, we're going to talk about what it means to feel behind at the midpoint of the year. What most beginners get wrong about that feeling, what actually matters right now, what can wait, and what I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. Let's get to it. Hey special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey there, I'm Jennifer Hoffaber, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges. And yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me. Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So, are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever-crazy, completely overwhelming laughs-you don't cry profession of being a special education teacher. So let's address the elephant in the room. January kind of sucks. You've just had two weeks off from school. Maybe sleeping in late, maybe staying in your comfy jammies all day, guilty on a couple of occasions, eating whenever you want, however much you want, not watching the calendar or the clock, not answering emails, not managing behaviors every five minutes, you might have dealt with some illness, some sickness over the break, and then suddenly your alarm clock goes off and you are back. You're most likely feeling some combination of overwhelmed, overtired, overstimulated, overweight, and honestly, just over it. If you are listening to this in January and you are feeling those feelings, I want you to know you are not alone. This is one of the most common things I hear from many teachers at this point in the year. And instead of feeling refreshed after a break, many teachers come back feeling behind and even more tired than they were in December. So let's talk honestly about that feeling of being behind and what actually matters right now. One of the biggest things beginners get wrong, and by beginners, remember I mean anyone who feels new to this moment, is assuming that feeling behind means that you've failed. Teachers start telling themselves things like, my students should be farther along, my data should look better by now, my classroom shouldn't feel this hard anymore. Everyone else seems to have it together but me. And that comparison can be brutal. What often gets missed is this. January isn't a fresh start, it's a restart. Many teachers respond to this feeling by trying to do more, more changes, more interventions, more pressure, more time spent at the school, thinking all of that will help them catch up. But more isn't what most classrooms need right now. What actually matters at the midpoint of the year is stability, not perfection, not speed, stability. And this is the time to tighten up the basics. Are your routines clear and consistent? Do students know what to expect when they walk into the room? Are expectations being taught explicitly or are they assumed? Are relationships steady, even if academics feel slow? And this includes your paraprofessionals. Do they know the routines as clearly as the students do? Are expectations with them consistent across adults? Do they know where and how to step in and where and when to step back? Have you ever heard the saying go slow to go fast? January is when that really matters. When you slow down to reteach routines, reset expectations, and get everyone on the same page, you actually save yourself time and energy in the long run. And so what can wait? Once you give yourself permission to slow down, it becomes easier to recognize what doesn't need your attention right now. Perfect data systems can wait. A brand new schedule can wait. Completely revamping instruction can wait. Launching three new interventions at once can wait. If something is working well enough to keep your classroom stable, you don't need to rip it out in January. This is not the season for overhauls. It is the season for maintenance. You'll have time later in the semester to refine, adjust, and rebuild, but right now your energy is better spent keeping things predictable and manageable. And then lastly, what I wish someone had told me earlier in my career is that January is not the time to judge your entire year. Many school districts provide professional development right after winter break, and while I am a strong advocate for continuous learning and improvement, January is not the moment to measure yourself against everything you could be doing, nor is it the time to try to implement everything you just learned. Instead, take inventory. Take this time to listen, reflect, and tuck ideas away. You'll have space later in the year to refine that instruction, to adjust systems and try new strategies. Right now, your job is just to keep things steady, predictable, and supportive for your students, your staff, and for yourself. Small steady steps matter far more than dramatic changes in January. So if you are feeling behind, take a breath. You don't need to fix everything this week. You don't need to prove anything to anyone, you don't need to compare your classroom to anyone else's. Focus on what matters most and let the rest wait. Thanks for being here. I hope this episode has given you permission to ease back into things, to slow down just enough to find your footing again, and to remember that progress doesn't have to be rushed to be meaningful. See you next week.