that kid

Created by DALL-E
a-class-photo-of-faceless-students-in-the-styles-of-Monet-Rembrandt-Kandinsky-and-Warhol prompt by author

I was thinking about that kid and I found myself getting emotional. 

You know the one. We all do. Whether the name(s) or face(s) you thought of are in your class this year or not. We all have one or two students who popped in there almost immediately. I am not going to sugar coat this either because it got emotional. When I think about that kid, my feelings range quite widely here. Anger, joy, sadness, peace, et al have all staked their claims in my amygdalae and other rose coloured spaces in my emotional thought centre.

My first “that kid” came when I was quite new to teaching. I probably owe them an apology for pushing too hard about their studies without considering how hard it must have been to be truly trying their best, but not meeting the expectations of which I was thoroughly* convinced were so clearly taught and put within reach. Like I mentioned above, an apology has been uttered on a couple of occasions for that learner into the universe. 

There are two other feelings that happens sometimes, relief and angst. Relief that you were able to make it through a year together and grow. Angst over what I missed or, straight up, got completely wrong. My most recent that kid reads like this: 

Is quiet – too quiet.
Sticks to the sidelines as if crazy glued there.
Struggles to start something, and struggles even more to finish.
Whether it is a transition, a sentence, or a math challenge mine has got me thinking about what I need to do differently next time because there will be a next time no matter how hard I work to learn the lessons from the past to use now and in the future.

As teachers, I’ve noticed that we tend to be pretty hard on ourselves much more often than we realize or care to admit. It’s who we are as reflective practitioners who seek to make things better for our learners. I have noticed that we fret far more about any flaws in our work even when there are few if any cracks in our foundations. We are constant works in progress alongside our students and we wear it on our sleeves when it doesn’t go well. 

Sometimes, that kid gifts you some victories too. You see, all that time spent investing in that kid can turn out to be a life enriching moment for you as an educator and even more so for that kid as a scholar. Since my first that kid nearly 15 years ago, I have marveled at hearing from students who are completing degrees at amazing schools and starting to write the next chapters of their lives. This week I ran into a student who will be doing just that.

To be honest, it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops with this particular that kid. If poor choices, bad behaviour, and work avoidance were credit courses, this learner would be top of the class. Fast forward 6 years and they are about to begin a very challenging degree program at a top university. That could have only happened with significant support, responsibility, accountability, and commitment. In other words, the exact opposite to where they were back then. So what turned this scholar around? How did the switch get flipped, and who did the flipping? I was certainly thrilled to receive such news knowing that there would be more good things to come as a result of them finding their stride as a student. Whoever helped this “that kid” turn over a new leaf has changed one young person’s life not for good, but for great. 

I am also aware that there are some who will never get to experience an about face like the that kid above, and I need to take ownership of that and work to improve going forward. Maybe my next that kid will not fall through the cracks through their education? I know that there is always room to improve what and how we do this job of ours. I know that teachers have countless conversations in order to find and fit the complex puzzle pieces we know as students together. I know that there is no single strategy or approach that will reach 100% of our students. What we need to remind ourselves is that we come pretty close to perfection, and we do it across a decade plus of siloed collaboration, between the panels, whether we realize it or not. 

When you think about it, each of our students could have as many as 50 teachers over their K to 12 careers. Of course homeroom teachers occupy the bulk of those first 10 years yet that still means there are countless points of influential interaction to be had between an entire cast of educators all working in concert to make sure each that kid gets and gives the best. 

This job asks us to accept and understand that we often will never know how the work we put in with our students will support them in the future. Closure is not a luxury many elementary teachers ever have once our students move onward and beyond our schools, but that should not bring us down because there is always that kid who takes the time, after several years have gone by, to reach out and connect again: to share how much they appreciated what was taught to them in and out of the classroom all those years ago. 

 

*On a random note: the word thoroughly breaks down into tho roughly. So now my idea of thorough will always be considerate of whether I was thorough or tho rough

class placements

A Renoir or Matisse inspired impression of a classroom filled with students from all over the world standing, discussing, and solving a math problem together -by Dalle 2 with prompts from author

Now that the April showers and May flowers happy times are done. It is time to get serious about September folx. Wait what?! That’s right, it’s class placement time again. 

I for one am super stoked to be sending 29 unique and empowered learners on to their next grade. If it was possible, I would keep this group together as they have grown so well together since the start of the year. Sure there were some bumps in the sidewalk along the way to this point, but they are to be expected when 29 individual personalities occupy a space for an extended period of time. I can only look back with gratitude to the team of teachers, SERTs, and admin who took the time to curate this group. 

It is in that spirit that I wish to do the same for the lucky, and I mean that sincerely, educator(s) who will be teaching  my current class this September. Firstly, I filled out the little squares with names, academic levels, IEP yes or no, MLL yes or no, unidentified behavioural issues, preferred collaborator(s), non-preferred collaborator(s), and gender. Filling out these cards each year constitutes the most continuous handwriting of my year.

Admittedly, my cards looked like I was writing with my non dominant hand because they were a mess. Scratches, misspellings, and my scrawling will not make it easy on anyone however outside of the superficial look I think we did a good job setting our students up for success. This was especially important as our school is adding new classrooms and we want to be supportive of the new teachers who will be joining us too. 

Avoiding perfect storms is always a good idea, but even the best of intentions can create them in classrooms. I have seen a new teacher arrive at a building along with a new admin or two only to discover that a mix that looked balanced on paper was going to be far different in real life. I know this happens with students coming from primary F.I schools grades 1 and 2 specifically. The sheer logistics of a multi-school class placement exercise can be onerous on all involved. As such some perfect storms are bound to occur. The interesting thing about class placements, is that in the room right next to the hurricane could be cool breezes and calm even though they were placed by the same team of educators, SERTs, and admin. 

This year, we wanted to continue the thoughtful groupings while expanding the opportunities for our students to collaborate with like minded and supportive peers. We have also had to reckon with students returning to classrooms who were once provided SSC support for Language and or Math in the path. To this point, there will have to be a wait and see approach, but class placements will need to be considerate of how much support will be available for those individual learners with modifications in the IEPs. There will need to be an added layer of time to ensure no one falls through the cracks. 

In the past, EAs, CYWs, MLL teachers, and SERTs have been stalwarts for students, but with SSCs closing and teaching assignments being re-allocated, I imagine that there will be a few storms as adapt to the changes ahead as it seems they will be joining in classrooms. I love the multiple-educator potential here, but am not sure there will be enough of the aforementioned to cover the numbers of students requiring support. This is not even factoring in the additional levels of distraction that can occur. I know with a cautious approach that allows time, check-ins, and some one on one support, things could work out for student(s) and educator(s). 

In order to help a smaller class size would be a great first step. Accompanied by a well written IEP this shift could lead to some meaningful re-integration of students into homeroom classes. There will be clouds from time to time, but with strategic thinking around class placements now, the chance for a positive start in September is achievable. Happy placement meetings.

 

learn unlearn relearn teach…

To continue: learn some more, unlearn even more than you did before, teach even better, and then repeat.

I am not sure whether it is possible to enjoy anything more in my professional life than teaching – other than learning. Insert witticism here asking why then are students not jumping out of their seats when they are probably being taught something new everyday? I can see it now if it happened; a level of shock on the faces of teachers at what might be considered too disruptive, but oh the joy. All jesting aside, I believe it is within all of us to express and foster this type of joy in everything we do related to life at school.

Imagine if students bristled with excitement at each opportunity to learn something new rather than some of the blank stares and foreboding filled faces that silently shared that work was the only thing on their minds instead of the profound potential that can occur as new neural pathways are paved? What if that happened at a staff meeting? Maybe I am asking too much for that previous line?

Nevertheless, I still like learning new things – preferably by choice rather than prescribed. Not only does new knowledge strengthen my understandings and scalable skillsets, but being a learner helps me see teaching through a different lens from the seat of a student. For me, this is where the excitement happens along with a healthy dose of discomfort too.

Perhaps teaching and learning are simply sides of the same coin? Maybe it’s solely my intuition as an educator/lead learner taking over because nothing brings me more happiness and relief to finally arrive at another of life’s learning destinations only to realize it was merely a stop to refuel along the way.

What some might perceive as a bumpy ride filled with uncertainty and uncertainty is not a fact I wish to conceal from you. Agreed, it has taken some time to arrive at a reasonable level of comfort with this discomfort.  However, I have also realized that it was in each of those moments when I gained the most in perspective and understanding in my roles in the classroom.

Before that happened though, there were some demons to slay. Finances, fatigue, and giving up a bit of family time on occasion. Once these three things were balanced, I was able to focus on some really important AQ courses that I would highly encourage all teachers to add to their transcripts. My top pick is below.

Spec Ed Pt 1 has to be your goto first AQ.* When I took this course, I was working in a French Immersion school where the IEPs were usually for gifted students. Accommodations were for depth and breadth, but the learning about Growth Plans, ISTs, IEPs, IPRCs etc. was invaluable to support my students in the classroom. Since then, student needs in FI or significantly more complex and the role of SERT which was more geared towards supporting students back into the English stream is now focused on shaping the learning spaces to fit the students where they are within their French Immersion experience.

Spec Ed Pt 1 also came with some excellent classroom strategies that are thankfully still in my toolkit over a decade later. Of course once you have SpEd Pt 1, you might as well complete the set with Pt 2 and your Specialist. Don’t fear being forced into the role of SERT just because you have these qualifications. Think of them as gifts of knowledge for you to support every student that steps into your classroom throughout your career.

I vowed to refuse the job if ever asked to be a SERT fearing I would be placed in a space where I would not be able to survive, and then all of that changed 5 years ago – an offer I could not refuse. Stepping into the unknown discomfort zone that is the SERT role has been nothing short of transformational and invaluable to my practice in and out of the classroom. Working with students, peers, families, and system folx has been extremely rewarding even though pretty much clueless for the better part of my first two years. Thankfully, a mentor teacher and supportive admin were there to help me decode the work.

I guess this brings me back to the title of this post learn unlearn relearn teach.

I knew there was more to learn after my B Ed was completed and I entered the classroom. I unlearned some sticky habits and thoughts about student abilities and behaviour from my own schema and schooling by relearning from the experiences and wisdom of others, and now continue to apply new knowledge to my teaching.

That’s it for now, I have to go unlearn something to make room for more lessons ahead.

Next month look for a companion post about AQs and other cool goings-on at ETFO entitled ‘all good things on Isabella’.

*Did you know that ETFO is offering AQs for Special Education this Summer? Click the link to learn more.

Support for Students with Special Educational Needs

I believe that Ontario school boards should provide more support and attention in identifying each child’s level of development, learning abilities and specialized needs. This would help to ensure that educational programs are designed to accommodate their social, emotional and academic needs and also facilitate their growth and development.

The truth is that many students with special education needs are not getting the support and access to services that they require to succeed. The lack of support has had an even bigger impact on students who face additional systemic barriers. Students need access to educational assistants, behavioural counsellors, child and youth workers, psychologists, and speech and language pathologists to help them learn and thrive in today’s realities. The number of students being identified with special educational needs is increasing. Unfortunately, in most cases, the system doesn’t reflect that change and the necessary funding to adequately support all students is just not there.

Creating an inclusive classroom culture that fully supports the needs of all students is often met with many challenges and barriers in today’s classroom environment. In my guidance and coaching roles, I build teacher capacity to help address students’ social, emotional and academic needs, and co-construct teaching strategies that support students with a wide spectrum of special educational needs. One of the greatest challenges I often see has to do with class sizes. Many of the classrooms I support have an average of thirty students with diverse learning needs, and often with only one teacher in the classroom. In this current learning environment, access to resources, specialized and/or individual instruction and support staff are often limited and sometimes none-existing. We need to reconsider and address the inequities in class sizes, if we truly value each and every student and the well-being of staff and students. 

When working with teachers, I focus on creating an inclusive classroom culture that includes knowing who the students are, building trusting relationships and ensuring each student feels a sense of belonging in the learning community. In partnership, we analyse data we collected to identify the learning gaps of each student. We co-construct lesson plans that are differentiated, embedded in the Universal Design of Learning model and are culturally relevant and responsive to the lived experiences of students. In spaces where there are a high number of students with specialized needs, I find it helpful and advantageous for me to know who my students are, to have a highly structured learning environment and to set clear expectations for a successful learning environment. Working in collaboration with the classroom support staff as well as families is also paramount to student success.

 

How do I support students with special educational needs?

  • Get to know individual students’ strengths, needs and interests
  • Consider the diverse needs of all students in the classroom when it comes to the learning environment, instructional practices, and assessments for, as and of learning
  • Develop the class profile for all students that includes their identities, as well as their social, emotional and academic needs
  • Using the principles of Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy (CRRP), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI), backward-design your program with the big ideas in mind
  • Consider how to best use Assistive Technology to support student learning in the classroom and at home

 

For additional resources, visit ETFO’s website on class sizes and special education and

ETFO’s Building Better Schools

SERT= (joy + journey) x job

Fall 2021 marks the start of my 5th year as a co-SERT (Special Education Resource Teacher). Please, no gifts. Although, you can read on if you’re feeling generous?

2021 is also the first year that I finally feel comfortable in the position. Up until now, I’ve felt competent, somewhat confident, but never comfortable. If your school is like mine, there is a lot going on in SERTLandia as I fondly call it, and a lot at stake. Thankfully, I have been really blessed to have a patient and savvy mentor to work with throughout this time. There haven’t been many days when I didn’t need her wisdom, experience, and support to keep me on track while growing in the role. 

First, some background info

I never wanted to be a SERT. I initially took the course so I could be more adept in my work with students in the classroom. After completing Level 1, I figured a little more wouldn’t hurt so I enrolled in Pt 2. Did you know that many school boards offer their own AQ courses, and as luck would have it, my board provided an affordable option for staff. ETFO does too. The learning, although difficult to keep up with while teaching fulltime was worth it in resources, stories, and deeper understandings about how to truly support students whether they were identified or not in my classroom. Once Pt 1 and 2 were done, I retreated back to my comfort zone and began to apply ‘the learning‘. Or so I thought. 

“I will quit if I ever have to be a SERT.”

I actually said that to a superintendent during a conversation over needing her signature on an application for my SERT Specialist(pt 3). I know, as well, that the role of SERT looked different from school to school and board to board based on a number of things such as allocation of resources (human and financial). I know that many schools have 1 SERT lifting the weight for an entire community as well. So I count myself lucky to work in a team environment.

My ‘never’ was now a yes, but what I didn’t factor into that impetuously made statement was how the experience and knowledge gained from parts 1 and 2 began to take hold in such tangible ways in my classroom. My classroom management improved along with my ability to differentiate more for students who struggled but were otherwise not identified. I learned the value of growth plans and asking for help. Suddenly, it made perfect sense to go for my specialist to finish the learning I had started. It was nothing short of an incredible experience. Yet, I still did not have my heart or mind set on becoming a SERT. I did have some fun writing my own IEP with accommodations though. I think every teacher should do this at least once in their career.

SERT certification in hand, I retreated to the safety and comfort of my classroom once again. With new knowledge and perspectives in the tool box, things seemed to click even more. Throughout the entirety of the 3 AQ courses for Special Education Specialist I developed an even deeper respect for the SERT team in my schools. I witnessed the wonders that they worked everyday and the students who they supported. They made it look so easy, but I saw how much work they put in each day. I struggled to see myself in their shoes.

Qualified, but terrified

I was so terrified of the responsibilities, the paperwork, and the meetings that seemed endemic to the job. I love being in the classroom. I also feared making mistakes and letting students slip through the cracks. I was convinced that being an ally was a great way to support the awesome SERTs in my schools. However, the more I learned, the more I was able to apply outside of the classroom to help student teachers and fellow educators. Then the call came with an offer to be a co-SERT. 

New school. New Role. What was I thinking? 

As I have shared in past posts, I am a huge proponent of educators switching schools to explore new teaching opportunities and to stretch outside of their comfort zones. I believe that moves to new schools open educators up to new learning experiences and provide excellent ways to learn from others. This can lead to discomfort as well, but that is usually where the best growth happens for you personally and professionally. As a result, in 2017 I started teaching at the 4th school of my 12 year career – so far. In each case, I did not have a single reason to leave such wonderful colleagues and students behind, but for no other reason than to learn more. 

I can clearly recall the disorientation that came at the pace of SERT life and trying to balance out my instructional obligations those first weeks. I questioned whether my decision to join a new school was going to coming back to bite me. Thankfully, a supportive admin, co-SERT, and staff alleviated most of that stress. I wanted to do a good job, but I wasn’t even sure what that looked like. That was how new it all felt to me. That meant a lot of silent observation followed by a lot of questions. By October that first year, things seemed much clearer. Clearer, yet not clear. 

Fastforward to 2021

100s of IEPs, growth plans, IPRCs, SEA claims, academic tests, in-school meetings, student support sessions, teacher consultations, CPI calls, and parent convos later have all contributed to a very incredible set of insights into the needs of learners. I am not sure whether I will be a SERT in the future or not, but I will never regret taking the AQs or this job. They have been incredible tools in my growth and practice as an educator. My experiences as a SERT have been transformational and I wouldn’t go back in time and talk myself out of this opportunity even if I could. *  

So whether you dip your toe in the water and do SpEd Pt 1 or dive in for a 5 year swim, I encourage you all to take join me. The water is fine. 

If you would like to share your own journey about becoming a SERT or if you want to chat more about becoming a SERT please add a comment below and I’ll pass it on to my mentor. She still has all of the answers.  

* Well I might go back and buy some shares in Tesla, but that is a story for another dimension.

 

Trouble with Hybrid Learning

ETFO Provincial – Algoma OT

ETFO’s position on in-person learning remains unchanged. The union firmly believes that the daily, in-person model of instruction and support best meets the educational, developmental and social needs of students, provides the best experience for support, and is the most equitable learning model for all students. ETFO’s expectation is that elementary virtual learning in any capacity, including through hybrid models of instruction, will end once the pandemic ends.

As a teacher of the hybrid synchronous in class and online instructional model, I’ve been vexed by the real possibility that this model will be sustained in Ontario’s public education system. As a person who studied education policy implementation, I have considered how this model would be implemented. I solely believe that implementing this model, would be detrimental to students and their families.

As a teacher with experience teaching in the Hybrid model, I’ve written a few blogs about the educational challenges faced by students, parents, and teachers. In this blog, I’ll consider the dark side of implementing this model beyond the months of the pandemic as it could become a set mode of instruction in Ontario.

Highlights of the Elementary School Hybrid Teaching Model:

Cost Savings

  • Less infrastructure is needed for online teaching so there will be less need for schools
  • Less schools means less costs for heating/cooling, internet, cleaning, repairs etc
  • Transportation costs would be reduced due to students learning from home, instead of requiring bussing
  • Class sizes could grow as more physical space for students becomes available, while students move to online learning; this would mean more students online and more students in class
  • Less staffing would be required as less onsite students would mean less onsite supports for students with behavioural and special education needs (i.e. as these needs and supports would be provided at home by families)
  • Online learning via laptops would be less expensive than funding classrooms but cost savings may be neutralized by the technological and pedagogical needs of classroom teachers
  • Instructional materials and consumables would have to be virtual so physical textbooks and other printed materials would not be required, consumables such as pencils and markers would be provided by home
  • Physical education, art, and music equipment would not be required as all these topics would be taught online
  • Closing down or consolidating community schools with fewer in class students could occur to safe infrastructure costs

Less Community Supports

  • School clubs, trips, and other extra curricular activities would not be provided to online students as they participate in school from an online platform
  • Social support programs such as Breakfast Clubs and social work would not be provided by schools as students would only do school from home, these supports would likely be downloaded to regional governments
  • Newcomers to Canada would not receive the supports put in place by schools and these supports would be handled by regional governments instead
  • Students with little knowledge of English/French would not be immersed in an English/French language setting and would not become fluent as quickly
  • Special Education, students with special education needs could be taught from home instead of being integrated with their peers
  • Schools, as community hubs, would be diluted as there would be fewer relationships developed with parents and students
  • Downloading the monitoring of class work would be done by family members instead of the teachers and educational assistants who are trained for this purpose
  • Administrators could recommend that students with high physical and behavioural needs move to online learning so schools do not have to deal with these challenges

Hybrid Hurts Relationships

  • Online students would not have the opportunity to develop relationships with their teachers as they would not be in the same physical space as their teachers
  • Teachers would have a harder time getting to know online students as they could not observe them working and interacting with other students
  • Teachers would naturally focus on in class students who are directly in front of them and not online students who are only seen through a camera
  • Assessment and feedback of student work would be challenging as teachers could not guarantee that work was done by the students
  • Teachers would face challenges showing students how to do work, such as math, that is best taught and assessed in person
  • Learning is built on developing relationships between teachers and students – online students would not get to know their teachers as well

Competing Agendas (Online vs In Class)

  • Schools are run by schedules where periods are set for all subjects including physical education, art, and music
  • With the hybrid model two sets of students would have to be accommodated for all subjects like online/in school gym, online/in school art, and online/in school music
  • Result would mean having to provide subjects such as physical education to online students while in class students would be with their gym teacher making coordinating timetables difficult

Long-term consequences

  • Two-tiered system – hybrid teaching would offer two levels of education in one class
    • online learning would provide a watered-down version of school, with no social opportunities to interact with peers and teachers, with no physical education, no opportunities for being part of school clubs and all the other in person opportunities face to face school learning provides
    • online students could become “invisible” participants in classrooms as they are not present and not there physically to get attention
  • Flexible flipping back and forth opportunities could be offered to parents allowing students to go to and from in class/online learning , putting great stress on teachers to accommodate these students’ needs, which would be exacerbated by larger class sizes
  • Not all students do well in an online setting as some students need to be face to face with teachers in order to attend to lessons and stay on task

As a teacher who has experienced teaching online and in the hybrid model, I know that I could not sustain another year of this work. My experience was especially trying as I teach students with special education needs. After teaching all day, trying to meet the needs of my online students, I was left with little energy to do anything else … and if you know me, I’m usually a high energy person.

In a real-life case, a teacher, providing hybrid instruction, was having behavioural challenges with a student. Administration suggested that the student be switched to online to prevent behaviour happening at school.

Imagine …

Due to decreased funding, schools do not have the resources to support all students, especially with behaviour and significant special education needs. Imagine, how this hybrid model could be used to download “problem” students to online learning from home. This would mean that students would not get the appropriate supports provided by professionals in order for them to be successful learners. Administrators could also suggest that students learn online to avoid expensive bussing transportation or physical care needs.

If education costs are put ahead of students’ needs, this can only end poorly for students with significant learning needs.

Speak out to stop the hybrid model from being implemented.

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston, PhD

Online Instruction of Students with Learning Disabilities

ETFO’s position on in-person learning remains unchanged. The union firmly believes that the daily, in-person model of instruction and support best meets the educational, developmental and social needs of students, provides the best experience for support, and is the most equitable learning model for all students. ETFO’s expectation is that elementary virtual learning in any capacity, including through hybrid models of instruction, will end once the pandemic ends.

Since March of 2020, I’ve been teaching students with learning disabilities in an online environment. I’ve been wondering how well the online learning environment supports the needs of students with learning disabilities.

As a special education teacher of a contained learning disability classroom, this has been a question that’s been tricky to answer. In addition, I’ve got “skin in the game” as I also have a learning disability and can place myself in my students’ shoes.

As with all debates, there are always two sides and I’ll try to capture the main points of each side.

Online learning supports students with learning disabilities

As online learning is technology based, students can access their tools of technology by using talking word processing and many applications that support their lack of phonemic awareness and reading ability in writing and comprehension. My students seemed to thrive in this area as online learning promoted their use of technology to complete assignments. In addition, the forum also allowed them to explore new ways to present their work that did not focus on text.

For my students, some thrived as they preferred working on their own or collaborating via video with another student. One student stated that they would like to learn online all the time. Note that this student had excellent learning skills and support at home. I had my doubts as they would have missed developing the skills needed to work with others face to face. I felt that the student was missing the opportunity to develop the critical soft skills such as collaborating with peers and in building the essential friendships students need as they grow into adults.

Online learning does not support students with learning disabilities

Although I only have a small sample size of students in which to reflect on this statement, I will summarize what I noticed in this last year.

Students with learning disabilities need a great deal of teacher support to develop their reading and writing skills in order to eventually thrive in a mainstream classroom. The challenge with online instruction is that students must have some level of independence to complete work. Further, their teacher must be able to assess when to support the student and when to let the student work alone.

In Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, teachers must provide just enough support to let the student learn on their own without getting frustrated. As a teacher, teaching online, I was challenged by finding this golden spot as I could not use my senses to determine where the student was in their learning. As learning is linked to emotion, I use my senses and empathy to determine students’ level of success or frustration. Without being able to access this skill through a video link, I noted that students became increasingly frustrated before I was able to sense their distress. This is never good as students usually shut down at this point. This is where learning stops.

During online video lessons, I also noted that students with attention deficits had a great challenge attending to lessons. Often, this resulted in me calling their name several times. In a classroom, when watching students, I can redirect those who are off task. Despite presenting my very interesting online lessons, several students became disengaged. This was especially true for students with learning profiles that were tactile in nature.

Further, online learning does not provide the many accommodations needed to support students’ learning needs. Some feedback from students noted “I need to move around when I learn”, “I like to work beside my friend so we can help each other”, “I prefer doing work with a pencil instead of typing things” and “I really need to go for a walk right now.”

Online learning needs and skills specific to students’ profiles

Success in online learning depends on support from home, adequate technology, and students with good learning skills. Due to managing multiple agenda’s, parents are not always able to support their child online. This includes literally sitting beside their child to help them attend to online lessons. Many students lack adequate technology and/or reliable internet access leaving them at a disadvantage to their more resourced peers. Further, not all students have the learning skills to successfully attend and complete work online, instead needing another person to support them in their work. I’ve included a list of considerations to be made when making decisions to learn online.

Students with learning disabilities may consider online learning if they:

    • are able to follow written and/or verbal instructions effectively
    • enjoy working at their own pace
    • are able to work independently
    • are able to interact with peers and the teacher in a positive way
    • have good online manners
    • are able to communicate and ask questions when they don’t understand an assignment or directions
    • are able to start a task with confidence
    • have parental support
    • have adequate technology and internet to support learning online
    • have adequate executive function to attend to online lessons
    • have adequate self control to not play games or watch videos while online lessons are occurring
    • get one-on-one time with their teacher to support learning on an individual basis

Students should consider not participating in online learning if they:

    • need significant instructional support from teachers and/or educational assistants
    • have challenges attending to lessons online
    • need support to follow through and complete assignments
    • lack adequate support at home to stay focused
    • have challenges negotiating the online environment (i.e. finding assignments, resources, etc)
    • lack support at home (i.e. help with homework & completing class work)
    • have poor learning skills
    • enjoy the social part of school and working with others
    • are behind in multiple high school credits

8 Proven Ways to Overcome Teacher Burnout and Love Teaching Again | Prodigy Education

Teaching online is draining

From a teacher’s point of view, I found teaching online extremely draining. It did not help that at several points in the pandemic, I was teaching synchronously online and in class using the hybrid model. Without being able to use my intuition and empathy to read my students needs and feelings, I felt blind. I was only left with my visual and audio senses which became taxed very quickly.

In online learning, teachers must attend to all students, all at the same time. In an in class environment, teachers can focus on one student at a time, while others work on assigned tasks. With my students online, there were simply too many things to attend to … leaving me little energy to focus on specific individual students’ needs.

Online learning does not support the needs of most students with learning disabilities

In the end, I strongly believe that students who have learning disabilities MUST be taught in an in class environment. This means that teachers can assess, if and when students need support. Further, in class instruction allows teachers to assess and focus specifically on what one student needs to support their learning.

In this pandemic, online learning has been a stop gap to provide students with a classroom environment that is just a hint of what happens in an in class environment. Online learning does not promote collaboration and the occasions to play and interact with other students. It lacks the fundamental need, of students, for opportunities to build social skills and make friends. And I believe these skills are what make us most human.

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston, PhD

Physical Health in students with Developmental Disabilities

If you have a student in your class this year with a Developmental Disability, I’d like to share some statistics today to help you make some decisions about their programming. Students with a DD have a different set of needs than the rest of the students that goes beyond academic programming.

Here are a few statistics taken from the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research:

Adolescents with autism and Down syndrome are two to three times more likely to be obese than adolescents in the general population.

Secondary health condition are higher in obese adolescents with IDD including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, depression, fatigue and low self esteem.

Obesity presents a higher incidence of health problems including decreased social and physical functioning, reduced quality of life, difficulty forming peer relationships and increased likelihood of depression.

Clearly some of our students with Developmental Disabilities are more vulnerable to becoming overweight or obese. Much of the time they have so many things working against them like a disability that has obesity as a symptom, greater medication uses or altered eating habits related to their disability. However, that does not mean that as educators we cannot support students and families to manage their fitness levels.

As educators, we can:

  • Have an excellent relationship with the family of the student. You will NEED their help to ensure the wellness of their child.
  • Ensure that parents know how to access community programs that offer activities that include physical fitness. In addition, help connect parents with community supports that offer funding for these programs. (During Covid, many of these programs are not running as the requirements for physical distancing can’t be maintained with makes the next two points really important)
  • Talk about and model physical activity often. When we meet online, we speak almost every day about activities that we are doing at home.
  • Most importantly, include physical activity into the daily routine of your class. The government of Canada recommends 60 minutes of physical activity every day. During a pandemic, that is tough but encourage your student(s) with a Developmental Disability to move during class. You need to get their heartrate up and a good sweat going on!
  • When you go back to school, prioritize physical fitness for these students. Walking, running, biking, stairs, games, dancing. Put it ahead of many other programming goals to help get these students get back to daily activity.

Anecdotally, when some of my students returned to school in September their physical fitness had dropped significantly. As mentioned above, organized sports for these students did NOT open back up during the summer and my athletic group of students who used to run circles around me struggled to move for 5 minutes at a time. From September to December, I added a segmet of the daily routine that focused only on physical fitness and by December they were back to being very active for an hour at a time.

For many of us beginning any kind of physical program can be tough and motivation can be VERY low. Make sure you have a solid reward program based on anything the student likes (that hopefully is not food). For some of my students it was stickers, for others it was hot wheel cars and my other student was obsessed with Baby Shark colouring pages. Find whatever works and reward them for movement. Start with a couple of minutes at a time and keep increasing from there.  As our students begin to return to learning at school, this is going to need to be a priority for these students to protect their long-term physical health as well as their mental health.

As Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod used to say “KEEP FIT AND HAVE FUN!”

Weekly Plan for Online Learning: Special Education Classroom

Here is the plan for our first week of online instruction in January.

Have a wonderful first week back everyone!!

9:30-10:00 Small group instruction using a combination of Google Jamboards and Boom cards. Below are some pictures of the activities that we will be using.

10:00-10:30 Exercise Time!! All students will join in and do an exercise program to get moving and get our heart rates up!!

Here is my New Year’s Playlist for our excercise time this week:

Exercise:

Warm up/Stretches

  1. 20 seconds Running on the spot
  2. 20 Jumping Jacks
  3. 20 Leg lifts
  4. 20 Body Twists
  5. 20 push ups on the table or wall

Dance Break

Do at least 1 more set of movement exercises. 2 if time permits

Cool down/Stretches

Remind parents that their child needs a place to move, some running shoes and comfortable clothes. It is going to be a 2021 party!!

10:30-11:00 Morning Meeting- All students gather. We practice communication, math, reading and life skills through a series of slides and songs.

11:00-11:30 Small group instruction: focus on communication, functional mathematics and functional language.

Similar to the first period in the morning we will be using a combination of Boom cards and Google Jamboards. Jamboards are ideal if your students are able to click on a link in the chat box and move to a new page. If your students are unable to do that, Boom cards are a much better option.

11:30-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:00 Small group instruction:focus on communication, functional mathematics and functional language.

1:00-1:30 Afternoon Meeting- All students gather. We practice communication, math, reading and life skills.

1:30– Art/Creation/Friday Favourites-

Art: We do a simple drawing that works on student’s listening skills and fine motor skills. I have found that having the students use either markers, pencil crayons or crayons works best as everyone has different materials in their home. I use pastels when showing the students as it shows up better on camera.

Creation: With everyone at home, it is time to get out the lego and other materials that work on fine motor skills.

Friday Favourties: What is your favourite sport?- Every Friday we take a poll about some of our favourite things. We graph the results and work on our communication and numeracy skills. Here are a few pictures of previous Friday Favourites.

 

 

Teaching Students with Down Syndrome to Read

I have tried to teach my one student with Down Syndrome to read words for the past two years with some success. However, it wasn’t until this year when I read about a different approach that things really started to click. Since we introduced this method into our instruction, she has been able to read a group of words consistently, comfortably and with confidence. It is the first time that she really gets excited about reading words.

In a quest to try something new with this student in October, I picked up a book I had bought a couple of years ago called “Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Teachers” by Patricia Logan Oelwein. The book was written in 1995, which seems quite a long time ago, however from our experience this fall, it was the one methodology that really worked for my student. Also, the general thesis of the book that any child with Down Syndrome can read if the programming is appropriate is a principle that I also strongly believe.

The book is divided into 3 sections. The three sections are: background information about the learner with Down Syndrome, the How-To section and reading units to use with your students.

Background Information

This section is highly important to read before you begin instructing your student. Even though the book was written quite a while ago much of the information remains accurate and up to date. I cross referenced much of the information in this section with the educator guide posted on the Canadian Down Syndrome Website and find the information to be consistent.

As mentioned above, the primary thesis for this book is that all children with Down Syndrome can be taught to read if programming is done correctly. Ms. Oelwein also does a very effective job of describing hurdles that you may face and things to watch out for if your student is not being successful with the methodology described in this book.

Some of the areas that she highlights are:

  1. Medical concerns: People with Down Syndrome have a higher rate of vision problems, hearing problems and chronic illnesses. Ensure that you read your student’s OSR and speak with parents about any concerns in this area. Any unaddressed medical concerns will greatly impact the ability of the student to be successful in learning to read. (Interestingly, according to the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, people with Down Syndrome are less likely to get asthma, many types of cancer and dental cavities.)
  2. Continuous Intervention: Many times, in special education we hear about early intervention and the importance of it. Ms. Oelwein takes it one step further. She speaks about the importance of early intervention and continuous intervention. She stresses the importance of maintaining high expectations for the students and providing them with high quality education throughout their academic career. I feel this is especially important as the student enters grade 6, 7 and 8 in Ontario in an inclusive setting. It is important that the student has modified tasks that are both aware of the social dynamic of this age as well as tasks that are academically appropriately for the child. Ongoing intervention is paramount to the student’s success in reading.
  3. Avoidance Behaviours: My students are very smart. Just like many students, they know how to avoid certain tasks if I have given them things that are too easy, too hard, or not interesting to them. Effective programming is the key to success and using consistent best practices in assessment will help you to develop tasks that support student’s language acquisition.

The How-Tos

The next section of the book explains how to introduce sight words, the alphabet, beginning phonics and writing and spelling.

The instructions are very clear and can be followed by you, your education assistant, your special education team or a parent at home. This can provide ample opportunity for the student to practice the skills. Ms. Oelwein has also provided many, many ideas for activities and ways to keep learning fun and engaging. Below are some pictures of my student following the steps outlined by the author.

  1. We began by selecting a few personally relevant words for the student and followed a number of steps to introduce the words to the student. She surprised us at how quickly she learned them.

2. Next, we spent some time focusing on the beginning letter of the words we introduced.

3. Finally, we created some fun activities to reinforce the words.

Reading Units

The final chapters of the book use the same steps to continue to introduce additional words and many activities to help solidify understanding. All the materials to play games and create activities to build  understanding are provided in appendices at the end of the book. There are units on foods, action words, household words etc.

If your students with Down Syndrome are struggling, this might be one book to try to get you started. The steps worked for my student and it might just work for your student as well.