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Modifications - creating modified curriculum that is age appropriate, meaningful

Strategies - games such as Guess who (with real people), calendar but not kindergarten style, use student interest and find ways to incorporate learning goals.

3 Principles of learning

1. Learning requires the activite participation of the student

2. Students learn in a variety of different ways and at different rates

3. Learning is both an individual and group process

Difference between adaptations and modifications

Accommodations

Supports and strategies to remove barriers and accomodate different learning styles.

Creating equal access to learning. Assist students in learning and mastery of skills.

Students are working towards graduation requirements.

Modifications

For students with significant impairments.

Learning standards that are different than regular curriculum and are based on individual student needs. Can make up whole or part of educational program.

Students are working towards Evergreen certificate not graduation requirements. Must be documented in an IEP. Officially decided in grade 10.

Adapting Assessment - Differentiated assessment informs differentiated instruction and differentiated instruction leads to differentiated assessment. Meet students where they are and coach them to the next step.

Assessment measures and teaches! Integrating assessment into the learning process leads to students who can focus on learning targets, set goals, reflect on their work and provide meaningful feedback.

UDL assessment tips - align assessment to learning goals, offer authentic opportunities for assessment that are personally relatable and culturally relevant. Reduce unneccesary barriers, offer practice, technology and support resources, use and share rubrics.

Assessment FOR learning - formative assessment - pre-assessment, ongoing assessment, observations, listening, watching, gathering information to meet an assessment purpose but also inform instruction and short term planning (determine purpose, establish a focus, select and use a strategy, record results, interpret and take action), timely and specific feedback.

Strategies

exit slips, entry tickets, traffic light, post a point, thumbs up/down, games, trivia, 3,2,1, KWL charts, Most... at end of lesson,

Assessment OF learning - Summative assessment. Collecting and interpreting the data collected against set criteria for the purpose of grading and reporting. Typically at end of a unit.

Use clear and specific criteria. Describe how success will be evaluated.

Identify and reduce factors that are not directly linked to the learning outcome or might prevent students from showing what they know.

Assessment As learning - individual assessment, self-assessment. Develops metacognitive skills - where students reflect on their learning, progress, goal plan, make choices, make sense of information learned connecting to prior knowledge.

Strategies

peer assessment, self assessment, using rubrics to guide them.

Learning logs and journals, traffic lights, 3,2,1, 2 stars and a wish

Tic Tac Toe - individual assessment activities displayed on a grid, student selects which to use.

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`Notes on Modifications - areas to learn more about

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`Notes on Modifications - areas to learn more about

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Think Core Competencies more than curricular

If using curricular competencies then must be a significant difference in grade level (such as grade 5 working on K goals) - learn more about curricular modifications.

refer to Adaptation and Modification manual BC gov't (states the adaptations on assessment should be put in student learning plan or IEP but instructor stated otherwise)

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We are all multimodal learners! Provide multiple ways for students to see, hear, and tactally work with the information.

Assistive technology increases student independence, and reduces need for support.

Examples - screen readers/magnifiers, voice recognition, keyboard navigation, hearing support, computers, augmentative and alternative communication systems,

Resources

Social Stories

Social learning tool. Assists in building strategies - what to do when.., can help to deal with change or upsetting situations, a tool for building self-esteem,

They are positive and supportive. The goal is not to change the behaviour but to describe the topic so the person can understand the behaviour or response to situations.

Gather information, discover a topic that fits the Audience, develop personalized text and images - 10 defining criteria to follow!

Comic Strip Conversations - simple visual representations using stick figures and symbols. Represent abstract aspects of conversations, and emotional content.

Visual Schedules - sequence of events, time, order, when to start and stop activities. Promotes independence, provides structure, alleviates anxiety.

POP groups - POPEY!!! Fantastic resources found on the website! Great for early elementary. List of Core Competency goals to be used as self-assessment and evidence to support learning.

Strategies

incorporate videos, hands on activities, paper work, games, music and movement into instruction. It's easy to remember a tune - use music to connect with learning goals.

Use visual schedule as part of daily routine

Incorporate assistive technology such as audiobooks, Epic! kids, voice-to-text, letter tracing apps for iPad,

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***Literacy is one of the best antidotes to poverty, racism and discrimination. It is the currency of other learning***

Strategies to support struggling readers

one on one support

strong relationship - build trust

provide choice

focus on meaning

Determine the specific issue that is preventing reading - practice till student has mastered it.

Simple view of reading - reading is made up of word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension. Teach separately and assess separately.

Reading comprehension requires decoding and background knowledge.

Language knowledge is neccessary to know what you're reading about.

Language weakness - is it a vocabulary weakness? Or reasoning and syntax issues?

Resources

Orton-Gillingham Approach - science based approach. Best for 1:1 and small group but can be used as whole class instruction.

Heggerty

Daily 5

Fountas and Pinnell - Benchmarks leveled reading system

LETRS reading assessment

Strategies - sound cards, movement when hear target sound, tapping out words, write word draw dot below each letter - say each letter sound then sweep across and say whole word, word ladders, decodable text, reading games to practice target letters/sounds, targeted spelling programs, elkonin boxes,

Word work activities

Heggerty

Writing Resources

Using graphic organizers

Beneficial because they break writing into smaller steps which can help students who feel overwhelmed, or don't know where to start.

A way to make ideas visual - lighten cognitive load.

Helps to organize sequence, make decisions, connect ideas.

Writing scaffolds - help students get started, increase accessibility, help to plan and structure writing

Strategies

voice-to-text, loose parts/story workshop, draw it first then write about it, make a video

Hamburger paragraph, sentence frames, PEEL paragraph writing

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Math programs

Mathletics - good to supplement math program. Easy to differentiate, teacher can assign tasks and see student progress.

New online resources to explore - Matific, Splash Learn, Mathology

Math tasks - easily differentiated, require students to think critically, apply prior knowledge, work together, communicate their thinking.

Daily 3 - teacher believes all students are capable and provides opportunities for them to develop their skills as independent learners.

Follow a sequential system that provides choice and builds with student stamina.

Provides opportunity for teacher to work 1:1 with students or with small groups

Math games - best if they include strategy and choice keeps students engaged, interested and reaches more variance in age and ability

How to deal with students struggling with literacy in math? - use stories, videos, hands on, games

Other resources

EquatIO - type, handwrite or speak math equations into editor

Microsoft OneNote - math expressions are read aloud, access the math assistant, use drawing tools to handwrite math expressions

Math Type - equation editor for Word and Google Docs

Desmos - graphic calculator with sonification for students with visual impairments

Strategies

work in pairs or small groups, use materials such as blocks to build out the math problems, act out word problems, use music to learn rules, use math centers, math scavenger hunts, play math games, esti-mysteries, watch math videos (ex. Small Number), read math storybooks (Ex. Sir Cumference)

Incorporate a multimodal approach to math instruction.

Math Assessment

INA assessment - Focus to inform instructional decisions while encouraging students to explore, communicate and represent their mathematical knowledge.

Incorporates open-ended and purposeful questions that require critical thinking and understanding of concepts and procedures. Targets core competencies.

Includes student and teacher reflection - building student awareness of their understanding in math.

Can be used as formative and summative assessment. Offered by grade starting at 3+

Divided into subgroups. Include individual and collaborative tasks.

SNAP - easy to differentiate, can use as instruction tool as well as assessment, does not provide a full picture and should be used with other assessment measures.

Math Journals - safe place to share questions, areas of struggle, successes, as an exit ticket or entry ticket

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Student Profile

use positive language, strength based profile, focus on what the student can do. Use I can language.

consider academic and personal goals.

Adaptations vs. Modifications according to my local LST - if it is in the curriculum then it is an adaptation, if you are making up something new it is a modification.

Inclusion Purpose planner

Intellectual purpose - teaching the thinking through curriculum and academics

How does it connect to IEP goals?

Core Competency goals apply in any and all settings. They are student driven.

Curricular goals are supplemental (for students who don't have an intellectual disability) or replacement (alternate goals that may not be at the same complexity but fall under the same big idea)

Strategic Programming - students are classroom with grade level peers. Working towards the goal of making grade level curriculum accessible. Materials and content are age appropriate.

1. Choose grade level/subject/course

2. Determine Big Idea

3. Determine "Goal for all" - curricular learning standard that is similar to peers

4. Determine access point - an objective that is specific to the individuals needs

5. Determine specific strategies to meet the objective.

Resource - Shelley Moore's Lesson Planning Template, Inclusion Outreach website

Strategies

Personal relevance - make it about the student

Use earlier grade levels to help (think about the earlier steps and activities, how can you adapt and make them age appropriate?)

Consider student's prior knowledge - what do they need to know or do to be able to access

Enrichment - focus on content, timing and pace, resources and materials, how can you stimulate higher thinking and skills,

Flow Charts

Can use a flow chart to determine path for student - what is needed, what steps to take.

Student Summary - one page summary providing information needed about the student. Should provide substitutes or new team members a clear picture on the student and their routines.

Strategies

using Shelley Moore's flow chart

have students make their own profile to add different perspective and share with educators

Using a Goal Bank (Vernon goal bank)

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Personalized learning for every student, student centered learning, discover strengths and interests use that as a tool for engagement and growth, student goal setting and active part of designing their learning experience

Quality teaching and learning - continuous learning and growing for teachers -> mentorship, collaboration, feedback

Flexibility and choice - multiple means for engagement, expression, action and representation, also flexibility in location -> blended learning, include families and community

High standards - make it meaningful - teaching skills that students need to succeed, more meaningful reporting, assessment that supports ongoing learning

Technology

Barriers to consider - academic, social and physical inclusion

Social inclusion - every child feels they belong, are being cared for, are part of something larger, involved in extra curricular programs too, parental involvement

Academic inclusion - child is not just in the class working with an adult on something different, all students have full participation in the academic experiences

RTI - what resources do I need to succeed at each level, what does each level look like, how does that differ depending on age/grade of students?

Differentiated instruction - what about the exceptional learners? What does inclusion look like for them? How to extend without giving extra work.

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Resource and strategies list from CASEL Playbook

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Resource and strategies list from CASEL Playbook

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I added several websites to this module that I found helpful in explaining different resources or strategies. One of my favourites is CASEL's SEL 3 Signiture Practices Playbook which is a great resource to support and educate on SEL and UDL. It does a great job of explaining the reasons why to incorporate SEL and UDL, addresses time constraints and what to do if short on time, the importance of relationships and reading the room. The other great component of this playbook is that it has links to videos or suggested strategies as well as a complete list of Welcoming Inclusion Activities, Engaging Strategies and Optimistic Closure ideas.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/jigsaw-teaching-strategy/

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I added this to my resource list as I found it listed many interesting articles on RTI including getting started, implementing RTI in the classroom, assessment, reaching out to partents.... Edutopia is a site that I trust and I learned a lot from the articles that it suggested.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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I added this video to my resource list as a reminder of some of the Inclusive technology options that are available.

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Resource - Designing interactive learning

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Resource - Designing interactive learning

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I added Jigsaw as one of my strategies, however there are many more listed at the end of the CASEL Playbook that I posted above. Aside from the big strategies such as collaboration, co-teaching, using formative assessment to guide instruction, providing flexibility and choice

Here are some more specific strategies:

Reading workshop - like a book club. Every student has their own books (appropriate to their reading level) they are given time to read and come together to share the plot and try to "sell" their book to the group and can choose the presentation format that works best for them (video or voice recording, live, written, drawing they talk about...).

The heart map - to inspire writing - people I care about, places I know, moments in my life. Only you can tell your story. Use with mini lessons.

Make complex text more accessible by adding more white space, using headings,

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These "student-friendly" rubrics were created by teachers through a series of professional development gatherings that focused on effective formative assessment practices for teaching writing. Teachers were tasked with converting Ministry created Performance Standards into language that students could comprehend and relate to. The resulting rubrics (posted below) are an extremely useful addition to any writing repertoire. Use them as a self-assessment tool, or perhaps to set clear criteria; they are also a great vehicle for providing effective feedback. We encourage you to modify and/or alter the rubrics to fit your needs. However you use them we hope that you find these rubrics a useful tool to help support writing growth in your classroom

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These "student-friendly" rubrics were created by teachers through a series of professional development gatherings that focused on effective formative assessment practices for teaching writing. Teachers were tasked with converting Ministry created Performance Standards into language that students could comprehend and relate to. The resulting rubrics (posted below) are an extremely useful addition to any writing repertoire.

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I added this to my resource list because Shelley Moore is so great at sharing her experiences and providing meaniful examples on how she has adapted and modified her students programs.

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Guide to Adaptations and Modifications (Resource)

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Guide to Adaptations and Modifications (Resource)

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I added this as one of my resources because I found myself frequently going back and referring to it.

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I added this to my resource list as I feel it provides practical examples in a variety of different grades and subjects.

As- Self

For - Formative

Of - Summative

A Framework for Classroom Assessment
A Framework for Classroom Assessment

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Welcome to the Comox Valley Schools literacy homepage. We are a district located on the east coast of Vancouver Island nestled in a beautiful temperate rainforest. I hope the suggestions you find on this site are helpful to you as you contemplate your learners, what they need, and how we can best engage them in this wonderful world of learning.

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Just a great quick resource to look at as a reminder of the different components of UDL

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A list of 10 literacy activities from POPEY.

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Brain Based Literacy Activities (strategies)

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Brain Based Literacy Activities (strategies)

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A nice visual that provides different strategies to target different learning modalities.

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A nice option to use instead of Boardmaker. It is inexpensive and easy to use.

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Simple and Affordable

Your Quality Online Resource for
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It doesn't have to be difficult or expensive to be good. We believe in the power of visuals. Our priority is to give the flexibility you need for customization, simplicity for families, and affordability for individuals.

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SoundFinder™ and Minimal Pairs Tool

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Easy, Online, and Affordable

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Teachers, Therapists and Parents can create custom learning materials for their classroom and teacing needs. Create cheap picture cards, use our powerful language tools like our SoundFinder and build all of your classroom visuals in minutes.

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Social stories and comic strip conversations

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Social stories and comic strip conversations

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Social stories and comic strip conversations

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Find out more about social stories and comic strip conversations, and how they can help autistic people communicate.

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It is no surprise that some of the most frequently requested Social Stories are among the most difficult to write. The Stories in this Sampler address a few of those challenging topics. These are models that parents and professionals may use to develop Social Stories for a specific child, adolescent, or adult.

The Sampler contains Stories related to these concepts:

Safety: Understanding safety may make it easier to follow some rules.

Tragedies: What a tragedy is and understanding tragedies on television.

Discovery of Self and Others: Each person is one of a kind.

Advanced Concepts: Stories to address 'elusive' topics like stereotypes and resilience.

A few notes before you get started:

The Stories are arranged in a suggested sequence, according to concept areas and level of difficulty. They are designed to work together now, and over time. Reading the entire collection of Stories before selecting a starting point may be helpful. The ties between the Stories - and how they work together to build concepts - will become apparent.

A few Stories have two versions for level of difficulty or for a male or female Audience.

A Social Story may use an activity to make a point and share information. Such is the case with the "Peanut Butter Survey". Or, an activity may be accompanied by a set of Stories, as is the case with "The Fingerprint Survey" and Stories.

Story and Activity List: Th e following is a sequential list of Stories and activities in The Sampler, followed by a brief description of each. Stories with two versions share one title, with the exception of the series of Stories about Emma and Tyler.

1 & 2. "Safety Wherever I Go" (1-Boy Version) and "Safety Wherever I Go" (2-Girl Version) use simple text and large illustrations to identify safety measures in several areas, including the physical environment (rails, gates, doors and locks), safety equipment (helmets, life jackets, seat belts), signs, and more. The repetitive format builds predictability into the content, reinforcing the reassuring message.

3. "What is a Tragedy?"introduces and defines key vocabulary, like tragedy and survivor, explains the events surrounding a tragedy, describes efforts to assist survivors, and encourages the audience to ask questions of trusted adults.

4. "Watching a Tragedy on Television" clarifies the confusing aspects of watching a newscast about a disaster on television. It reassures children throughout, opening with a news bulletin that interrupts regular programming. The Story covers several concepts, including but definitely not limited to: the distinction between what is happening on the screen versus the safety of home; how a single event may appear on television for many days (making it seem like a tragedy is reoccurring); and how a family's typical routine usually resumes shortly, with the example of eating dinner. The Story closes with mention of efforts to help survivors.

5 & 6. "What Autism Means and What it Doesn't Mean" (5) and "What Autism Means and What it Doesn't Mean" (6) demonstrates how simple Story content and format can cover a relatively advanced or abstract concept. The Stories introduce a concept that echoes throughout The Social Story Sampler: autism is a personal factor, but it never defines who someone is. Story 6 contains more detail. Please note: Stories in The Sampler assume that readers with autism are aware of their diagnosis and understand it at a basic level.

7. "The Peanut Butter and Jelly Survey" uses peanut butter and jelly sandwich preferences to explore individual differences. This survey is geared to a younger Audience, although it is likely to be useful with children of any age, with or without autism.

8. "Everyone is Diagnosed Frequently" challenges the traditional interpretation of normal by pointing out that since everyone is diagnosed frequently, it is average or normal to have a diagnosis. The Story uses the example of Clark (pictured at left), who is a guy with over 35 diagnoses in the course of his 30-something life to date: His family and friends think he's a pretty healthy guy. They're right.

9. "The Difference Between Emma and Everyone Else"and 10. "The Difference Between Tyler and Everyone Else", could be regarded as Social Story puzzles. The first paragraph announces Emma/Tyler is a lot like other people except for one huge difference. Both Emma and Tyler have autism, but that, of course, is not it. Building upon concepts from "Everyone is Diagnosed Frequently", this Story has a bit of a surprise ending when the big difference between Tyler/Emma and everyone else is revealed. To develop an individualized version, the Story may be used to create an interview regarding a child's personal information. A child or adolescent may then compare his or her Story with that of Emma and Tyler.

11. "The Fingerprint Survey" continues building the concept that each person is unique via drawings. Where The Peanut Butter and Jelly Survey focuses on personal preferences, this survey explores a more advanced level of personal differences. It demonstrates how a single instruction, for example, "Draw a stick figure doing something," makes its way through an individual's mind and past experiences before it becomes lines and colors on paper. It is a tangible way to demonstrate that each of us has a brain and life story that is uniquely ours, with clues to that story in our drawings and the thoughts that create them.

12. "Emma and Tyler Take the Fingerprint Survey" describes two sets of survey responses. Individuals who complete "The Fingerprint Survey" compare Emma and Tyler's survey results with their own. Tyler serves as a healthy role model, too, as he does not like to draw but participates despite his lack of confidence.

13 & 14. "Fingerprints, Decisions, and Fingerprint Decisions" (13-Girl Version) and "Fingerprints, Decisions, and Fingerprint Decisions" (14-Boy Version) introduce and define the terms decision and fingerprint decision for the first time in The Sampler. It opens with a discussion of the difference in fingerprints between identical twins, moving on to other things that distinguish us from one another, like our brain, environment, and experiences. That leads to a summary of the different kinds of decisions that we make. The Story closes with a page devoted to a definition and discussion of fingerprint decisions.

15. "Learning About Skunks and Stereotypes" introduces and defines stereotypes. Skunks provide a tangible and universally recognized case example. The Story describes how stereotypes can be helpful in some cases, and damaging in others.

The description of both good and bad stereotypes lays the groundwork for future discussions of both. Adolescents are increasingly independent and it's important to teach the 'warning flags' or constellation of cues that may mean trouble or a threat to personal safety. An example is driving and the quick judgments that it requires. Many of those judgments are stereotypes at work.

16. "What is it? It's R _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. A Puzzle Story" opens with a word puzzle that leads to a definition and discussion of resilience. The Story closes with a description of a very resilient man, Wilson Bentley (1865 - 1931).
The Sampler Stories are for any parent or professional seeking ideas and materials for use with the person or persons in their immediate care. I hope they will give you many ideas. You have my permission to download and print the Stories and activities for this purpose exclusively. Permission is not granted for professional presentations of any kind, duplication or distribution via any means, or for sale or profit. Thank you, Carol Gray, Author
The Social Story Sampler References
Project History and Story Guide
National Center for Autism (2009). The National Autism Center's national standards report: National standards project - Addressing the need for evidence-based guidelines for autism spectrum disorders. National Autism Center. Available online at http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/pdf/NAC%20Standards%20Report.pdf
The Difference Between Emma and Everyone Else The Difference Between Tyler and Everyone Else What is it? A Story Puzzle
Illustrations by Deposit Photos http://www.depositphotos.com

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Social Story Sampler - Carol Gray - Social Stories

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It is no surprise that some of the most frequently requested Social Stories are among the most difficult to write. The Stories in this Sampler address a few of those challenging topics. These are models that parents and professionals may use to develop Social Stories for a specific child, adolescent, or adult.

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Structured Literacy | Pride Reading Program

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If you have been researching reading programs for struggling readers, you might have come across the Orton-Gillingham method a few times. This is by far the most effective reading approach for students that need to learn differently. This method might seem complicated - but it isn't. Here is a step by step explanation (with a video) on what an Orton-Gillingham lesson looks like.

Using Phonogram Cards or Sound Cards the student is drilled with skills they have already learned. Phonogram Drill Cards are usually separated by color. For example the vowels might be green, the consonants might be white, the suffixes might be blue, etc.

Students are required to review these Sound Card at the beginning of each lesson, before a new concept is taught. Reviewing them over and over again, week after week, month after month helps the students remember them over time.

When the student is ready to learn a new skill, there are several ways this is introduced in an Orton-Gillingham lesson.

1. The new concept (sound, syllable type, or spelling pattern) will be taught explicitly by the teacher.

2. The teacher will use multisensory teaching methods to help the concept "stick." This means the student will see it (visual), hear it (auditory), and move with it (kinesthetic). Students are asked to trace, skywrite, use arm tapping, write on their palms and paper, build words with letter tiles, write on textured material, and use other multisensory activities to help reinforce the new concept.

3. The teacher will use a Keyword or Picture to introduce the new concept. These pictures help the student remember a particular letter or sound relationship with a visual.

The Blending Drill in the Orton-Gillingham lesson is an activity that encourages students to practice reading nonsense words. Nonsense words force the students to use decoding and not memorization skills. The phonogram cards are separated into three piles on a table top. The vowels are put in the middle of the pile.

The student points to each phonogram card from left to right and blends the sounds into a nonsense word. The teacher keeps flipping the cards from the different columns to make different combinations.

Red Words or Sight Words are those words that cannot be sounded out phonetically and do not follow any particular phonemic rule. Using multisensory strategies, the student can learn the Red Words by arm tapping, finger sliding, finger tracing and other multisensory activities.

Step 5: Reading Words, Sentences, and Text

In each Orton-Gillingham lesson, students are asked to read words, sentences, or a decodable text using the concept that they are learning.

Words:

Students are asked to underline, link, divide, and box letters and letter combinations, suffixes and prefixes.

Students will identify vowel sounds and letters and other concepts when reading and learning new words.

Sentences:

Students are asked to read sentences utilizing their newly learned concept.

They might read these silently to themselves and then again aloud with the teacher.

Comprehension questions are also often used in this step.

Decodable Stories:

The reading passages in Orton-Gillingham lessons are always decodable and only contain sounds and concepts that the student has already learned.

Semantics and vocabulary development are a continual process throughout the entire reading of the passage.

Students are also asked to visualize, use prior knowledge, use context clues, and other reading comprehension strategies.

Students are asked to write sounds, words, and sentences that are dictated by the teacher in each Orton-Gillingham lesson.

It typically begins with the teacher dictating a word and the student will repeat the word. The student then uses either finger tapping, sound segmenting, or palm writing while saying the word aloud.

The student will follow up by writing the words down on a sheet of paper and then asked to read the words back.

Phonological Awareness:

Most Orton-Gillingham lessons will also teach and practice phonological awareness activities throughout the entire program. These will include activities with rhyming, syllable division, and sound segmentation.

Fluency Drills:

Fluency Drills are often used during the Orton-Gillingham lessons to help the students practice mastering their newly learned Orton-Gillingham skills. Students are given a fluency practice drill and with a marker across the first line, they read the words as quickly as they can. They will do this with every line increasing their speed over time.

Games:

Many Orton-Gillingham teachers and tutors like to use games to reinforce the skills that the students are learning. Using a lot of interactive and fun learning games, the Orton-Gillingham lessons can become a bit more colorful and lively for the student.

Do you want to see an Orton-Gillingham Lesson in Action?

(This is just a short segment to give you an idea, it is not the entire lesson.)

Thank you so much for reading my post today! You might also enjoy reading my posts:
What is Orton-Gillingham How is Orton-Gillingham Evidence-Based Instruction? The Science of Reading: What All Teachers Should Know
And while you are here...you might want to check out the PRIDE Reading Program, an Orton-Gillingham reading, writing, spelling, and comprehension program that is 100% scripted, affordable, easy to use and used by teachers, parents, and tutors all over the world with great success!

Karina Richland, M.A., is the author of the PRIDE Reading Program , a multisensory Orton-Gillingham reading, writing and comprehension curriculum that is available worldwide for parents, tutors, teachers, and homeschoolers of struggling readers. Karina has an extensive background in working with students of all ages and various learning modalities. She has spent many years researching learning differences and differentiated teaching practices. You can reach her by email at info@pridereadingprogram.com or visit the website at www.pridereadingprogram.com

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If you have been researching reading programs for struggling readers, you might have come across the Orton-Gillingham method a few times. This is by far the most effective reading approach for students that need to learn differently. This method might seem complicated - but it isn't.

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State of New South Wales, Department of Education, Australia

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Writing scaffolds support students to plan their writing and, when implemented digitally, they allow them to plan in many different ways, including recording their voice, drawing images and inserting videos.

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PowerPoint and lesson created Colleen Devlin, SD71 teacher

Submitted by "Chris" on Teach BC​ from BCTF (if anyone knows who created this lesson please let us know, Lynn Swift​)

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students gain an awareness of the importance of animals to Aboriginal people by reading the picture book, Eagle Boy by Richard Lee Vaughan and participating in a guided imagery activity. Students can also paint or draw their visualization.

Grade: targeted K-3, but could be used for older grades too.

Learning Intentions:

I can visualize what it might be like to be an eagle.

I can make personal connections to the story.

I can visualize events in the story and represent it in a drawing or a painting.

Lesson Plan:

Blackline Masters:

Thinking Sheet

RESOURCE LEVEL: ​​​Elementary​

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students gain an awareness of the importance of Winter Solstice to Aboriginal people by reading the picture book, Mouse Celebrates the Winter Solstice, by Terri Mack and participating in a connection reading strategy focus.. Students can also paint or draw their visualization.

Grade: targeted K-3, but could be used for older grades too.

Learning Intentions:

I can make connections to the Winter Solstice.

I can make personal connections to the story.

Lesson Plan:

Supplementary Activities from the author:

Seasonal Activity Lesson

Th​​​e lesson focuses on making connections between what we do in the seasons and what different groups of First Nations people did during the seasons.

Grade​: 2-3

Learning In​​tentio​​ns:​

To understand w​​​​ha​​​​​t a​​​ctivities indigenous pe​​​​​ople do in each of the seasons and why.

To read a book ​and ma​​ke connections to what we do during the various seasons.

To take a walk through the for​​est to see signs of Fall​​​

Lesson P​​lan:
​Blackline Mas​​ters

Other Resources
BLM's of Signs of...Spring, Winter, Summer and Fall:
Using all your senses record certain plants and places that you visit in the various seasons.
A Season's Unit Outline - rough notes
Look here for an example of how you can use some of the above resources in a unit. Originally meant for grade 1 but can be used at any level.

This book is excellent for the following ideas:

1. Christmas time for gift giving from their heart.

2. Valentine's Day to show love and kindness to someone.

3. Making connections to family traditions and values.

Let's Connect - Red Parka Mary
Students could end lesson after they have completed the Let's Connect thinking with a talking circle and sharing their connection to the book.

An artefact to pass around while telling the story:

Shi Shi Etko by Nicola Campbell

​​Lesson plan from the BCTF Aboriginal Education Program created e -resource booklet, Gladys We Never Knew, The life of a child in a BC Indian Residential School.

Activity 1.1 Remembering the Land - Click on the following link for all the lessons and BLM's from the Indian Reconciliation Schools & Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guide Grade 5 or on the following link for the the lesson specifically about Shi Shi Etko, Part One Learning and the Relationship with the Land.

Starleigh in the video below reminds us that, "Before contact, before residential schools, we as indigenous peoples had our own rich bodies of knowledge, we had our own understandings of the relationship between someone who had knowledge and those who received knowledge. We had our systems of passing knowledge on....celebrates and honour our strengths and that something of incredible value existed before residential school you can never fully understand what was taken from survivors during residential schools." (from video below about minute 3:45)

"Haida author and artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas' beautiful picture book, The Little Hummingbird, illustrates a poignant message: each of us can make a difference, no matter how small we are and no matter how big the problem seems​.

The Little Hummingbird is a beautiful short story to use as a jumping-off point to explore themes of kindness, compassion, helping, and altruism with children." Heart-Mind Online

​From the Heart-Mind Online Resource: 6 Kind Activities inspired by The Little Hummingbird boo​k

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PowerPoint and lesson created Colleen Devlin, SD71 teacher Submitted by "Chris" on Teach BC​ from BCTF (if anyone knows who created this lesson please let us know, Lynn Swift​) Lesson Description: In this lesson, students gain an awareness of the importance of animals to Aboriginal people by reading the picture book, Eagle Boy by Richard Lee Vaughan and participating in a guided imagery activity.

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As I learned from elder Bob Cardinal, most First Nations cultures believe that children are a gift from the creator. The job of a parent, and the community, is to treasure that gift, and nurture the affinities and talents of that child on all four levels of the sacred circle (medicine wheel) - spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. So the question is: How do we help children, ALL children, have a good life? What does "a good life" mean? What does it mean, in narrower terms, in school?
For many parents, the western school system is antithetical to this belief. They believe the child will naturally follow the path they were meant to. It is the job of the adults to help that child discover their gift, and develop it. It is the job of the child to develop their gift, and then contribute it back to the community. But we ask parents to force their children to do things the child does not want to do (e.g. homework). We write IEP's that focus on what the child can't do, and ignore what they can and want to do. This makes "the system" seem backward, and then we pass judgement when parents "don't support the program."

The Three-Block Model of UDL focuses on developing a balance of wellness in the mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional aspects of life.

Block One: Social & Emotional Learning

Core values of the Three Block Model include community, interdependence, developing eminence, finding meaning & purpose, and trauma informed care. This fits well with many Indigenous cultures and worldviews, and in fact has been further informed by Indigenous elders, scholars, educators and friends!

The Respecting Diversity (RD) program seeks to develop a sense of pride and dignity in all students - knowing that who they are, what they have to offer the community is of value. The first four lessons empower students through reflection on and a growing awareness of their strengths and affinities, and how they can use these to become a valued member of the learning, and larger community. In the second four lessons, students develop a sense of belonging, of being included and of being cared for, of interconnectedness with something larger than ourselves. The focus becomes on respecting diverse others, being inclusive and cooperative, and assuming leadership when needed.

Block Two: Inclusive Instructional Practice

Core values include mastery oriented learning, learning communities, self-determination and regulation, truly valuing diversity (the belief that every human being is here for a reason, in our classroom for a reason, and has something to offer the community) Inclusion is not charity or tolerance (being tolerated is not being included) - it's respecting the role of diversity in survival, of our species, societies, cultures, and learning. We NEED diverse perspectives, worldviews, and learning strengths to develop intellectual and critical thinking.

Instruction is focused on utilizing students strengths, and developing the resiliency to persevere through challenges with the support of your learning team/community, a fundamental value of most Indigenous cultures (ie that community is critical to resiliency). This differs significantly from the western value on "independence" - which expects children to be able to face a learning challenge on their own and "keep trying." For many students who struggle with verbal linguistic tasks, this expectation means that they spend five hours a day, five days a week, FOR TWELVE YEARS, doing what they can't do - and are expected to "keep trying", and behave "appropriately" (ie don't object - or we will label you oppositional)! Then we wonder why students disengage! Indigenous cultures emphasize interdependence, which in schools, means using small group/cooperative structures (called "learning teams" in the Three Block Model), to create a true learning community. The use of differentiation and the UDL principles also ensures body-kinesthetic, hands-on learning which develops skills and connects to both the physical as well as the intellectual and emotional realms, as many learners learn best this way, and become accepted members of the learning community rather than the student who "can't sit still" and "can't do the work." Thematic combinations with "big ideas" often focus on existential issues related to sustainability, and help cultivate students awareness of global issues and connections.

Block three: Systems & Structures,

Core values include community involvement, respect for elders, trauma informed care, equity and justice.

Distributed leadership invites community input, and student leadership. This resembles the councils used by many Indigenous cultures. A respect for the elders of the community, and their wisdom, is critical to creating a relationship with parents and community. Collaborative, coteaching structures resemble the community collaboration seen in Indigenous cultures, and the IEP process put forward in the Three Block Model of UDL focuses on developing students strengths, and strategies for coping with challenges, rather than remediation.

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Connects the Three Block Model of UDL with the engagement, and social and academic inclusion of students who are First Nations, Metis, or Inuit

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The Island Numeracy Network (INN) is a passionate group of K-12 educators from numerous districts and schools in the Vancouver Island region. Our group meets four to five times each year in various Island locations where we share our experiences, initiatives and goals for transforming mathematics teaching and learning. We also undertake projects each year to nurture our own professional development and to share with BC teachers.

Our current project is an update of the old "Diagnostic Math Assessment" we produced several years ago to create a new Island Numeracy Assessment (INA). This new assessment was developed to align numeracy assessment practices with current numeracy learning expectations of BC students. To find out more and access the assessment for your classroom, school, or district, please visit our INA Assessments Home Page.

Les fiches d'élève sont prêtes! Merci aux équipes de traduction des conseils scolaires Nanaimo/Ladysmith, CSF du Yukon et Comox Valley.

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The Island Numeracy Network (INN) is a passionate group of K-12 educators from numerous districts and schools in the Vancouver Island region. Our group meets four to five times each year in various Island locations where we share our experiences, initiatives and goals for transforming mathematics teaching and learning.

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Instantly built a devoted audience of children and adults who fell in love with the game's beautiful, colorful display, and connection with deep mathematical understanding.

Honestly, this has got to be one of the most engaging and effective ways of introducing the idea of primes being the 'building blocks' of numbers and building other general logic skills... Overall, Prime Climb is an incredibly flexible game, and certainly met the high expectations it set itself.

This game blew my mind! It blew my wife's mind, it blew my kid's mind... it is one of the coolest visualizations of mathematics and prime numbers I've ever seen ever. It is awesome!

Take a look at Prime Climb, an excellent new game... perfect for adults and children alike.

This game is so rich in mathematical ideas that I literally spent a week investigating it with my class.

Rated #1 Educational Math Game!

Prime Climb is an excellent way to teach about prime numbers, factors, common multiples, and that math is fun!... I loved how Prime Climb engaged my math loving kids and my kids who tolerate math. It was engaging and challenging enough that no one was bored, but easy enough to understand that no one was frustrated. It was the perfect balance. (It was fun for the adults as well.)

This is an amazing game! It is genius actually. You can play this with both young and old and adapt it to anyone's ability. Players must not only use their math skills but their strategy skills as well. I believe this game should be in every classroom in America as well as every home!!

For a game that is a relatively pure experience of math equations, I think you'll be surprised how much fun it can be for players of all ages.

A fun and simple way to bring multiplication, division, and prime numbers all in one easy to play game. Awesome!

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Math for Love is devoted to transforming how math is taught and learned. Offering a free lesson library, plus games, summer curriculum, and more.

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Math Tasks – great math tasks for your classroom

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Tasks Curated by Debbie Nelson - British Columbia Association of Mathematics Teachers

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Primary Tasks Hungry Ants 100 Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes Loose Digit Cards I used digit cards to create a 2-digit number pattern. The wind blew the cards and […]

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… efforts to intensify attention to the traditional mathematics curriculum do not necessarily lead to increased competency with quantitative data and numbers. While perhaps surprising to many in the public, this conclusion follows from a simple recognition that is, unlike mathematics, numeracy does not so much lead upwards in an ascending pursuit of abstraction as it moves outward toward an ever richer engagement with life’s diverse contexts and situations.

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Here is a list of fun math games to target a variety of different mathematical concepts.

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As featured on CTV, news, CTV Morning Live, Global News and "The Inner Circle" with Carrie Doll.

We are so happy you are here! Whether you are a long time follower of MMMathMania or you've recently discovered our hands-on, games based approach to helping children deepen their number sense, we are SO glad you are here! We are a group of elementary educators from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and we strive to help make math engaging and fun for children! Our number one goal is to help build people's confidence in teaching and learning math and to help alleviate the epidemic of "math anxiety" around the world.

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Free math games for elementary school students. All of the games on our MMMathMania website are low prep or no prep and easy to differentiate for the learners in your classroom. Also great games for families to play at home with their children to increase their confidence, skill and fluency with math!

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Any student working on learning standards at any grade or course level may be supported using adaptations. Adaptations are teaching and assessment strategies used by teachers to allow all students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of concepts and achieve the learning standards.

Adaptations may include alternate formats for resources, instructional strategies and/or assessment procedures.
Some examples of adaptations include:

different teaching strategies such as visual cues and/or breaking tasks into smaller parts;

different ways of demonstrating learning such as oral exams, visual representation and/or extra time for assignments and tests;

different formats for resources to enable students to receive information, such as Braille and/or text-to-speech software;

having written instructions for assignments broken down into steps;

using technology (laptop / tablet) for writing assignments.

Adaptations are described by the Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines as: "Teaching and assessment strategies especially designed to accommodate a student's needs so he or she can achieve the learning outcomes / standards of the subject or course and to demonstrate proficiency of concepts."This resource is available at: www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/ppandg.htm

Adaptations for Ministry Assessments: Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), Graduation Literacy Assessment and Graduation Numeracy Assessment:

Students with a designation/IEP can access all adaptations as indicated in their IEP.

Students without a designation/IEP who receive regular adaptations in the classroom (e.g., more time on tests, consistent use of a calculator, or a smaller setting for assessments) are eligible for these same adaptations on any Ministry assessment, if these adaptations are recorded on the Report Card in the English Language Arts and/or Math comments.

Students receiving adaptations are working towards the same Dogwood Graduation Certificate as their peers. A Dogwood Graduation Certificate recognizes the successful completion of the BC curriculum.

Modified Program

The decision for a student to be on a modified program will take place in their Grade 10 year. Parents will be consulted prior to their child being on a modified program.

Individual Education Plan goals in earlier years can lead towards a modified program.

Students on a modified program will receive an Evergreen Certificate when they leave high school. The Evergreen Certificate is not a graduation credential. It represents the completion of personal learning goals outlined in their IEP.

Modified programming is for students whose special needs are such that they are unable to access the learning standards of the curriculum:

students with limited awareness of their surroundings;

students with fragile mental/physical health;

students who are medically and cognitively

A student's program cannot be modified without consultation with parents or guardians.

A modified program is described by the Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines as one where: "Instructional and assessment-related decisions are made to address a student's educational needs that consist of individualized learning goals as opposed to provincial learning outcomes."

If your child is on a modified program, they are assessed in relation to the goals and objectives established in their Individual Education Plan (IEP). Some students spend an extra year in public school to complete the goals in their IEP.

Parent Guide to Inclusive Education, Navigation

Next: Section F: Assessment

Or return to the overview page for more: https://newwestschools.ca/parent-guide-to-inclusive-education/

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Adapted & modified programming - New Westminster Schools - District 40

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Any student working on learning standards at any grade or course level may be supported using adaptations. Adaptations are teaching and assessment strategies used by teachers to allow all students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of concepts and achieve the learning standards. Adaptations may include alternate formats for resources, instructional strategies and/or assessment procedures.

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I found this video very helpful and informative.

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Video Strategy: The Replacement Curriculum Goal Planner

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Resource - Inclusive tech in the classroom 

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Resource - Inclusive tech in the classroom 

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Stories of Inclusive Technology: Diversity, Accessibility & Universal Design is a 7-video series produced by the ATRC.

The videos are embedded on this page to provide wide access to the Colorado State University community. Login to your Office 365 account to view the videos.

Audio described versions are linked after each video (external links).

Members of the CSU Community are welcome to use these videos in trainings or to share them with your department or unit.

If you are from another institution, the videos are available for purchase - please email Angie Freeman at angie.freeman@colostate.edu. See the trailer for a sampling of the content of the first video.

Trailer - Audio Described

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Stories of Inclusive Technology: Diversity, Accessibility & Universal Design is a 7-video series produced by the ATRC. The videos are embedded on this page to provide wide access to the Colorado State University community. Login to your Office 365 account to view the videos. Audio described versions are linked after each video (external links).

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In an inclusive education model, do teachers have to build a one-size-fits-all curriculum, then do extra work to accommodate students with disabilities? Dr. Leyton Schnellert says no. Leyton, a lifelong inclusive education teacher, believes it's not only possible for teachers to build a truly inclusive curriculum, it's actually not that hard to do.

Open-ended pedagogies that focus more on individual student growth than achievement of specific targets is a core principle of Leyton's teaching philosophy. Focusing on an end goal but figuring out the route as they go can be the way forward for teachers that want to embrace the diversity of strengths and abilities in their classroom. He stresses collaboration with other teachers and with the land itself as important to inclusivity, as well as decolonizing and indigenizing education.

Leyton is an Associate Professor in UBC's Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy. His scholarship attends to how teachers and teaching and learners and learning can mindfully embrace student diversity and inclusive education. Leyton's community-based collaborative work contributes a counterargument to top-down approaches that operate from deficit models, instead drawing from communities' funds of knowledge to build participatory, place-conscious,

and culturally sustaining practices. He has been a middle and secondary school classroom teacher and a learning resource teacher K-12.

I loved this chat with Leyton, who presents an exciting model for real diversity and inclusion in education.

Genia (00:00:03):
Welcome to the Good Things In Life podcast. I'm Genia Stephen. Today, I'm excited to be having a conversation with Dr. Leyton Schnellert. Leyton is an Associate Professor in UBC's Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. His scholarship attends to how teachers and teaching and learners and learning can mindfully embrace student diversity and inclusive education. Leyton's community-based collaborative work contributes to a counter-argument to top down approaches that operate from deficit models. Instead drawing from communities funds of knowledge to build participatory place conscious and culturally sustaining practices. Dr. Schnellert has been a middle and secondary school classroom teacher and a learning resource teacher K-12. Welcome. And thank you so so much for joining me today. I'm really excited.
Leyton (00:00:55):
Thanks, Genia. I'm glad to be here.
Genia (00:00:58):
Excellent. So we have to start by having you tell me what you just told me about your last name.
Leyton (00:01:06):
Um, so my last name, um, Schnellert. When I'm working with kids, I usually say Schnell, where do you, what country do you think I'm from? You know, where did my parents come from? From my dad come to Canada from and we get to Germany eventually. And then Schnell means fast or quick, and Schneller means faster and Schnellert means fastest. And so then kids call me, um, Mr. S, Dr. Fastest, um, but, um, as I've been in inclusive ed, my entire career, it also helped because kids just see my name and don't know how to say it. And I've been called some amazing things. I'm sure with the first letter and the lot, your name is Mr. Well, you can edit this out when kids said that your name is Mr. And I'm like, Nope, no, that's not it, but excellent. Use of your sounds. So kind of shows how, um, when you're working with any learner, meaning first, right? Not phonics, meaning first of course it does. Yeah.
Genia (00:02:07):
Yeah. Well with a name like Genia, I completely appreciate the, um, you know, the creative minds, the way creative mind, see your name. So you just said that your entire education career has been in inclusive education.
Genia (00:02:23): Genia (00:02:25):
What's, what's your background? What brought you to working with learners with disabilities?
Leyton (00:02:31):
I grew up in the disability community, so that kind of positioned me that way. My parents are both blind and I'm in the 1940s. They took kids from their homes and they who were blind and sent them to Bradford, Ontario. Right? That's from Steinbach, Manitoba didn't speak English was stuck on the train. Um, and ironically was probably on the same train as my mom, who's from Galahad, Alberta, 196 people. So they grew up away from their families. Um, they met each other and I can assure you never would have met or married had they not gone to the school for the blind, but my parents, my dad's, my dad's work was around advocacy. And so he was the director of the voice of the handicapped and Regina. And one of my earliest memories is my dad, because you can go to university if you had a disability.
Leyton (00:03:16):
Um, my dad had a group of five other folks with, um, diversabilities took the government of Saskatchewan to court and he got, I remember him getting his degree in the early seventies, um, with five other folks. And, um, so I kind of just was in already. I fought it, like I honestly fought, um, try to be something else, but everything brought me back to inclusion. Everything brought me back to, um, the idea of self-advocacy everything brought me back to, um, looking at the world, not just through my eyes, but on behalf of my parents in a way that challenges folks assumptions that my folks couldn't when my folks had so much to offer.
Genia (00:03:58):
Yeah. It's interesting that you say that you fought it for a long time, because I certainly did as well. You know, my education background is in, um, health sciences. And, you know, I was a practicing midwife, I'm on a leave right now. So I guess I shouldn't say past tense currently, I'm not practicing, but I've been a midwife for more than 12 years, but I just kept getting pulled back to this work and the, uh, the gap between where we ought to be today versus where we are. Yeah. So I wonder, you know, we talked about the genesis of this conversation being, uh, um, Inclusion Academy member. Lisa who is really struggling with, how do we actually make it happen? So we've got all these really solid, uh, pedagogical ideas, processes. We've got decades of research and yet people are still really, really unclear, even when they're, well-intentioned about how to make inclusive education work in our schools. And Lisa really wanted to be a part of this conversation, unfortunately, wasn't able to, but that's where this kind of started, you know? And so I guess my first question would be why is this so hard? Why is there such a big gap between what we know to work best and what's actually happening?
Leyton (00:05:21):
Hmm. Well, we could really unpack this for a long time. It could do a podcast series just on this. Yeah.
Genia (00:05:26):
You know what, that's an excellent idea. I'm going to write that down.
Leyton (00:05:30):
Um, let me try to pick it up from a couple of lenses, maybe three lenses, and then you can choose what you want and edit the rest out. Um, or use it some other time. So one underlying challenge and inclusive education, um, and making that real is, um, lived experience means everything. And so no matter who you are, teacher parent, um, child, community member, um, janitor, principal, if you have lived with a diversability or you are in relationship deep relationship with somebody, with a diversability, you understand through lived experience how to, um, as I say, design or experience life in ways that create pathways, um, that work for that person, it's very person centered. But if you don't have that background, then you don't understand how to think from that perspective and design from that perspective. And so those of us like me remember, I talked about fighting being in the work that was just that I understood and had experienced.
Leyton (00:06:41):
And so I was needed to do that. Whereas the majority of my colleagues, very well-intentioned the first staff I taught, I'll be no, I taught Shelly more in middle school. I do know that we were a very inclusive staff, but there were really only two of us who had deep experience with disability. And so we were needed to collaborate with colleagues to help, um, work with that. But to say to someone here's what you need to do is much different than having an understanding where you can plan from the perspective of that individual or individuals versus, uh, make an add on after. And that's probably the other big challenges. Um, we talk about it all fields of education with diversity. You can't just add something in and mix. You have to actually, um, work from that, um, diverse perspective, right from the beginning. And so there's a lot of historical great stuff that people were doing, but it wasn't sustainable because you'd make a change for that person.
Leyton (00:07:40):
And then you'd just go back to what you were doing the next year, because you didn't have that in your class anymore. It's very different than designing from a diversity or a universal design approach, which is, you're always designing from diversity versus, Oh, I have this student this year and I'll make this change for them. That's quite different than an approach to teaching and designing and planning. That's always from a diversity perspective, who do I have this year? And so what's, what are the pathways for this group that I offer to everybody versus this kid needs, this, they'll do this for them. So it's quite different thinking and that's historical,
Genia (00:08:16):
Right? And that, so it's every year, it's an iterative process.
Leyton (00:08:21):
Well, and it's also an approach, right? It's this iterative, but it's a real belief that I'm designing for the diversity of my group versus I'm teaching them curriculum. Right. We have to break that notion of, uh, who do I, I can teach what I want this year versus we're always designing the, how about this. The students are the curriculum, right. I plan with the students for these students. And I bring my content in to what I'm teaching versus how am I going to make this work for these kids this year? It's these are, this is my class. I'm designing with them in mind. I use the curriculum with them. And so that's a mixing. And then my last one, I know I'm talking, I'm a professor. Um, please lecture on. My last one, um, would be something that you and I were talking about before we started, which is, um, the system is inherently designed from a kind of like a capitalist perspective, which is everybody competes to be the right thing. And the right thing is white male. Um, probably, um, Christian, um, you know, so this colonialist kind of approach that's at the heart of our system also is very tough to understand. We're just coming to understand it now, but if we're really thinking more about how can I move every kid forward from where they are, that's quite different than everybody has to get to this outcome. And I don't know how to get them there.
Genia (00:09:42):
Right. Okay. I want to give a little shout out to my friend, Faith Clark. I was listening. She has a podcast called the Peak Performing Team, which is really great. And she, I was just listening the other day to an episode, and she was talking about bringing on new team members and what you were saying, but you can't just add and stir, like there's a fundamental, you know, you add a new team member. You, you really are sort of fundamentally needing to rework the culture of the team across the team. Um, so that's, yeah, it's a great podcast episode. Really interesting speaks to what you're talking about. So I don't want to get too far. There's some things I want to ask you about, and I they're really important to me, but I want to, so you've talked about the lived experience, which in some ways I think we have individual people have the ability to change that, right?
Genia (00:10:45):
Like you can, you can choose to only associate and have relationships with people who look like you talk like you have similar backgrounds, you know, etcetera. Or you can be really intentional about creating opportunities in your life for relationships, with all kinds of different people. And relationship for example, with somebody, with a disability then means that you are through time going to overcome that one hurdle. Whereas the systems piece, I feel like come on, it's been effin decades here. And I know you're saying we're just starting to understand that, you know, we're and I don't think I understand to, to be honest like that, the systems level stuff. I'm definitely, um, I don't have good lived experience to help me think about how to decolonize the system and come at, you know, come at education a different way, and I'm not an educator. So, but when you say the kids are the curriculum, I get one, a little confused, you know, and, or, yeah, I guess confused. And two, I get a little like, Oh, come on. Like that's so far away from anything that anybody is living right now. So how again, how where's the gap? How do you close the gap? If you're a parent or if you're a teacher and you are on the ground right now, trying to make a difference.
Genia (00:12:24):
Sorry, I just dumped a whole bunch in your lap. They're in terrible, terrible interview technique there.
Leyton (00:12:30):
I gave you a ton. So you give me back a time. Uh, where do I start? Okay. I'm going to start in the middle. Um, so I'm a middle ear specialist, right? I embraced middle years, philosophy and pedagogy. I started as a middle school teacher in Edmonton. Um, I chose to be at a middle school. We had one middle school in Edmonton, the rest were our junior highs. And so middle school philosophy is about identity development of kids. It recognizes that kids are on all different places and development and our job is to nurture them in healthy growth. And that that's the work that we're doing. So I will say, first of all, um, this isn't like the system's broken though, it is. This is, there are approaches that really make a difference when you're part of that community. For example, in middle school, working for middle school philosophy, you're already taking a diversity inclusion perspective.
Leyton (00:13:28):
And so, so there's that structural piece, which is like, how can we approach our teaching? Um, and so it's not like, no one's doing this. It's like, where is this happening? And how do we more of that? Right. Okay. That's really helpful. I work a lot with, um, intersecting with parents. We have the amazing family support Institute here in BC. Um, I went up kick parents with kids with diversabilities in middle school are struggling. I often say, well, let's start by saying, so how, how to explain to me how this middle school works is this based on middle school philosophy? There's not a middle school. That's gonna say, no, we're not based on middle school philosophy. And so then he say, so I, my understanding is this is really about mentorship. Like your teachers, mentor children, and have relationships with children. And there'll be like, absolutely.
Leyton (00:14:13):
And so I'm like get to know my kid, you know, here's who they are. Here are their strengths. Here are their interests, and here are some things to work on. And that really moves the conversation away from this kid. Does it fit in this classroom to who is this child and how can we help them thrive and what can they contribute to this classroom? So I will say that working in the middle of years, community, um, schools, um, I, I it's, it, it, for me, it's easy to take that place to start. Um, and then when you asked me, like, how do you say kids or the curriculum? Well, for my entire career, and I don't need to like age myself entirely, but I'm definitely 30 years in. Um, I have always been drawn to pedagogies that are open-ended right. Pedagogies that have a low floor and a high ceiling pedagogies that activate kids' prior knowledge to say, what do you already know?
Leyton (00:15:05):
Or what does this make you think of? And then grow from there. And so there are many, many pedagogical or teaching approaches that, um, aren't one size fits all or a worksheet to fill in, but instead they're a chance to kind of show what you know, or see what you have. And so you build your teaching from each previous lessons. So I don't plan 20 lessons ahead. I say, here's where I hope to end. And here's kind of what we're going to try to do at the end. We're going to make a podcast. We're going to go and build shelters
Leyton (00:15:38):
That are accessible for everybody.
Leyton (00:15:41):
Um, and then my teaching, I start with a provocation. What do you notice? What's the issue what's going on? And then my lessons I teach are based on where my kids are at. And so I'm still teaching what I would have taught before, but am I teaching it in a way that moves my kids forward from where they are to the next place, to the next place. But in my experience, because I work with student teacher, teacher candidates, um, I try to say to them, don't plan every lesson for your unit plan, the end ish, planned the beginning, and then have things ready. But don't, don't plan too far ahead because you don't know what's going to happen. Right. That's what I mean by the kids or the curriculum is my teaching is actually guided by who my students are and what they do. And then I already know what I'm going to teach. Um, but kind of the skills I focus on the competence as I focus on what I do with the content always comes back to my kids and moving them forward and forward.
Genia (00:16:40):
I think I was, that makes a lot of sense. And I think I was equating curriculum to like state or provincial standards. And so I wonder if you can talk a little bit about that, you know, like the, the, I know a lot of educators, good, good educators, um, who feel backed up against a wall. Because of the way their state or provincial standards are written or, you know, how the ministry of education or department of education is expecting them to quantify and qualify students along the way.
Leyton (00:17:21):
Yeah. Um, I can definitely speak to that again. It looks like we're going to do a series together here.
Genia (00:17:27):
Excellent. I'm totally down for it. Be careful. Be careful what you say. I'm recording this.
Leyton (00:17:33):
Um, so I'm gonna, I, I can speak from so many perspectives around this. I'm going to speak to, so in British Columbia, I was on, uh, we have a newish curriculum in British
Genia (00:17:43):
Columbia, very excited about
Leyton (00:17:46):
It is on that design team. So there were four academics then reps from all our partner groups. Um, but it's a competency based curriculum and a concept based curriculum. So what do we mean by competency based curriculum? The majority of the outcomes in the curriculum are things you do and you get better at, so it's mastery based. You can always get better and they actually build from year to year to year. If you look at our math curriculum, they're the same competencies each grade. And so that means you can get better and better, but it's less about, um, get to this point. And it's more about keep growing in this area. And so we can be building number sense for everybody and, um, communicating your mathematical thinking is something you continue to get better at. So what's great for this is, you know, it's really the sense of, um, teaching and moving forward and teaching and moving forward.
Leyton (00:18:36):
But kids aren't all at the same place. We already know that. And I was to take a bird walk for a moment. Um, that conception of grade based curriculum is artificial. There is no group of grade fours that are all at the same place. So again, back to this designing for diversity, it's kind of like, well, what am I, what am I, what are we going to work on? And then we're going to move. We're all gonna move forward. This kid doesn't need to wait for that kid. We're all getting better at these competencies. And then concept based cooking, which is quite different from probably what you and I went to school. And is this, I have been kind of like big idea curriculum, which is like, we're learning about this big idea and continue to uncover and uncover it, but it's not about memorization and facts.
Leyton (00:19:15):
It's more about learning about something and using like, I'm going to use the word literacy now. The literacies of that discipline. So thinking like a scientist, thinking like a mathematician, thinking like a writer, so that's exciting for SMBC. And it does certainly, um, help us engage in inclusive teaching and planning more. We can kind of say, so what are we going to work with and what are we going to do? But there's less of a like tick, tick, tick, have I covered these things, right? That said I'm a science guy. And so it does help to understand what you do need to know that electrons carry the charge, right? And so then when you're doing your different kinds of, um, equations, neutralization and decomposition and single and double replacement reactions, so exciting, so exciting. Um, that is very foundational to when you get to organic chemistry and stoichiometry, which is organic chemistry, but like, so you do need to learn certain things, but it really takes you away from, I need to know it now and do it this way to get it right. And it's much more, what am I working with? How does this work? What can I do with this? And when you're approaching teaching in that way, um, our most diverse learners are able to engage with the big idea and build skills from where they are to the next place. But it's not about keeping up, but engaging with what's the big idea that we're working with and building skills within that.
Genia (00:20:38):
So then let's talk about that in some ways I'm circling back, but really trying to move forward from exactly what you just said. You talked about every, Oh, wait, I think this might've been before we actually really started recording. So you were talking about, um, every year, starting with thinking about your learners and designing for your learners when you're thinking about, and you, you are or have been for, for many years in your career, a classroom teacher. So, and that's the present, that's the perspective I'm thinking of right now is that classroom teacher is like, okay, well now I've got 30, you know, maybe 25 to 35 learners. And I've got, you talked about having, um, being a fan of pedagogical approaches that have a low bottom and a high ceiling. Now I'm not an educator. So, but to me that sounds almost unattainable. Do you know what I mean? Like how do you, how do you do that? Like again, how do you close the gap? How do you actually do that?
Leyton (00:21:45):
Oh, wow. I have a lot of answers. Um, okay. So let's begin from, so, uh, two things, I've been a classroom teacher, my career, but I've also been what used to be called a special educator or a support teacher. My career is my entire career as well. So let me speak from kind of the happy medium. Maybe that's not the right word, the intersection, um, which is, um, collaboration. So when I was a secondary support teacher, it took one year to make a bit of a shift, but, um, I focused almost my entire work on co-teaching. And so that allowed me to sit down with my grade 10 math partner, science partner, english teacher, and social studies teacher, those partners. And we plan together. We created what we call a class profile, um, which is something fade brownie and I have written about in our books.
Leyton (00:22:37):
And so what we say, and so we do some formative assessment. That's what we call it, which is, um, and I have this little, I'm getting to know you thing, um, that I do. And so we ask kids like, what are your favorite things to do? What's your favorite way to show your learning? What do you do with your friends? What do you do at your parents? What are your goals for your, what are your dreams for yourself? Like what are you scared of? What are you worried about? And so we do that. We do a little literacy assessment to see kind of what it's open-ended to see what kids can do with a piece of text. Um, and we observe and we do community building games, and then we build a class profile to say, this class here are the strengths for this class.
Leyton (00:23:13):
Here are the stretches. Overall, here are their interests. Um, also what are the specific needs in here that we need to be accounting for? And then we set maybe three goals for the term. So here are three things that this whole community can benefit from thinking. And then if you want to go to an IEP level, hopefully IEP goals, incorporate those goals or use those same goals so that kids are working the whole classes, right? And then we also make some decisions. So how would we teach this class based on what's going on? Cause some classes need more visuals. Some classes need more step by step instruction. Some classes need a chance to choose their own thing to work with. Um, some classes need certain kinds of working in groups or partners based on kind of foods in the class and what's gonna work for them.
Leyton (00:23:57):
And so, um, we built class profile. We set goals for the entire class, including everybody and sure some kids need some additional goals, but the point is, if we're working on the same things, then that makes it manageable because here's our target and it cuts across everything we're doing. So it's not the goal for the unit on teaching, it's a goal that cuts across units. We're all going to get better at explaining our thinking all, going to get better at making connections between ideas, all going to get better at expressing the main idea. And so those are goals that you can work from, that can work into your assessment in terms of whatever you're doing. And then we explicitly teach those things in our unit. So it's not like a secret curriculum where you're supposed to guess at how to get better, getting better at what we're working.
Genia (00:24:47):
Right. You know, what's really interesting to me anyway, as you talk, is that, that I'm not sure how long you were just answering my question. Not, not very long, right? Like, you know, a couple of minutes, but what's my point. I think a lot of people, a lot of educators that I have spoken to, again, really good teachers feel like this is esoteric. And what you described is highly practical, not difficult to access and kind of straight forward. So the, um, and not more work than a lot of work that teachers do in preparation before ever meeting their students like different work, but not, not necessarily more,
Leyton (00:25:43):
Not more work, but it's a shift. How's that? That's a big shift for sure. Um, to be able to step back and say, who are my kids we're going to do, but then there's also the, I keep using the word pedagogy, which for our parent audience might not be the most friendly term. Let's call it the practice piece or the teaching strategies piece, which is, um, as educators, you're filling your toolbox with pedagogical approaches. And so these open-ended things that sounded so scary and undoable, um, they have names like writing workshop or reading workshop and writing workshop. Every kid is an author. Every kid you write about, you write about what, you know, we start with a heart map and you do core all the people I care about, right? Where are all the places that are important to me? What are experiences that only I can tell stories about?
Leyton (00:26:30):
And when you start from kids, there's the kids or the curriculum again. If you start from what you know, and then you're writing about something, you care about it, you're invested with it. Plus you can tell your story. So then you're not looking at your neighbor to, well, what are you writing about? Cause you're a better writer. They're like you, they, you gotta tell your story. And then I teach many lessons to help kids shape their thinking, come up with a good beginning to wrap things. But that idea of writing workshop, can you say that it's, open-ended in that you can find your own way, but you've to be in. And then our reading workshops similarly is every kid's reading their own book that they're interested in. And then they, um, you know, you've got a goal with your, your reading in terms of where we're focusing on, but we end our reading workshop with a circle and we have three kids sell their books to the others.
Leyton (00:27:17):
And so that allows me to be reading. I don't know what I want to read. I want to read the Handmaid's Tale again. And you're like, I'm reading Michelle Obama's autobiography. Fantastic. And somebody else by the way, and somebody else is reading News For You. Do you know News For You? I don't know that one. The News For You, Um, it's for kids with developmental disabilities, um, it's packed with, um, visuals, right? Um, PECS symbols, right. Um, so you can say, I've been reading about that. Susan's um, Joel Biden's decision about vaccines and everybody else in the class has not been reading about Joe Biden and you look to that child to developmental disability. You're like, tell us about that. And that's going to lead kids to be like, maybe I should be reading about vaccines right now. And so it's really this idea that how do we create spaces where you can work with something that, you know, and that you have something to share with others. And so I, you know, I talked about being a science teacher, you know, um, I use open-ended strategies, those low floor, high ceilings where, you know, you're activating prior knowledge and you're using lots of scaffolding, but, um, it's a whole kind of, there's so many approaches. Um, but just because we have them doesn't mean that people use them. Um, and it takes a while. Like anything you got to use them for a while before you get comfortable.
Genia (00:28:36):
Sure. Of course. Yeah. So I'm going to ask a question that makes me feel like within our circles, I might get, um, hung up just a little bit. But I've always kind of thought of not collaboration among educators, but this whole, like co-teaching idea as being, um, probably very effective, but like a temporary necessary tool that ought to go away at some point, like this whole, the matching of the classroom teacher with the special education teacher or resource teacher or whatever, am I completely wrong on that? Oh my goodness. It's not collaboration, not collaboration among educators that, that I think is a good idea always, but this whole idea that you need to have a, that the co-teachers are the classroom teacher and the special education teacher.
Leyton (00:29:29):
Cool. Well, this is one of my research areas. So again, I could spend a long time and then there's the whole American piece. So do you know, IDEA, are you familiar with the States? For instance IDEA, one of their five Heller strategies is collaborative teaching, right? So there's a ton of research on this. Now the tates are designed a little different, right? So it plays a different, but, um, I just want to kind of just acknowledge that there's a, a pretty solid, um, research based, including our own research. Um, and so I can describe this kind of go practically again, my apologies, my apologies to the parents who are like, he tells a lot on middle and secondary examples that's cause I taught middle and secondary
Genia (00:30:14):
And people are always more worried about middle and secondary than they are about elementary anyway. So I think it's perfect.
Leyton (00:30:20):
Okay. So let me go back to secondary and because I'm a, cause I'm a middle school teacher, I'm a generalist. So as a special educator, I'm kind of this cool guy because I can co-teach Math. I can, co-teach Science. I can co-teach English. I, I did, I can. I also co-taught PE one year, which was humbling. Um, I've never co-taught foods, but I would love to because that is Science. Um, but what we did was I wasn't there for every class. I can't be there as a, as a support teacher. I can't be there for every class, but I can co-plan and we can decide what class I'm going to be there for. So I was often there for a class a week. Um, and so I've done some elementary as well. I have a great example in my book, student diversity with some say Brownlee where there's a beautiful example of how I worked.
Leyton (00:31:05):
I came once a week. Um, and I worked with all the grade six, seven teachers. So we plan together, but then I taught each of those classes and taught, what do we call it? An Anchor Lesson Genia. And so the Anchor Lesson was some approach that I introduced and then they use that approach all week. They kept using it. So the teacher tried it in different ways, but kind of my job was to bring the next thing, what's this I want, I want support with this. Let's see what that could look like. And so we did that all year and they were my Wednesday, Wednesday mornings. That was my Wednesday mornings was, um, uh, we taught then we had, um, lunch together and at lunch we debrief how it went and we said, what do we want to work on next week? And so, um, they were rolling with what they were doing in between, but my job each week was to come back, come with a cool here's the next thing we're work working on.
Leyton (00:31:55):
And I was always whatever strategy I was bringing. I was planning with all of the kids in mind. So that's just, that's just an example. But we started with impromptu writing and then we moved to informational writing, um, in secondary. Let me give you a social studies example. Um, cause there's three kinds of co-teaching too. So I have to say to my co-teaching partner, so I said to the staff here are different things I could work with you on. And so there's, co-teaching, I'm sorry, team teaching. Team-teaching where, if you walked in, you couldn't tell who was the classroom teacher, who was the special education teacher. Right. And so Kim Bentley and I very much had that in our English class. And so, you know, um, I'd be explaining something on the board and she'd be moving around between the kids. And she was like, just a second, Mr.
Leyton (00:32:37):
Schnellert , let me add to that and be like, hold on, Ms. Bentley, let's try this. And so we were really, um, keeping track of what was going on for the kids, adapting our teaching for them, clarifying things, setting things up by social studies partner. My first son was Peter Coyle, amazing guy. Um, and, and I had my part of the lesson ready. Um, and we never got to me. You just talked until I'm like, when do I get in here? So I started making a graphic organizers for kids. I started drawing things on the board events that he said to me, why don't you go first? I'm like, that's a great idea. He's like, but you have seven minutes. And so my whole job for that three or four weeks was to introduce activating prior knowledge strategies that had those lower floors and high ceilings.
Leyton (00:33:25):
Again was only there once a week. I bring something, I'd introduce it and he'd be like, that's a good one, Leyton . And then he'd use it all week. He's like, I'm ready for another one. Now I need this. And so it really came from, so there's team teaching where you're both kind of, then there's, um, complimentary instruction. That was me and Peter, right? This is your part Leyton . And you bring this part of the lesson. And so I know the part that I'm doing and then there's supplementary instruction where I'm teaching with Ken Long Moon who, my science and partner. And we were teaching a unit that I'd never studied. So it's really hard for me to like really plan much if he's like, so here's how you could help. You can, you can organize the groups and the group activity. So he planned the content. I'm like, okay, so now who are the groups? I had three students with developmental disabilities in that class. I'm like, but the key was that they weren't working as one team, right?
Genia (00:34:19):
Yeah, honestly. Yeah. I think that the thing that rubs me the wrong way is that it seems, and again, I'm not a teacher, but it seems like we've got this sort of dichotomy. Instead of like, okay, so who's the person in the district who, you know, is, is the academic or who's keeping up on the latest ideas and then helping teachers implement them. So everybody is raised up, it feels like the co-teaching approaches really like, well, a classroom teacher can't be expected to teach to the whole class. And so instead of velcroing a, um, educational assistant to a student with a disability, well now we're now going to think about co-teaching because we need the person who understands disability to be there as well. Now I'm not saying that's the way it's supposed to be, but it's feeling to me and I could be wrong, but it feels to me like there's still this dichotomy between the, um, classroom teacher and this sort of disability deficit specific specialist who's bringing, you know, who's required in order to have a whole class approach to classroom teaching. Which is why I'm wondering if it's sort of a time, hopefully a time limited, um, approach as opposed to collaboration, which is what you're talking about, which I think is, Oh, it's useful.
Leyton (00:35:50):
There was a whole, there's lots of ways to answer that. Right. Both practically. And, and, um, research-based so team teaching that partner, I talked about typically team teaching works really well because the, you can't, you have like that teacher has a skill set of things. They don't really need me to be bringing things in. And so what you're kind of doing is you're moving things forward and you're making things together. I will say that in that, um, complimentary instruction example, um, it's not that Peter didn't have great pedagogy going on, but he wondered about this. So instead of cause what I used to do as a secondary support teachers, I give teachers things. This would be helpful for these kids. This would be helpful for this, for this class. It moved me to, um, you're not sure what to do with that. I, I was already bringing resources that they weren't using because they couldn't figure out how to fit them in there.
Leyton (00:36:40):
Like I I'm looking for this. I'm like, I will find you that. And then let's introduce it together. Some teachers don't want me in their class at all Genia, some teachers like, I need this like great, here you go. But there's just different ways to kind of approach that. And then I also need to say though, that there is no one teacher who can do it all. That's a bit of course. Right. And so, you know, you are going to encounter kids in your career and not just kids with developmental disabilities, all kinds of kids where you're like, I'm just not sure what's going to work for this kid. And so having somebody else to cope plan with and even introduce something with, um, is really helpful. I see a lot with, um, you know, like teachers are trying to take up indigenous perspectives in their classrooms without really any background knowledge.
Leyton (00:37:29):
And so when that add in stir, I'm going to use some content in my class. I noticed it's supposed to, it probably makes more sense to have an elder or a community member or an indigenous educator or a first nation support worker come and introduce one thing and then use that thing over time, versus I need a whole bunch of stuff. So it's kind of, it's kind of like triple fold there. One is that teachers are skilled, but we're always still learning then there's, this is my jars. Anyway, like I know the file and I, and I, and I have access sometimes to information like direct information. And then the other one is just, um, you're always trying to get better. So I'm a support in a lot of ways that the key word that's in the co-teaching literature that I should really highlight is that there's this idea of parity. So the glass one teacher and the special educator are both professionals and they're working together. I'm not there to fix anything right there to collaborate with you to interact.
Genia (00:38:29):
Yeah. Hey there, do you find IEPs kind of agonizing? I do. Or at least I did. You can end the AME of navigating IEPs by becoming really well-informed about what an excellent curriculum based IEP looks like. We have a free video series, so you can know your stuff, advocate with confidence and ensure your child has supports that they need to succeed at school. You can access it for free at goodthingsinlife.org/iep. Now let's get back to the show. So let's talk about decolonization and incorporation of indigenous knowledge. Um, can you talk to me about place. But start with, just for people who don't know what we're talking about. When we talk about the importance of place, how would you help somebody understand that?
Leyton (00:39:40):
Okay, let me take a couple steps back. I'm glad you asked. First of all, I am a white male German settler child, the two parents with disabilities. Um, formerly straightish less, much less straight now. Um, but like being able to be in the world and pass and have access to most things. Um, and I live and learn, um, on Syilx Okanagan Territory. That's the local nation where I live. Um, I teach and work primarily in Nelson, which is five and a half hours to the East, um, where the Sinixt, um, people were declared extinct by the federal government in 1956. Um, and my office is four and a half hours to the West in Vancouver, um, on masculine territory. And so I need to acknowledge, first of all, that, um, I'm an uninvited guest on unseated status. So when I come from a place perspective, I'm going to start from a knowledge keeper.
Leyton (00:40:50):
Uh, Oh, did I mentioned the Sinixt were declared extinct in, in Nelson. So I start my program with my students. I'm working with Sinixt knowledge keeper who clearly is not extinct, not extinct yet in a pit house and that no let's keep her. Has gifted us with knowledge, which is the first thing you do on this territory is you go to the water and you thank the water, the water gives us life, the waters, how we were connected, um, our, our physical geography, our social geography, um, and then find an elder, you know, find an elder and, and learn about why the water is important and, and, and start learning and so place, um, and taking up indigeneity and decolonization, um, in terms of partying, that's just people I've come to understand that. There is no pan indigenous pedagogy, there are colleges and local languages.
Leyton (00:41:40):
And so we're learning in our place. Um, a lot of what I do in my teaching with adults and kids is, um, called place conscious education, where we are learning about our place from multiple perspectives. Isn't that exciting, something, a place, the water, why we are here, why we have this bridge who was here, who was here before here's, who now from multiple perspectives. And that already recognizes that there's not kind of one way to understand this, and that's actually great learning for everybody cause that welcomes in the local indigenous perspective. Um, again, in the, in the Kootenays where I primarily work. Um, we have a lot of draft dodgers, um, Oh, sorry. Well, former draft are just their, from decades now, but we're quite close to the States. Um, we have Duke, the Duke bore came. So again, um, folks who refuse to, um, engage in war and so came to Canada to escape that and have their own culture and identity.
Leyton (00:42:42):
Um, we have the Sinixt perspective. And so, um, you know, when you look at our place, there, there are a lot of freedom lovers, right? And so that really helps us look at freedom from lots of different perspectives and making space for each other and understanding what that means. And so we can go to a location pretty much anywhere and say, so, um, what's your now? What was here before? And what do we need to restore here? Or what do we need to honor here? Or what do we need to respect here? And so a place really becomes, um, back to the curriculum. Place is part of the curriculum or how we take up the curriculum. Because when you take up learning in context, it's more meaningful, it's more relevant and you can be more of us. Can I use the word Stuart, right? You can take care of this place because you feel some responsibility and you can also have a bit of agency, like what needs to happen here? What can we do? You know, who who's here and whose voices are absence and you know, what's our responsibility and how can we take care of this place? And so place becomes really central in our learning and that already opens the door for that is a decolonizing practice, right? That's recognizing that there's knowledge here, um, prior to settler folks coming here and we can learn from that knowledge and that knowledge can teach us.
Genia (00:44:01):
I I've been doing some reading lately about, um, sort of the co-optation of allyship and, um, the proposal of accomplice for folks. Such as ourselves who are settlers on the lens in which we live and, um, you know, white, and as you said, sort of passable in some of the significant ways in which people gain in our society. And there's something about what you're saying and education and the ways in which we can use place as a context, you know, part of the context for education. That also seems in my mind to give invitation to kids and families, to be an accomplice in deconstructing the, you know, the hyper capitalist education system and decolonizing education. I'd have to think more about, more about that, you know, and probably my question when I think more about it will be okay. Yeah. But how, you know, getting back to that kind of closing the gap between good ideas and an actual practice.
Leyton (00:45:19):
Yeah. So I'm going to stick, I'm going to hang out in place for a little bit, if that's okay. Still please make that connection. Um, David Sobel talks about, you need to love the place you need to learn to love the place before you can change it. Right. And so part of this is just being outside, being in your community, thinking about your community again, as the curriculum. Um, and then, um, Dana, David Greenwalt, who also writes is David Greenwood. Um, use those questions that I was just using a minute ago, which was like, you know, um, what needs to be protected here, you know, what needs to be cared for here? You know, um, how does, how do we live in this place now and how could we live in this place? And so that's a perfect example for us as family members to be like, so we can be having that conversation all that time, all the time with our kids, which is like, how do we take care of this place?
Leyton (00:46:09):
How do we restore this place? How do we be respectful in this place? And so there's a beautiful connection there between home and school, which is, it's a way of living, right? It's actually about citizenship, right? It's, uh, it's about the sense of responsibility. Um, and in my experience with the magnificently diverse self advocates that I have taught and now work with as adults and my theater company, um, is that they really care about things and they want a chance to make a difference. And we often don't give folks a chance to make a difference and to have a voice. And so when you're actually taking action, like how can we take care of this? What can we do then you, then that's where we see that urgency in that feeling like a sense of you can make a difference. And that's important for us at home. That's important for us in the community and that's important for us in school. And so it's less about being taught stuff. It's more about being empowered, feeling like you're learning about something that you can do something about it. And
Genia (00:47:11):
Then growing into citizenship
Leyton (00:47:13):
And giving kids power, right? De-centering ourselves as the teacher and saying, I'm more of a facilitator of learning and I'm creating these opportunities that are helping you build your skills. But my goal is to help you be a self-determining adult for you to be able to make choices.
Genia (00:47:32): Leyton (00:47:33):
But respectfully right in community, in relationship. So a decolonizing approach, um, is also one that's really kind of focusing on culture, culturally sustaining pedagogy, which is helping all folks and back to identity again, aren't I, right? We all come as whole beings and we should be able to grow as who we are. We don't need to take the culture out of kids. We need to nurture everyone's culture with themselves and recognize that we all have different aspects of our identities. Right? And so, um, that, again, I'm back to my open-ended pedagogy again, too. Which is like, I don't want you to be something different. I want you to be a better you. I want you to grow yourself. I'm going to help you grow through developing your competencies from learning different things, from thinking from different perspectives. And I can do that with PCS symbols. I can do that with a choice board. I can do that with visuals. Um, I just build those things out, but it's, it's a stat, I guess, as a teacher. Um, and as a parent, which is, I don't know everything, and, uh, we're all learning together and let's see what we can learn and said, see how we can make a difference and see what we can do here to make a difference.
Genia (00:48:48):
So which justice goes back to one way to summarize that is the kids or the curriculum, the kids
Leyton (00:48:59):
Curriculum, the places, the curriculum, all learning is contextual. All learning is social, right? Cause we're learning. Um, and then I'm not indigenous. So this is not my pedagogy, but I, um, collaborate with folks who, with whom it is indigenous folks, but, um, land-based kept pedagogy suggest that we learn from the land. We're not just taking care of the place, but the land can teach us. And so there are these beautiful pedagogies, like I'm walking pedagogies or adopting a tree. You go visit your tree once a week and you see what's going on with your tree and you chat to your tree maybe, or you write two to three, but you can see the seasons change. You can see what's going on. You can see what's living in the tree. You can see how, you know, deforestation has had an impact. Um, at some point you go, I don't think the grass on the playground is native to this place, right?
Leyton (00:49:49):
Where did this pavement come from? What was here before? Um, so it's, it's very cool in terms of this idea that I'm learning from my kids. We're seeing our questions come up. I am still taking up content. I want to be clear that if you can sneak in somewhere that, you know, concept based curriculum is important. Like we use the concepts from the curriculum, but much different than I need to create a test on something too. We're going to demonstrate our learning. And as soon as you say, how can we show what we've learned about this that opens the door to whether our kids to show what they know in a way that works for them.
Genia (00:50:26):
And that is often even if you have a restrictive state or provincial standard as well. Like, I I've looked at quite a number of them and even the most restrictive still provide for that opportunity to say, you know, what is it that we have learned? And what are the ways in which we can show what we've learned?
Leyton (00:50:48):
Yeah. I've been doing this work for quite too long, I guess at some point I have to retire. Um, but you could probably tell I'm not ready for that yet, but long before we had changed our curriculum and BC I've been working with an approach called backward design, backward design says, what's the big idea here, right? That's, that's a concept based, you know, and then you say, how are we going to demonstrate our learning at the end, based on the students I have, how am I going to start? And then let's see where the teaching goes. So that approach works with any state curriculum is just looking at that curriculum, um, to help guide your teaching. And then the other thing that you're talking about that we should just name one more time is universal design for learning. And so universal design for learning suggests that you can engage kids in a variety of ways with that content. Um, they need a variety of ways to engage with the content different access points, but they also need a variety of ways to show what they know. And so when you build those two together, backward design and universal design together, um, I've been planning units that way with groups of teachers for two decades, I've been writing about that for. And so it was very like novel when I started writing about it. Now our BC curriculum does that, sorry, offers that you still have to do it. Yeah. That nobody's planning the units for you.
Genia (00:52:07):
Yeah. Yeah. So lately I've been doing some reading on indigenizing education, but I imagine that for lots of people who are listening, that that's not a familiar term or concept the, um, you know, the, not in my experience anyway, kind of mainstream. And I wonder, I also recognize that the two of us having this conversation, like I need to make sure that I'm in fact, um, you know, just as you said, you know, first you think the water and then you go find an elder is, um, really good advice for this, for me on this conversation on the podcast. So recognizing that and committing to going and thinking the water and then finding an elder. Um, I wonder if you could just explain what indigenizing education means.
Leyton (00:53:00):
So first I start by giving a reference. So Niigaan Sinclair, who's a professor at, I believe the University of Winnipeg he's he's in Manitoba, who is the son of chief justice Sinclair, um, is a professor. Cool, beautiful podcast that he participated in through Brandon University, um, where he does a really nice job of talking about decolonization, but also talking about, um, indigenization. He clarifies really nicely that, um, white folks role is not to indigenize white folks role. So settler role is to decolonize, right? And that's our responsibility to, um, deconstruct the power balances, recognize our own power, make access for everybody, recognize and value each kid, their culture, their knowledge, see them and communicate to them that you see their potential and their competence and give them opportunities to grow and, and have healthy identities. Um, but then indigenization happens in partnership with indigenous peoples. Right. And that's our opportunity to say, sorry,
Genia (00:54:15):
I'm sorry to interrupt you. I didn't mean to, I just wanted to let people know that I'll make sure there's a link to that podcast in the show notes. So if you're listening to this and trying to furiously figure out how you're going to find that, don't just go to the show notes. Sorry.
Leyton (00:54:29):
Great. Um, so then there's doing the work in partnership. Um, I've been part of this gorgeous projects in, um, the South Okanagan that's the region I live in, um, with school district 67, that's Penticton as the main community there, but they have many communities in school district 53, which is a more rural school districts, Oliver. And so saw use lots of great wine making communities, um, and the Penticton Indian band. And so together we end, um, cause I'm a settler researcher. I have a, an indigenous research partner, um, Sarah Florence Davidson whose work, you might also know she has a beautiful book called Potlatch as Pedagogy. And so we've been we're in our 10th year of a project called through a different lens. And actually I thought that was probably what we're going to end up talking about today based on, um, your community members, um, thoughts, which is in that project, we've had often a hundred teachers, um, participate every year in this project where they learn from one of their students who, um, may not thrive.
Leyton (00:55:36):
Um, if they don't actually say, how can I learn? So they learn from that child about their strengths and their interests. They interview them, they learn from them and then they redesigned their teaching in their classroom based on what they learned from that kid. So it's universal design for learning informed by a kid. And that whole project came from the fact that, um, indigenous kids, particularly indigenous boys and especially indigenous boys who had been identified as having behavioral challenges were not graduating from high school. We're not finishing high school, we're disappearing after grade nine. And so that really came from, um, not let's indigenize, the curriculum that came from, how can we actually learn who this child is to actually make this place a successful place for them. And then how do we make sure that, that, that pathway, that, that kid needs is a pathway that other kids need too. And so people did more hands-on learning or outdoor learning, showing, learning in different ways, um, integrating the arts, like all kinds of super cool things.
Leyton (00:56:38):
So that was my mom calling. Um, so sorry about the ring there. Um, so anyway, in our last two years of the project, we have actively moved to learning from, um, indigenous, um, educators and community members as part of our learning, um, as anti-racist work in these last two years. And that really has been interesting cause people were changing their practice before, which was cool. But it's different than understanding fundamentally that the system is biased, understanding that the way that our system is, um, we already see some kids coming in as being disadvantaged and maybe has struggling, which is not how the system should be. It should not be, if a kid from a different background comes in, they're going to, they're less likely to succeed. It should be whatever we're making is so that you can all succeed. And so that's a real break in a shift in terms of what we've been doing.
Leyton (00:57:38):
And so that has been incredible because we've been learning with, um, a known a campy who's our cultural coordinator for the school district. And so she's been sharing, you know, open, not Okanogan knowledge. And she talks about from a local Okanogan knowledge perspective, how it's drip by drip. You need to hear the same legends that are not legends, the same stories over and over again, to kind of understand what they mean and what a really interesting approach to curriculum. Isn't it, instead of speeding through the curriculum, we need to spend more time with an idea, more time building a skill so that we can master it so that we can go deeper with it so we can spend more time so we can explore it from more than one direction. And so there's a beautiful synergy between local indigenous ways of knowing, um, backward design and universal design for learning. And so instead of forcing them together, we're learning, but we're also unlearning, um, or coming to realize our own biases and how a lot of what we do in our situations are, um, kind of based on a Western idea of success.
Genia (00:58:42):
That was a long, yeah. So, no, that's good. No, it's good. It's, it's really helpful for me. Um, so I can see, so first of all, I'm uncomfortable with the dichotomy I'm about to create. So I just want to acknowledge that, but, um, so I don't have to try too many verbal gymnastics to think it through, as I'm talking it out, I'm going to allow the dichotomy. So we have in both, uh, you know, the inclusive education movement specifically for kids with developmental or intellectual disabilities. And within, um, the movement to, um, provide equity in education for kids, for indigenous kids, there really is sort of, and without saying that the experience and the histories are the same, because they're not. Some of the, you pointed out that there's, you know, there's decolonization, which is one group's responsibility and indigenization, which is a collaboration. And I can see that those, those kinds of cleric clarification's are really helpful when you think about kids with disabilities as well and where they are separate processes with separate, it's kind of like anti-racism in general, you know, racism is not, um, not a problem, not a black person's problem.
Genia (01:00:19):
It's a white person's problem, you know, so, and I think within edgy inclusive education or special education, however people want to talk about it. The fact that the kids, you know, we're still not at a place where there's a broad acceptance of the fact that the kids don't have a problem. Like we're still, you know, um, or, and that it's not their problem to fix or to be fixed, you know? So, um, I guess, so that was sort of long and not, not long-winded and not very specific, but it just it's. So I'm really interested in we'll we'll continue to try and learn more and more about indigenizing education. Not because I think I can do that as a white person. Um, but because it seems to me that we're deconstructing a system that isn't broken. In fact, it works exactly as it was designed to work. Um, but that, we're not, I guess what's my point. We're not recreating the wheel, the wheel exists. Um, and that we really can look to indigenous leaders to help us recreate, as you were saying around place, like what can be restored that should exist in our places.
Leyton (01:01:43):
Yes. Yes. Um, and it's awesome. Just a couple ideas, um, which you can edit that are put in part three of our talks together. Um, there's um, I did, uh, I was involved in a partnership project between the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship. So I'm the inclusive ed lead there and, um, inclusion BC. And so, um, this project was for inclusive education month, this, this February, 2021, and we made four little films. Um, and one of the films was about self-determination, um, which is kind of at the heart of what we're talking about here. Um, right. Not doing things for kids, but empowering them and helping them have control and voice in their lives. Um, which again, is another thing we could have gone into more deeply today. Another one has to do with, um, rethinking challenging behavior. Um, right. Um, and then a third one has to do with employment, right?
Leyton (01:02:44):
Thinking about helping kids coming into the world, seeing themselves as wanting to have jobs and, and deserving to have jobs. And then the third one was around indigeneity and disability. And when are those going to be released? Um, they were in this past February, but they were released, okay, we'll put links in here. I'm sure we will. And, um, anyway, the indigenous disability, when is so interesting, because we hear from folks from a variety of nations, three or four different nations, and all of them say something similar. There is no word in our language for disability. Every child, every child has gifts. And the responsibility of the community is to help that child grow in their gifts to contribute to the community.
Leyton (01:03:38):
And that, to me tells us a great deal about our deficit oriented approach and yes, disability justice is important. Folks have different abilities and have a right to support, right? So that's part of our system, but that's also, um, moving us to think about how we engage with our learners as, um, recognizing who they are and that they have something to offer and that we're here to help them grow. And as you were just talking about, um, if we don't see each child is having gifts that they bring and contributing to the community, then we're probably hanging out in some combination of the medical model or the charity model of disability. Um, and while the social model is important because the social model suggests that, um, we disabled people by how it's set up. Um, the disability rights or disability justice perspective just recognizes that we should be creating self advocates who are like, this is who I am.
Leyton (01:04:39):
This is who I am. This is how I learn. This is what I have to contribute. And look at me getting better, right? Look at me getting better. So we're actually, um, helping folks, all folks find their voice and you can have a voice. That's not a spoken voice, but we're really building everyone's capacity to communicate, to critically think to, to make a difference, to feel like they can make a difference. And so I really am struck by, um, the importance of, um, local indigenous perspectives and how they're teaching me, um, to while I have to plan for diverse abilities and understand what needs need to be accommodated. I also need to be engaging in a way that are not positioning. Some kids is this. And some kids is that, but all folks in my classrooms as, um, contributing individuals who have gifts
Genia (01:05:34):
Wait, and I think that's a perfect, perfect spot to wrap up our conversation. First of many, I hope because I know you're probably thinking that our little mini series is going to be me editing this, but I fully intend to just keep knocking on your door. Maybe we can, you know, once everybody is vaccinated, we can, um, record a mini series in the Okanogan with some of that great wine that you were talking about. Thank you so, so much, I really am grateful. Um, it's been a really helpful conversation for me and, um, yeah, we just, we never, hopefully anyway, we never start stop, you know, deepening our understanding and our own, um, w you know, work on our, uh, what's our own anti-oppression work on ourselves.
Leyton (01:06:30):
Yeah. We're, we're slowly, like so much of what we just talked about today are things that I've come to understand in just the last two or three in some cases, five years. Um, and if we had done this before, and I've been a prof for 10 years, 11 years, you know, and, uh, and inclusion kind of whatever specialists for 30, um, what I know now is so different from what I understood before, and I went to kindergarten and Regina, and so in my class and my inner city, Regina class, we were very diverse immigrant folks, um, urban first nations, um, kids of families that came to Canada from a variety of places, two or three generations previously. And I thought I really understood, um, circle, right. And being, um, part of an inclusive community. And for, you know, for 1970s, Regina, it was pretty inclusive. But I, I also now understand that the majority of the kids who that were in that circle with me, that didn't come from, um, the dominant background didn't finish high school. And so probably
Genia (01:07:39):
Didn't feel it was part of the circle.
Leyton (01:07:42):
Yeah. And so there is something to understand here around, we have to do this work, um, in our homes, we have to do this work in collaboration in our schools, but we also have to do this work to actually address the inequities in the system that are still built in that will only just continue to understand and identify them as we continue to do this work together.
Genia (01:08:08):
Thank you very much, Leyton . Thank you. Thank you so much for me for this conversation with Dr. Leyton fastest. Um, I found this conversation really rich, really helpful, and really thought provoking. You can definitely look forward to further podcast episodes with, um, indigenous leaders and academics about indigenizing education and colonization. And I just wanted to, again, point you to the show notes where I am going to include as many of the links to the resources that Leyton mentioned as possible or collaborating to make sure that that's, um, available to you. And I hope to join you again next week on The Good Things In Life podcast. I hope you're well and safe and looking forward to your days and to The Good Things In Life.

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Designing Education for Diversity with Leyton Schnellert - Good Things In Life

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In an inclusive education model, do teachers have to build a one-size-fits-all curriculum, then do extra work to accommodate students with disabilities? Dr. Leyton Schnellert says no. Leyton, a lifelong inclusive education teacher, believes it's not only possible for teachers to build a truly inclusive curriculum, it's actually not that hard to do.

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One area where I feel I still need more experience is working with students with modified programs. Although I feel I have a better understanding of the differences between adaptations and modifications than I did at the beginning of the course I am still unsure about academic modifications. As with many areas in education there seems to be a different understanding or procedure depending on who you speak with.

I would also like to get more familiar with the different assistive technology tools. I have only worked with the most common systems and would like to expand my knowledge and comfort in this area.

I really enjoyed the module on math and feel that I have a few new resources in my toolkit to use. I appreciated the dive into differentiated assessment and the different assessment options for literacy, again I feel that this is information that is practical and will help me as I move on.