Inclusion and Teaching in Chicago

Implementing behavior plans and behavior interventions can feel like the most overwhelming process in the world. Not only do you have to deal with all of the behavior related jargon and acronyms, but you need to be fully versed in communicating the plan in an easy, user friendly way to all of the other professionals that are required to implement said plan. It's tough! After realizing how unfriendly the BIP can be for professionals, I compiled a list of resources to help with the process. Here are some supports you can use once you already have a behavior intervention plan in place.  The BIP: I found THIS post on creating a color coded flow chart and I immediately made my own. Go HERE to get a blank, editable version to plug in your own behavior plan. The data: My grad school professor once told me that the goal of a behavior plan and data sheets are that they are used easily and consistently. You can make the most perfect, brilliant behavior plan but if other staff memb...

Here in Chicago we just started the PARCC assessment. This, however, isn't a post about my opinions (or anyone else's) on standardized testing. The reality is that testing IS our reality. Going into testing, I have three main objectives: 1. Appropriate accommodations are met. 2. Students feel prepared. 3. Students feel comfortable. 3. Teachers feel calm and ready. Below are my top tricks: 1. Appropriate accommodations are met. Use  this link to get my testing accommodations spreadsheet. This is a great way to keep all of your students' testing accommodations in one place. I like to print this off before testing begins and hand out copies to any other proctors who are testing with me. You can also share this with the general education teacher or anyone else that would benefit from having this information. I don't like to rely on my memory for something as important as testing accommodations, and this way I don't have to! 2. Students feel prep...

I'm a big fan of Paula Kluth's awesome website, Differentiation Daily . A few months back, she wrote a few blog entries about Choice Menus and how you can provide options for students to show their learning and understanding of a topic. This is great because it allows the teachers to naturally differentiate within the dynamic, inclusive classroom. Our amazing 7th grade social studies teacher and I created a choice menu and decided to try it out!  1. We started out with three articles about the colonial times. 2. I downloaded this free choice board from Teachers Pay Teachers. 3. Co-Teacher Emily and I created a choice board using text centered comprehension activities. All of the strategies listed below have been explicitly taught and used throughout the school year. It was interesting to see which strategies students preferred.   4. Emily renamed the menu as the "Majestic Menu". Students had seven days to work on their choice board and earn up to 40 points...

For Unique Week, we also created activities for each classroom. Below is a run down of what we did.  Primary: Students read It's Okay To Be Different by Todd Parr. After the read aloud, students completed an activity that can be found here or here. Below is a picture from one second grade teacher's bulletin board.   Intermediate: Students read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. After the read aloud, students completed an activity that can be found here or here. Below are some pictures from the AMAZING co-taught lesson in fourth grade. You can see that one teacher is reading while the other asked discussion questions while sitting with the student's on the rug. The teachers referred to one another often and the students were so excited and engaged. It was a great lesson to watch! Middle School: Students watched this video from Kid President. It's called "20 Things You Should Say More Often" and it...

Monday was our first day of Unique Week! Unique Week is where we take a whole week to celebrate our community and everyone in it. Below is a break down of what went on! Slogan: The week before Unique Week started, I started a contest in middle school. I asked students to come up with the best slogan using our Unique Week theme: community. Our winner was a seventh grade girl that came up with the snappy but elegant slogan of UNITED BUT DIFFERENT. Nice. Posters: Two weeks before Unique Week started, a wonderful parent took the time out of her day to come to our school and take pictures of students playing and laughing together in groups. She took pictures of students during lunch and recess. The amazing art teacher created posters using these pictures and we displayed the pictures around the school. These posters will stay up all year. Teacher Lunch: We had a teacher appreciation lunch on Wednesday. Not only did we want to work on the classroom community, but we al...

One of the first things we hear and talk about in the inclusive classroom is supporting students by using fidgets. Fidgets are those items that allow restless (fidgety??) students to move and get their sensory needs met without distracting their peers or becoming completely distracted themselves by needing to move. To get more information about figets: Read this excerpt about fidget bags from Paula Kluth and Sheila Danaher's book.   Watch Paula's amazing video about fidgets. Read this article on fidgets and ADD. In middle school and the upper grades, I am all about introducing the fidget individually, slowly, and academically. 1. First, broach the subject of fidgets individually. I had one student in mind who mentioned that she felt the most calm when she was able to squeeze and run her fingers through something. We went online and she choose this one.     2. When it arrived, I showed her one on one how to use the fidget. 3. I gave her 30 minutes to practi...

Thank you so much to all of the teachers that woke up early on their Saturday morning to spend some time with Sheila and me. We really enjoyed talking about inclusive supports and strategies! Attached is the pdf version of our presentation. Feel free to send us any questions! Click here for the presentation!