This month, Renay was struck by an image she saw that was created by a group of people working in Special Education. It was a question on chart paper that was asked, “Where do you believe you are strongest, ‘planning’, ‘data and analysis’, ‘student engagement’, or ‘curriculum’.”
This question went out to the whole room including paraeducators and teachers. And then everyone turned in a sticky note marking in the chart where they were. What shocked Renay was that only one person put a note in Data and Analysis, a different single person put their skill as Planning. Most of the focus was on Student Engagement.
We admit we know that Student Engagement is critical. A student needs to know they matter to trust to learn. If students are tuning into the material being presented academic or social, then what are they getting from the materials? So, honestly, in this room, with so many paraeducators, this is the primary concern and focus. When Renay considered that response, the skew did not feel nearly as bad. But it made Renay consider how to take that next bit of data.
How do we build the other strengths then?
All four areas, student engagement, data analysis, curriculum, and planning, need to be considered by everyone working in Special Education. Your expertise should be deeper in each category over time. If you have never had a moment to take data, particularly more than anecdotal, or the stories of experiences, maybe it is time to ask how to take that other concrete data. Planning occurs as a paraeducator, knowing what tools you can use to get students to make choices, or deal with completing activities is all a part of planning. Finally, curriculum is understanding what is being taught and what other pieces will be brought in to enrich or scaffold a student’s understanding of the material.
Opening the Door
Another part of the conversation was about Inclusive Efforts.
There is the preferred option from the administration on down. But there is a lot to be said for looking for inclusion with students with disabilities starting with the student. And this is much easier when it is considering one student. When you are looking across all the students, sometimes there are moments when this becomes tricky.
The first is that the student with a disability is their own determiner for how they advocate, and how they interact with peers. How comfortable is the student? Can the student be given modeling how to interact with peers?
Another part is how peers interact with the student with disability. Do they interact with the students? How can we facilitate those interactions? Does the student with a disability want to interact with other students? How might those moments of interaction, even incidental look?
Finally, having moments with general education teachers and reaching out and having those first conversations about “What might this look like if we joined or even invited some peers into the special education room to do this?” Again, there can be a conversation with the administration, and special education teachers easily have a million other things to do, those relationships with general education teachers are not always being built in a matter of minutes. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Truthfully waiting for the directive from administration is not efficient. Allowing students to be curious and just be peers is as effective as opening the door. Then let families know and find out where they are on interacting with general education students. Some families fear that step for their student. Other families may never have given consideration. This opens the door for isolated families to interact and find other supports. Giving families an opportunity to realize they belong just as much as their students is also important.
Inclusion is not just within the four walls of the classroom. The world is more inclusive when we see those examples between peers without direction and without interference from adults.
Next time…
We are heading off to CalTash 2025 this week. We will share what we learned from those two days when we get back.
Do you have any comments about this month’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, and on our website. ParaEducate is a company providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published once a month during the academic school year. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.
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