“Individually, we are one drop. Together we are an ocean.”
- Ryunosuke Satoro
In recent years, it has become clear to me that students with unique learning needs, whether language, behavioral, or learning, will not be successful because of great support teachers - although that certainly helps. They will be successful when they are accepted by the entire school community, working together, to support their gifts and challenges. Excellent English Language Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Counsellors are key in leading the conversations about how best to differentiate for their needs, but class teachers, administrators, assistants, specialist teachers and everyone else, are vital to ensure those strategies are consistently implemented for success.
Loreto Keary is the Elementary School English as an Additional Language teacher and Team Leader at our school. We have been working together the last couple of years to support conversations to build common understanding around issues of inclusion at our school. It is a gift to work with someone who is as passionate about inclusive and collaborative practice as I am and who brings such a wealth of experience and thoughtful consideration to our conversations. A big wondering that we have been wrestling with recently, is how to support and lead professional learning that will increase understanding and acceptance of the needs of diverse learners and will develop the capacity of all the members of our community to best support those needs. And how do we know that our efforts are impacting student learning.
Much of our work together has been around co-teaching as a model for supporting our English Language Learners and our students with unique learning needs. The quote above opens a book about Co-Teaching that has recently inspired and deepened her thinking about this model for supporting learning (Honigsfeld and Dove, 2010). A few years ago, her and I led a professional conversation with the teachers at our school to develop our understanding of co-teaching models. Last week, we again collaborated to lead a conversation around the roles and responsibilities for the professionals who come to the co-planning table to differentiate for increased student learning.
In planning for our session with our colleagues, we recognized that a key factor in successful co-teaching is time. Time to explicitly discuss roles and responsibilities, time to consider individual student progress and need, time to co-plan, and time to reflect. So we decided to structure the session to allow for grade level teams with their support teachers - EAL, LS, counselling, Speech and Language, Literacy, etc, - time for open conversations around a couple of key issues.
Beginning this year, under the leadership of Loreto, the EAL Department in the Elementary School has moved to a model of almost full inclusion. The amount of time EAL Learners are pulled to do targeted English work is limited, while the amount of time they spend in the general education class, with support,has increased tremendously. This is a shift for some grades. Thus, time was needed to consider where we are in this process. During the first part of the discussion, teams were asked to reflect and discuss on the roles and responsibilities that each professional has in coming to the co-planning table. They were then asked to complete a graphic similar to the one above that reflects the needs and wishes of their team. The information collected from teams will be used by Loreto and I to draft a document that reflects the agreements surrounding this practice specific to our school.
Grade level teams then shared a success and a challenge faced by their team in moving to this more inclusive model. It was a great way for teams to have a structured conversation with each other that respects that different teams and individuals are at different levels of implementation - and that as ok. Teams were able to learn about other ways to work together that our happening at our school and know who to talk further about certain ideas. It was time well used to reflect on our practice and learn from each other.
In the last part of the meeting, teams completed a Compass Points Activity to identify what they are excited about, worried about, still need to know, and suggest what would help to move them forward in their understanding of an application of this model. We will use this information to help us understand where we are as a whole school to differentiate our professional learning going forward. We will be leading another session in a couple months and want to ensure the time is well spent and relevant.
The feedback has been generally positive. The conversations were well timed and allowed space for reflection and shared learning. I would love to hear from others about their most successful or powerful professional learning experiences. Our goal is to develop practice that impacts student learning and we still wonder how best to do that and how best to measure that. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Resources
Honigsleld, A. and Dove, M.G. (2010). Collaboration and Co-Teaching - Strategies for English Language Learners.
Co Teaching: Classroom Partnerships for Success
Co-planning for Student Success