Advocacy

 Welcome to the final day of my Disability Awareness Unit! On Day 3, the students learned about IEP’s and were given a chance to view a mock IEP as well as preview and discuss the content of their very own paperwork.  

So now that the students are beginning to understand their needs and their programs, this final day is designed to teach students how to make sure they are asking for and receiving their services appropriately.

Day 4: Advocacy

Objectives: (Students will be able to):

·      Understand the meaning of advocacy and what it means to be a self-advocate

·      Role play being a self-advocate using various scenarios and prompts

·      Identify and understand their disability and what it means

Anticipatory Set:

For today’s Quick Work, students are given this simple WordSplash Sheet for the word advocate. Students are instructed to brainstorm what this word means. When students discuss and share their notes, I ensure that the students have an understanding that advocating means making sure you ask for what you need. This includes speaking up for yourself, asking for help, or telling a teaching when you are having a problem.

Activities:

1.     I begin by explaining to students that part of the reason it’s important to know what your IEP says is so you can advocate for yourself.

2.     Paired Role Play

Students are placed in pairs and given an index card with a scenario on it to role-play how to self-advocate. One person pretends to be the teacher, and the other, the student.

These scenarios include:

·      I need to have the directions repeated

·      I need to leave the room to take my test

·      The pace of the class is too fast

·      I’m supposed to be sitting near the teacher

·      I need more time to take a test

·      I do not understand the assignment

Students are instructed to read the card and discuss what they would say before recording their skit. Students will then practice before performing in front of the class. 

To model this activity for the students first, I role play a scenario with my classroom aide, using the example, “I need to have the directions repeated.” At first I ask the students, if this were on your IEP, how could you “advocate" for yourself in class? What could you say to ask for help and make sure you understand the directions? After students offer some ideas, my aide and I role-play the teacher/student conversation.

3.     I always like to ensure that when students are instructed a new skill, particularly a behavior skill, that they are also given a tool to assist them in implementing this skill. At the closing of the student performances, I hand out these Advocacy Cards to help students remember key points of advocacy. Using the A D V in the word Advocacy, the card reminds students to:

A – Ask for help

D – Don’t be afraid

V – Use your voice

This handy tool can be placed on the kid’s desks or tucked away in their folder for an easy reference and reminder when necessary.

4.     Next, I address the confidential questions students wrote on index cards in the previous lesson. While the questions every year are different, students will often ask something in regards to why they have an IEP, so I decided to always address this as a holistic review and closing activity to the unit.

I address this question by reviewing that everyone learns in a different way and that sometimes learning can be challenging.  I explain that the specific challenge that each student has that makes learning hard has a name. I then confidentially pass out to students an index card that has their actual classification written on it. Students read what their disability is classified as, and then I discuss what these mean in front of the class.

5.     You can imagine that at the close of the unit the students are eager to view their own IEP’s. I will take time out of my class in the coming days to privately show students their paperwork, highlighting only the sections crucial to their understanding of their disability and program:

·      Special Alerts

·      Related Services

·      Program

·      Modifications

·      Testing Accommodations

·      Goals

Depending on the school year and how hectic our schedule can be, sometimes I will even share this responsibility with the other paraprofessionals working with my students; for example, I’ll ask a counselor to review the IEP during their next session. This frees up my time if needed, while allowing the students the opportunity to discuss the paperwork with another adult who is active in their education program.

So this concludes my Disability Awareness Unit! While this can be an incredibly difficult topic to discuss, I encourage you to have this conversation with your students. If we want our students to become independent self-advocates who take control of their own learning, then they must understand themselves and their needs in order to grow and find success beyond the walls of our classrooms. So please, share in this unit with them, and Prepare Them to Fly.

Teaching IEP's

In Days 1 and 2 of my Disability Awareness Unit, students learned about multiple intelligences and discussed classroom strategies that could help them to apply their Brain Smarts in the classroom.

As I often tell my students, there is a method to my madness! I purposefully begin my unit with these topics first, as I feel they must successfully “warm students up” and transition them into the incredibly challenging topic of discussing:

IEP’s

As I mentioned before, my students will attend their Annual Review meetings at year’s end, so it is imperative that they understand what a CSE Meeting is, and more importantly, what we are discussing in regards to their program and transition into the following year. If I want the students to become stronger, independent self-advocates, then they need to know and understand what their IEP is formally putting into place for them.

Day 3: Teaching IEP’s

Objectives (Students will be able to):

·      Identify and discuss the adults in the building who assist them in being academically successful

·      Understand what an IEP is: how it is created, who creates it, and what it represents

·      View a mock IEP

·      Review their own classroom modifications and testing accommodations

·      Confidentially ask any questions regarding the topic

Anticipatory Set:

For today’s Quick Work, students are given this worksheet to begin thinking about the adults in the school who assist them in learning and in being successful academically. Students record the adult’s name, and what that adult does for them. I model an example first by using my own name, as well as my classroom aide’s, since it’s easiest for the students to brainstorm in the context of our own class. I prompt students to think beyond teachers, such as the counseling center, or special reading teachers. We share and discuss student responses.

There are a few reasons why I choose to do this for Quick Work:

1.     It gives students the chance to step back and think about all the adults who provide them with services; including what these adults do and why the students are working with them. 

2.     It exposes students to the people who help to create their program and also makes more sense to the kids when they see the names of these adults on their actual IEP’s.

3.     It shows students how unique they all are from each other. While some students have services in common, everyone’s program is different and each student receives different support from different adults in the building for different reasons. 

 

Activities:

1.     I always begin by reviewing the word, confidentiality (private and to yourself)

2.     I remind students from our previous lessons that everyone in the class learns differently and in a different way, and that sometimes it can be challenging to learn. Because of this, every student in the class has something called an Individualized Education Program or IEP

3.     I write Individualized Education Program (IEP) on the board and define it like this:

·      It is a document or paper that has information all about you on it

·      This includes:

o   How you learn

o   What helps you learn

o   Your strengths

o   Your weaknesses

o   What teachers can do to help you be successful

o   What you can do to help yourself be successful

4.     I then display for students a mock IEP that I have created in our online IEP Program. I only fill out parts of the IEP to show them; the same parts that I will eventually show them on their own IEP’s. 

       This includes:

·      Special Alerts

·      Related Services

·      Program

·      Modifications

·      Testing Accommodations

·      Goals 

 

This can be a lengthy discussion with kids. Some years kids are more inquisitive then others. While I do allow students to ask questions during this, I tell them they will have time at the end to ask personal questions about their own IEP’s so these questions should be asked in private. 

5.     We then discuss the creation of an IEP. I explain that everyone involved in your education (parents, teachers, counselors, etc.) sit down together in a meeting called a CSE Meeting (which I also write on the board), to discuss how you are doing in school, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and what you need to ensure you are successful. I explain that they create this IEP so that next year's teachers know what you can do and how to help you.

6.     Group Work

After our discussion, I break students into 2 different groups: The Testing Accommodations Group, and the Program Modifications group. (I will run one group and my aide will run the other, as an adult needs to be present in each). When students are in the designated group, they will receive an index card that they are to keep “confidential” that lists their actual accommodations or program modifications. My aide and I will have a master copy of all of the accommodations and modifications the students may have on their cards, and we go down the list and explain what they each mean. This actually will take less time than you would think, as most students have the same general support, such as Extended Time or Tests Read. I allow students to ask questions as necessary.

7.     I close the lesson by having students return to their seats and confidentially write down any questions they have regarding the day’s topic to address the next class. This part of the lesson is crucial, as it gives you a way to assess what the students understood, while giving them a chance to speak up and ask more questions for further clarification.

You’ll notice that in this unit so far, and particularly in today’s lesson, I never say the words Special Education or Special Ed. The reason is there is often a negative connotation associated with these words, and the students are aware of this and often insecure about it. If any questions or comments are made, am I honest that their program is referred to as Special Education, but that it only means they receive a unique education program that is designed for them. I want students to know that they learn differently, and not “wrong,” and that their program is in place to make sure they are learning in a way that works best for them.

Check back for my final lesson in my Disability Awareness Unit: Advocacy!

Brain Smart Strategies

 

Welcome to Day 2 of my Disability Awareness Unit!

In Day 1, I exposed my students to different Learning Styles and “Brain Smarts." The following lesson reviews this information, while showing students how to apply the "smarts" to their advantage within the classroom.

Day 2: Brain Smart Strategies 

Objectives (Students will be able to):

·      Review the learning styles and "smarts"

·      Brainstorm, discuss, and determine learning strategies for various "smarts"

·      Within groups, create strategy posters for the top three "smarts" to display

Anticipatory Set:

·      For today’s Quick Work, students are given this worksheet to review the "smarts" in context.

·      To complete this sheet, students are allowed to use their index cards with the "smarts" and symbols from Day 1's activity as a tangible vocabulary bank.

·      When I created this sheet, I purposely made sample sentences that were true to the students discussed in them and actually inserted the kid’s names in the sentences. This made the activity even more engaging and motivating, as the kids were excited to find their name and read about their friends! When Quick Work time was up, we reviewed and discussed the answers. 

Activities:

1.     On Day 1, we determined via a class tally the top 3 "smarts" of our class. This year, they so happened to be "Number," "Music," and "Body Smart." I divided the kids into 3 groups, with each group representing one of these "smarts."

2.     When in groups, students were instructed to brainstorm on chart paper "Brain Smart" strategies and tools that can make learning easier. As a model, I give the example that a "Body Smart" student may ask to hold a kosh ball in class to release energy. Or a "Number Smart" student may like to always count how many pages they have left to read in order to read at an appropriate pace.

3.     I decided that I really wanted these posters to be displayed in my classroom so that we could refer to them as needed. When groups were finished, I allowed them to type their posters and decorate their final copies.

4.     Students then presented their posters and they were displayed in our room. 

Tip: If possible allow other professionals in your building to attend your lesson and run a group. My Vice Principal, whom was a former Psychology major, did just this. The students loved the interaction, while our VP enjoyed the opportunity to assist students in understanding and helping themselves!

Join me next time for Day 3 of my Disability Awareness Unit: Teaching IEP’s!