Special Education Collaboration: Inclusion and Co-Teaching

Students with disabilities are being taught more than ever in general education classrooms. This provides unique opportunities for special and general education teachers to work together to support these students in general education classrooms. However, general and special education teachers run the risk of falling short of their potential to impact students’ success unless they know how to effectively collaborate.

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated that children with disabilities be educated with children who do not have disabilities, education in the United States changed. Education World writer Wesley Sharpe, Ed.D., wrote an article that looks at the characteristics of effective inclusion. Making inclusion work can be challenging, but with planning and effective collaboration, it can be successful for both the teacher and the student. Below are four ways inclusion benefits students with disabilities:

• Inclusion improves learning for both classified and unclassified students
• Children learn to accept individual differences.
• Children develop new friendships.
• Parent participation improves.

Sharpe believes that there is still work to be done in order to make all inclusion settings successful, including more research, better training for educators, and improved teacher education programs. Ultimately, the goal for effective inclusion classrooms is that inclusion be invisible.

Another popular inclusion practice is co-teaching. According to Dr. Richard Villa's article, Effective Co-Teaching Strategies, “a co-teaching team typically includes a general and a special educator who teach the general education curriculum to all students as well as implement Individual Education Programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities. Both educators on the co-teaching team are responsible for differentiating the instructional planning and delivery, assessment of student achievement, and classroom management.”

Pepper provides several Special Education Courses that focus on Inclusion and Co-Teaching. The Collaborative Practices that Support Inclusive Education course will provide special and general education teacher teams with tools and practices designed to support their teaming so all students can be successful in general education, inclusive classrooms. The Co-Teaching: Special Education Differentiation course is intended to guide and enhance special education and general education teachers understanding of co-teaching as a special education service delivery in the core classroom across all grade levels. The course offers clear and concise information, resources, and practical tools to considering co-teaching as a model of instructional delivery, and an opportunity to provide highly scaffolded differentiation of the core in the inclusive setting. Both of these courses, and others, are available for Special Education teachers K-12.

So, whether you’re a new Special Education teacher or a seasoned veteran, Pepper Courses and your Pepper Learning Community can be a great resource for implementing new ideas. Utilizing the experience and skills of teachers from around the country can provide unique opportunities for networking and sharing lesson ideas and classroom management tips.

Connecting with Parents of English Language Learners

All families want the best education for their children and ELL families are no different. Even with language barriers and schedule constraints, parents of ELL students can be your biggest ally. Education Week Teacher Contributor, Larry Ferlazzo recently posed the following question.

The responses he received gave some important feedback to help teachers understand and connect with ELL students and their families.

There are several strategies that teachers can practice and implement with their English Language Learners parental outreach that can help to actively involve and connect with the parents.

• Answer the FAQs - Many ELL parents have questions that need to be answered when their sons/daughters first join the new school. Some of these questions might relate to the child's language level, making friends or doing homework. Keep in mind that many ELL parents may feel uncomfortable asking questions early on.
• Share Student Progress - Many parents of English language learners worry about progress as well as other aspects of school that may be challenging to ELLs. Making friends, learning the second language, and even the students' progress compared to others in the classroom are some of the concerns that parents have.
• Connect Through Culture - Connecting ELL parents through a cultural understanding is the best way to build a strong relationship to ensure the student's success in school. Educating oneself about the race, culture and ethnicity by doing research will help to build a culturally competent foundation to communicating and connecting with the parents.

(credit: Response From Rusul Alrubail)

Additionally, provide a variety of ways to meet the families: face-to-face meetings, Open Houses, newsletters, and social media. Technology can provide a lot of assistance with language barriers when interacting with ELL families. Thankfully, we are in the 21st century and technology is here to the rescue. There are a number of tools that can help you bridge that communication gap. Google Translate, Remind, and Class Dojo are a few popular options for finding technology help.

Karen Nemeth, Ed.M. is an author, consultant and advocate focusing on early childhood education for ELLs/DLLs, and recommends trying to engage parents in four key areas:

• Engaging families in their child's learning.
• Engaging families as active participants in the school community.
• Engaging families to improve two-way communication
• Engaging families to make sure they receive the support they need to ensure their child's school success.

To successfully connect with parents of English learners, schools need to make a whole-school effort to establish a welcoming environment and build bridges that go both ways.

Pepper ELL courses can provide insight to working with students and their families that are learning the English language. These courses will help build relationships with your ELL students and ultimately help them learn. Be sure to check out Pepper for other professional development opportunities as well.

Tomorrowland and 21st Century Learning: Classroom of the Future?

Over the weekend my family watched the recent movie, Tomorrowland. The message of the movie is one of dreams and hope for the future. It implies that our future is in the hands of the children of today. We must encourage our students to have a desire for a better tomorrow. 21st Century Skills are all about preparing our students for success in the future. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) was founded in 2002 as a coalition of business, education, and government policymakers to stress the importance of 21st Century Skills for all students. P21’s mission is to serve as catalyst for 21st century learning to build collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders so that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a world where change is constant and learning never stops. The goal is for 21st century skills to be infused into our curriculum. Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” P21 has developed the graphic below to illustrate their framework for 21st Century Learning.

According to the P21 website, “The elements described below are the critical systems necessary to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. 21st century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development and learning environments must be aligned to produce 21st century outcomes for today’s students.” These elements include:

• Content Knowledge and 21st Century Themes
• Learning and Innovation Skills
• Information, Media, and Technology Skills
• Life and Career Skills

Tom Whitby’s article, The Longer View: Edtech and 21st-Century Education, highlights the importance of moving our 20th Century teaching methods into the 21st Century - which includes using technology as a tool in the classroom. Whitby states, “We don't need to repurpose today's tools to make them fit a 20th century education model. We need to develop new methodology to meet the needs of 21st century learners. To change the system, we first need to change the culture.”

Whitby continues by saying that being connected as an educator can have a positive impact on our teaching. Pepper utilizes technology to help teachers collaborate with other education professionals and provide opportunity for teachers to remain on top of ever-changing educational trends and ideas. As you participate in Pepper courses, be sure to take advantage of your Pepper People Network.

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Get Social: Using the Pepper People Network

Pepper is a community of learners. Being part of this growing learning community offers extensive opportunity for collaborating and sharing. Educators are encouraged to network within the Pepper community. This allows for educators around the nation to interact, learn, share, and promote ideas with one another. 

The "People" search feature is a valuable component of Pepper. Using the “People” tab in Pepper allows the user to search and filter for others in the Pepper Community. The “People” search can be found on your main dashboard and within your course menu.

Searching from the main dashboard will allow for a broad search of all Pepper users.

Searching from within the course will return results of participants enrolled in that course.

The Pepper People search option allows users to apply filters when searching for peers. Filters for narrowing results include options such as grade level, subject matter, location, experience, and school demographics.

Search results return to the right of the search box. From there, click on another user’s name to open a new tab displaying their personal dashboard. From there, you can learn more about them, view the courses they are enrolled in, as well as review and comment on items in their course portfolio. You can also click to add other educators to your personal network.

To see who's in your network, click on “View My Network”. If another educator adds you to their network, you will receive a notification, and likewise, when you add them them. To remove an educator from your network, simply click the red “X” next to their status.

You can find more detailed information about using the Pepper People Network in your Pepper User Guide. Take advantage of this powerful feature that allows educators to collaborate, share, and learn with others from around the country. Building your personal network also allows you to share Chunks of content with others who are in your network.

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Using Your Pepper Portfolio

At Pepper, we believe that learning is social! Sharing a course portfolio – as well as viewing and collaborating on peers’ portfolios – is a great way to support one another, get inspired, and share what you are doing. It also gives you the opportunity to create a common conversation around the coursework.    

Pepper offers a type of portfolio within their coursework that varies from a traditional portfolio. Participating in Pepper courses allows teachers to submit their reflection/journal entries, tasks, and assignments to their Pepper Portfolio. As this is done, a course specific portfolio of key work to share with others is created. This personal portfolio will be a powerful tool for the organization of the participant's coursework for future reference. It also allows the user to select portfolio elements that can made available for others to view for feedback and collaboration.

Your Pepper Portfolio has three main categories: About Me, My Coursework, and My Discussions.

• The About Me section contains your profile information and lets others know a little about your professional experience.
• The My Coursework section contains all of your coursework submissions. It will also contain any reflections and/or additional documents that you have added to your portfolio.
• The final category, My Discussions, is where the “social” aspect really kicks in. This category shows all the discussions you have either participated in or created. This is the place to collaborate and share with other educators.

When you’re a part of Pepper, you are a part of a vibrant learning community. Your portfolio is a valuable tool that can be used for collaboration, professional networking and support, and an awesome way to share ideas with other educators. 

When you choose to sign-up and start a course in the course directory, the course will automatically appear in your dashboard along with two buttons, “View Course” which will take you to the course content, and “View Portfolio” which will take you directly to your course specific portfolio that you are creating for that course.  

You can find more detailed information about using your Pepper Portfolio in the Pepper User Guide.

Because your Pepper Portfolio is a built in component of Pepper Courses, you can begin (or continue) building your portfolio with every Pepper course you take! So, be sure to enroll in our great selection of Pepper courses to further your own professional growth.

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Mastering Math Language: Teaching English Language Learners

Pepper has just released 2 new ELL courses that make up a 2-course series on Mastering Language for College and Career Readiness, focusing on Elementary Mathematics. 

The first course in the series, Mastering Math Language: Reading and Speaking, is designed to help teachers teach students to read and speak the language of mathematics. In this course, participants will gather and analyze language samples that will show what students learn and what support they need in the elementary math classroom.

While part one of the series focused on reading and speaking the language of mathematics, the second course, Mastering Math Language: Conversations and Writing, builds on those concepts and places an emphasis on constructive conversations and writing in math. In this course, teachers will gain tools that will support formative assessment and instructional planning. Learners must complete the first course in the series before enrolling in this course.

These courses will enable teachers to collaborate with other educators and build professional relationships that result in an online community focused on improving students’ abilities to use rich academic language to learn and show learning of mathematical skills and concepts.

While the courses are intended specifically for those who teach English learners and students with disabilities, the content of the courses is equally applicable to teaching all students who are challenged by the academic uses of language in math instruction.

Click here to watch a video overview of the Mastering Math Language Courses.

These courses were developed by the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University.

Be sure to check out all our Pepper course offerings.

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Teacher Collaboration: Working Together for Success

Many people believe that Teacher Collaboration is a key element to teacher effectiveness and success in the classroom. According to Education News, a study shows that teachers get better at what they do when they work with other teachers. Collaboration does not usually occur naturally, it must be cultivated. Work environment and school climate can impact teacher quality. An article from The Teaching Channel entitled “The Power of Teacher Collaboration” believes that collaboration begins with finding time to connect with colleagues, share thoughts, and provide support. Author, Lily James provides 3 tips for successful collaboration:

1. Build Relationships
2. Find Time to Collaborate
3. Share Responsibility

Pepper is a learning community of collaboration and sharing. Teachers are encouraged to network and interact with nationwide peers, learn and share from experiences, and promote and support successes and ideas.  Pepper Professional Development Courses provide opportunities for teacher collaboration through peer discussions and sharing course portfolios. You can also search and filter for others in the Pepper community using the “People” tab. Be sure to check out all our Pepper course offerings.

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June Update: Bookmarking Content in Pepper

LET’S SHARE! We’re excited to give you even more opportunities to share and rate interesting Pepper content and collaborate with other Pepper participants using our new Pepper CHUNKS feature!

Bookmark Chunks of Content to your Personal Collection:
Save your favorite chunks of content by bookmarking them to “My Chunks” using the “Add to My Chunks” icon.

Add notes, pictures and links to your saved chunk of content!

View your Personal Content Collection:
View and rate your saved chunks.

Share Chunks with Others!
Share your favorite content with people in your network. You can share content with multiple people at once and add a note to send along with your shared chunk.

Receive Notifications of Chunks of Content Shared with You
Find out when others have shared interesting content with you and view their notes and attachments!







We hope you find these new tools helpful in your Pepper teaching and learning adventure.
Please contact Pepper Support with any questions.

Happy sharing!

Professor Pepper

Connecting After the Course

A unique feature of Pepper is the ability to form your own personal community of people all over the country with whom you can share lesson plans, work samples, and ideas. Our discussion forum is an excellent way to get your feet wet. Simple click on the "Discussion" tab on the menu bar and post away! Connect with others who have taken the same course, post a new topic, or share your own thoughts about existing posted topics. 

Learning is Social - Engage with Peers and Coaches in Pepper

One of the many helpful features on our Pepper website is the ability to search for other educators, view their profiles, and connect with them to get a new perspective. There is a wide range of search criteria to choose from, so you can locate people with precision. You can message each other and share portfolios and ideas all with a few clicks!

In addition, you can browse our extensive Resource Library and course offerings to grow as an educator while impacting your students in the process.

Check out all of the rich features Pepper has to offer at http://www.pepperpd.com/

LET’S COLLABORATE!

We’re excited to give you even more opportunity to communicate, be social, and stay informed with our new notification alerts!

Log into your Pepper Dashboard and look for the conversation bubble on the top right.  The number indicated in the bubble will alert you that a peer or a coach is reaching out.

Receive and View Notifications About:

·        Any new personal messages

·        A new post to one of your discussion topics

·        Collaborative activity in your coursework portfolio

·        You’ve been added to a personal Pepper network 

Receive and Send Messages in Pepper:

·        Communicate and collaborate directly with other Pepper participants!

·        Within the People search, click on the message bubble icon to open up an individual dialogue with an instructional coach or peer.

·        You will receive a notification when they respond and can continue collaborating.

ALSO – please don’t forget that Google Hangouts are included in each course, and a great place to collaborate live!

Please contact Pepper Support with any questions, we hope you find these new tools helpful in your Pepper teaching and learning adventure.