by Toby Karten
Together we grow.
Together we learn.
Plant the seeds.
Support with warmth, water, and smiles.
Nurture and believe.
Share confidence.
Embrace the courage to learn.
And the wisdom to fail.
So WE can welcome tomorrow’s sunshine.




by Toby Karten
Together we grow.
Together we learn.
Plant the seeds.
Support with warmth, water, and smiles.
Nurture and believe.
Share confidence.
Embrace the courage to learn.
And the wisdom to fail.
So WE can welcome tomorrow’s sunshine.
by Toby Karten
While delivering an online professional development co-teaching session via a Zoom platform, I received one of favorite private messages in the chat. It was from a participant who was seated six feet away from two of her colleagues in an Alaskan classroom. Since they were all wearing masks and muted, their reactions were somewhat hidden. The participant shared:
“You can’t hear us, but are cracking up at your subtle sense of humor. TY; we needed that!”
Here I was in New Jersey and there they were in Alaska. Even though we were distance learning, and the masks hid some reactions, the connections continued!
Bottom line: The pandemic changed platforms and protocols, but it has not deterred administrators, educators, students and their families from creatively turning the page. We communicate and learn in classrooms and online. Each day presents challenges, but if positivity and resiliency prevail, challenges are morphed into opportunities. A pandemic cannot mask learning. A pandemic cannot mask smiles! Learning may be different, but learning and connections continue. Onward, please!
Stability and security are essential despite where and how students are learning. Whether the teaching and learning occurs in person or at home, co-teachers collaboratively ensure productivity. Some co-teachers are walking into a teacher’s room together or now grabbing a cup of coffee from their own kitchens, or the local coffee shop. Both students and co-teachers are also transitioning back and forth from kitchens to classrooms. The “school norms” include “home norms” for a combination of co-taught environments. Sometimes co-teachers are in a room with students seated at their desks as they socially distance next to their peers, while some co-teachers and students are trying to quiet their dogs while learning or co-teaching with devices in break out rooms during online parallel lessons. An IEP that states a student needs increased proximity is being redefined in remote learning! Students are often sharing a computer with a sibling as they are “in class” at home alongside a parent for part of the week and in school learning for other days. Some co-teachers are also juggling how to support their own children who are learning remotely from home. Some parents or caregivers and spouses are also commuting to a job during the school hours.
The variables include being in a school building for part of the day or week in limited numbers, wearing masks, and following arrows on the floor that indicate which direction to walk. Some students in the same class are opening up their lockers and some students are opening up links. Different plans and settings are juggled by students and their families, school administrators, special and general education teachers and their families, and legislators who are trying to prepare for next, when some of the next pages are not yet written. Co-teachers still plan together to ensure students achieve the K-12 standards, but they also co-offer empathy and compassion for students and families who respectively have more or less on their plates-literally and figuratively than missing the due date for an online or in person assignment. Administrators are also collaborative players who need to provide guidelines and set protocols. This is often easier to do on paper, than in real or virtual times in co-taught platforms. The next chart offers an overview of how co-teachers and school staff can transition back to classrooms as partners with each other and as advocates for their students. Today, no matter what your age, if you are a “creature of habit” who feels more comfortable doing the same thing, you require adaptability skills. Students with special needs can succeed during tough times, but not without the preparation, encouragement, models, and expectations outlined. Co-teachers need to partner with each other, administrators, related staff, and their shared students and families. Today, we all have special needs, but individually and collaboratively we also have many strengths!
Often when you ask students to write something, the first question they ask is “How many words?” This PPT offers an organized way for students to house vocabulary across the curriculum with A-Z listing. You are invited to apply this strategy to your curriculum and learners! The attached powerpoint offers more explanation and curriculum application.
It’s easy to complain, shake heads in disbelief, and be sad when presented with the unknown. Been there, done that! As I watch the daily news briefings and venture outside wearing a mask and Latex gloves to walk the dog, I could easily be consumed by frustration, sadness, anxiety, and uncertainty. However, when I notice the geese hanging out in the river and the kids who scoot by on the walkway riding their bikes, I am reminded that we live in a beautiful world. Although we don’t always choose personal and professional events, let’s collectively see beyond the pitfalls and uncertainties and find the time to “celebrate the successes.”
Before COVID-19, one of my husband’s friends joked about my ridiculous work schedule by asking “Where’s Waldo Karten off to this week?” Now, that I’m home more, I’m not lost in that crowd that surrounded Waldo. Good thing, because ‘Waldo’ is the antithesis of the six feet apart mantra that the medical experts recommend. So, by traveling less for professional development, I can be introspective, creative, nostalgic, and hone my social distancing skills. The silver lining is that I have more time to read, write, paint, cook, explore a new tech tool, watch a new Netflix series, and soak up some memorabilia. I host a video book club, conduct online PD for families and teachers, write books, and attend WW Zoom meetings. The best thing happened when my husband brought home a suitcase, he found in our storage unit that was filled with old pictures and love letters that my mom and dad wrote to each other in the 1940s, while he was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Since I no longer have my brothers and parents beside me today, I viewed this suitcase filled with photos, letters, and school albums as their way of saying, “Hi, we’re thinking of you.” Under different times, we never would have reconnected.
The silver lining also connects to online instruction for students with exceptionalities. Distractions from other students are lessened, students on the spectrum who were upset by fire drills are no longer faced with that trigger, learners have flexibility on time requirements to complete work, and bullies have no one to bother in the hallway or at lunch. General and special educators who co-teach can still plan together to instruct the whole class by splitting the screen as hosts, or work with video chats and online platforms with cooperative groups and individual students for practice, remediation, and enrichment. Teletherapy is offered for speech and OT, and emotional check-ins are valued. Some students are even thriving. Yes, some learners will regress and lose skills, and some families are overwhelmed. However, the silver lining is that some children will gain other skills, such as how to do yard work, make a bed, and tutor a sibling in math. Families are spending time together playing games, telling jokes, and getting to know each other again.
Success includes an accomplishment of a desired aim. We have successfully forged ahead, without a “pandemic playbook.” I am certain that prosperity will follow. The rain here in New Jersey literally has finally stopped, just as I complete this post. Looking forward to a beautiful night. Onward.
These are extraordinary times for our society and our world. The COVID-19 pandemic impacts us all-physically, emotionally, economically, and educationally. As a special educator, inclusion coach, and a firm believer in resiliency, creativity, knowledge, and growth, I offer these insights, strategies and resources to move family providers/AKA-newly inducted teachers forward.The goal is to ultimately establish a “new now,” with routines, schedules, creativity, and positive thoughts to collaboratively navigate this new turf!
It’ s important to understand the impact of remote learning. This includes understanding:
All emotions are okay-Check out Child Mind Institute for more insights.
Excellent resources at Understood on how to talk to kids and how to avoid “emotional sunburn.”
This animated Brain Pop video from Tim and Moby shares CO-VID 19 basics.
Scheduling ideas and a ton of resources from Khan Academy
Don’t forget that learning occurs beyond books, websites, worksheets, and PDFs. Great time to explore your child’s strengths and interests through real life examples and projects in your home, whether that is creating a menu, cooking, setting up a pretend business, writing letters or emails
to relatives, drawing, painting, learning sign language, singing a song, dancing, caring for and playing with a pet, cleaning a closet, organizing a messy room, AND most importantly- smiling together!
Hi y’all!
Two weeks ago, I was at a Broadway show, presenting at an educational conference, offering on site inclusion coaching, getting a massage, and whispering “Namaste” in a yoga class. Today is different. Never has my refrigerator been so clean, nor has my dog received so much attention. The inclusion of Co-Vid 19 in our lives, precipitates this post.
As a staunch inclusion advocate, I facilitate the provision of appropriate supports and adaptations. However, the caveat is that scaffolding needs to help, never enable. This post offers resources on how to “appropriately” include Co-Vid-19 in our lives, minus the frustration, depression, and pessimism. Although people may prefer denial, dismissal, and deletion, Co-Vid 19 is a reality to be handled calmly, swiftly, and wisely.
Namaste.
Together general and special educators, administrators, and related staff support each other and their students to create shared learning environments.This includes setting up co-teaching norms and expectations for planning, instructing, observing, assessing, documenting, and reflecting. Learners then receive, not only access to the general education curriculum, but ongoing inclusive achievements with the facilitation of two qualified professionals. These resources invite you to explore the co-teaching spokes that empower both educators and students!
Resources for Evidence-Based Practices to Support the Co-Teaching Spokes
* Accommodation Central: http://acentral.education/learning-library/specially-designed-instruction
* ASCD: www.ascd.org
* CASEL: https://casel.org/guide/
*Co-Teaching Do’s, Don’ts, & Do Betters: Karten & Murawski, ASCD
* Council for Exceptional Children: www.cec.sped.org/Standards/Evidence-Based-Practice-Resources-Original
* High-Leverage Practices in Special Education: https://highleveragepractices.org
*Inclusion Do’s, Don’ts, & Do Betters: Karten, ASCD
*Inclusion Strategies & Interventions: Karten: Solution Tree
*Inclusion Strategies That Work! Karten:Corwin Press
* Learning Designed: www.learningdesigned.org
* Learning Forward: https://learningforward.org
*Mindfulness for the Inclusive Classroom: National Professional Resources
* Multicultural Pavilion: www.edchange.org/multicultural/
* National Council of Teachers of English: www.ncte.org
* National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: www.nctm.org
*Specially Designed Instruction https://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/specialed/specially-designed-instruction.pdf
* Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: www.pbis.org/
* The UDL Guidelines: http://udlguidelines.cast.org/
* Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/understanding-by-design/
* What Works Clearinghouse: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FWW
Let’s continue the collaboration: Email: toby@inclusionworkshops.com
Website: http://www.inclusionworkshops.com
Be a Facebook friend: Inclusion Education Services
Follow Toby on Twitter: @TJK2INCLUDE
https://www.solutiontree.com/blog/https://www.solutiontree.com/products/developing-effective-learners.html