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SpEd Coaches Scoop!

Building an Inclusive Culture in D205: October Edition

SpEd CoachesScoop!Building an Inclusive Culture in D205: October Edition

Heather & Bridget

Supporting Inclusion: Tip of the Month!

It is no secret that building relationships with students is a key to success in the classroom. We have students coming to us who have had bad experiences with school and now they hate it. It is our job to help them turn this around and see it in a different (and more positive) light. The ugly truth is that many times we do not know what they have been through or what they go home to, and we might be the only positive influence they have.
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2x10 Theory: The Two-Minute Relationship Builder

ASCD Article

What it is?

  • Meet with a student for two minutes a day for ten consecutive days
  • Have conversations driven by the student that are interest based

What it can look like?

  • Part of a weekly greeting
  • A segment of conferring
  • Conversations in the hallway or on the playground

Why implement it?

  • When pushing into classrooms it is beneficial to get to know all students so they see you as part of the class rather than working with only specific students
  • Increase in student engagement
  • Decrease in disruptive behaviors

Teacher and Students Building Relationships Around the District

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A Greeting Like No Other

Imagine how excited these students were when arriving to Emerson only to find their teacher excitedly waving! If you could only see the smiles on the other side of the window. (we promise this was not staged!)
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PSRP Late Start

Paraprofessionals met together at the beginning of the month to learn the 'why' and 'how' behind building teacher-student relationships. They met again later in the month as a smaller group to reflect on the learning and talk about actionable steps. Presentation on Relationships.
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Tapping into Student Interests

Mrs. Franks builds relationships with her students by utilizing her students' interest to create engaging lessons that include technology. She is showing her students how the APP is used to control a robotic toy called BB-8. It was so cool to see all the skills these students were showing when they are engaged and interested in the activity!:)

Coaches Corner

Here we would like to share some of the work we are doing as we team with teachers:


  • Personalizing Math Instruction: We are utilizing a newer resource on Embarcc.com to customize our lessons in a way that we can work on grade-level standards and the skills identified in a students' IEP.
  • Science Planning: We have teamed with Multi-Needs and ABC teachers to see how we can integrate science topics into our learning in an exploratory and functional manner.
  • Inclusive Instructional Plans: We are continuing to co-plan with gen ed teachers, sped teacher, OTs, SLPs, social workers, & ELL teachers to create these plans to ensure our students are fully supported in ALL settings.
  • Personalized Reading Instruction: We are teaming with teachers to identify the components of a guided reading lesson and ensure we are personalizing the goals and skills to our diverse learners.

Coaches Learning

Heather is currently reading Visible Learning for Literacy By: Douglas Fischer, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. So far it has looked at the practices we have in place within literacy to analyze what impacts student learning. Even though the focus of the book is on literacy it references the importance of teacher-student relationships within the first chapter!


Bridget has been really into listening to podcasts this month. Her current favorite is UDL in 15 minutes by Loui Lord Nelson. This podcast amplifies the voices of others leading the way in UDL. Another favorite is The Five Moore Minutes Podcast by Shelley Moore. This podcast focuses on interviews and conversations connected to topics related to inclusive education.