Paving the way for change
Cultivating the right mindset is of the utmost importance before any change can result in positive outcomes. The type of mindset a district strives to develop is dependent on their goals. At Sweetwater Union, we aim to create a supportive culture in which educators feel comfortable enough with their peers to share their thoughts and insights and are encouraged to take risks.
When our district brings together general and special education teachers, we reframe the conversation to focus on “our” students. It’s no longer about your kids or my kids. Every student is impacted by a universal design for learning, and to achieve college and career readiness goals, we must view them as everyone’s responsibility.
Cohorts and Professional Learning Communities are led by teachers, and special education resource teachers provide ongoing support to all cohorts. This enables teachers to rely on each other for help. When they have this kind of safety net, educators are more willing to try new strategies and tools and share their findings with others. The mindset that I share with our teachers is that it’s all—Common Core, UDL—a work in progress. It’s new to us all, and we are all learners together.
Zones enable educators to learn together
Our district has established zones in which subject-area teachers and general education teachers work together to develop and evaluate lessons that address multiple modalities. Teachers volunteer to be site leads for schools to develop sample lessons and model UDL approaches. Site leads meet with subject-area experts and special education resource teachers across all schools in zone meetings for each subject. Educators in these zones are able to get their hands dirty, test, and explore best practices before they try them in the classroom. The goal is to give teachers the tools they need to enable students to demonstrate subject-area mastery in various ways.
During zone meetings, the department site leads share what they’ve learned in their cohorts with the departments in their assigned zones. We have seen a dramatic increase in turnout for these sessions because the content is more helpful and relevant to the teachers. By tapping into everyone’s expertise and sharing it with others in zones, the district is able to leverage the great minds they already have and establish a support network.
Next page: collaborative and co-teaching models in action
- TC- What student choice and agency actually looks like - November 15, 2016
- What student choice and agency actually looks like - November 14, 2016
- App of the Week: Science sensor meets your smartphone - November 14, 2016