Creating an Inclusive Classroom

Joseph Chamberlain College: Connecting Teachers Conference

6th and 7th July 2017

Emma Foster

Pupil and School Support

Partners on the pathway to a positive future for children and young people

Defining Mat - Starter Activity

Definition of the word

Draw an image / symbol

Synonyms Create a model using plasticine

Inclusion

Aims • To have a common understanding of

what is meant by inclusion.

• To consider practical strategies that can be used to promote access for students with cognition and learning needs.

• To evaluate your own practice and identify strategies that will enhance your provision.

Joined Pupil and School Support in April 2016 (a Cognition and Learning Service) Secondary trained Taught English Managed SEN department

Defining Mat - Starter Activity

Definition of the word

Draw an image / symbol

Synonyms Create a model using plasticine

Inclusion

National Curriculum: Inclusion Statement

Discuss: what do you think are the expectations for schools?

The National Curriculum: Inclusion Statement Summary

• Setting suitable challenges: high expectations for every student (greater obligation to plan lessons for those with low levels of attainment/disadvantaged)

• Respond to pupils’ needs and overcoming potential barriers for individuals and groups of pupils

• A minority of pupils will need access to specialist equipment and different approaches.

• Potential areas of difficulty should be identified and addressed at the outset of work.

• Teachers must also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English.

Reminder: SEN ‘Code of Practice’ September 2015

• ‘Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the students in their class.’

• ‘High quality teaching, differentiated for individual students, is the first step in responding to students who have or may have SEN.’

Recap- A Graduated Approach (SEN CoP 2015)

A cycle:

Assess – Plan – Do – Review through a series of stages

• Universal Support: Including High Quality Teaching strategies and adaptations to teaching

• Targeted Support: Additional intervention if needed (planned by teacher with TAs with additional advice/support from the SENCO)

• Specialist Support: outside agency involvement

Think, Pair, Share: Barriers

Think: one minute silent

thought

Pair: discuss with the person next

to you

Share: whole group discussion

– be ready to feedback

What barriers do students with SEND

face in the learning environment?

Barriers (not exhaustive!) Student’s difficulty Potential barriers

Processing speed, speed of reading/writing

Pace and rate of the lesson, expected amount to read/write

Understanding Language used (written and spoken), text types, abstract concepts

Short-term and working memory, retention

Memory load (too much to remember), learning not interleaved

Reading, writing and numeracy skills

Text type (readability), availability of resources to support (i.e. visuals, manipulatives)

Concentration and attention

Environment, peer groupings, information overload

The social model of disability says that disability is caused by the way society is organised, rather than by a person’s impairment or difference. It looks at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people.

What will they need in your classroom

General guidance:

• Differentiated activities so that they can participate, achieve and make progress.

• Learning set out in smaller steps

• Tracking back through the curriculum if necessary

• Practical, multi-sensory activities to support the development of abstract concepts.

• Specific programmes/activities to support their progress in developing literacy and numeracy skills.

This session: Language, Memory/Retention, Reading, Writing

Overcoming Barriers: Language

Blesnicarpe: A substance found in muscles which is necessary

for dancing

Tracopertass: A condition which affects people who don’t eat

enough protein

Scagescallen: A vitamin found in mangoes which affects mood

Frincorp: A sudden increase in body temperature caused by

excessive laughing

Take a few minutes to read these nonsense words and their

meanings. Try to memorise them:

Now answer the following:

1.Name the vitamin found in mangoes which

affects mood…

2.What substance found in muscles is

necessary for dancing …?

3.What is Tracopertass…?

What are the needs of your learners?

• Look at the primary and secondary ‘milestones’ posters with a partner. Are your learners using / understanding language at age appropriate levels?

• Approx. what age is their level of functioning? • These can be used to support with identifying SLCN.

www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

50% learners in deprived areas have SLCN on entry

10% have persistent difficulties

Considerations:

Learners with vocabulary learning difficulties might have difficulty with one or all of the following… Imagine the demands of the whole curriculum!

1. Difficulty remembering part or all of the words’ pronunciations accurately (the words’ phonological forms);

2. Forgotten all or part of the meaning (the words’ semantics);

3. Wrongly associated word and meaning e.g. remembered ‘frincorp’ as a tear in your ligament.

The secondary school curriculum makes heavy demands on a learner’s ability to acquire new vocabulary:

• Estimates suggest that between the ages of 7and 16 years, typically developing learners learn an average of 3000 new words a year.

• In secondary schools much new vocabulary is curriculum related (academic languages develops after social language).

Biology

• Suggest how the experiment could be changed to give a reliable way to measure the rate of the reaction. Include any apparatus you would use

History

• Which interpretation do you find more convincing concerning the conflict between North and South in the American Civil War? Explain your answer using the Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge

English

• In your response, write about your own impressions of the characters. Evaluate how the writer has created these impressions and support your opinions with references to the text

Impact of vocabulary knowledge

Which ‘bits’ of language do the learners need to understand?

What kind of words do we teach?

Tier 3

Unusual Subject specific words

E.g. sodium, apparatus, photosynthesis

Tier 2

Useful, common but difficult words which can be used across different situations

Words explaining a concept in greater detail, e.g. Agony, impatient, horrendous, exaggerate

Vocabulary for learning used across many or all subjects, e.g. Estimate, summarise, explain, design

Tier 1

Basic words that rarely need to be taught

E.g. house, playing, boy

Often taught

No need to teach

Overcoming Barriers: Language

• Share real objects, photographs, pictures in order to teach new vocabulary.

• Use short simple instructions. Give one at a time, in the correct order and check for understanding.

• Write down and display instructions after saying them.

• Provide a list of key vocabulary for a particular topic (with visual cues). Display throughout the lesson.

• Provide ‘speaking frames’ for group discussion/class contributions.

• Continually model correct use of language (to address grammar).

• Explicitly teach new vocabulary (i.e. use Defining Mats).

Targeted (additional adult support): Pre-tutor key vocabulary/concepts related to topics and schemes of learning.

Robust vocabulary teaching

Teach new vocabulary in context

Provide as many ‘hooks’ as possible so word storage is secure

Repetition is key (can take 70 repetitions to commit to memory)

Visual strategies to embed

Example: Defining Mats

Possible Adaptions: Synonyms Antonyms Write the word in a

sentence Draw an image to

represent the word For the creative:

make a model from plasticine!

Targeted (additional adult support): Pre-tutor key vocabulary/concepts related to topics and schemes of learning.

Vocabulary (self monitoring) My

Vocabulary

List

Red Zone Amber Zone Green Zone

I don’t know this word at all

I’ve heard of this word, I understand it but can’t use it

I know this word and can use it in a sentence

I need to stop and ask a question

I need to slow down and check

I can read at normal speed

Speaking frames

Targeted (additional adult support): Talking Partners – modelling responses(i.e. use of keywords)/correcting grammatical structures

Overcoming Barriers: Memory and Retention

All learners benefit from information being presented in a variety of ways to ensure there is optimum processing opportunity. Aim: To utilise as many different pathways to the brain as possible through a multi-sensory approach, overcoming barriers to learning and improve retention.

Activity: Think, Pair, Share: think of a lesson you have taught this week – how was it multi-sensory?

Multi-Sensory Strategies: Visual

• Visual support on whiteboard i.e. task management

• Visual cues for key subject vocabulary (i.e. images/symbols)

• Use colour:

To show/differentiate areas of learning

Encourage use of highlighters to categorise/order

Use colour on whiteboard to separate tasks/ideas

Copy on pastel coloured paper

• Teach mind mapping to plan, present information and review

• Model and use Graphic Organisers

Visual– Graphic Organisers

Fishbone Continuum Cluster

Venn Diagram Spider / Mind Map Cycle

Templates: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/

Example Task Management Board

Multi-Sensory Strategies: Auditory

• Think, Pair, Share; Peer & Group

discussion, Hot Seating, Role Play/Drama

• Videos / You Tube Clips

• Use of rhythm / rhyme / rap/ Mnemonics for

memorisation

• Assistive technology: Dictaphones, Reading Pens

•Encourage verbalisation of key information.

Multi-Sensory Strategies: Kinaesthetic

• Provide concrete / tactile objects

/manipulatives

• Sorting / matching activities

• Encourage moving around / out of your seats

(classroom continuums / conscience corridors)

• Encourage note-taking, writing keywords, using

highlighters

Can you read this?

Joseph

Chamberlain

was a

politician

from

Birmingham

A clue…

Joseph Chamberlain was a politician from Birmingham

A further clue…

Joseph Chamberlain was a politician from Birmingham

The answer…

Joseph Chamberlain was a politician from Birmingham

Overcoming Barriers: Reading

• Accessible text: ICT/audio books or graphic/illustrated novels

• Chunk text/reduce text on page or simplify layouts

• Reduce glare: overlays/copied onto pastel

• Model reading (adult or competent peer)

• Provide students with their own copy (not sharing)

• Access arrangements: deploy a reader and/or allow additional time (normal way of working)

• Targeted (additional adult support): Pre-tutor extended reading required for subject area and key vocabulary (i.e. book for English)

Overcoming Barriers: Reading Strategies

DARTs

Directed Activities Related to Texts

• Encourage engagement with a text

• Improve reading comprehension

• Develop critical reading skills

• Can be: reconstructive or analytical

DARTS: Reconstruction – modified texts

Text completion

Fill in the cells of a table that has row/ column headings, or provide row/column headings where cells have already been filled in.

Sequencing Write the next step or stage of a text, or end the text.

Grouping Fill in missing words, phrases or sentences.

Table completion

Complete an unfinished diagram or label a finished diagram.

Diagram completion

Group segments of text according to categories.

Prediction activities

Arrange jumbled segments of text in a logical or time sequence

DARTS: Reconstruction – modified texts

Text completion

Fill in missing words, phrases or sentences.

Sequencing Arrange jumbled segments of text in a logical or time sequence

Grouping Group segments of text according to categories.

Table completion

Fill in the cells of a table that has row and column headings, or provide row and column headings where cells have already been filled in.

Diagram completion

Complete an unfinished diagram or label a finished diagram.

Prediction activities

Write the next step or stage of a text, or end the text.

DARTS: Analysis – unmodified texts

Text marking Find and underline parts of the text that have a particular meaning or contain particular information.

Text segmenting and labelling

Break the text into meaningful chunks and label each chunk.

Table construction

Draw a table. Use the information in the text to decide on row and column headings and to fill in the cells.

Diagram construction

Construct a diagram that explains the meaning of the text. For example, draw a flow chart for a text that explains a process, or a branch diagram for a text that describes how something is classified.

Questioning Answer the teacher's questions or develop questions about the text.

Summarizing

Provide a brief statement of the main points.

Difficulties with writing

Tell the person next to you…

What difficulties may a student have with

writing tasks?

Feedback their ideas…

Potential Writing Difficulties

• Spelling

• Specific learning difficulties: dyslexia, dyspraxia

• Organisation (sentence structure, paragraphs and

punctuation)

• Handwriting speed

• Handwriting – presentation

• Generating ideas: ‘Getting started’

Overcoming Barriers: Writing Strategies

• Access to ICT: laptops / iPads / voice recorders

• Allow alternative responses (i.e. create a Venn diagram to

compare, a mind map to show understanding of a topic)

• Provide scaffolding: writing frames, sentence starters,

VCOP initially (then remove once competent)

• Glossaries (images, definition, pronunciation)

• Limit writing but same curriculum coverage (i.e. copy of

PPT to reduce copying from the board, DARTS)

Example writing aids

Overcoming Barriers: Final Strategies

Groupings: • Using seating to

promote peer support and collaborative learning*

*EEF – 5+ months impact,

4/5 evidence strength

Utilise displays: • Keywords • Interactive:

pockets with teaching aids

Dyslexia friendly: White board – off white • Clear font

(Arial) • Size 20 on PPT • Size 12/14 on

documents • Bullet points • 1.5 line

spacing • Avoid italics,

red/green

* Education Endowment Foundation

Overcoming Barriers: Final Strategies

Promote metacognition* Model your thinking processes aloud *EEF – 8+ months impact, 4/5 evidence strength

Establish routines (i.e. Use a ‘starters’ to recap and revise )

Consider TA deployment Actively involved (scribing on board, modelling a task, assigned a group/task) Best practise: teacher works with SEN; TA – oversees others

And finally J

Strategies for your planner/desk/wall

Pupil and School Support Service

Partners on the pathway to a positive future for children and young people

Emma Foster Emma.Foster@birmingham.gov.uk

Follow Us on Twitter @A2Education

I’d be most grateful if you could complete the short evaluation before you leave. Many thanks.