Lisa Dieker 0:10
Welcome to Practical Access. I'm Lisa Dieker.
Rebecca Hines 0:12
And I'm Rebecca Hines. And today, Lisa, I know we're going to continue on thinking about those high leverage practices. What, what's today's topic?
Lisa Dieker 0:22
Well, we're gonna think about one high leverage practice that has lots of components. So we decided to break it down is how do you organize that learning environment? Specifically? How does special ed teachers do it are generally teachers for students with disabilities? So what's your first thought I'd organization, my friend?
Rebecca Hines 0:41
Well, I'm going to pull from the past, and also the president Lisa, and I'm going to start with a pacing guide. And the idea of a pacing guide, I think, you know, it gets kind of convoluted, because sometimes districts, you know, put out a pacing guide, obviously, for teachers, but I think that we should pay attention to how we can take that information and make it a consumable for our students, they don't always understand how our content is organized, or why. So if we're a little more intentional, about designing a pacing guide, specifically for the kids at their level, that maybe include some images, maybe it includes keywords, but it starts us off with a template for any unit, that helps me organize my content.
Lisa Dieker 1:32
Got it? Well, and I'm gonna kind of align with that, which is shocking, by the way, we don't prep all this stuff. Just so you know, there's a little ad libbing here going on once in a while. But you know, I, I take kind of that same pacing guide. But I think of the concept of a business of process versus product. And, you know, if we're working in the widget factory, we know the process to make the widget but we know the product is the widget. I think sometimes the kids know there's this pacing guide of a process, but what's the outcome? When is the outcome and I'm a big believer, for those who teach high school, we should be using syllabus, you know, I mean, you go to college, and the first time you see a syllabus is kind of late. And whether we like it or not as a college professor, I have to tell you exactly the process and the product the first day of class. And do we always abide by that? Not necessarily, but if we change that contract, and I think that's what's missing sometimes for our elementary friends, is we don't have a good process. And so then all of a sudden, they're like, Well, what I had something to get on my backpack today. So the process I think leads often to that product, whether it's homework or a project, or something along those lines. So I think some kind of contractual process product image could be very, very helpful at all grade levels. I think it's really critical. We expect that at the high school.
Rebecca Hines 2:52
Absolutely. And I think that in terms of assignments, and it's kind of piggybacks on what you were just describing, so I know what I know what I'm supposed to be learning, but now I need to know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. So paying some attention to assignment instructions that are highly organized and that are distributed in a meaningful way, maybe now that everybody's more comfortable with technology, maybe it's me just recording of a 32nd video of you know, today's assignment is X, Y, or Z. Don't forget to do this. And maybe I'm modeling and showing students how to do it because some kids need to hear things more than once. And if I know that I could log on to our course website and watch the instructions. Again, that type of digital organization gives me something that I can look at either in school or at home.
Lisa Dieker 3:51
Well and I'm a big believer, get the kid who's you know, done first. To do that for the homework, let them make a little Flipgrid video and upload it because teachers are busy we respect that. And again, students love seeing each other you know, I'm the homework audio person that tells you every night what to do. Well I'm gonna go a little bit different direction and I really encourage teachers as we think about coming out of hopefully this time of distancing is thinking about how your room setup not necessarily like the walls and everything but but but classroom setup for Rose. And I actually have a student who did her master's thesis recently, and I learned a lot from her. And there really is a time for rows. I've always been anti rows, but rows in the first five minutes of class are the perfect place to teach some really strong knowledge but then think about using some tape on your floor some way to move and the two I'm a lover of and studying that is V shapes and horseshoes. So think about a double horseshoe. Now I've got kids with disabilities that have a seat but they can clearly move into a peer group. I could have four on each side of the horseshoe and now I've got a group of four Think about that structure and where kids are sitting because I think we often set students with disabilities up to be helped. I like to have what I call a reciprocal pier process in my room that says, All right, Becky, you're going to help me with writing, but I'm going to help you with getting your backpack organized or whatever. So that we're reciprocating it isn't I need help, and Becky doesn't, but what are each student's strengths and weaknesses. And then my last piece there would be then to think about pre assigning students what their roles are like. So let me rewind that a little bit, not really their role, but they're, they're grouping. So maybe I make you a number, a letter and a shape. So you're a one a circle, and I'm a to b diamond. You put those up around the room, and you can have standing groups. And now my maybe my shape groups are a little more ability groups versus the other heterogeneous, but it gives me a quick way to move kids into groups. And I think grouping and seating are often not only time sucks, but they're also not clear for students with disabilities, and they get really nervous. But if you have some kind of routine in that process, I think it makes a big difference,
Rebecca Hines 6:08
right. And so that idea of organizing your space, I love the idea of paint or tape on the floor so that I know exactly where I'm supposed to move my desk. I love the idea of shapes. And I just wanted to add to that as my concluding thought. There's also a layer of physical organization that we meet, depending on the abilities or disabilities present in our classroom, I think it's easy sometimes to forget, for someone with mobility issues, for example, it's a little more obvious if it's somebody with a wheelchair that we need to make sure that we have good pathways. But think about again, that that painters tape so that we are sure when we're creating this space, we're making the space is wide enough, if somebody is in a wheelchair, we are making our walking paths wide enough if there's some students who may have some impulsivity control and might be the type who might reach out and touch or hit kids when they're walking around being really intentional on that design, and preempting problems by creating a really well organized space.
Lisa Dieker 7:17
And I don't think we would be remissed if I ended with the thought of UDL, but UDL with a twist. And that twist being thinking about who's coming in on your roster. Do I need more Braille? Do I have a student who you know, only can tie velcro shoes, and yet wants to move to the tie shoe? I've seen that happen in many of first grade class and it's like, Alright, how many hours do we spend tying our shoes? So thinking about what are those? Where are the places that that not only behaviors happen? But potential downfalls for kids to feel bad? And how do I organize my room in my structure for success for everyone, so you know, maybe I go on tie your shoes before you put them on. So at least we're just tying them we're not untie now, a lot of things that I think focus on independence, we think the kid needs to learn to do everything. But sometimes there's just not time for that. And coming from the north. I know we're in Florida. Now, the worst thing my child ever had to do was put on that snow suit. Like Tommy got it on, it was time to come in. And so thinking about what those things are, when do we have our battles with time and when do we just pre unzip, unbuckle, have the lunch out versus taking the lunch out and not having time to eat? I think those kinds of time structures walking through your room and doing a time assessment can really make a big difference.
Rebecca Hines 8:35
And I just want to give a shout out to those people who like myself may not be what I will call traditionally organized. Because a lot of people go into the field of education because they're very good with systems and routines. And then there's others of us who are very mentally organize and can deliver great content in a really organized fashion. But how are our space physically looks may be different. So if you happen to be a teacher who has some organization issues, focus first on your students make sure that that content is well organized, but also create places in your own space. For certain things, I literally would have to create a space that I always put my coffee cup so that I didn't spend my time wandering around my room looking for it. So accommodate yourself if you need to. I don't apologize about it.
Lisa Dieker 9:31
I love it. Well, I won't even comment on the difference in our organizational skills. But if you really know us, you'll get the left behind that message. So anyway, we appreciate you joining us. Hopefully there was some practical ideas for organizing your classroom and if you have questions, please send them to our Facebook page at Practical Access or to our tweet @accesspractical
