Special Thoughts - Pick Your Partner!

I wanted to do a collaborative project with a colleague. Reflecting on my SERT practice I came to a disheartening realization - despite the fact that Paul was literally teaching with all of the IEPs in my school, other than collaborating on the modified French pages and handing him his stack of IEPs when they were done with a "There ya go buddy, have at 'er!" I was providing zero support to Core French. I clearly needed to learn more about current research-based strategies to support the unique challenges of working with students with IEPs in an FSL program and Paul was willing to work with me. Our proposal for a TLC grant focused on teacher and student well-being was accepted and our partnership was born!

Itinerant Core French Teachers face a number of stressors and barriers that directly impact their well-being and that of their students - especially those with special needs.

Some stressors include:

- scheduling

- travelling between classrooms with all of their materials and no travel time

- difficult transitions for students who struggle with change

- not knowing the atmosphere in the room when they walk in or the history for that day for students with behavioural challenges

- Core FSL teachers typically teach 150+ students per day and despite the fact that they teach with all of the IEPs in the school, since they aren't the homeroom teacher, they are often left out of meetings to discuss and plan for the success of these students

- FSL teachers are rarely included in special ed professional development opportunities

For the last few years our board has promoted FSL for ALL students, but there has been minimal PD for SERT's focused on best practices for supporting students with IEPs (and their teachers) in an FSL environment.

For our project, we want to build a strong collaborative partnership between the SERT and Core FSL teacher in hopes of improving the well-being of the FSL teacher and students, and improving the FSL learning outcomes for students with special needs.

Things I'm Grateful For

- Our French Consultant introduced us to Katy Arnett's AWESOME book, "Access for Success: Making Inclusion Work for Language Learners" and its companion website which is what we are basing our project on!

Things I'm Wondering About

- With SERTs spread so thinly, what does support for Core French look like in other schools?

- How are other Core French Teachers managing all of their IEPs?

Lisa ☺