SPED Q + A – part 2: collaboration

The theme for this q + a focuses on what of the keys to student success: collaboration.

Q: What am I suppose to do as a general education teacher? What is my role?

A: As with most of these questions, I can only speak from my perspective and experiences. The roles and expectations for general education teachers changes depending on the service delivery model and the individual student needs.

As a general education teacher, your role is to love, advocate for, and support the student(s) receive special education services. Just because a student has an IEP doesn’t make them mine or yours– they are our student. Implement accommodations and modifications outlined in the IEP with purpose and fidelity. Sometimes the list of accommodations can be overwhelming but they will truly help the student access the curriculum. It’s okay to not understand what an accommodation means, I don’t know half the time either, but ask vs. not implementing or trying. Depending on the students need, your role can include data tracking, implementing a behavior intervention plan, and providing specially designed instruction.

Another key role is participating in the development of the students IEP– not just the IEP meeting. You are the curriculum and tier 1 instruction expert. You know what supports the students need in order to access the content. When you are participating in the development process together, it’s a natural opportunity to learn from each other, team together, and ask each other questions.

Q: What are some tips for working with general education teachers?

A: I’m still learning the answer to this question. Relationships with colleagues can be just as tricky as relationships with our students. I feel like it would be easier for me to share what not to do than give tips. Let’s see if I can PBIS some of my not to tips.

tip 1: Define roles and expectations together in the beginning of the year. What do you expect from each other? How can teaming together best support the student? How do you want to communicate? This is something I will 100% be doing next year with each of the teachers I work with.
tip 2: Create IEPS and BIPs together. No one likes feeling like things are being done to them. I am guilty of putting together comprehensive and evidence-based plans and having them totally fail because the only person who knows how to implement it is me. If you want strong and successful plans, carve time to work on things together.
tip 3: Communicate frequently! Share success’ of the student, what you are working on with them, ask questions when you aren’t sure. Don’t communicate in a way that’s helicopter-y, but in a way that fosters teamwork, shared ownership, and collaboration. I get we are all busy and it’s hard to find time for this– but remember it’s not about you or them, it’s about your students. Would you rather make time for communicating or allow frustration to hijack your productivity?

Q: What would you want a music teacher to know or ask you about your students? (or any specialist for that matter :))

A: This question put a huge smile on my face. I think in a perfect world, I would love for any specialist to ask: when can I come in and join you for a lesson? Yes, time is limited.. but just think how amazing it would be. Once a week, a specialist comes in for 15 minutes and joins the class for an activity. It shows that everyone is apart of the community and it doesn’t matter what classroom you are in. More realistically, I would want to be asked about relationship building tips, what accommodations might be helpful in their environment, how to implement the accommodations, and if they could come to the IEP meeting.

If you are a specialist and you are reading this, you are AMAZING. I don’t know how you do it. You work with ALL the students in the entire school, with limited relationship building and instruction time. Your role in the school is valued– especially for students with IEPS. How they do with a teacher they don’t see regularly in a typically non-academic area is essential in understanding the whole child… if your special education teacher hasn’t been including you (i’m guilty of this about 50% of the time), participate! Your perception is valued and needed.

Q: How can music teachers support sped classroom behavior charts or structures in just 30 minutes?

A: 30 minutes flies by so fast! I think for behavior charts or behavior tracking sheets, it’s trying your hardest to observe the behavior and document. In terms of accommodations, I think that would be an excellent conversation to have with your special education teacher to discuss one or two accommodations to support the child in your classroom. Most importantly though, it’s how you treat the student in front of others and how you model your own classroom expectations. Kids are always watching us. I bet we do way more implicit teaching absorbed by their little eyes than any lesson. Model kindness, empathy, growth, hard work, compassion, listening, and perseverance and you’re supporting the underlying goals of all structures and plans!

Q: Ideas to introduce yourself to staff and IAs to show that you value their input but it’s your classroom?

A: I haven’t yet experienced a situation like this. I really have no idea. If I were faced with finding out I have 5 IAs tomorrow… I would probably… do some sort of team building activity and write them a little note about how I’m excited to get to know them and learn from them… followed by creating a collaboration commitment with everyone. The collaboration commitment would talk about how we want to handle feedback, student behavior, celebrations… trainings, meetings, etc… and then holding everyone to that. I think that shows that you value their input but that you’re the lead teacher and in charge. You’re showing this by creating systems and enforcing them… but doing it in a way that is team-oriented and student focused 🙂