Blog title above a group of people waving.

We often tell our students “you're more than a number”, meaning they have incredible qualities that are difficult to measure in a standardized manner. Creativity and grit are a few of these tricky to quantify metrics. Now, it’s not only Indiana students who have amazing, unmeasurable talents, our educators do too. And one there is one that was particularly evident during the 2019-2020 school year - determination. Specifically, a determination to educate their students whether the learning environment was the classroom or home.

Check out the graphic below showing the support PATINS/ICAM staff have provided this school year. While you’re looking at it, please remember, behind each number is a determined Indiana educator:

A general educator from College Park Elementary in MSD of Pike Township who attended the “Accessibility in Canvas and Beyond” webinar by Jena Fahlbush benefited from having another perspective - “Seeing examples of a screen reader helped me so much. I realized I was unknowingly doing so many things that would make learning more difficult for a student with low vision. After the session, I was able to make fast, easy fixes that will make learning more accessible. I also learned many tips and tricks to help students with hearing impairments or language needs as well.”

A special educator from Binford Elementary School in Monroe County Community School Corporation who can spend her time more efficiently after learning about new, free tools at Jessica Conrad’s “I Love Data 2” training - “I am so excited about Google Data Studio!! I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent trying to pull multiple pieces together into easy-to-read graphs/charts. Game changer!”

A cost-conscious instructional coach at an elementary in Elwood Community School Corporation who attended “DIY Fidgets & Sensory Tools to Enhance Continuous Learning” with Bev Sharritt, Jena Fahlbush, Katie Taylor, Kelli Suding, and Lisa Benfield - “I love these easy, affordable ideas that teachers can easily create at home for student use.”

Note: Indiana public/charter school employees can request any of the above trainings at no-cost.

Indiana Educator Reach by the PATINS Project 2019-2020

• 1,000+ Tech Expo registrants: PATINS/ICAM staff, with the assistance of IN*SOURCE, swiftly pivoted to a new platform due to COVID-19 and successfully held the first ever, virtual Tech Expo 2020! Also, in November we hosted over 400 attendees at our 2-day Access to Education 2019 conference.
• 6,044 Training participants: The passion Indiana educators have for providing all students access to the curriculum is unmatched as evidenced by the outstanding turnout at our no-cost trainings this school year.
• 73% Indiana public and charter schools reached: The PATINS Project has served seventy-three percent of Indiana school corporations and forty-two percent of Indiana preschool through grade 12 schools this year. Our small, dedicated staff goes to great lengths to deliver high-quality technical assistance to meet the access needs of all students through Assistive Technology, Accessible Educational Materials, and Universal Design for Learning.
• 10,600+ Material and assistance requests fulfilled: Need to trial an assistive technology device? Have a question about Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)? Looking for information on the Universal Design for Learning framework? PATINS/ICAM staff are Indiana educators' go-to resource for improving access to the curriculum which leads to increased literacy skills.

Are you an educator behind one of these numbers? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.

Want to be a part of the Indiana educators making education accessible in 2020-2021? Here are a few ways to get started:

• Apply by July 31, 2020 to be one of the Indiana school corporations in our next AEMing for Achievement grant cohort.
• Register for the first ever virtual Access to Education 2020! ($100 for 2 days, $50 for a single day)

Change can be scary, and it’s not uncommon to be resistant to change. It seems that 2020 brought us a leap day that still doesn’t seem to have ended and that came full of change, whether it was welcomed or not. As a former 3rd grade teacher, I keep wondering how I would be handling my virtual classroom in light of schools being ordered closed for the remainder of the school year.

I believe that I’d be stressed, missing my students, and wondering whether or not I was doing all that I could to keep the learning, engagement, and feelings of value going. I believe that I’d be in need of more collaboration with colleagues and my professional network than I once thought possible. I believe that I’d need more support than ever from my student’s families and support systems to best set my students up for success. It’s the latter that really has got me thinking and deeply reflecting on the role that our student’s families and support play in their lives, especially when it comes to learning.

After some conversations with friends who are working from home and parenting, it solidified for me just how difficult this time is for everyone. Almost no one was prepared for a flipped script like this, and to make it through, we’ve got to rely on one another now more than ever- parents/families on educators and educators on parents/families. That said, the educator in me has begun wondering how well parents have been armed and trained to support their student(s) in a learning environment at home, and how we can boost supports for our students during continuous learning, over the summer, and in the future through a solid, cyclical partnership with parents. 
If you find yourself reflecting and parsing through the same notion, consider reaching out to parents/families through a survey to find out how things are going, what they feel they need, how the teacher/school/district could better support them, etc. This information could facilitate a stronger parent/family and teacher relationship in these uncertain times and as we move into the future. Quick surveys can be created in Google Forms. 

You may also find it beneficial to reflect on what’s been shared with your student’s families to figure out where there’s room for improvement. Some questions you may ask yourself are (in no particular order):

1. Do families know how to download apps on their devices?
2. Do they know how to login to school-wide systems?
3. Do they understand how to use the tools/apps/websites that their students are using for schoolwork, including how to submit work or join a virtual meeting?
   1. If not, would tutorials, virtual office hours, a school-wide Facebook page, or other means of information sharing be beneficial?
4. Do they know how to reach you, when you’re available, and how quickly to expect a response? Over-communicating is better than under-communicating.
5. Has creating a learning environment been discussed with families?

Upon this reflection, you may find some gaps between what you’d like for parents/families to understand and what they actually do. For example, I’ve been working with a gentleman who sells pavers for a patio we are considering installing, and without asking the obscene amount of questions that I must in order to clearly understand his explanations, I’d have no idea what he was talking about. This is because he knows his pavers inside and out, but I’m lacking his background knowledge; therefore, I’m thrown for a loop with each new brand or term he throws out. 

To avoid this type of confusion, let’s explicitly share information, provide clear instructions, and teach our students’ parents/families how they can support their student(s) at home now, over the summer, and every year, emphasizing that many of the following are ways to create stronger relationships, to instill values, and to spend quality time with their student(s). 

To begin, let’s consider the learning environment. 

1. Share examples of working/learning environments, understanding that this must be flexible to fit the needs of individual families
2. Share sample schedules that include building in learning and screen time breaks for students
   1. Include ideas for breaks:
      1. Physical play or activity
      2. Stretching
      3. Reading
      4. Listening to music
      5. Playing board or other non screen games
      6. Mindfulness activities like deep breathing or yoga
3. Share and adhere to time limits for virtual learning 
   1. Times suggested by the Indiana Department of Education
      1. Elementary Grades K-1: Minimum Daily Learning Time: 5-10 minute time spans, a total of 45 minutes 
      2. Grades 2-4: Minimum Daily Learning Time: 10-15 minute time spans, a total of 60 minutes 
      3. Grades 5-6: Minimum Daily Learning Time: 20-25 minute time spans, a total of 90 minutes 
      4. Grades 7-12: Minimum Daily Learning Time: 30 minute time span per class, a total of 3 hours
4. Provide printable or print versions of visual cues to support directions

Consider how you’d like to see your student’s learning supported at home and maybe break it down, sharing specific ideas with students and families subject-by-subject.

Reading

1. Turn on the captions for all screen time
   1. Turn on captions in YouTube by selecting the CC button in the lower right-hand corner of the video. Check to see if the captions are accurate.
2. Model reading newspapers, magazines, books, recipes, cards
3. Read together (use different voices for characters, stop reading at the climax to drive engagement, change where you read)
   1. Guide parents to support comprehension skills with digital or printable graphic organizers, to connect stories to students’ lives, and to show genuine interest in the story
4. Act out a skit
5. Turn on podcasts (age-appropriate podcast can be found in a quick Google search) or audio books in the car or on a home speaker (Try the Libby app, books on tape or CD)
6. Read aloud to pets, siblings, or stuffed animals
7. Identify words, letters, phrases when out for a walk, drive, or trip

Math

1. Use dice or dominoes to play and learn with numbers (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing)
2. Provide printable visuals like a 100s chart
3. Practice counting any and all things. If basic counting is mastered practice skip counting items
4. Cook and bake together (supports following directions, fine motor skills, measurement, fractions, and more)
5. Sort indoor or outdoor items by color, shape, texture, weight, size, and talk about the sorting method
6. Practice budgeting, set up an economy system for chores, or play store
7. Play card games

Writing

1. Write/make words or letters with magnetic letters, Wiki sticks, pipe cleaners, chalk, shaving cream, hair gel with food coloring in baggie
2. Daily journal entries. Everyone is living in a time that will undoubtedly be added to the history books. Journaling will offer great daily reflection as well as future reflection on this life-changing time. 
3. Play Mad Libs
4. Guide parents to provide writing support by modeling real-world writing tasks- making lists, writing invitations, writing in cards, writing to-dos on a calendar, writing thank you notes to our first responders and hospital workers, filling out forms, etc.
5. Ask students to create labels for household items, for organization purposes, etc.
6. Guide parents to support writing through positive and specific feedback and not to concentrate on spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors, but to celebrate their students’ writing
7. Publish students’ writing on the refrigerator, in a window, or digitally (Book Creator, Tarheel Reader)

Science & Social Studies

1. Take a walk around your neighborhood, noting different types of architecture, structures, designs, plants, trees, flowers, etc.
2. Conduct at home science experiments
3. Share and discuss age-appropriate current events
4. Research and make paper airplanes in different styles
5. Explore any maps (theme parks, state parks, atlases, city, state, etc.) you may have laying around, noting the compass rose and key
6. Go on a rock, flower, or plant scavenger hunt
7. Make homemade dough for play

Art, Music & PE

1. Add daily drawings and art projects to a dated sketch journal
2. Make music out of different household items
3. Explore different genres of music 
4. Go for hikes, walks, or bike rides
5. Make collages with newspapers, pictures, magazine cutouts to illustrate different feelings, ideas, concepts
6. Start a fitness challenge between family members
7. Make homemade puppets for a show

As summer nears, I encourage you to continue your reflection, thinking about all of the positives that have come from this change, this new teaching experience. It certainly hasn’t been easy, but we’ve learned so much. Though we may be anxious to get back to life as we once knew it, let’s, instead, grow from this experience, taking the amazing things that you’re doing (maybe once even thought impossible) and grow from this experience to better serve your students by considering:

1. What tools will you take into next school year? 
2. What strategies have you learned that you’ll forever hold dear? 
3. What bonds have been created?
4. In what ways have you increased the universal design and accessibility of your teaching to better meet the needs of your students and their support systems?

Please share your answers in the comments, reach out for more resources, and keep on, keeping on! 

Are you an expert? You may not believe it, but you most likely are at least in some area of your profession.

From Merriam-Webster:

Sometimes we sell ourselves short on our skills or experience remarking, "I'm no expert." However, I bet you are. Educators are experienced teaching, helping struggling learners, observing nuances in behaviors, managing classrooms, and more.

You don't have to know everything, and it's ok to share your knowledge, experience, and opinions especially when it comes to providing support and making choices that affect students. However, there will be a time when you need additional support specifically around Assistive Technology (AT). It's constantly changing and none of us can know every facet.

AT teams are great resources that typically include many experts from several disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, special education, psychology and more). Having teams enables each member to share the load of knowing at least some fo the solutions. 

You are fortunate if your district has a team but if you don't you can work towards establishing one. The PATINS Project can help you learn where to start. Reach out to us by completing the IDOE Technical Assistance request form.

Additional resources that will help you when exploring AT solutions include:

Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services (QIAT) and their listserv. This is a great service for posing questions and gaining access from AT experts from across the US and more.

Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) has many resources including  the Assistive Technology Consideration to Assessment and the Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (This includes 16 chapters and  guidance in many areas of need including; seating, positioning and mobility, communication, computer access, AT for writing including motor aspects and more)

I am a huge fan of the show Ted Lasso on Apple TV. It’s the only reason I subscribe to yet another TV app. Each episode puts a huge smile on my face at some point, if I haven’t already been smiling my way through the entire show. For me, the writers have crafted a plot line that tells a charming story via a cast of characters that embody many of the best human traits: honesty, respect, trust, kindness, acceptance, optimism, and compassion for one another.

For those that are unfamiliar with the show, it is set in England, and Jason Sudakis plays Richmond football (soccer) coach, Ted Lasso. Lasso is a passionate coach that defines winning as wholeheartedly believing in yourself and your team while playing your best. In fact, he tapes the word “Believe” written in large letters to the wall of the locker room in the first episode. It is through Lasso’s confidence in the power of belief that connects and bonds the team more deeply as the show progresses. 

Though the show is fictional, it is Lasso’s optimistic coaching style and belief in his team that always makes me reflect on the coaching role we all have as real-life educators. The role that asks each of us to lead by example and to model the very traits shown in the shows’ characters. The role in which we identify our students’ strengths and maximize their opportunities to grow, to learn, and to achieve success. The role where we dismiss doubts in students’ abilities and trade them for the high expectations for each and every student.

We, as coaches and educators, are in control of creating an environment in which all students, like Lasso’s players, are set up for success, and where a student’s background, ethnicity, disability, gender, or race does not cloud our vision of what they can achieve. An environment where we refrain from making assumptions and instead, remain optimistic and presume competence in the face of the challenges and believe in our students’ abilities to learn how to read and write, to work with and manipulate numbers, to engage in meaningful communication, and to achieve great things!

When we believe in ourselves as coaches and educators and in our students no matter what, there’s no telling what accomplishments we may witness!

Look for the Helpers

As a friend to many emergency personnel, I have learned over many years a little of what it looks like from a first responder’s point of view and the sacrifice that comes with the calling to serve the people. The emotional, psychological and physical toll that comes with always being on guard for split-second decision making in order to maintain safety and order for all present challenges for managing life when days are suddenly atypical. In many ways, we all are experiencing this sense of hypervigilance with the pandemic. We are all in the same boat in that our typical lives have changed in some way. It’s taking a toll on each of us in some shape or form. 

I always thought I wouldn’t be a good first responder because I tend to freeze in certain situations. What I have found throughout my career in education is that there are always helpers in every given situation. We all have something that we can offer in a situation when we need to step up. We have dedicated our life’s work to improving the outcomes for our students. Even in rapidly changing current events, we come to help those needing assistance. I have witnessed many helpers sharing amazing resources not only to provide access to education but also to make sure our families are fed, utilities are maintained, and social wellbeing is addressed. 

Many of us had great tools and resources for self-management prior to our new pandemic lives. Now, I am finding I need new tools and strategies to help myself regulate emotions, stay on track with daily remote learning for my own children, and keeping up with work and my own learning.  

Here are a few tools and suggestions I am going to try: 

HeadSpace : Headspace is an app that teaches you how to meditate.

ArtfulAgenda: Try this app to help integrate all of your calendars and keep organized all in one place. Mobile app now in Apple and Google Play stores. Syncs with Google, Apple, and Outlook 

Peloton App: Free for 90 days, Try a Yoga class

PATINS Staff is also on standby for your educational access needs while you are navigating remote learning. We have open office hours in a virtual zoom meeting room twice a day at 10 am and 2 pm EST through the month of April. Please feel free to jump on and have a team member guide you through how to use Zoom and any other questions you may have. You can find the office hours and other training on our training calendar. 

Please share what you are doing to help self-managing during this new normal.