 Thank you very much. Thank you. Welcome, everybody. I'm very pleased to be joining you as a member of the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium team to share my thoughts around inclusion and creating learning environments that are inclusive. You can find me on Twitter at kpbs, and if you're inclined to tweet, please include the ERLC professional learning hashtag in the body of your tweet. I have advocated for inclusive education for several decades throughout my career, most of which I have spent in the Greater St. Albert Catholic School jurisdiction. I was fortunate in 2011 to be seconded for two years to Alberta Education to the Action on Inclusion Team and School Technology Branch. Before I actually get right into the presentation, I'm just curious if you had an opportunity to look at the two video clips that were sent out when you registered. Please give me an idea if we can have a little bit of an interactive discussion about halfway through the presentation. So if you did have a chance to see the videos, could you please indicate yes by going under that little check mark where you could put yes? And if not, please just put no, and it just gives me an idea as to whether I need to summarize the videos or not. Okay, so it looks like most of you have had a chance. So that's good, and I will provide just a short summary so that everybody can participate. 26 years ago, I was expecting my third child. Four months into the pregnancy, I was told that we were going to have a little boy and that he would have Down syndrome. My husband and I went through the usual roller coaster of emotions that one would expect with this news, but we were better prepared than most, as I already had a career in special education and had met many young children who had Down syndrome and other special needs. I remember vividly, however, still wondering while I was pregnant how I would feel when he was born. Would I feel that I actually did have three children? Or would I feel more like I had two real children and then this third other child? I can tell you that from the minute Christian was placed on my chest, I had exactly the same feelings of joy as I had when the other two were born. He was our precious third child, our second boy, and I wanted for him what our other children had to feel loved, safe, and happy. In Christian's preschool years, he began a journey identical to the other two. They took swimming lessons, and he took swimming lessons. They went to preschool and took music lessons, and so did he. In fact, he continued music lessons throughout school and played the clarinet in the band in grade eight. Today, he takes electric guitar and singing lessons, not that he can sing by any stretch, but he loves it. Christian was naturally included in all family activities. This was not something we planned for. He was just there. He started kindergarten with other five-year-olds. There was never any consideration that he would go somewhere different. Christian went through school with the same kids, and to this day, age 26, he is friends with some of the kids that he went to grades one and two with. Just to have a sense a little bit for you who are listening, I'm wondering, and again, you can just use the yes or the no. If any of you share my experience of living with somebody who has identified or significant special needs, and if you do, could you just indicate whether it's a young child or whether it's a teenager or whether it's an adult in the chat window? I'm just trying to get to know people a little bit better. It looks like a couple of you. Certainly, at least one or two of you probably have experienced some of the things that I have, and it's great to know. Welcome. Here's the passage that I'm going to read out loud, the content of which I'm sure you're familiar with. Students learn in different ways and at different rates. And as a result, effective school programs require both the inclusion of a variety of instructional techniques and learning experiences that match the needs of each student and the allocation of adequate amounts of time for all students to learn. So that might not be so striking in itself. But what is striking is that this was written by Wang and Wahlberg in 1983, 34 years ago. Their paper was presented among others in Edmonton at the University of Alberta at a conference in 1987 called Alternative Futures for the Education of Students with Severe Disabilities. I attended this two-day conference and I was excited about what I learned about inclusive education. And I have to say that I have been a passionate advocate ever since. My career has spanned the history of special education to inclusive education. Research carried out over the past decades clearly demonstrates that school learning environments that promote inclusive education are not only beneficial to students with identified needs, but are more successful in achieving learning outcomes for all students. Over the years, there is much research that also outlines the best practices in teaching to support inclusion. Despite 30 years of research and provincial and territorial legislation stating that inclusive education is the preferred way, large numbers of students who have special needs or exceptionalities continue to be excluded from the regular classroom. This exclusion can take the form of physical placement in a segregated classroom, even going to separate schools from siblings or friends, or may result from an inability to address the social and academic needs of students when they are placed in the regular classroom. We know there are pockets of excellence. I myself have seen many, which is exactly why I champion inclusive education. I know of beautiful learning communities where all learners are able to participate and achieve. Some schools and some classrooms do a great job of making sure that each and every child or student feels valued and that they belong in the learning community. So here is the big question for 2017, the crux of the matter of inclusive education today. Why, after decades of knowing what to do, is inclusive education not being done well everywhere? So what are the barriers? Certainly we've heard the same things for over 30 years. We know what we need. Why might it not be happening? The first barrier is our mindset. So this is not anything that costs something. It's just the way we look at things. Our classrooms, structured as they are, will not achieve the vision of inclusive education or student-centered learning where every learner is valued and successful unless we do things differently. This is a quote from noted Canadian educator, Dr. George D. who works at the University of Toronto. And it's a quote that I've referred to for quite a few years now. Inclusion is not about bringing people into what already exists. It is making a new space, a better space for everyone. And sometimes I hear people say, oh, we tried inclusion and it didn't work. And I think if that's the case, it's because perhaps we haven't done anything differently in that learning environment. So what are the essential components for creating this new space? There are many criteria, but the first most important one is that diversity is embraced. It's there. Students have varying degrees in all of our classrooms. And so we accept that as being the norm and not only accept it, but see it as a strength. Diversity is the norm and everyone belongs. In this learning space, everyone can learn. The second important feature of this new space is that learning is proactively designed. So by proactive, we mean that we plan for the diversity in the learning environment ahead of time, as opposed to accommodation, which is carried out after the fact. So to help with this thinking, think about new buildings that are built. So they're designed at the blueprint stage to ensure that all people can enter the building. It used to be that when buildings were built, we accommodated people with special needs. And wheelchair ramps were built after the fact, often at the back of the building. But today, buildings are designed to be accessible by all people challenged by mobility, whether it's a senior citizen, a person who uses a wheelchair, or a parent pushing a child in a stroller. We are being proactive when we consider diversity in the communities in which we live and in the classrooms in which our kids learn at the outset. These two conditions don't just happen. So in order to create them, we need three main things. We need leadership and vision. We need to create community. And key to community is a sense that we belong. And the third, which is perhaps what might be interesting to you most, is that we have to have instructional practices that facilitate learning where there are varying abilities and children of different backgrounds. And different interests. So at this point, before we go any further, perhaps we can use one of the demotikons just to see how you're feeling about what I've said so far. Just in terms of thinking about designing learning environments ahead of time, embracing diversity, having to design for learning. So any, you can also perhaps, if you have a question or a comment that you want, you can put it in the chat box just to sort of take a check on where we're at. Okay. Good. I'll take that thumbs up to mean we'll continue. Okay. So let's think a little bit about leadership and vision. Leadership that is supportive of inclusive learning looks at the learning system as one inclusive system in which we build the capacity to anticipate value and support diverse learning needs. So in other words, the leadership promotes a clear move away from viewing regular education and special education as separate entities. The second piece is collaborative learning teams. So the education professionals and specialists work as a team. They share responsibility for inclusion and collaborate to bring supports to the students instead of sending the students to the supports. And the other piece is activity-based professional learning opportunities that include chances for teachers to practice and reflect in collaborative situations where they can problem-solve to reduce barriers that might come up to learning. In Alberta Education's guide to education, the inclusive education policy is one of nine policies listed that are considered to be mandatory. So this is our point of departure. This is something school jurisdictions need to strive for. Now, the inclusive education policy framework is being developed. Various partners in education around the province have been working on this framework. It's currently in draft, but they've identified six main areas for policy directions, which are recommended that reflect the values of an inclusive education system. So if we look here, we can see that they're looking to guide school jurisdictions to develop processes and recommendations in terms of decision-making that is centered on the learner as opposed to centered on the educator. So that's learner-centered decision-making. We need to engage families and communities. We want to learn about the best practices to support inclusive education. And of course, we have to build the capacity of our teachers. So professional learning is very important. We mentioned the leadership. And then, of course, students need to have access to supports. And as I mentioned, we need to get better at bringing supports to the students as opposed to sending them away. So inclusive learning communities. And that key word is community. In a learning environment that is inclusive, you would see these features. As we mentioned, diversity and learner differences are embraced. We recognize that everyone has strengths and everyone can learn. We expect each and every student to achieve. And all learners are welcomed, connected, and appreciated. And I certainly know from my personal experience with my son, Christian, that this feeling of being welcomed, connected, and appreciated was key to his success at school. When kids feel that they belong, their potential to learn is enhanced. Canadian educator Jennifer Katz, in her book Teaching to Diversity, presents a three-block model of inclusive education. And she devotes block one to developing social and emotional well-being by valuing diversity and creating the conditions necessary for students to feel competent, to be challenged to learn, and to grow, and to feel that they belong. And if you're interested in this resource, I'll make sure that you receive the link. And thirdly, we need to do things differently. And not only just in terms of physical space, but teaching practices have to be supportive of the diversity that's found in the classroom. Now, this is why I asked you to watch this amazing video before this webinar. You couldn't watch it throughout during the webinar, but I will paraphrase it a little bit so that I think one or two of you may not have had a chance. It would be well worth going to watch afterwards. So this is a TED talk where Dr. Todd Rose, who's the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, speaks about the myth of average. He uses an Air Force analogy to communicate that even when they had good pilots and good planes, and this is around the 1960s, the Air Force was getting poor results. And the problem ended up being the design of the cockpit, which was made for the dimensions of an average-sized pilot. And they did research, and this notion of an average-sized pilot actually does not exist. Pilots, of course, have jagged size profiles. Some are tall, some are short, some are thin. And when the cockpits were designed for a mythical average pilot, Todd Rose says that you have literally designed it for nobody, and the results are poor. Now, once the Air Force demanded that fighter jets be designed to the edges of dimensions of size, so they made the cockpit flexible, like if you think of your seats in your car and how you can adjust them. So once the equipment in the cockpit was flexible enough to suit the shortest pilot as well as the tallest pilot, this meant that they could dramatically expand their talent pool. So Rose goes on to say that we have created learning environments that because they are designed on average and traditionally they're pretty inflexible, they cannot possibly nurture individual potential. So designing learning environments and textbooks on average hurts everyone, even our brightest students. Okay, so that's just a summary. I pulled out four statements that I think were pretty important in this TED talk. And I'm just going to review them. And at this point, I would like to just get a sense again for what some of your thoughts are. And perhaps you could actually use the chat box here so we have a little bit more of an interactive discussion. But in the video, Todd Rose says that success is not like innate. It's not something that a person is either successful or not successful. Success actually depends on the fit, in this case between the pilot that we could think in terms of a student and the cockpit or the learning environment. So that means if we do something with the learning environment, a student can be more successful. Okay, there's no such thing as an average pilot or student. And if every pilot or student has a jagged size profile or learning profile, and then you design the learning environment on average, you've literally designed it for nobody. And when the Air Force, in our case teachers, designed the learning environment to the edges, so of course Rose was talking about the edges of size, they dramatically improved the performance of their pilots and in our case students. So I'd like you to look at think of these and number them in your head from number one to four at the bottom. And please put in the chat box which statement kind of resonates with you and maybe you could add a comment or two so we can sort of see what your thoughts are. I do see a little speech box so I think that means, okay, a couple of you are writing something. That's great. Okay, I think you've all had a chance. So these sort of all of them kind of resonate. Number one, the success one. I like to speak about this one a lot because I think it's very important and it speaks to what we need to do as teachers. If we think of success as being dependent on what we do as teachers in a learning environment, then students can or cannot be successful. I always like the analogy, you know, if a flower doesn't grow, you don't really blame the flower, you sort of blame either the garden or the gardener. And number three, yes, certainly that speaks to the students in our classrooms. Which are incredibly diverse these days. And yes, designing to the edges does exactly speak to universal practices to support all learners. And that's what we're going to be looking more at is that universal design idea which can be applied to classrooms. So this was just to, I think we've already talked about most of these. I'm just having a quick peek here. Yes, the other statement that I thought really resonated with me was for the student who is strong in science but below average in reading, science is first and foremost a reading test. And this is really important because oftentimes students end up being not successful across all grades when really it's a barrier to reading that needs to be removed or a barrier to writing. And so we can have kids who are very able to understand science concepts or social studies that it's the barrier of reading that's making it challenging for them. So in education, how do we design to the edges so that we don't teach to a mythical average student that doesn't exist in our classrooms? At the simplest level, there are two pieces. One of them is goal clarity. And it can be confusing. And what I just mentioned about the science example speaks to that. When we're not clear on what exactly the goal is in a particular class, like is the goal about photosynthesis or is it about reading? Then kids can end up being unsuccessful. So teachers must be very clear on the curricular goals or the learner outcomes. If they don't, if they're not clear, then oftentimes it is the reading. They're not explaining this very well. Try again. If a child is unsuccessful in science class, sometimes they're being evaluated more on the fact that they can't read or they can't write. So we have to remind ourselves that the actual goal in this instance is science. And it is the science understanding that needs to be evaluated. So goal clarity, important. And if we are clear on those goals, then we can offer that student flexible options for learning the material. So maybe watch a video on photosynthesis instead of reading a textbook. Students can also have flexible options to show us what they know. So instead of having to write some sort of essay or answer questions in writing form about photosynthesis, they could create a hands-on activity that demonstrates the principles so that we do know that they understand the concepts. So just like with a GPS, teachers can offer students many routes to achieving a goal. Same destination or learning outcome, but different pathways. So kids can participate in different ways. They can access the information in different ways. And they can show us what they know in different ways. So I actually made a whole slide about this statement because it's very important in classrooms. We don't want every subject to be a reading test. So this is the second part, flexible options. So in the next few slides, we were talking about that universal design. And this is what we're going to look at. We're going to look at examples out in the world where things have been designed to the edges. That is to increase accessibility to allow a wide range of people to participate. So we've all seen signs such as this. Warning, you are parked in a space or area reserved for the handicapped. These facilities are provided only for disabled persons. If you or your passengers are not disabled, please do not block this space. Now that's a pretty stigmatizing sign and not very welcoming or user friendly. And even on a bus, please give up this seat if a disabled person needs it. What we'll see here on this slide is starting to change your mindset. Again, nothing that costs money, but so much more welcoming. This is an accessible parking spot or this is a courtesy seating area. You can see with the courtesy seating area that they're not talking about a person who is marked by the label of having a disability. We can all have needs for needing to sit as opposed to standing for various reasons. I started taking pictures out in the real world of where people are thinking about designing to the edges. And this was a card that was placed on the pillows of a bed in the hotel I was in. There was a little sign that said we've placed soft pillows in the front and a firm pillow in the back so that you have a choice. And this is thinking about the diversity ahead of time. Without this, if you go to a hotel room and the pillow is either too soft or too firm, you end up having to accommodate. You have to pick up the phone, call the guest services, ask them to bring up a different pillow. But this was a proactive thinking about it ahead of time. Again, no cost. This is an example of a table in St. Albert over the summer. Lots of parts were renovated and I noticed that we have some of these picnic tables with just three benches on them to allow a wheelchair to pull up. I was just driving by St. Albert Catholic High School this morning and noticed one on their grounds as well. So here's a sign that accommodates a wider range of people. This was at a pool in Las Vegas. I just looked over and saw this lift. It's there all the time. It's not like somebody arrives in a wheelchair and then all of a sudden you have to put practices in place again to accommodate. This is thinking about diversity ahead of time. If you happen to arrive with mobility issues, there's a support or a way that you can get into the pool. This was a picture taken in Brisbane in Australia. This is an entrance to a park. And in Brisbane, everywhere that there are staircases at the bottom and at the top, they have raised bumps so that people who have a vision problem know that there's staircases approaching. And you can see here that there are stairs with a railing for support and also a pathway. So multiple ways to get into the park. This is Robson Square in Vancouver. Again, designing to the edges, the goal is to get into the building. Same goal for everybody, but you can see that there are some supports there. Now I've heard people say to me, oh, so we're just going to lower the bar. And we're not lowering the bar. What we're doing is lowering the barriers. We keep expectations high and find out what the barriers are and then put in supports as needed. So these are examples outside of the classroom. What might this look like in the classroom? Here are some pictures of a kindergarten classroom. So traditionally, can the kindergarten kids sit together on the floor? That's not a great place for some kids. Some kids need a little bit more space. They're inclined perhaps to lose attention. You can see the two boys at the back are actually in fairly structured seats. They're attentive. Just that structure around them has provided the support that they need to pay attention. And it's not stigmatizing and it's probably not even the same kids who sit there. These different seats are available all the time. So universal supports in the classroom. Another example of a universal support in the classroom. We have slanted boards if needed or somebody so chooses or prefers for printing. So getting away with the one size fits all way of doing it. Different things available for different kids. And this child is actually on a ball. Now up in the higher grades, I think this picture on the next one, it's grade five at a school in Moranville. And the three grade five teachers in this school have done away with traditional furniture in their classroom. Recognizing that kids like different ways to engage in learning. You know, just like we do actually. Sometimes we like to sit. Sometimes we like to stand. Here's an example. We don't actually see a standing table but in some of these classrooms, they do have places where kids can actually stand or sit at bar stools higher up. So that was some pretty global examples. But to be a little bit more specific, here are a couple of slides that I've outlined on the right. Kind of what you would notice. So if you were going into classrooms that are inclusive, if it has students of varying abilities learning together, what might it actually look like? So certainly each and every child or student in the older grades would feel valued and that they belong. The learning outcomes are clear to the teacher and to the students. And learning is expected of everyone. Teachers build on student strengths and existing knowledge. We talked about reducing barriers. So it's not just the responsibility of just one person. There are many people in a school building that can collaborate to identify what the barriers are and then problem solve to reduce them. The supports are provided to the student inside the classroom as opposed to sending the student out. So we saw just a few examples of instead of, you know, if you have a fidgety little guy in the classroom, you know, we could just send the child out which really isn't going to do too much for his learning. Or we can provide more structure for that child in the space so that he is more attentive. So we have brought in that instance the support to the child. So we talked about the shared responsibility. And there's many adults in schools, as you know. We could have library commons, staff, educational assistants. There could be coaches and learning support facilitators and even administration. When they work together, you know, put their minds together, it's amazing what barriers can be reduced. Inside this new space that we're talking about, there is flexibility and choice. And I find that this is a simple thing for teachers to do. Or it's simple in the sense that it, again, doesn't cost anything. But it can be big if it's a major mindset. It's just offering choice. Once a teacher feels comfortable in offering choice and understands how to assess kids when such choice is offered, then kids can be more engaged. So looking into a classroom like that, you're going to see kids engaged in different activities. Just like we saw seating, standing positions, different groups. It could be small groups, large groups. They're getting the information in different ways. They're showing what they know in different ways as well. Now this last one, I can't really underscore enough in this day and age because technology can really empower learners. I like that word empower. And recently, Alberta Education released research results from a two-year project called Flexible Pathways to Success. So this was a project that involved the University of Alberta as the research team and five school jurisdictions right around the province from Fort Vermillion to Prairie Land in the south. And they were looking at the role technology could play to support students who either had cognitive delay in an inclusive classroom or students who would be considered to have superior ability or who have a code of being gifted. And what they found was that students who had significant learning needs improved their spelling, word use, and overall writing sophistication when they used simple assistive technology. So that would be like the word prediction that you would see on your phone when the phone starts to predict different words. Speech to text, which would be like Siri, so the kids can actually speak and then the computer writes for them. Or text to speech, which is where the text is actually read aloud. And spell check. So when students with significant cognitive delays were provided with assistive technology, their writing improved. And similar benefits were seen for students at the higher end of the cognitive scale and for them simply using a word processor as opposed to a pen and pencil improved their writing. So this suggests that most students would benefit from access to technology, at least for their writing assignments. So we do know that we can say that for us technology might make things easier. But for a lot of people technology actually makes things possible. And I think that's really important. So in conclusion, and I'm hoping that we have some time to comment and answer some questions, the second video that I asked you to watch, I think it was called transforming inclusive education. And in this video, Shelly Moore, who's kind of like the Canadian inclusion guru who's recently taking our education communities by storm, she says that in order to meet the needs of all the students in our classrooms, all we have to do is change our aim. So that speaks to that mind shift. She uses a bowling analogy and says that in order to knock down the most pins with one shot, you have to aim for the pins that are the hardest to hit. That was the thinking actually in the flexible Pathways to Success research project. And the reason that the research was carried out in junior high classrooms with students who were either cognitively delayed or had a superior cognitive ability because we thought that those kids would be the hardest to hit. And if we found things that worked for them, we'd be able to extrapolate the findings to other grades. So designing to the edges so that each and every learner can maximize their potential and their achievement. There's a picture of Shelly Moore and if you haven't seen the video, I would encourage you to watch it afterwards. So creating inclusive learning environments really has to do with a shift in mindset. And once we think about it differently, there are so many different things that we can do. And as I mentioned at the beginning, I have seen incredible examples right around the province actually. Which certainly speaks to how it can be effective. So I would really like to see any comments or answer any questions. We have about ten minutes I think. So it would be great if you would like to ask me some questions. I see that we've got Jackie typing something in there as well. You also have the opportunity to use your microphone. If you do have a microphone, you're welcome to do that as well. You don't need to type it into the box if that's quicker for you. Maybe while we're waiting for Jackie's comment, Karen, I was just wondering, do you know specifically where on the ERLC website we're going to be able to find this? The tape session from tonight? Yeah, I'm actually not 100% sure, but I'm sure what I am thinking though, since it's on inclusion, I do believe they have a section labeled in a piece of education. So it would make sense to me that that's where we would look for it. I didn't realize I should have actually maybe found that ahead of time, but I'll know for next time to make sure I know that. But that is a fairly large category of great importance. So I think that's where we find that. Okay, I'm just going to read this comment here. Okay, so that's certainly a sentiment or a comment that you hear a lot about. And Jackie, I certainly shared that, I guess I could say, because my son's 26 now. I definitely believed for him it was important that he be with his peers. I think because it is challenging, some school jurisdictions do find it difficult, and I'm not sure what their main philosophy is from as a parent and educator. I certainly would encourage parents to continue to advocate for inclusive education. I know for my son and also the teachers who were in those grade five classrooms that we saw a couple of photographs of behavior challenges went completely down. I think that's oftentimes the biggest reason or the barrier, I guess, is that sometimes behavior interferes with learning in classrooms. But I have seen examples of where once we provide the supports and once a child, like in my son's case, felt that he was welcomed in the classrooms, it went well. And I do think we just have to continue to advocate for that. We have always had challenges with my son when he felt that his identity, self-esteem, or ability to self-determine what's happening in his life was not happening. That's when we had issues. Now the second part, yeah, so how do you get your school? You know, it's a challenge. I think finding ways where it's successful I think is maybe where you could share but I wouldn't stop advocating for it. Now what is Alberta education's view on inclusion? Alberta education's view, now I was there a couple of years ago but just by reading it on the website if you look at the policy, they certainly support in their statement welcoming all kids, et cetera, et cetera, but they don't actually state that it has to be in a certain learning environment and every student is different. So I think it depends on the situation so I'm not sure. In terms of self-contained classrooms, I think Alberta education would say that that's a choice that's offered to some people who may choose that route. Do we have any more questions for Karen? Looks like we have one more coming in from Marilyn. Alright, that's a nice thank you from Marilyn for the valuable information and resources. And Janice, looks like you have a question. Hi. I came in late because I was having trouble getting on but I was just wondering if there was anything mentioned about how to train teachers to include all kids? How to embrace inclusion? Well I didn't specifically speak to how to train teachers. There were a couple of slides there that spoke to what we see in inclusive learning environments. Every school jurisdiction has a different approach to how they build the capacity of their teachers in order to use inclusive practices. I can speak for greater St. Albert Catholic schools. We have what we call learning support facilitators as well as pedagogy leads and a lot of time is spent helping them learn the strategies. Universal design for learning, for example. Different supports that they can use. So it's going to be very different from one school jurisdiction to another. So I guess that's really all I can say. I certainly think that I would encourage parents and people to speak to school administration because that whole sense of belonging in community is so important for students and it actually impacts their ability to learn. Thanks very much Karen. Do we have any more questions before we wrap it up? Alright it looks like that is everything. So I want to say thank you very, very much for joining us Karen. This was a wonderful presentation. And as we said earlier, these will be posted on the ASCA website. We had a presentation both this morning and this evening. And the recordings will be coming back and when they are uploaded on the website. Looks like Suzanne, we have a quick question from Suzanne. Kristi just said thank you. Well thank you for even just letting me know that because sometimes of course you want to make sure you're providing information that's valuable. So thank you for that information. Terrific. Well thank you everyone very much for joining us and have a wonderful evening. Thank you very much.