Save Teachers Time and Increase Student Engagement in Inclusive Classrooms
A digital platform integrating a holistic diagnostic assessment. learning plan, class profile and universally designed (UDL) lesson plans.
Why Inclusive Education?
The aim of inclusive education in Canada is for “all students to participate in the education program in a common learning environment with support to diminish and remove barriers and obstacles that may lead to exclusion” (Inclusive Education Canada, 2017, par. 3). This means not just placing all students together in mainstream classrooms, but ensuring all students receive the support they need to access the curriculum in the way they learn best.This is sometimes difficult when teachers have large class sizes and limited time to get to know students holistically including their interests, learning strengths and needs, learning preferences and what motivates them to learn. Students may be able to help by communicating this information directly to teachers and having a say in what works best for them.
Teachers need time and resources
Students need voice and choice in their learning
Students initiate teacher connection
Using Study Smart’s MINDSpeak tool, students have voice by communicating their strengths, needs, interests and learning preferences. Students have choice and accountability by developing their own learning plan and implementing strategies that work best for them through a STUDENT JOURNEYTeachers build relationships with students
Teachers get to know students holistically in the first week of class with a class profile which is a snapshot of the learning strengths and needs of all the students in their class. Teachers are able to support the needs of all students by viewing universal and differentiated strategies in each student’s learning plan which benefit individual students as well as the entire class. Teachers save time on lesson planning with access to a library of step-by-step lessons and strategies aligned to the principles of universal design for learning (UDL), and the provincial curriculum strands for Math and English /Language Arts.