During my time as a classroom teacher I had one student that was a designation “G”, however he could have also been an “H” because he was very violent towards his classmates and the staff. Luckily, this student’s mother was from the same hometown that I was from, and I had gone to school with her. We also communicated regularly regarding her son’s behaviour in class; however, because he was a designation “G”, there was a specific IEP regarding strategies for keeping him successful in the classroom. This student was definitely one of my biggest challenges as he would leave the classroom regularly. One of the strategies that I found most successful was using a “choice board” for him. This was a visual representation of the expectations for this student. It allowed him to pick a reward activity after he had completed an assignment or task. Regular breaks were part of this students IEP, and involving him in the process seemed to help. Before when he was over stimulated he would just leave the class unannounced, but once we started using the choice board, he was much more successful in completing his work and staying in the classroom.
One of the main strategies I used to create an inclusive classroom was using differentiation in my teaching. I reached out to Christine Anderson who is an Indigenous Education worker for the district to help me make my Math groups and to show me how to teach and administer the SNAP Math Assessments. I used the data from the Jump Math Lessons to make four different groups. Rather than number them, or use letters like A group, or B group, I used the Dakelh words for the seasons (fall, spring, summer and winter). I did this because I didn’t want the groups to be segregated by ability, at least not visibly recognizably by the students. I was teaching the SNAP for four different grades (K, 1, 2, and 3) because that was where my students were at (even though it was a grade 2/3 spilt class). Having the Math groups was a way to regulate the students and create routines that tried in with the subjects I was teaching. By using differentiation I was able teach to the whole class, and thereby create an environment of inclusion and learning that would be successful for all my students.
