SPED in the Time of Coronavirus - Part 1

Part 1. Instruct to Support

One of the key roles of a high school special education teachers’ job is to support students in regular education content classes when they need help. My students have reached out through email, Google classroom messages or phone calls for help on specific assignments. I have found it is critical to respond to them as soon as possible. By the time you get their message and respond to a question they are stuck on, they might have moved on to another assignment or totally given up on schoolwork for that day. This is especially true for students with ADHD or low frustration tolerance. There were many times when I was left hanging by my students after reaching out to help with an assignment and never hearing back from them. So I check Google Classroom and my email vigilantly to be ready to help.

I usually follow up by phone if a student does not respond to my Google Classroom message or email. This has its own challenges. First, it is crucial to have up-to-date phone numbers. That, in itself, takes a lot of time. Often, I reach out to other teachers or professionals who work with the student to get current contact info if the school computer system’s numbers are not correct. Parents will even give me their teen’s own, direct phone number. I realized early on that teenagers, understandably, find it uncool and uncomfortable to talk to their teacher over the phone. I have found that most students get over that apprehension in time.

Next, ideally, students need to give me access to their assignment through Google Docs so I can see their answers as they type. By having teacher access to the specific class’s Google Classroom, I am able to see on my computer the directions of the class assignment and the text book or article the assignment is based on. I can help the student read the material. I can skim the material to find the area of the text that is the focus of the question or assignment. I can provide background knowledge and context for the specific assignment as we discuss and review the content material by phone. These steps are how I support the student as they complete the assignment adjusting the level of support to meet the student’s unique needs. I follow up later in Google Classroom to check that the student has turned in the assignment, if their work completely answered all parts required and, later, what grade they received to see if I need to change my support to address the expectations of the regular education teacher.

Third, our district has instructed us to hide our personal phone number when we call a student or parent by using *67. This makes it hard for them to call me back if I leave a message. A free Google Voice number allows students and parent to call me back directly while still hiding my personal phone number. Check out this YouTube video for directions on setting up your own Google Voice number: For Teachers / Google Voice

Finally, Google Classroom can be a struggle for some special education students. Most of Google Classroom’s content is shared through a list of posts requiring large amounts of reading to understand the material and instructions for assigned work. For some special education students, it is a challenge to make sense of this large amount of text. The list cannot be differentiated with formatting so each entry looks the same for students who struggle to decode. Supplementing with audio files recording instructions for assignments or reteaching content can be helpful for students to understand these posts. Some school laptops have a voice recorder app or program. There are also free apps in the Google Play store to download audio taping capability to a chromebook. Most Apple phones have the app Voice Memos. Android phones have the app called Voice Recording. Any of these allow you to tape an audio message for your student and share it with them through different platforms.

Together, these ideas have allowed me to reach out, connect and provide the support my students need to complete assignments and grasp content. In the next post, I share more tips and tricks to address another aspect of instruction - engaging students in activities and classwork remotely and providing motivation for them to stick with it.