Here is a conversation between Jeff and Bob that I got copied into. If people have their own thoughts about CI and IEP kids, please contribute to this thread:
Jeff writes to Bob:
Bob,
I know that you have done some work with students with IEPs. I am interested in trying to get some of these students who might be interested in learning a language to select Latin without fear of failure. How did you encourage those students? How did they do in Latin? I have often heard that students on IEP’s who would normally fail a legacy language teaching method, succeed in Latin with CI. I would like to try the same. Could you give me some help with this thought? My wife is a special ed teacher and I am willing to read any books that you found helpful.
Thanks,
Jeff
Bob responds:
Jeff,
Here’s the short answer, and I could flesh this out with you, but I know you will understand this. When you are doing CI in the classroom it automatically covers everything that an IEP will ask of a teacher, especially when done by a teacher who knows that it’s important to build trusting relationships in the class (oh, wait, that’s part of CI) and good classroom management practices (Oh, wait, that’s rLg which is part of CI).
Think about what CI has taught us to to:
1. establish meaning
2. limit vocabulary
3. SLOW
4. point and pause
5. circling (which is repeat, repeat, repeat)
6. student engagement through jobs, engaging, easy stories
7. opportunities to review material (all the time)
8. teaching to the barometer student in the room (which may often be a kid with an IEP so they are getting individualized attention without being made the center of attention)
9. With things like timed writes, measuring student progress against him/herself and not against others in the room or an arbitrary number.
10. Engaging all the senses and requiring that all distracting things be put away (clear desk, sit up straight, eyes bright)
11. Teaching to the eyes so that you know in an instant who understands and who does not.
I also must say that not giving homework is a strong factor in success for me – across the board, not just with IEP students. It gets more buy into to working hard during class because, remember, we don’t do homework. Students with IEP are often swamped with homework because too many teachers think that they are “slow” and must do more work outside of class to “catch up.”
Okay. That wasn’t short and I did flesh out a lot of what I do. What I know when I go to IEP meetings is that every student in my class is getting what the kid with the IEP is required to get, and it works for everyone in the room.
Cultivate a conversation/relationship with the head of your Special Ed department where you can sit down and explain how you teach with CI. Tell them about what we are doing at our school. Right now, Jeff, we have 200 student enrolled in Latin 1 alone next year. Our Special Ed department chooses to schedule kids into Latin before any other language “because we know they will be successful in you classes”. There are three of us teaching Latin (next year we are approaching 500 in the total program) and all three of us are on board with CI and our work with Special Ed kids.
I hope this helps. BTW, before you sit down with the Special Ed Dept. Chair, sit down with your wife and explain to her all the facets of CI and ask her to tell you how that corresponds to Special Ed IEP requirements. Take good notes. You will want to share this later with others and maybe even give workshops on it after you experience it a little in the classroom. Power, power, powerful stuff.
Jeff responds:
Bob,
Thanks for the response. I got so caught up with spring break and my son, I didn’t respond. This is great information. I will definitely talk with my wife and get her perspective. It sends such a powerful message to say students with learning disabilities can learn any language, even Latin. I think that this is a great conversation.
Jeff