Project SUCCESS' 2nd Annual Model Site Summit

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Greenwood Middle School, Greenwood IN

 

During the past year, over 1,000 individuals have accessed the free courses for paraprofessionals developed by Project SUCCESS in partnership with the Indiana Department of Education ( IDOE). The first three courses, available on the PEPPER™ learning platform, provide an introduction to supporting students with the most significant disabilities. This winter, Project SUCCESS is pleased to add to the suite of professional development courses with three new modules:

INPARA104 Culturally Responsive Strategies - designed to help paraprofessionals understand the role of culture and bias in the classroom and to provide insight into best practices for including culture as a tool for promoting student success.

INPARA105 Effective Communication - aims to improve paraprofessionals' use of communication strategies with student and teachers in the classroom.

INPARA106 Assistive Technology and Accessible Materials - provides insight into how technology and making instructional materials and tools accessible for students with significant cognitive disabilities expands pathways for learning and growth.

 

An inclusive team of Greenfield-Central Junior High teachers and students made a presentation to their school board last month to recap the students' experiences participating in general education science and geography classes. 

 

Michael discussed the two main rivers in Mesopotamia, Drew talked about the graphic novel his class just read ("The Giver"), and Anastasia described her favorite part of Mr. Uhl's science class (being with friends and participating in labs with them).

 

The impact of being included in general education curriculum was not lost on parents. Drew's father sent lead teacher Anna Findley this message over fall break: "We went to the library today and Drew always just looks at movies but he looked up a book :) He never has looked for anything he has done at school before. So we are reviewing his school work and watching the movie over break. I am excited to hear him explain the book and movie to me before we watch it."

 

General education science teacher Nick Uhl discusses his experience leading an inclusive classroom.

 

The Indiana Secondary Transition Resource Center (INSTRC) has released a series of brief online courses designed to help you become more familiar with the components and process of creating quality transition IEPs with your students. Topics include:

To help educators across the region, Project SUCCESS has been busy delivering variations of our presentation, The Case for Presuming Competence in Students with Significant Disabilities, which shares the importance of high expectations for students with significant intellectual disabilities. View our most recent presentations below.

• October 28th: CASE/NASDSE - Louisville, KY