Celebrating Our Inclusion Week Winners During Educator Appreciation Month

Tammie Adams

Principal

Horace Mann Elementary School

Horace Mann Elementary earned first place for a school-wide Inclusion Week effort that reached students across grade levels and created opportunities for connection throughout the campus.

As Principal Tammie Adams shared:

"We did a school-wide morning circle to introduce Inclusion Week. All students learned what it means to have a disability, and we watched the video included in the slides. The entire school then recited the Inclusion Pledge."

She also described how the week's activities continued throughout the school day:

"During our morning messages, a student [read] the Inclusion Pledge and Kinder students [ate] lunch with the preschool Mild/Mod class and even [had] a student reading a story to a preschool student."

Horace Mann's Inclusion Week activities included:

• A school-wide morning circle to introduce Inclusion Week
• Disability awareness learning for all students
• Viewing the Inclusion Week video
• School-wide recitation of the Inclusion Pledge
• Daily morning messages featuring the Inclusion Pledge
• Kindergarten students sharing lunch with the preschool Mild/Mod class
• Students reading aloud to preschool students
• TK and preschool Mild/Mod students engaging together in art class
• Upper-grade students volunteering to support the K-2 ESN classroom
• A whole-school assembly

When asked what inspired her to champion inclusion, Principal Adams shared:

"Hearing a student say that she feels different from everyone else because she has autism makes me feel so sad. That is one of the reasons I wanted to champion inclusion in our school. Last year was our first year with a self-contained program, and I did not remember to include the Kinder student in our kinder promotion, and I felt really bad. I vowed to make sure that all of our students had the opportunity to be included in everything we do throughout the year."

On one of the most meaningful moments from the week, she said:

"I believe the best reaction [was] watching the preschool students from the Mild/Mod class engage with the TK students in art class. They were so excited to participate, and the TK students welcomed them in as if they were always part of their classroom. It has also been awesome to watch our upper grade students ask to go and help out in our K-2 ESN Classroom."

Looking ahead, she shared this hope for the future of inclusive education in OUSD:

"The most important thing that OUSD can do is provide more ongoing training for general education teachers on ways to support students with autism and other abilities, who are in gen ed classrooms. The training is few and far apart and it is often a one and done and teachers don't have the bandwidth to remember the training once the school year begins and all other competing priorities become more important. If there could be a series that is offered and teachers are paid for attending, that would be great!"

Noah Christensen

3rd-5th Grade Mod-Ext Teacher

Bridges Academy

At Bridges Academy, Noah Christensen helped center Inclusion Week in a part of the school day where students naturally gather and connect: lunchtime.

He described the week this way:

"Every day, I talked to 3rd-5th grade students at their lunch time about being inclusive, if anyone had ideas about how to make our school more inclusive, or wanted to share how they have been inclusive. They also had opportunities to sign the banner provided by Special Olympics. Today, Friday, we had an 'inclusion parade' around school at lunch, with students holding up the Special Olympics banner, posters they made in Best Buddies club, and chanting 'choose to include' and 'be a buddy, not a bully'."

Bridges Academy's Inclusion Week activities included:

• Daily lunchtime conversations with 3rd-5th grade students about inclusion
• Opportunities for students to share ideas about making their school more inclusive
• Students signing the Special Olympics Respect Banner
• Student sign-making through Best Buddies club
• A school-wide Inclusion Parade during lunch
• Students carrying the Special Olympics banner and handmade posters
• Chants including "Choose to Include" and "Be a Buddy, Not a Bully"
• Student interest in learning how to communicate with peers who use AAC devices

Reflecting on what stood out most, Christensen shared:

"I think that the activities/moments that stood out the most were the ones in which every student could be involved. I really think that the school-wide inclusion parade was such an amazing moment because every student could feel included and represented. Students were also able to be proud of and showcase their signs and art (they made cardboard signs before) and I believe it truly raised awareness for students with diverse learning needs."

He also described the student responses that stayed with him:

"The most surprising reaction was hearing students' opinions on how to make our school more inclusive. Many students were not shy to share their amazing ideas to support students who may feel outcast or unable to join social games and events. One student recommended that him and his friend group see if students in the self-contained program classes wanted to play soccer with them as he has seen him kick a ball by himself before. I also was amazed to see how many students were eager to learn how to communicate with those using alternative ways of communication, and seeing them want to learn how to interact with AAC devices and practice greeting students who use devices to communicate!"

Valerina Hilton

Kindergarten Teacher

La Escuelita Education Center

At La Escuelita Education Center, Inclusion Week created space for students to explore empathy, difference, and community through classroom conversations, books, and collaborative projects.

Valerina Hilton shared her excitement about the resources and activities right away:

"I'm loving your resources and daily activities! There's so much to do and share with my students. My class is having wonderful conversations filled with empathy, and they are embracing your books and resources."

She added:

"We need more of this in our schools."

Looking back on the week, she said:

"Well, my class really loved learning about inclusion, and we had great conversations about how we are all different and can support each other in our community. My class showed a lot of compassion and were very interested in how others navigate the world around them."

She also highlighted how the work extended beyond her own classroom:

"Our CSM read We Move Together. Our CSM had older students read announcements in the morning about inclusion week to the whole school on the loudspeaker."

La Escuelita's Inclusion Week activities included:

• Daily classroom conversations about empathy, difference, and community
• Reading books from the Disability Access Library, including Cleversticks
• Students engaging with Inclusion Week books and resources
• A CSM read-aloud of We Move Together
• Older students reading the Inclusion Week announcements to the school over the loudspeaker
• Students creating an Inclusive Town project designed for everyone

Ms. Hilton closed with a reflection that speaks to the deeper purpose of the week:

"It's really not about the prize, but it's the awareness, empathy, and understanding that has been gifted to our future leaders."

Robyn Brody-Kaplan

Special Education Teacher

West Oakland Middle School

At West Oakland Middle School, Inclusion Week invited students to think about disability rights, activism, and belonging through advisory lessons, film, discussion, and student-created materials.

Robyn Brody-Kaplan described the school-wide work this way:

"The entire school has advisory classes and the information was shared. Students had to work through the slide deck, watch the videos and have a discussion around the Capitol Crawl and talk about the importance of activism."

She also shared that:

"Special education classes watched the videos and made signs for the school to inform everyone."

And she described another piece of the week's learning:

"Students [were] practicing reading books with inclusion topics: stimming, being different and inclusion. Students will be reading to the elementary school students later this week."

She added more context about how the school approached the learning during advisory:

"Special ed activity.... was screening the short movies about the capitol crawl and the students creating posters to hang in school. School-wide event was held during morning advisory- there was a day dedicated to inclusion. Our advisory is 45 minutes and students had to reflect and discuss the capitol crawl as well as watch the videos. The discussion reflected the impact of being an activist and hosting an event, not just a letter writing campaign."

West Oakland Middle School's Inclusion Week activities included:

• School-wide advisory lessons dedicated to Inclusion Week
• Student engagement with slide decks, videos, and discussion prompts
• Learning about the Capitol Crawl and the role of activism in disability rights
• Special education students screening short films and creating posters for the school
• Students reading and preparing books on stimming, being different, and inclusion
• Plans for students to read those books to elementary school students

When asked what inspired her to become a special education teacher and champion inclusion, Brody-Kaplan shared:

"I taught for 11 years before I became a special education teacher but always embraced a variety of different ways of teaching and students showing what they know! As a kid growing up I was a slow reader, pulled out to learn how to read... I knew how to read I was just slower than my fellow classmates. I also read faster when I read aloud, but back then that wasn't encouraged while reading in school. I had a lot of thoughts and ideas but couldn't get it down on paper with the proper grammar. Even in college and in my masters program... I was just slow and never a good writer but I knew I had a lot of good ideas.

I wanted to make sure I was able to share those ideas and thoughts with the world... but more importantly I knew there were other kids/students like me out there... they understand what's going on, can comprehend a story, get the gist of movies and stuff but can't read it on their own or explain it in written form. As a lover of the arts, I have always known that there are more creative ways to show and explain what one really knows. There is more than one way to test a skill.

Plus I am just a fierce advocate of people - the modern world gives us tools but education sometimes falls behind or lacks. We need to give people tools in order for them to reach their full potential and to challenge them!"

On what she believes students took away from the week:

"That there was no shame in any of this - we have all been supported by the Capitol Crawl, we have all benefited whether you are special education or not. Students want to be in some of the support classes because they see it as support and helpful! Also - students were commenting about the posters and bragging that it connects to them!"