Special Education Directors,

Please join us for the next episode of Thursday Afternoon LEarning Series, or TALES, on Thursday, August 20 from 2:30 p.m.—4:00 p.m., when STAR Autism Support presents, “Navigating a Socially-Distanced Classroom for Students with Significant Learning Needs.” Due to COVID-19 and related guidelines from state and local health officials, school staff are faced with the challenges of maintaining social distancing on campus for the 2021 school year. STAR trainer, Kara Magee-Arick, will discuss best practices and tips for navigating the new guidelines for students with significant learning needs, as well as creative, evidence-based practices for teaching students routines focused on social distancing, the importance of wearing a mask, and staying healthy through self-care routines. In addition to providing free visual supports and resources, Jennifer will also discuss ways to support families navigating new challenges at home. Participants will learn strategies and tools that can be used with students in pre-K through postsecondary classrooms.

During this TALES session, participants will also learn about the resources provided by STAR Autism Support supported by ESS available during this unprecedented period of remote learning. All Arizona educators may now receive FREE access to The STAR Online Learning System (SOLS) through STAR Autism Support for 2021 school year. This free access includes:

• Leveled curriculum designed for students with autism and other developmental disabilities
• Extensive scripted lesson plans across three strands and eight curricular areas (greeting/circle, academic lessons, language, functional academics, natural communication, engaging in diverse activities, functional routines, independent work)
• Theme-based and routine-centered curriculum for primary and secondary students

Please click here to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Participant registration is first-come, first-served and is not limited to special educators – feel free to forward.

Questions regarding this professional learning opportunity can be sent to [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following message about an upcoming professional learning opportunity with general and special education teachers who teach mathematics.

Happy new school year! We hope that you had a chance to recharge and rejuvenate this summer!

The next school year is already here! The ADE Math Team will be starting Math Office Hours again this month. These meetings are designed to support general education and special education teachers individually as well as to problem-solve as colleagues on current issues faced in teaching and learning this fall. Please join us to learn and laugh with each other and to talk about what is working and how we can support each other and problem-solve together.

Each meeting will be scheduled for 1 hour with an extra 30 minutes at the end for any questions or problems that did not get solved during Math Office Hours.

We hope to see you online, but we are also only an email away if you need anything.

The ADE Mathematics Team  

Suzi Mast – Director K-12 Math Standards 
Eboney McKinney – ESS Math Specialist 
Jenifer Hutchinson – ESS Math Specialist 

Grades K-2 AZ Math Office Hours 
When: August 18, 2020 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Arizona time, 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. – optional problem solving half hour.
Register in advance for the Grades K-2 meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

Grades 3-6 AZ Math Office Hours 
When: August 19, 2020 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Arizona time, 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. – optional problem solving half hour.
Register in advance for the Grades 3-6 meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

Grades 7- Algebra 2 AZ Math Office Hours 
When: Aug 20, 2020 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Arizona time, 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. – optional problem solving half hour.
Register in advance for the Algebra 2 meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

Special Education Directors,

The ADE/ESS is pleased to announce training for school personnel on how to recognize and intervene with commonly occurring behavioral health issues.

The National Council for Behavioral Health will deliver Youth Mental Health First Aid Certification Training to Arizona educators. The training will take place September 14 – 16, 2020 on an online platform using a synchronous format from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. with a break for lunch.

This 3-day interactive training will teach participants how to:

• Teach the Youth Mental Health First Aid course, which includes the 5-step action plan, evidence-supported treatment and self-help strategies, and prevalence data
• Present the program with fidelity to the tested core model
• Apply the program to a range of adult learning styles
• Tailor presentations to diverse audiences and learning environments

Upon the successful completion of the course requirements, as outlined by the National Council for Behavioral Health, participants will be certified to teach the standard Youth Mental Health First Aid course. Visit the Youth Mental Health First Aid Training website for more information.

The cost of the training is $50. Space in the trainings is extremely limited.

Please submit an application to participate in the training.

Special Education Directors,

Please join us for the next episode of Thursday Afternoon LEarning Series, or TALES, on Thursday, August 6 from 2:45 p.m.—4:00 p.m., when Tony Vincent presents, “Crafting a Class Brand Together.” Developing an inclusive community of learners is key to starting out a successful school year, especially when class takes place online. Tony Vincent has advice for making a strong personal connection with all learners by crafting a class brand together. The process begins with interesting activities for teachers and students to get to know each other. Afterward, students take what they have in common and determine what they collectively stand for. Then the class comes to a consensus on a class name, logo, and slogan. Tony notes that when students rally around an authentic brand, they feel a strong sense of community, work harder, and achieve more. See how Tony’s fifth graders put their brand into action, understand how it was developed, and consider how you might give your class, club, or group a unique identity this school year.

Please click here to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Participant registration is first-come, first-served and is not limited to special educators – feel free to forward. Questions regarding this professional learning opportunity can be sent to [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

The ADE/School Support & Improvement, in partnership with Ricky Robertson from Corwin Press, would like to invite you to participate in two FREE virtual Resiliency and Social Emotional Learning workshop series that will provide intentional professional learning on educator self-care, understanding behavior as communication, and trauma sensitive social emotional learning.

COVID-19 has changed our landscape, making this support for educators and students an essential first step to sustain academic achievement. The workshop series is for teachers, teacher teams, administrators, leadership teams, paraprofessionals, social workers, counselors and other support staff. School and district leaders can enroll their whole school teams for these sessions.

Please see the announcement for more information about the series and registration.

Special Education Directors,  

Please join us for the next episode of Thursday Afternoon LEarning Series, or TALES, on Thursday, July 23 from 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m., when we present, “Get a Move On!” Students with special needs may have difficulties attending, processing, and recalling information during distance learning. Research tells us that movement and brain breaks have great potential to help students learn and remember. Physical movement and brain breaks can have positive effects on executive function, attention, and recall and may also reduce stress. Yet, with distance learning extended through the middle of August, students may be spending time in front of monitors and screens and moving less than ever. In this session, an OT, a PT, and an SLP will be sharing no-cost ways to easily integrate movement activities, sensory experiences, and brain breaks in distance learning. Join us on July 23 and help your students get a move on! 

Please click here to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Participant registration is first-come, first-served and is not limited to special educators – feel free to forward. Questions regarding this professional learning opportunity can be sent to [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you there,

Margaret Egan, PT

Mitch Galbraith, MS, OTR/L

Mary Keeney, CCC-SLP

Special Education Directors,

Please see the available professional development opportunities below.

Dive Deep into AZ Math Standards

for

Special Education Teachers

We know that, as special education teachers, you are typically working across multiple grade levels and with students who have various strengths, and we are here to support you in making it all work!

Join us as we spend time diving into our math standards and supporting documents to consider the following:

• Where are the students coming from? We will delineate content from the previous grade level.
• What do they need to learn this year? We will discuss the major content standards of the current grade level and how we can embed previous year learnings.
• Where are they headed? We will look at connections across grade bands that will support student learning in subsequent years.

See the list of sessions below, and please feel free to sign up for the session(s) that are most relevant to you, based on the students that you support. These sessions are a repeat of the sessions offered in June, and we welcome teachers who are attending for the first time and those who wish to join us again!

Elementary Sessions

• Grades K-2:  July 21, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
• Grades 2-3: July 22, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
• Grades 3-5: July 23, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
• Grades 5-6: July 24, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Secondary Sessions

• 6^th Grade: July 21, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
• 7^th – 8^th Grade: July 22, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
• HS Algebra I/II: July 23, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
• HS Geometry: July 24, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

Special Education Directors,

ADE/ESS is pleased to announce additional training opportunities for Arizona’s schools with The Neurosequential Model Network. The trainings will assist schools in dealing with trauma and its effects on students. There are two training programs available to schools:

Neurosequential Model in Education

The Neurosequential Model in Education (NME) draws upon the neurodevelopmentally informed, biologically respectful perspective on human development and functioning to help educators understand student behavior and performance. The goals of NME are to educate faculty and students in basic concepts of neurosequential development and then teach them how to apply this knowledge to the teaching and learning process. NME is not a specific “intervention;” rather, it is a way to educate school staff about brain development and developmental trauma and then to further teach them how to apply that knowledge to their work with students in and outside the classroom, particularly those students with adverse childhood experiences. This training is for classroom teachers and is a trainer-of-trainers model, and participants will be equipped to bring strategies back to their schools. See this document that provides further details about the training expectations.

Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics

The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) is a developmentally informed, biologically-respectful approach to working with at-risk children and is a way to organize a child’s history and current functioning. The goal of this approach is to structure the assessment of a child, the articulation of the primary problems, the identification of key strengths, and the application of interventions (educational, enrichment, and therapeutic) in a way that will help family, educators, therapists, and related professionals best meet the needs of the child. (This training is for Master’s level school social workers, school counselors, or school psychologists.) See this document that provides further details about the training expectations.

Please join the Neurosequential Model Network for an informational session on July 24, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. to learn more about the trainings and hear from other Arizona schools who have been learning and implementing the model for over a year. Admission into the training series will require attendance at the webinar (or viewing of the recorded webinar) and submission of an application provided at the conclusion of the webinar on July 24. The cost of the training is $150.

Please click here to register for the informational session. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Email Aanya Rispoli any questions you have about this professional learning opportunity.

Special Education Directors,  

Please join us for the next episode of Thursday Afternoon LEarning Series, or TALES, on Thursday, July 9 from 2:45 p.m.— 4:15 p.m., when Tony Vincent presents, “Electrify Any Lesson.” You’ll discover ways to turn a potentially boring lesson into a brilliant one. Make learning irresistible by hooking your students' senses, connecting to background knowledge, making predictions, and building mysteries. Experience pixelated pictures, blacked out text, research scrambles, locked content, customized Mad Libs, mystery maps, emoji messages, and other inviting ways to captivate learners. These “quick wins” are great for any lesson, whether they are in a classroom or online.  

 Please click here to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Participant registration is first-come, first-served and is not limited to special educators – feel free to forward. 

Questions regarding this professional learning opportunity can be sent to [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

Are you anxious about starting the new school year without the data you typically rely on? Are you worried about how your school can meet the learning needs of all students during these uncertain times? ADE is here with research-based strategies to help!

The Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services, is pleased to announce a Data-Based Individualization Professional Learning Series in partnership with the National Center on Intensive Intervention.

Given the limited information about students’ skills as they begin the new school year, teachers will need to be more intentional than ever about assessing students’ current functioning and providing targeted and intensive intervention. The Data-Based individualization (DBI) Professional Learning Series teaches educators a research-based process for individualizing and intensifying interventions for students with and without disabilities through the systematic use of assessment data, validated interventions, and research-based adaptation strategies.

If your school is interested in participating in the series, please register your team (principal, special education teacher and general education teacher, coach, or interventionist) for a readiness webinar on July 15, 2020 from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Admission into the training series will require participation in the webinar and submission of an application provided at the webinar and due on July 27, 2020. If your team cannot attend the webinar on July 15 but is interested in participating in the learning series, please email Kim Rice.

For more information, please see this flyer or contact Kim Rice, Exceptional Student Services Program Specialist.