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Special Education Association of Saanich
School District #63 |
Chapter Report - November 2022
This past year we continued our SEAS meetings despite the pandemic making gathering more difficult. We held all our meetings virtually except for the last meeting in June which was held in person and was so welcome by the group as we were finally able to be together again. At that meeting we thanked Fiona Mosher for her dedication, organization, and service as our SEAS president for the past few years and voted in our new president, Sarah Birrell (past vice-president) and our new vice-president Lisa Gartrell Yeo.
Our meetings throughout the year continued to be an opportunity to share questions, suggestions, and tools that support our role as ISTs. We shared on topics such as: IEP writing on MyEd, assessment tools and intervention strategies for struggling readers, how to create visuals and video modeling for teachers and students to build consistency within a school, and reference materials to help teachers understand the levels of support in our schools (e.g. why and when to ask for a SBT meetings). We were also fortunate to have one of our elementary school teams share their experience
when Shelly Moore came to their school for a few days to work with staff and students. Finally, we were once again fortunate to have Dan Duncan present to teachers, parents, and EAs across the district on understanding ADHD from “the inside out”. The one hour virtual presentation was funded by SEAS and positively received by all who attended.
In addition to the learning we did together, we also discussed issues and concerns we wanted to bring forward to our Saanich Teachers Association president as he participated in bargaining on our behalf. We shared our concern over caseloads, reduced learning support and IST time in schools, and the ever-expanding responsibilities we seem to be taking on. This also allowed us to take the time to clarify our role as ISTs and what we are not required to do (e.g. EA scheduling). Being able to share experiences in different schools is so valuable because it allows for perspective and reflection on how we are spending our time.
Our meetings are also a productive time to speak to changes we wish to see in our district in the administration and record keeping role. Suggestions for ways to streamline referrals, effective ways to safely do document sharing with the School Board Office, and questions around the types of information we are asked to collect, were collected from the group. We could then meet with our District Learning Support leaders to pass along our suggestions from a practical perspective so they could work with us in making changes to help build efficiency.
Our goal for the 2022-2023 year is to send out a survey to the ISTs in our district asking them what they would like to focus on this year as we continue to collaborate, learn, and support one another. Based on conversations this year, there seems to be interest in doing more professional development around topics such as interventions for literacy and numeracy challenges, assessment tools, and social thinking curriculum. We hope to meet bi-monthly as a group and to provide resources to continue to support our district’s ISTs as well as provide a space for their voice.
Sarah Birrell,
SEAS President
Our meetings throughout the year continued to be an opportunity to share questions, suggestions, and tools that support our role as ISTs. We shared on topics such as: IEP writing on MyEd, assessment tools and intervention strategies for struggling readers, how to create visuals and video modeling for teachers and students to build consistency within a school, and reference materials to help teachers understand the levels of support in our schools (e.g. why and when to ask for a SBT meetings). We were also fortunate to have one of our elementary school teams share their experience
when Shelly Moore came to their school for a few days to work with staff and students. Finally, we were once again fortunate to have Dan Duncan present to teachers, parents, and EAs across the district on understanding ADHD from “the inside out”. The one hour virtual presentation was funded by SEAS and positively received by all who attended.
In addition to the learning we did together, we also discussed issues and concerns we wanted to bring forward to our Saanich Teachers Association president as he participated in bargaining on our behalf. We shared our concern over caseloads, reduced learning support and IST time in schools, and the ever-expanding responsibilities we seem to be taking on. This also allowed us to take the time to clarify our role as ISTs and what we are not required to do (e.g. EA scheduling). Being able to share experiences in different schools is so valuable because it allows for perspective and reflection on how we are spending our time.
Our meetings are also a productive time to speak to changes we wish to see in our district in the administration and record keeping role. Suggestions for ways to streamline referrals, effective ways to safely do document sharing with the School Board Office, and questions around the types of information we are asked to collect, were collected from the group. We could then meet with our District Learning Support leaders to pass along our suggestions from a practical perspective so they could work with us in making changes to help build efficiency.
Our goal for the 2022-2023 year is to send out a survey to the ISTs in our district asking them what they would like to focus on this year as we continue to collaborate, learn, and support one another. Based on conversations this year, there seems to be interest in doing more professional development around topics such as interventions for literacy and numeracy challenges, assessment tools, and social thinking curriculum. We hope to meet bi-monthly as a group and to provide resources to continue to support our district’s ISTs as well as provide a space for their voice.
Sarah Birrell,
SEAS President
Chapter Report - March 2021
Our meetings have taken place on MS Teams this year and we are able to get people 'out' who wouldn't normally be able to come to an in-person meeting. During COVID we decided that when we could return to in-person meetings, we would keep most of our meetings to a virtual format to allow more people to come. Our membership is at 13 and we consider that to be a good number based on the pressure that this year has brought our members. At our monthly meetings we also have 5 draws and everyone loves those. There's always chocolate!
This year we have had a presentation by the Vice President, Sarah Birrell, on Social Competency. This was based on Michelle Garcia Winner's work on Social Thinking. We also have many of our members attending the Competency Based IEP workshops that Shelley Moore is holding on EventBrite. The sessions take place on Saturdays from 10-12 and they cost around $25/session. There are about 8 sessions in the workshop. We've had wonderful discussions on assessments and shared some information on using the Jerry Johns. After the Pro-D in February, we made sure we had time to share information and resources that we learned about.
In March, after Spring Break, we will be hosting Dan Duncan who will do a Zoom presentation on ADHD. We have been able to open up this workshop to our entire school district.
This year has been about supporting each other and sharing resources to make our job easier. We appreciate that the TIE-BC meetings have been on Zoom so that we can be more involved and agree that it would be best to continue in this way as much as possible.
Fiona Mosher
SEAS President
This year we have had a presentation by the Vice President, Sarah Birrell, on Social Competency. This was based on Michelle Garcia Winner's work on Social Thinking. We also have many of our members attending the Competency Based IEP workshops that Shelley Moore is holding on EventBrite. The sessions take place on Saturdays from 10-12 and they cost around $25/session. There are about 8 sessions in the workshop. We've had wonderful discussions on assessments and shared some information on using the Jerry Johns. After the Pro-D in February, we made sure we had time to share information and resources that we learned about.
In March, after Spring Break, we will be hosting Dan Duncan who will do a Zoom presentation on ADHD. We have been able to open up this workshop to our entire school district.
This year has been about supporting each other and sharing resources to make our job easier. We appreciate that the TIE-BC meetings have been on Zoom so that we can be more involved and agree that it would be best to continue in this way as much as possible.
Fiona Mosher
SEAS President
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