This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 173 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we're going to look at how ELA and Special Ed teachers can collaborate

to produce fantastic student writing.

For over seven years I was a middle school English language arts teacher.

English language arts or ELA as we often abbreviate it includes reading, writing, speaking,

and listening skills.

All of these are complex skills to teach but in my experience the most challenging one

was writing.

That challenge was intensified when it came to students with learning differences.

Every year about 10% of my total students were identified as having some kind of learning

difference.

These students were given extra support outlined in their IEPs in the form of accommodations,

separate resource classes, and sometimes specialist who worked alongside them in my class.

This framework of support had mixed results and usually this depended on who filled the

role of specialist.

Some did an outstanding job of providing support and communicating to me what students needed.

While others took more of a back seat to whatever I had planned, the work they did with

students was kind of a mystery to me.

And then there was me.

My training in special education consisted of one three credit courses and undergraduate

and I barely remembered any of it.

In all the years that I had students with learning differences in my classes, I never got

...