ALIST Spotlight: Denise Williams- 3rd Grade Teacher, Twin Valley South Elementary

When coaching at Twin Valley South Elementary, we have often found ourselves in Denise William’s 3rd grade classroom. Many of the students with special needs have been placed in Denise’s general education classroom. She has the perfect personality to support inclusion. She is organized and communicates clear expectations in a positive way. Denise knows how to engage all of her students in learning by being flexible and identifying ways to differentiate instruction.  If one of her students is struggling, she collaborates with IEP team members to determine what support strategies can be implemented. Denise warmly embraces all of her students and wants to see them all succeed. She teaches her class the importance of being kind and helpful with each other.

Here are a few examples of the tools and strategies that have been implemented in Denise’s classroom:

Special Interest Visual Contracts

To motivate participation in learning, some students work for tokens to earn a reward break. To help one student better connect to this tool, IS, Diana Caine, used a special interest theme and created this Roller Coaster contract. Denise took this idea and created a Shark contract for another student. We love to see teachers take what they learn for one student and apply it to another with similar needs. This is a great way to build capacity!

Calming Space

Denise created this awesome calming space within her classroom. This allows students to deescalate without having to leave her room. We love the special interest theme of Antarctica as a cool place to chill! The space includes an emotions check-in chart and a list of tips and strategies to feel calm again. Denise also provided a student with this portable Self-Regulation folder to help the student and staff identify strategies to improve regulation.

In-the-moment breaks

We love how Denise implements tools and recommendations made by other members of the team, such as the related service providers. The SLP, Jandee Mowell, wanted to replace escape behaviors with functional communication by offering a tool to request a break. Instead of hitting, clearing the table, or dropping to the floor, the student learned that anytime he needed a break from the task demand, he could ask for it.

Modeling AAC

The staff in Denise’s class all understand the importance of functional communication. When a student needed to learn how to communicate using a device, paraprofessional, Sandy Chapman, took the time to learn how to use his device. She made an effort to model use of the device to help the student feel comfortable using it and to show him where to find the words he needed.

Twin Valley South is fortunate to have Denise and her team of professionals there to help students learn and grow. Denise is making successful inclusion in the general education classroom a reality!  We are happy to have her on our ALIST as a model for other general education teachers.