Waterford Today

South Lyon Community Schools shines a spotlight on one of their co-taught first grade classrooms at Hardy Elementary, which has shown tremendous academic and social-emotional growth.

At their May 16 board of education meeting, the South Lyon Community Schools welcomed co-teachers Andrea Stevens and Ashley Bentz to the podium to talk about their first-grade classroom. Bentz is a special education teacher, and Stevens is a general education teacher who has taught kindergarten, first grade and second grade in the South Lyon Community Schools for many years. They also have the addition of a paraprofessional in their classroom.

“It's made me really want to look at, how do we do inclusion? How flexible are we willing to be, and how much are we really wanting to hold on to what we've always done, in favor of changing things for the betterment of all of the kids at Hardy?” Ashley Benz, special education teacher at Hardy elementary school, said at the meeting. “When I graduated, I wanted to work at Hardy because I think all of the kids have such an amazing opportunity to learn alongside one another. And I really want to look at, how do we do that and how do we do it better? And how do we change it with how litigation is changing, how special ed law is changing, and how do we really meet everybody where they're at and truly individualize for them? And I think this is a great step in that direction, and I hope we can continue to find ways to make this happen.”

Their joint class has a mix of all types of students, with their total class of 20, representing five students on modified curriculum with individual individualized education plans (IEPs), five general education students with IEPs, three students with behavior plans, and four students with English Language Development services.

They also have an inclusion student who occasionally joins the class, and all students are “working collaboratively together and learning in a pretty cool environment,” according to Bentz.

Stevens also commented on the collaboration in the classroom. "One of the things is, if any one of you were to walk into our classroom... our goal was that you won't be able to pick out who the five [modified curriculum students] are or what anyone's needs are in the classroom, because they are all collaboratively learning throughout the entire day in all activities, all subject areas together throughout the whole day.”

The teachers also feel that having both of them there and the focus on collaboration has helped them change curriculum or lessons on the fly to best suit students’ needs and interests.

Bentz said that she has seen all students grow in confidence and academic interest this year, especially the five special education students who she had in a special ed classroom last year. They are all much more confident in their work and aren’t afraid to try new things. She gave one example of a young girl who hated having to write in class last year, and now absolutely loves it and shares her work with the class. The teachers said that the students in their class bond with each other and have a high level of understanding, looking past all of their differences.

The responses from the parent input survey were also very positive. Parents said their kids were more outgoing and got along better with all of their peers. They also enjoyed the instructional model of the classroom because it gave them greater access and communication with the educators and adults that were with their kids every day, many saying they are hoping that co-taught classrooms will be expanded in the district.