Page 65 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: Health and Physical Education, 2015 - revised

PLANNING HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS WITH
SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS
Classroom teachers are the key educators of students with special education needs. They have a responsibility to help all students learn, and they work collaboratively with special education teachers, where appropriate, to achieve this goal. Classroom teachers commit to assisting every student to prepare for living with the highest degree of independence possible.
Learning for All: A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12 (2013) describes a set of beliefs, based in research, that should guide program planning for students with special education needs in all disciplines. Teachers planning health and physical education courses need to pay particular attention to these beliefs, which are as follows:
• All students can succeed.
• Each student has his or her own unique patterns of learning.
• Successful instructional practices are founded on evidence-based research, tempered by experience.
• Universal design12 and differentiated instruction13 are effective and interconnected means of meeting the learning or productivity needs of any group of students.
• Classroom teachers are the key educators for a student’s literacy and numeracy development.
• Classroom teachers need the support of the larger community to create a learning environment that supports students with special education needs.
• Fairness is not sameness.
In any given classroom, students may demonstrate a wide range of strengths and needs. Teachers plan programs that recognize this diversity and give students performance tasks that respect their particular abilities so that all students can derive the greatest possible benefit from the teaching and learning process. The use of flexible groupings for instruction and the provision of ongoing assessment are important elements of programs that accommodate a diversity of learning needs.
In planning health and physical education courses for students with special education needs, teachers should begin by examining both the curriculum expectations in the course appropriate for the individual student and the student’s particular strengths and learning needs to determine which of the following options is appropriate for the student:
• no accommodations14 or modified expectations; or
• accommodations only; or
12. The goal of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is to create a learning environment that is open and accessible to all students, regardless of age, skills, or situation. Instruction based on principles of universal design is flexible and supportive, can be adjusted to meet different student needs, and enables all students to access the curriculum as fully as possible.
13. Differentiated instruction is effective instruction that shapes each student’s learning experience in response to his or her particular learning preferences, interests, and readiness to learn.
14. “Accommodations” refers to individualized teaching and assessment strategies, human supports, and/or individualized equipment (see Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12, 2010, p. 72).
SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROGRAM PLANNING
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