Breakout Session Workshops

with Dr. Shelley Moore

Description: In this session, we will look at how the goals of inclusion have continued to shift and evolve, as we learn more about diversity and identity. Participants will reflect on their own contexts and consider next steps for advocacy and action.

About the Presenter: Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dr. Shelley Moore is a highly sought-after inclusive education researcher, collaborator, consultant and storyteller, and has worked with school districts and community organizations throughout Canada and the United States.

Her research has been featured at international conferences including the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC), the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), The American Education Research Association (AERA), and the Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE).

Shelley completed her undergraduate degree in Special Education at the University of Alberta, her masters at Simon Fraser University, and her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia.

with Michele Gardner M.Ed. & James Coviello Ed.D.

Description: Dr. Coviello will summarize the findings of his research which was based in the theoretical conceptions of “adaptive” and “technical” challenges (Heifetz, 1994; Heifetz, et al., 2009). Technical challenges are those with a clear set of responses that would solve the problem, therefore a sufficient program or set of solutions can be identified and brought to bear to solve them. Adaptive problems are those without clear answers and “can only be addressed through changes in people's priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties” (Heifetz et al., 2009, p.19). Mrs. Gardner will then discuss the practical implications of these findings and how district and building level leaders can work collaboratively through both the technical and adaptive challenges they face when engaging in systemic change toward building more inclusive schools.

About the Presenters: Michele Gardner serves as NJCIE's Executive Director, joining the team with 26 years of experience in the New Jersey public schools, filling a variety of roles including paraprofessional, special education teacher, LDTC, Supervisor, Assistant Principal and Director of Special Services. She has also been an adjunct instructor with The College of New Jersey for almost 17 years for the Department of Special Education, Language & Literacy. Michele has dedicated her administrative career to making public schools inclusive spaces for students with a wide range of learning abilities. She is also the recipient of the 2020 NJCIE Inclusion Honors award and the 2020 NJASA Special Education Administrator of the Year.

James Coviello, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Administrative and Instructional Leadership at St. John's University. Dr. Coviello was a 2017 Graduate Fellow in Public Policy at the Archer Center of The University of Texas System and was named a David L. Clark Scholar by the American Educational Research Association in 2018. Before pursuing his doctorate at the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Coviello was a classroom teacher for ten years in New York and New Jersey. His research focuses on the intersection of equity, leadership, and policy implementation. Dr. Coviello’s most recent projects examine school leadership and inclusion for students with disabilities as well as district superintendents and local politics.

with Brittany Seeley, M.Ed.

Description: Educators and administrators will gain comprehensive strategies for fostering inclusive learning environments through Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Participants will delve into UDL principles, identify diverse learning needs, acquire practical techniques, promote engagement and access, foster collaborative learning communities, and strategize for equity and inclusion within educational settings.

About the Presenters: Brittany Seeley is a program director for NJCIE. She earned her M.Ed. in Special Education from East Stroudsburg University with a Supervisory and Administrative Certification. She has over 10 years of experience in working with students K-12 with significant emotional, behavioral, and social disabilities. Her areas of expertise are in behavioral interventions, classroom management strategies, academic and behavioral progress monitoring, restorative practices, mindfulness training, trauma-informed care, and social-emotional learning.

with Michelle Lockwood, M.S.

Description: Now more than ever teachers need effective tools to address the changing needs of their students while in the general education classroom, rather than relying on moving students to more segregated settings to "fix" the problem behavior or relying on ineffective discipline practices. While many times student behavior can be supported through class-wide measures, such as establishing clear expectations, verbally praising students, and having consistent consequences for misbehavior, not all students respond to these strategies. This session is designed to help participants apply a layered or tiered approach to developing positive behavioral interventions and supports in the general education classroom so that all learners can be successful. Participants will also be given tools they can use to evaluate their existing class behavioral supports, structures, and systems.

About the Presenter: Michelle serves as a Vice President for NJCIE. She has over 20+ years' of professional experience working with students and individuals in need of behavioral support. Michelle shares her expertise by providing professional education and support to school staff for the advancement of school-wide, classroom, and individual student positive behavior support systems. Michelle facilitates the development of behavior intervention plans for individual students and presents informative workshops to parent groups. Prior to joining NJCIE in 2007, Michelle was a Behavior Specialist and Inclusion Facilitator for the Howard County Public School System in Maryland.

with Lauren Tyndorf, Ed.D.

Description: Teachers face a number of challenges when working with students with disabilities to achieve inclusion for PE. Simple placement of students with disabilities is not sufficient to ensure that the needs of those students are met or that the environment is truly inclusive. Several factors must be considered and addressed to achieve true inclusion: a lack of experience in working with children having disabilities and a limited understanding of barriers that may prevent full participation. During this session, we will identify barriers and how to remove them. different strategies and techniques to create a more inclusive PE setting and provide a variety of modifications that will work for all students.

About the Presenter: Lauren Tyndorf, Ed.D., is an Inclusion Facilitator at NJCIE. She earned her MA in Motor Learning and Control, with a focus on improving abilities of children with cerebral palsy, and her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching in Physical Education, with a focus on inclusive practices in the education environment, receiving both degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. Lauren has been employed in numerous aspects of education for over 12 years, in both the public school and private school sectors, working to create more inclusive spaces for students of all abilities. Additional experience has been in working in various roles with both Special Olympics New Jersey and Special Olympics Washington.

with Julie Lang, M.A. & Alyssa Rush, M.A.

Description: School leaders may experience what feels like resistance from staff when moving forward with inclusion. Beliefs that people hold are comfortable, therefore, when beliefs are challenged, people can feel strong emotions and as a result become defensive. How can leaders interrupt and shift limited mental models of thinking with inclusive education? In this session, we will identify the most commonly expressed limited mental models in school settings and generate responses to interrupt this thinking.

About the Presenters: Julie is an Inclusion Facilitator for NJCIE. She has over 27 years of experience teaching and coaching in the NJ public school system. Her areas of expertise are teaching and co-teaching in an inclusive classroom, curriculum, literacy development, and literacy instruction. Julie is currently a doctoral candidate studying Instructional Leadership: Coaching and Mentoring.

Alyssa Rush

with Timothy Rohrer

Description: I am a young adult with autism that struggled to fit in socially at school. I am now a speaker, author, self-advocate and educator on disability inclusion. For years, social skills were only taught to students that receive special education services. My theory is you can’t create inclusive learning environments if the general education population isn’t taught about how to communicate and include students with disabilities. Everyone has something to learn from each other. I will present my tips on how to communicate, interact, accommodate and include students with disabilities to make classrooms a positive learning environment for everyone.

About the Presenter: Timothy Rohrer is a young adult with autism who is an author, speaker, self-advocate and educator of disability inclusion. He is the author of a teaching guide “How to be a Good Influence to People with Disabilities” and two children’s books “Timmy’s Story: A Story About Autism and Friendship” and “ Timmy’s Story: A Sensory Friendly Birthday.” He created his own website “Tips4Inclusion” and a YouTube Channel with his own original resources. He has spoken at schools, conferences, professional development workshops and even made his way to the top speaking at the NJ Department of Education. Tim has received a commendation from the NJ State Senate and Assemblymen and is also the managing partner of a teen founded, nonprofit organization, 5Help Foundation.

with Chinwe Osondu, Ed.D.

Description: This session will provide hands-on practice with various concrete and virtual manipulatives. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how to introduce and teach fractions so that students can learn, understand, and have fun in the process. They will also leave with resources that can be implemented the next day in their classrooms.

About the Presenter: Chinwe Osondu, Ed.D., is an Assistant Director and Math Specialist within the Office of Special Education, at the New Jersey Department of Education. She is an award-winning educator with a proven record of accomplishments. She has experience in grant management, managing teams, project management and providing engaging professional learning experiences to educators and families in the tri-state area. During her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, swimming, singing, and spending time with her family.

with Kelli Petrone Ph.D.

Description: This workshop explores the evidence based practice of the Gradual Release of Responsibility, and offers effective scaffolding techniques to use with students as you transfer responsibility for learning and knowledge over to them. Participants will answer the essential questions: When and how is teaching most powerfully enacted? Under what conditions does learning most powerfully occur? How do I sequence instruction to effectively transfer the load of cognitive complexity over to my students? How can the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model build capacity in my students as learners?

About the Presenter: Kelli Petrone, Ph.D., is a program director with NJCIE. She began her career as a special education teacher in San Francisco and has held various teaching and administrative positions in schools for 22 years. Kelli received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Grand Canyon University in the area of Cognition and Instruction. Her areas of expertise are in co-teaching, program development, and positive behavioral interventions.

with Francesca Ciotoli & Dr. Celeste Bonura

Description: This presentation describes effective professional development in Universal Design for Learning to better support inclusive teaching practices for K-8 teachers. Specifically, the presentation will describe the successful design and implementation of a two-year instructional rounds model of professional development. Instructional rounds engage participants in a collaborative inquiry process that results in discussion and examination of instruction. We will detail how this evidence-based approach helped teachers in a K-8 school district build a common language and understanding of effective, inclusive teaching and learning; engage in critical reflection to improve inclusive practices; and increase individual and collective self-efficacy.

About the Presenters: Francesca Ciotoli

Dr. Celeste Bonura

with Michael McSheehan

Description: Over the past two years a committee of national experts have been compiling a report on barriers and solutions to the inclusion of students with significant disabilities/extensive support needs (ESN). They have identified four significant insights with four matched solutions. In this session we will have a series of facilitated discussions and reflections on what the experts are saying and what it means for our practice.

About the Presenter: Michael’s life work has been at the intersection of disability and K-12 education. During his nearly twenty years at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, he co-led the Center on Inclusive Education, was a Clinical Assistant Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders and worked on a series of federal and state funded projects to improve the education of students with disabilities. He is the recipient of a Special Recognition Award from the New England Reading Association for his contributions to literacy learning for students with disabilities. Michael helped establish and lead the SWIFT Education Center, a national technical assistance center, working with states, districts, and schools to facilitate school reform. Michael now leads Evolve & Effect, LLC. With his team and partners, Michael consults with educators to advance equity and inclusion and to enhance the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional experiences of students with disabilities.

with Jordan Fagan, M.A., M.S.Ed, Jill Garrison, M.Ed., Timothy J. Urig, B.A., Christine Balestriere, M.S., Brendan Hodnett, M.A., Denise Shannon, M.Ed., Jennifer Werchinski, M.A.

Description: This presentation will delve into a compelling case study in practice on effective Collaborative Consultation in Middle School. Through a detailed examination of a successful initiative in inclusivity, attendees will gain insight into the intricacies of implementation, problem-solving, and communication strategies that contribute to positive outcomes. The case study will highlight challenges faced, innovative solutions implemented, and the role of diverse expertise in achieving success. Attendees can expect to draw practical lessons and actionable takeaways applicable to their own districts.

About the Presenters: Jordan Fagan is an Inclusion Facilitator for NJCIE. She earned her M.A. in Writing, Gender, and Culture from King's College London. She later earned her M.S.Ed in Educating Students with Disabilities from Brooklyn College. Jordan is a "people person" with a focus on building authentic relationships and creating opportunities for equitable access.

Jill Garrison, M.Ed., Timothy J. Urig, B.A., Christine Balestriere, M.S., Brendan Hodnett, M.A., Denise Shannon, M.Ed., and Jennifer Werchinski, M.A. are a team of middle school educators in the Middletown Township School District, located in central NJ. They have 107 years of combined experience and have specialties in a range of content areas and across multiple settings. The district is in year 2 of implementation of the ICC Model of support services.

with Dr. Jessica McQueston

Description: Creating a truly inclusive educational environment for students with disabilities requires a comprehensive approach that extends beyond mere physical presence. This workshop will explore the nuanced role of language in shaping perceptions of students with disabilities, strategies for integrating disability representation into curricula, and practical methods for embedding equity into every facet of your classroom and school community. Gain actionable insights and resources to cultivate a more inclusive and supportive environment where all students thrive.

About the Presenter: Dr. Jessica McQueston uses her lived experience with disability to ground her work as an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Sam Houston State University (Texas). She was a Special Educator, General Educator, and Literacy Interventionist in New Mexico before earning a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on the following themes: (a) understanding and addressing barriers to inclusive education for students with disabilities, particularly those with extensive support needs, (b) effective training practices for school staff supporting students with disabilities, and (c) incorporating disability studies and curriculum into teacher prep and school curriculum.

with David Jacobs, Ed.D. & Lauren Price

Description: Explore Mainland Regional High School's journey in advancing inclusion rates from 43% to 71% in 3 years. Discover key strategies like the Least Restrictive Environment, tailored support systems, and staff development. Embrace the Least Dangerous Principle, fostering an environment where every student thrives. Additionally, learn about our transformative PEERS Class, pairing high-achieving students with peers with special needs, fostering inclusion and a sense of belonging.

About the Presenters: David Jacobs

Lauren Price

with Sara Jutcovitch, M.A.

Description: At the core of special education, is specially designed instruction. IDEA (34 CFR 300.39) defines special education as “specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability" (34 CFR 300.39). In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the what, why, and how of specially designed instruction (SDI). We will explore what SDI is (and what it isn't) and how we can intentionally and purposefully plan for this instruction. We will examine practical and effective ways to design and evaluate instruction. Teachers will leave with new tools on how to design instruction with SDI at the forefront.

About the Presenter: Sara is an Inclusion Facilitator at NJCIE. She has ten years of classroom experience teaching in New York City. She has spent her career fostering inclusion through co-teaching. She earned her B.S. in Inclusive Elementary and Special Education from Syracuse University and then an M.A. in Literacy Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her areas of expertise are in co-teaching, differentiation, and literacy curriculum and instruction. Sara is deeply committed to social justice and helping all children receive an equitable and inclusive education.

with Kory Kutzler

Description: More than ever our teachers, administrators, and students need resiliency. In this training we will look at everyday stressors we all face. During this interactive training participants will practice different self-care techniques that they can use for themselves as well as in the classroom.

About the Presenter: Kory currently supervises one of the largest school-based partial hospitalization programs in Pennsylvania. He also oversees teachers and psychologists at the Northampton County Detention Center. Kory will share with us stories of his many personal traumas and significant losses and how this shifted his focus to mental health. He collaborated with a colleague to develop a trauma-informed care professional development series for educators Kory was featured on a PBS television series, discussing the importance of trauma-informed care.

with Kory Kutzler

Description: One out of every four children has been exposed to a traumatic event that can affect their well-being, learning, and/or behavior. If you care about and/or work with children and young people, it is important to understand what trauma is, how it can impact development, show up in day-to-day situations, and what you can do to create a safe environment for all youth so that they can heal and thrive. In this workshop we will cover a basic overview of trauma

About the Presenter: Kory currently supervises one of the largest school-based partial hospitalization programs in Pennsylvania. He also oversees teachers and psychologists at the Northampton County Detention Center. Kory will share with us stories of his many personal traumas and significant losses and how this shifted his focus to mental health. He collaborated with a colleague to develop a trauma-informed care professional development series for educators Kory was featured on a PBS television series, discussing the importance of trauma-informed care.