U.S. experts in inclusive education together with their Ukrainian partners conducted workshops Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskiy, Lviv and Kyiv. The events were supported by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy and organized by USG Exchange Alumni small grants program members, their schools and colleges, Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, U.S. Embassy and Step into Life NGO.
Stephanie Fitzgerald, Joy Lee Fredrickson and Clay Keller joined Without Borders: Sustaining and Developing Inclusive Education Learning Community project aiming at developing leadership capacity in inclusive education and strengthening the U.S.-Ukrainian Partnership.
Sergiy Sydoriv of Ivano-Frankivsk college Precarpathian national university who was a co-presenter says it was not easy, but fun. When you feel the support and motivation from our U.S. colleagues, you know that you are doing right thing.
Here are just titles of workshops and presentations in just 2 cities, much more is beyond words…!
IVANO-FRANKIVSK, November 21-22, 2019
Regional Workshop INCLUSIVE PRACTICES: UKRAINE-US COOPERATION
Target group: college and university students (Special Education, Elementary Education, Preschool Education), graduates-teachers who participated in the previous workshops, university lecturers, school teachers and kindergarten educators, school psychologists, speech therapists, education administrators. Total 196 participants.
November 21
Plenary presentation
Inclusive Vector of Ivano-Frankivsk College: Results and Prospects, Svitlana Nesterenko, deputy-principal, Ivano-Frankivsk college, Precarpathian national university
Without Borders: Sustaining and Developing Inclusive Education /Community project – developing inclusive learning environment, Sergiy Sydoriv, project leader
Multidisciplinary Approach towards Training Pre-service Kindergarten Teachers to Work in Inclusive Environment, Oksana Selepiy, Ivano-Frankivsk college
Inclusion through the eyes of students, Iryna Skavinska, undergraduate student
Video show
REGIONAL TRAINING. Co-presenters: Stephanie Fitzgerald, Joy Lee Fredrickson,, Clay Keller, Sergiy Sydoriv, Oksana Selepiy, Natalia Bohoslavets, Zoreslava Hretchuk, Lidia Sydoriv, Nadia Datsio
All Students Means ALL Students, Joy Lee Fredrickson, school administrator, Osseo school district, MN. Expertise in teaching & supervising special education services for students birth through 21 years of age. Participants will be inspired to lead transformational system changes to meet the needs of EACH student and understand the customization of education through Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
A Look at Transition in the United States, Stephanie Fitzgerald, special education practitioner, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Expertise in transition programs, elementary education, teaching of the physically impaired and work-based learning. The presentation will discuss the transition from school to adulthood for students with disabilities and show you what a transition program may look like. There will be a Walk and Talk activity at the beginning of this presentation that will help participants get to know one another and share their experiences on a number of questions.
Creating Positive Environments to Support All Students, Clay Keller, special education professor and program coordinator at the University of Minnesota, Qatar University and the Special Education Division of the Minnesota Department of Education. Expertise in academic program development, especially at the graduate level to increase the leadership capacity for inclusive education and establish government and university partnerships. Multi-tiered systems of support provide frameworks that can harness educational practices in pursuit of inclusion. The presentation will begin by briefly reviewing such systems of support, extending them to inclusive education. It will then describe in more detail Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, a tiered system that can create positive school and classroom environments and promote a preventative approach to classroom management.
Four workshops ART THERAPY AND ART PEDAGOGY IN INCLUSIVE SETTINGS
- Game Therapy in Inclusive Education, Oksana Selepiy, Tetyana Daniv, Ivano-Frankivsk college
- Shadow Play (Theatre therapy) in Inclusive Education, Natalia Nykorak, Ivano-Frankivsk college
- Paint therapy, Kateryna Gotsulyak, Tetyana Stambulska, Ivano-Frankivsk college
- Storytelling, Olha Sorokalita, Lidia Sydoriv, Ivano-Frankivsk college
Panel discussion
Speakers: a teacher, a student, a school psychologist, a speech therapist, ESP (preschool). ESP (school), a principal, a college teacher, an educator, an inclusion expert, a Department of Education officer.
November 22
INCLUSIVE IDEAS CO-WORKING
Presentations, video filming, poster designing, brainstorming and sharing ideas for practical implementing Day 1 ideas.
Facilitators: Iryna Skavinska, Lidia Sydoriv, Ivano-Frankivsk college
Workshop ART THERAPY FOR CHILDREN WITH SEN
Facilitator: Hanna Maksymchuk, Ivano-Frankivsk college.
Reflections, certificates award session
KYIV
International conference Sustaining Inclusive Education Community: Ukraine-U.S. cooperation, America House Kyiv, November 23, 2019
Sergiy Sydoriv, project director, Without Borders: Sustaining and Developing Inclusive Education Community, Precarpathian national university. The project and National Inclusive Education Consortium: developing inclusive learning environment
Sean О’Hara, Cultural Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Vira Ternovska, Academic Affairs Specialist, Public Affairs Section,U.S. Embassy Welcome speech to conference participants
Valentyna Khivrych, director-general, Directorate of Inclusive and Extracurricular Education, Ministry of Education and Sciences of Ukraine. Inclusive Education in Ukraine: realities of today
Yurii Demedyuk, head of expert group of Extracurricular Education, Directorate of Inclusive and Extracurricular Education, Ministry of Education and Sciences of Ukraine. Inclusion in Extracurricular Education
Marianna Onufryk, head of NGO “Social synergy”. ICF in Inclusive Education
Anna Zaplatynska, Ph.D, associate professor, head of department of orthopedagogics, orthopsychology and rehabilitation, faculty of special and inclusive education, Dragomanov national pedagogical university. Special technologies of learning in supporting students with SEN
Svitlana Nesterenko, Ph.D, vice-principal, Iryna Skavinska, student, Ivano-Frankivsk college, Precarpathian national university. Inclusive Vector of Ivano-Frankivsk College: Results and Prospects
Inna Yashchuk, doctor of pedagogics, professor, dean of department of elementary education and philology, Tetyana Tsegelnyk, teacher, Olga Polyanovska, Ph.D, assistant professor, Kateryna Binytska, doctor of pedagogics, professor of Khmelnytskiy Humanities and Pedagogy Academy. Training pre-service teachers to work in inclusion settings in Khmelnytskiy Humanities and Pedagogics Academy.
Anna Sobchuk, postgraduate student,department of elementary and preschool education, Lviv national University, Natalia Pryimak, methods specialist, Lviv Department for Education Training pre-service and in-service teachers to work in inclusion environment
WORKSHOPS. LINE 1: US EXPERIENCE IN INCLUSION
Transition: What it looks like for Parents, Stephanie Fitzgerald, Co-presenting Valentyna Malanchii
Co-Teaching through UDL to Ensure Equitable Student Achievement, Joy Lee Fredrickson, Co-presenting Olha Telna
Creating Positive Environments to Support All Students, Clay Keller,.Co-presenting Sergiy Sydoriv
WORKSHOPS. LINE 2: BEST INCLUSIVE PRACTICES FROM UKRAINIAN TEACHERS
Nataliya Ivashura, teacher, department of special education and psychology, Kharkiv Academy of Humanities and Pedagogics, head of charity fund “Flowers of Life”. Developing individual trajectory of teaching autistic children. Facilitating Olha Telna
Iryna Bigus, finalist of “Teacher of the Year – 2019” contest, nomination “Teacher of inclusive class”, elementary school teacher, Ivanna Horbatyuk, teacher’s assistant, school № 8, Khmelnytskiy. 1+1=succes: a clue for effective cooperation between a teacher and an assistant. Facilitating Valentyna Malanchii
The project is alive and kicking!
