Leading for All: How to Create Truly Inclusive and Excellent Schools

by Jennifer Spencer-Iiams

If the student has more significant learning challenges, the learning target can help the team decide how to modify the content in a way that allows the student to continue to engage with their grade-level peers. Continuing with the Romeo and Juliet example from above, there is a range of possible modifications depending on the student’s level of comprehension and expressive communication. The teacher may ask the student to write a sentence about each of the six characters and describe their relationship to Romeo or Juliet. Or the teacher may provide descriptors of each character and ask the student to match them to the character named. Or if comprehending the story of Romeo and Juliet is too difficult, the teacher may ask the student to identify the motivations of characters in a simpler format—perhaps a graphic novel or a simplified pictorial text. Clarity and precision in the original learning target allow the classroom teacher and learning specialist to distill the essential concepts and skills for a broad range of learners.