I. General Information
School Name: Brooklyn Elementary School
School District: SD#71 Comox Valley
Inquiry Team Members: Naomi Radawiec: naomi.radawiec@sd71.bc.ca, Deborah Koehn: deborahkoehn@gmail.com
Inquiry Team Contact Email: naomi.radawiec@sd71.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: SRL Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Other: Core Competencies
Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social), Self-regulation
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Developing self-regulation and independence in a classroom that values and responds to learner diversity.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: We have a class of 26 grade ⅚ students who are very diverse in the way they think, act, and their academic abilities. While roughly 13 (half the class) of the learners struggle with focus, attention and following instructions, about one third of them are very strong academically and are in need of a challenge. We noticed the need to help students develop a sense of agency and ownership over their learning, no matter where they are at and what their strengths/challenges are.
Focus: We chose to focus on metacognition, self-regulation, and learner ownership because we wanted students to better understand their strengths, challenges, and learning needs. Our goal was to help students develop greater agency and confidence so they could take risks, persevere through challenges, and see themselves as capable learners. We also wanted to deepen our understanding of neurodiversity, particularly ADHD, and explore strategies that support students with attention and focus challenges so that all learners could experience success and engagement in the classroom.
We focused on the First Peoples Principle of learning: Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.
Hunch: We wondered if accommodating these students had led to a dependence on their teacher? If we help them too much, that enables them to keep relying on adults throughout their days at school.
New Professional Learning: We learned more about neurodiversity, specifically ADHD, and how to support students with focus/attention challenges. We also learned more about meeting the needs of students who need a challenge. We did research into these two areas (reading literature), as well as talking with mentors and colleagues about how they have met the needs of diverse learners. We invited our school OT to collaborate with us and teach several lessons related to attention, focus and metacognition (awareness of thinking and behaviour).
We also continued to do research into developing personal self regulation strategies as a teacher so that we could stay regulated and well, while teaching a very complex class and experiencing many stressors on a daily basis.
We read the book “The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen Year Old Boy with Autism” by David Mitchell (who wrote it when he was 13 years old!). This book was incredibly eye-opening, as it helped us better understand the experiences, perspectives, and challenges that some neurodivergent learners may face. It challenged assumptions about communication, behaviour, and engagement, and encouraged us to look beyond what we observe on the surface to better understand students’ needs.
We read the book “Dive Into Deep Learning: Tools for Engagement” and used the Deep Learning progressions, to help students build ownership and reflect on the core competencies.
Taking Action: We invited our school Occupational Therapist Andrea Wilson into our class to teach lessons related to self regulation, paying attention, and neurodiversity.
Lesson One was about focusing and paying attention. We learned lots of interesting facts from Ms. Wilson, then discussed some common distractions, and solutions for dealing with those distractions (deep breathing, focusing on something else, asking someone to stop, using earmuffs/headphones, brain breaks, turning off background extra noises, stretch breaks, chair pushups, advocating for yourself by asking for help with the distraction, adjusting clothing so body temp is not distracting). She said that the solution should be something that quickly helps you get back on task. The solution should not distract others (e.g. loud fidget tools), and should not just be a further distraction (like video games). We learned about how writing down your thinking can help with worry. We also learned about the importance of taking short brain breaks after about 10 minutes of steady focused work. The longer you work, the bigger the break needed. Ms. Wilson talked about building our “Focus Muscle.”
Lesson Two: Andrea Wilson introduced a diagram called the “Autonomic Nervous System Scale” that explains the different modes that we can be in, ranging from peaceful, happy, alert…to fight flight freeze.
Lesson Three: Andrea Wilson came back to our class to teach a lesson on Neurodiversity, and specifically ADHD. She helped students understand the terms neurodiversity, neurodivergent, neurotypical, masking, neuroaffirming. Neurodivergent describes people whose brains function, learn, and process information differently than what is considered typical. Common examples include Autism (ASD), ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette’s syndrome. Ms. Wilson encouraged students to be curious about differences, rather than thinking that differences are bad. She talked about how every brain is different and beautiful.
Inviting the OT into our class for focused lessons on self-regulation helped us as a class because we were able to regularly refer back to what she taught us, and reflect on how that knowledge impacts how we approach our work, breaks and daily routines.
Student Friendly Deep Learning Progressions from the book “Dive into Deep learning,” also helped our students learn to work together more effectively and appreciate each other’s differences. We focused on the Collaboration Learning progression. Students focused on working together to use each other’s strengths, and infuse each person’s perspectives to make decisions, complete tasks, and solve problems.
Using the Student Friendly Deep Learning progressions helped students to better understand what effective collaboration looks like, and this boosted their ability to collaborate! We noticed a huge difference!
Picture Book and Video
We read the book “It’s my Brain” by Elise Gravel and then watched a short video about neurodiversity. Students reflected on what they have learned this year about neurodiversity and neurodivergence.
Checking: Through lessons on self-regulation, attention, and neurodiversity, students developed a better understanding of how their brains work and learned practical strategies to help them focus, manage distractions, and advocate for their needs. Students also gained a greater appreciation for neurodiversity and learned to view differences with curiosity, empathy, and respect. As a result, students became more aware of their own learning needs, collaborated more effectively with others, and demonstrated increased confidence and independence in the classroom.
Learning about Neurodiversity as a class was especially powerful. Students spoke up and said, “that’s me!” They felt seen and understood a little more. The understanding we shared as a class helped students be more patient with each other, and they began to appreciate their differences a little more.
We asked students: Why is it important to understand that our brains work differently and each person is unique? How does this impact the way in which we treat each other?
Student quotes:
“If nobody was unique then the world would be so boring! If someone that has ADHD has a hard time listening in class you nicely remind them instead of being rude!”
“It is important to recognize that all of our brains work a little differently and we need to help and support those who need something a certain way in order to be successful. We need to treat everyone with kindness no matter how their brains work.”
“Everyone needs different things to make them feel safe and comfortable.”
“It’s important so we know and understand how everyone learns differently and that their learning is as important as our own.”
“It is important because if someone tells you that they are neurodivergent, you can know what it means and learn more about it and be supportive.”
“It is important to know this because if someone is having a hard time you shouldn’t judge them because they might have ADHD or OCD. Don’t put down others and never wish to have somebody else’s brain because they have their struggles too (we all do!).”
“It’s important so that we can help others succeed and make them comfortable.”
“No brain works the same and people need to recognize that and don’t bully them because some can be highly sensitive.”
“It’s important because people like my sister have different ways of thinking and if you understand that you can understand more of what they are thinking.”
“If we don’t learn about neurodivergent people then we might think that something is wrong with them.”
“It is important because we must take care of each other so the world can live in peace and harmony.”
“It’s important so we can make everyone feel safe and comfortable at school.”
Reflections/Advice: Neurodiversity is the norm, not the exception. Just as there is no single way a person should look, there is no single way a brain should work. Every person has their own unique “brain blueprint” that shapes how they think, learn, process information, and experience the world. Schools and society were often designed around a narrow definition of what is considered “normal,” which can create barriers for many people.
We look forward to continuing our learning on how to better support the needs of diverse learners and how to build a classroom community that values and respects each other’s differences.