23 Apr Julie Elwell: Teacher Spotlight
Our Northshore Schools Foundation Teacher Spotlight this week is on Julie Elwell, M.A., CCC-SLP at Westhill Elementary.
Mrs. Elwell is one of two speech-language pathologists at Westhill. She works with Amy Sorenson’s mid-level sensory students who are in grades 1-3. While it has been a challenge for teachers across the district to serve their students in this remote learning capacity, it is particularly challenging for the SPED teachers to find innovative ways to connect with and help their students continue to grow during this time.
The majority of these students have both language and social challenges. When she works with these students in a regular school setting they are working on communication skills all day, every day. Social groups allow students to practice attending to social interactions, respond on topic, take turns talking, and also to create friendships with others. Now that we are in a remote learning environment, she and Mrs. Sorenson are currently doing twice-weekly Zoom meetings for 30 minutes with the class. Both of them run the Zoom classes with the help of 3 paraeducators (Emily Grund, Erica Gick, and Kaitlin Derosier).
Julie says: “Each session starts by reviewing the Zoom expectations, then we greet each other, next we do a fun little game such as “I spy” or something similar, then we get to “free share” for those students who are really excited to share their dog or that they lost a tooth. Lastly, we say good-bye to each other. Each part of the schedule has a visual support that we screen share with the class and we also use a visual schedule throughout the meeting. Students are muted and are learning when they raise their hands, they get unmuted and it’s their turn to talk. All the staff involved in our meetings really enjoy this time with the students. It’s a nice way to connect with each other in a social way.
Social skills while using technology are important for everyone to learn. This situation is giving us an opportunity to teach our students skills they will need to learn anyway.”
In the 2018-19 school year, Julie received a grant from the Foundation for Kaufman Kits.
Kaufman Kits are an evidenced-based program that employs a systematic and progressive approach of simplifying word pronunciation patterns to shape and expand verbal expression and make communication easier for children with childhood apraxia of speech.
We are really excited to see the new, creative ways that Julie is working with her students during this time of remote learning. These are unprecedented times and it is truly amazing and inspiring how you are reaching Northshore students in new ways. Thank you for all you do!
If you know of a teacher in our district who is doing creative and innovative education in our new virtual classroom platform that we should know about please email their info to julie@nsdfoundation.org
