Savanna Flakes

Savanna Flakes, EdS, is an education consultant specializing in inclusion, special education, and social emotional learning. Her prior instructional leadership roles include Manager of Professional Learning, Master Educator, Technology Integration Coach, and an Inclusion Instructional specialist, coaching administrators and teachers on effective inclusive and instructional practices. Savanna serves as a professor in the American University School of Education and Health, and she presents nationally on topics such as differentiation, co-teaching, universal design for learning, and inclusion. Her TED Talk on "Inclusion and Fast Food" is inspiring. Savanna's new book, "Shaking Up Special Education Instructional Moves to Increase Student Achievement" is available for pre-order.

As an education consultant, Savanna provides professional development and coaching to support teachers with effective instructional practices for students with exceptionalities. For more information, visit Inclusion For a Better Future.

Articles by Savanna Flakes

• Celebrate the end of the school year with fun closing activities

  Thursday, May 20, 2021

  You made it! We all made it! What a year! Though my articles usually provide instructional strategies to support diverse learners, as this school year wraps up, it is only fitting that everyone stop and play the song "Celebrate" by Earth, Wind, and Fire. Please take a special moment to celebrate yourself, students, and our community of families. This school year was no ordinary year, full of unprecedented events and more. Before the school year wraps up, provide yourself and students opportunities to celebrate, appreciate the great times, and close with optimism.

• Inclusive practices to engage all learners

  Thursday, March 04, 2021

  How do you define student engagement? When you think of student engagement, does a visual of every student raising their hand or every student smiling with their computer screen turned on sound familiar? I’ve been working with many school districts on authentic engagement and what it looks and sounds like. Please consider that if the only way to check whether students are engaged in learning is whether their screens are on, we may be missing a lot of opportunities! Engagement includes excitement, motivation, and students immersed in work that has clear meaning and immediate value to them.

• Building the toolkit for paraprofessional success

  Monday, January 11, 2021

  Paraprofessionals — you are kind of a big deal! You use your talents to inspire and to encourage students to discover their own strengths. Your role is unique, and with limited time to plan with collaborating teachers, you passionately meet the needs of many students. This article is for you, with the goal of strengthening your toolkit. I’ve compiled a list of practices under three critical elements of this dynamic role: knowing thy student(s), collecting data, and facilitating student independence.

• Let’s shake up special education

  Monday, October 05, 2020

  Don’t worry, special education isn’t broken; in fact, I’ve worked with amazing special education teachers and school communities around the world! Teachers around the world are doing amazing things to facilitate inclusive practices, differentiated instruction, and Universal Design for Learning. In addition, as times and students change, we can continue to shake up our instruction and invigorate our teaching and learning practices for students with exceptionalities. So, what are the three big things that can help us shake up special education at this critical moment in education history?

• For the new school year, relationships first, academic content later

  Thursday, August 13, 2020

  As teachers, we are relationship builders, forging connections with families, integrating students’ strengths and interests into the curriculum, and creating a positive learning community between students and their classmates. We are reminded to prioritize connection, commit to building safe and positive learning environments, and celebrate students’ strengths before speaking of growth.

• Why we need differentiated instruction now more than ever

  Monday, June 01, 2020

  Carol Ann Tomlinson defines differentiation as a continual process of assessing and monitoring students’ readiness levels, interests, and learner profiles. We are in an unprecedented time as we aim to support all students virtually. As such, our learners are logging into our virtual classrooms with various emotional and academic needs. Based on such diversity, differentiating instruction is the one approach that will work. Upon pre-assessment/diagnosis in virtual and online environments, teachers can differentiate with the following.

• At-home learning: Strategies, resources and tools

  Monday, April 06, 2020

  We've all seen the BBC video of the father interrupted during his important video call and the wife rushing in to grab the kids. Though hilarious, many of us are working from home and have children to care for. We are ultimately parenting, working, and teaching. School at home, home learning, homeschooling, not homeschooling — whatever we want to call this, it is important to note that children do not need sit at the computer all day or consume worksheets for seven hours a day. I'd like to share some best practices and resources for each subject area.

• Why self-care is a must for educators

  Friday, February 14, 2020

  Teaching is hard work. Period. Being in a supportive role to students who are managing the impacts of trauma and teaching social-emotional learning can be challenging and can result in compassion fatigue. Self-care is vital. Having a proactive self-care routine helps prevent burnout. Self-care is more than bubble baths, long walks to the park, and buying luxurious items. For educators, it begins with a positive school climate and integrates with our proactive and deliberate practices aimed to keep supporting mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

• How our students can ‘RISE’ up to face the future

  Tuesday, October 29, 2019

  The world is facing monumental challenges and complex situations that require analytical problem-solving, innovation, and collaboration. The Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum shares that the top five skills graduates need are complex problem solving; critical thinking; creativity; people management; and coordinating with others. Here is my four-step approach to transforming learning into authentic collaborative experiences that can engage students beyond our classroom walls. It’s time to R.I.S.E.!

• Providing students opportunities to self-regulate

  Monday, August 12, 2019

  Our students have a lot going on inside and outside of school. Our students might be undergoing trauma, stress, and anxiety. To support the social and emotional well-being of our students, we must teach and provide space for students to learn how to self-regulate. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines self-regulation as, "the ability to successfully regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself." Our goal is to normalize stress, anxiety, frustration, and the overall idea that, "It is OK to not be OK."

• Cooperative learning is abundant in inclusive classrooms

  Monday, May 13, 2019

  Every student can benefit from effective cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is more than just putting students into groups; it involves ensuring every learner has a voice and has an important role in reaching team goals and ultimate success. Effective cooperative learning allows students to build necessary social and emotional learning skills such as perspective sharing, social awareness skills, and relationship skills. Effective cooperative learning is one of most important practices we can design to support diverse learners in our inclusive classrooms. This article features three of my favorite Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures to support inclusive classrooms.

• Supporting students with self-regulation

  Monday, March 25, 2019

  It is no secret that our students today have a lot going on inside and outside of school. We are teaching students who are undergoing trauma, stress and anxiety. To support the social and emotional well-being of our students, we have to teach and provide space for them to learn how to self-regulate. Emotional self-regulation is important for helping children manage how they express and experience emotions. Just as we provide students explicit instruction on academic content, we want to provide explicit instruction for social emotional learning.

• Create — don’t deny — access to complex text

  Monday, January 28, 2019

  Literacy unlocks the door to opportunity. Among the top five skills for tomorrow’s jobs, as listed by RBC Economics Research, is reading comprehension. Every student should have opportunities to engage meaningfully with rich, authentic, complex text. Complex text is text that is worthy of repeated readings over multiple instructional periods, allowing the reader to re-read, investigate, and deeply analyze a text for language and meaning, ultimately making connections to the author and the world.

• Lose the behavior gimmicks and try this in your classroom

  Monday, January 07, 2019

  A group behavior contingency (GBC) is a classroom management system designed to proactively support appropriate classroom behavior. Groups or teams of students are rewarded for exhibiting appropriate or desirable classroom behaviors rather than being punished or reprimanded for exhibiting inappropriate or undesirable behaviors. Why use a GBC? Gimmicks like names on the board, check marks, and loss of recess don’t work and are self-shaming to students.

• Refresh, refocus, and assess your students with processing breaks

  Friday, October 05, 2018

  Does anyone have a class in which every student is the same? Silly question, right? Of course not. Every student is significantly different, and each student brings a variety of talents, interests and preferred modalities. Students still got the squiggles after lunch? Students distracted by the snow? Students lethargic in the morning or after lunch? Try a processing break! Processing allows teachers the opportunity to reach every learner while assessing understanding and maximizing our precious instructional time.

• Start with a ‘pop’ by bringing today’s culture to the beginning of the school year

  Monday, August 27, 2018

  Welcome back to another exciting school year! Let’s start the year off with a bang by building relationships, establishing a positive learning community, and including some pop culture to increase student interest and engagement. Our goal is to ensure our lessons are relevant for 21st century learners to support 21st century college and career success. If a lesson is relevant, students can answer, "What am I learning?," "Why am I learning this?" and "How can I use this information/skill in the real world?" Pop culture offers us the opportunity meet today’s students where they are.

• How a great coach makes a teacher excel

  Monday, June 11, 2018

  There are cultural changes in how children behave and navigate the learning experience, how standards are approached and have increased in rigor, and how technology can be integrated into the classroom. Thus, every teacher deserves a great coach. Countless research studies by Jim Knight shows that coached teachers were more effective in implementing new skills than just stand-alone professional development, and their students did better academically and emotionally.

• Make math class awesome for all students

  Monday, April 23, 2018

  If we make math relevant (connected to everyday concepts and the real world), differentiate rigorous instruction (inquiry, project, problem-based vs. route memorization and process checklist) and engage learners with various learning modalities (using manipulatives and interactive games), we can make math fun for all students.

• Cooperative learning strategies to support reading comprehension

  Monday, March 26, 2018

  Studies have documented the effectiveness of using cooperative learning to increase academic achievement for students with and without disabilities. Results of these studies show that students who regularly participate in meaningful and structured reading groups have higher reading comprehension and greater retention.

• Trauma-informed education: Teaching the whole child

  Monday, February 26, 2018

  ​The National Institute of Mental Health defines trauma as "the experience of an event by a child that is emotionally painful or distressful, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects." The term adverse childhood experience (ACE) refers to a range of events that a child can experience that lead to stress and can result in trauma and chronic stress responses.

• Incorporating multimedia video to differentiate instruction

  Monday, January 15, 2018

  Looking for ways to utilize technology in your quest to create a differentiated classroom? Check out this blog and the interactive graphic by Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners that leads you to new technology resources.

• Assessment: The foundation for a differentiated classroom

  Friday, November 17, 2017

  ​Assessment is the key component of any highly effective differentiated classroom. When describing the first steps to take in a teacher's differentiation journey, Carol Ann Tomlinson suggests beginning by simply studying your students and getting to know them better than you ever have before.

• Think about it: Teach your students about mindfulness

  Friday, October 06, 2017

  Mindfulness is not new. It originated with Eastern meditation practices around the art of "bringing one's complete attention to the present experience." Mindfulness is what makes us human — the capacity to be fully conscious and aware, or put another way, being present and aware of things happening in the current moment.

• Inclusive practices: Welcome back, co‑teachers

  Monday, August 28, 2017

  We know it is important to build relationships and set expectations for our students at the beginning of the school year. It is equally important to build relationships and set expectations between co-teachers to establish and maintain shared responsibility for efficiency, learning and student success.

• Cooperative learning never gets old

  Monday, August 07, 2017

  I read a quote the other day from the Carnegie Institute of Technology that reminded me of the importance of soft skills: "85 percent of your financial success is due to your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate and lead. Shockingly, only 15 percent is due to technical knowledge."

• Resource roundup: Summer planning for positive behavior management

  Monday, July 10, 2017

  Congratulations educators for another successful school year! I hope you've carved out lots of time this summer for relaxation and rejuvenation — this is necessary and mandatory. As we hit the midpoint of our break, now you may be ready to explore resources for classroom preparation.

• Using co-teaching models to foster student independence

  Monday, June 05, 2017

  ​Co-taught lessons should look ​substantively different and richer for kids than what one teacher would do alone. A co-taught classroom provides more opportunities for students to receive feedback, which allows them to move rapidly toward self-monitoring, adjusting their strategies for success and independence.

• The importance of self-regulation

  Monday, April 17, 2017

  An important skill that helps our students with disabilities become successful independent and expert learners is the ability of self-regulation. Researchers concur that "self-regulated learners assume increased responsibility for their own behavior and learning over time by strategically setting and planning to meet goals, monitoring and evaluating their progress, and using feedback to adjust their performance."

• Moving beyond ‘drill and kill’ during test prep season

  Monday, March 06, 2017

  "Testing season" is right around the corner! As we enter testing season, it is essential that we consider novel and exciting ways to provide students with rigorous review and preparation activities. Research shares that too much time spent solely on verbatim memorization and test-taking skills often neglects high-order thinking skills, creative expression, and student choice in demonstrating mastery.

• 3 learning strategies to build a positive learning community

  Monday, February 13, 2017

  In a supportive, inclusive community, all students are valued members of a welcoming and responsive learning community. The teacher proactively cultivates community with and among students. Meaningful cooperative learning teaches students to be proactive learners, increases academic discourse and provides opportunities to build a positive classroom community.

• Got a few student behavior challenges? Not anymore

  Monday, January 16, 2017

  In a supportive, inclusive learning environment, all students are valued members of a welcoming and responsive learning community that the teacher proactively cultivates. The foundations of creating a classroom climate conducive to inclusive practices are building a collaborative classroom community, establishing consistent routines and praise, and teaching students to cultivate a growth mindset.

• How will you celebrate Inclusive Schools Week?

  Monday, November 28, 2016

  Each year, during the first full week of December, schools across the nation take a moment to celebrate their progress in inclusive practices. Schools focus on their growth in promoting welcoming K-12 communities, embracing all students, and ensuring every student has an opportunity to learn, participate and contribute. As we embark on this week, commemorate your successes in effectively including students and look ahead for ways to challenge yourself to meet the ever-increasing needs in your classroom.

• Digital resources and tools to support vocabulary acquisition

  Monday, October 10, 2016

  ​I wrote an article in March about best practices for explicitly teaching vocabulary. Robert Marzano's six-step approach to supporting students with vocabulary acquisition and retention is still one of my favorite approaches to teaching vocabulary.

• Universal principles for providing meaningful PD for educators

  Monday, August 29, 2016

  This summer, I collaborated with Limited Resource Teacher Training (LRTT), an organization dedicated to delivering high-quality, sustainable teacher training in parts of the world where teacher training is really needed to improve education.

• Summer reading for special education teachers

  Monday, June 06, 2016

  ​School is winding down for many educators across the country. Summer is a much needed time for teachers to rejuvenate, reflect and rebuild. Contrary to popular belief, educators are not truly off in the summer. What other professions are responsible for 30-150 human beings' emotional, mental and academic needs during 10 out of 12 months, or are constantly thinking about standards, tests and meetings in the shower, and are planning exciting activities during their dinnertime?

• These Google features can help level the playing field

  Monday, May 02, 2016

  Technology has the potential to level the playing field for students with disabilities, English language learners and students who struggle to access core content. However, assistive technology can also be so overwhelming and costly, and feel impossible to integrate into the curriculum.

• You’ve got your students in groups — now what?

  Monday, April 11, 2016

  ​Studies have documented the effectiveness of using cooperative learning to increase academic achievement for students with and without disabilities. Results of these studies show students who regularly participate in meaningful cooperative learning activities have higher achievement and greater retention than students who work in a more individual way.

• Vocabulary doesn’t have to be a bore

  Monday, March 07, 2016

  ​Do your students cringe when you say, "We have new vocabulary terms to learn"? These students may recall the previous times they have copied words over and over again and looking up exhaustive lists of words that lack a connection to one another.

• Making homework meaningful and fair

  Monday, February 08, 2016

  Do your students take homework seriously? Are you finding that daily student homework completion is low? There is a lot of buzz and frustration from parents and students regarding homework. Homework or "practice makes perfect work" should be tasks students deem as valuable to success, and practice that students can complete successfully and independently, with support as necessary from the home.

• Putting the ‘special’ in specially designed math instruction

  Monday, January 11, 2016

  ​Some of our students with learning disabilities have trouble with abstract reasoning. As such, they may have difficulty verbalizing what they have learned or observed, difficulty making the connection with symbolic representations and/or understanding the math concept that is being explained or shown.

• 5 easy digital tools to assess student learning

  Tuesday, November 17, 2015

  ​The goal of assessment is to improve instruction and provide student feedback. However, many of the standardized assessments take so much time to administrator and grade that many teachers often aren't able to use the data immediately in the moment.

• Why you should consider specially designed instruction

  Thursday, October 08, 2015

  Strategies, such as cooperative learning, explicit instruction and blended learning are effective for students with disabilities and are also best practices for all students. But even when using these strategies, a teacher should consider specially designed instruction (SDI).

• 4 tips for new teachers embarking upon the journey of a lifetime

  Monday, August 17, 2015

  To all the new teachers starting this school year, we are so glad you are joining our team. You are entering one of the most important and rewarding careers out there.

• Engage all learners: Make students think visually

  Monday, June 22, 2015

  One way to increase student engagement and facilitate deeper learning is to frequently check for student understanding throughout a lesson. Practitioners find many benefits in using frequent assessment techniques to simultaneously check all students' level of understanding. My three favorite technology tools increase student engagement and quickly get students thinking visually so teachers can adjust and differentiate instruction on the spot. All three technology tools are free, teacher-friendly, and the student data can be saved and graphed to facilitate data charts.

• Positively managing student behavior in the classroom

  Monday, June 01, 2015

  ​Discipline problems and behavior issues have always been and continue to be a leading frustration for teachers. The good news is that variables can easily be manipulated to have a positive influence on student behavior. By being proactive and purposeful in our planning, we can prevent behavior problems before they arise. By building positive relationships with students and explicitly teaching classroom routines, we can manage behavior and increase student motivation.

• 3 simple strategies to increase student engagement

  Monday, April 27, 2015

  One way to increase student engagement is to use structures that illicit a response from all students and provide teachers formative data on student learning. In order to meet a variety of students' needs, educators should work to also incorporate the use of a variety of multiple intelligences in their classrooms.

• Using choice to motivate and differentiate

  Monday, March 30, 2015

  ​Choice is one of the greatest motivators and also one of the most powerful tools in setting up a differentiated classroom. Who doesn't love choice? As adults, we prefer to have choice in our staff book studies, professional development and class schedules. Likewise, choice provides students many options to navigate content and show their mastery of material. Choice reduces learning barriers because it sets up opportunities for students to use their preferred learning style.

• Differentiated instruction: Top 5 low-prep strategies

  Monday, February 23, 2015

  In January, James R. Delisle wrote a controversial commentary for Education Week titled, "​Differentiation Doesn't Work." But what Delisle may not realize is that differentiation is not a set of prescriptive strategies, rather a purposeful way of planning to account for student differences.

• Inclusion Corner: The importance of co‑assessing

  Monday, January 26, 2015

  ​In the prior two articles, we discussed ​co-planning and ​co-teaching. The last component of an effective co-taught classroom is working together to "co-assess" student data and growth.

• Inclusion Corner: The art of co-teaching

  Monday, December 01, 2014

  Co-taught lessons should look substantively different and richer for students than what one teacher would do alone. In order for co-teaching to be successful, two things must occur: Educators should capitalize on their specific roles, and they must utilize various co-teaching models.

• Inclusion Corner: Begin with co-planning

  Tuesday, October 14, 2014

  Co-teaching implemented with fidelity has a profound impact on a range of learners with and without disabilities from a variety of cultures. Co-teaching is often characterized as a "marriage" between a general education and a specialist.

• Inclusion Corner: Encouraging our students to have a growth mindset

  Tuesday, September 16, 2014

  Have you ever found yourself wishing that you could create a community of students who are self-motivated and persist with challenging tasks? Do you have a student that gives up after making one mistake? Why do some students give up so quickly? How do we encourage our adolescents who have undergone so many failures with math or reading?