Michael Peterson

Michael Peterson, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael Peterson is Coordinator of the Whole Schooling Consortium, an international network of schools, faculty, teachers, and administrators dedicated to creating schools and classroom based on both excellence and equity, where students of substantial difference learn well together. Michael has worked with numerous schools in the Detroit metropolitan area in school reform and renewal and serves on the Executive Committee of the Michigan Network for Inclusive Schooling. He is employed as a Professor in the College of Education at Wayne State University where he teaches courses related to inclusive teaching and transition from school to adult life. Michael is author of numerous articles and publications, including the recently published, Inclusive teaching: Creating effective schools for all learners (Merrill, 2010), a book published jointly with his teacher-daugher-colleage, Mishael Hittie. VITAE.

CONSULTATION

Dr. Peterson is available to serve as a 'critical friend' for school improvement, assisting administrators and teachers utilize the Six Principles of Whole Schooling as a framework for school improvement. In addition, Dr. Peterson provides consultation regarding movement towards inclusive teaching, the inclusion of specific students with special needs in general education classes, and strategies for building community in schools and classrooms.

WORKSHOPS

Dr. Peterson has developed several workshops that can be provided for professional development and as part of a school improvement process. These are described below.

FORMATS. All workshops below are available in several formats – from an introduction from 1 – 2 hours to 1- 2 seminars which involve intensive skill development. All formats include lecture that incorporates using powerpoint with photos and video clips that illustrate practices from real classroom settings, engaged dialogue, and group learning activities. The specific focus of the workshop can be tailored to meet your needs.

WHOLE SCHOOLING RENEWAL: Excellence and Equity for Democracy. What is the purpose of school? How should schools and teachers in them structure their work? Whole Schooling posits that the purpose of schools is to create citizens who can solve problems, create better communities, and engage in important adult roles – parent and family member, community leader, professional, worker, citizen. To help children become the problems solvers in the 20th century and in a world filled with both danger and opportunity, educators, parents, and community members must partner to build cultures in schools where children feel they belong, are safe to risk, are supported in learning at their own levels of challenge, and engage in a true community of learners. The Six Principles of Whole Schooling provide a framework and comprehensive set of practices for building such a school. This workshop can introduce your school community to these ideas. More extensive workshops can engage your school in conducting self-assessments, understanding concepts and strategies, and developing plans for school improvement using the Six Principles.

SCHOOLS FOR CITIZENSHIP: Raising learners to create the world we need and want. What is the purpose of school? How should schools and teachers in them structure their work? Whole Schooling posits that the purpose of schools is to create citizens who can solve problems, create better communities, and engage in important adult roles – parent and family member, community leader, professional, worker, citizen. To help children become the problems solvers in the 20th century and in a world filled with both danger and opportunity, educators, parents, and community members must partner to build cultures in schools where children feel they belong, are safe to risk, are supported in learning at their own levels of challenge, and engage in a true community of learners. The Six Principles of Whole Schooling provide a framework and comprehensive set of practices for building such a school. We will explore these ideas, understand how inclusive education and such exemplary educational practices are mutually dependent. We will see inclusive education as a part of Whole Schooling in real classrooms and discuss how parents and educators together may work to create such effective schools.

CREATING COMMUNITY IN THE CLASSROOM: Creating a Culture of High Achievement for All. Creating a sense of safety, belonging, and care in classrooms is critical in helping students learn at their academic potential. Such classrooms help students learn many other important skills that will help them function in the workplace and as parents and community members. These include leadership skills, interpersonal skills, ways to teach others, respect for diversity, and more. This workshop explores concrete strategies used by elementary to high school teachers in building a sense of community and care in the classroom.

AUTHENTIC MULTI-LEVEL TEACHING: Key strategies for teaching children of great ability differences together well. Students in schools range in abilities from 3-8 grade levels in any class. Yet, typical schooling ignores this basic fact creating standardized curricula that frustrate some students and bore others. In this workshop we discuss strategies to teach children at multiple abilities together in a learning community without stable ability grouping and in literacy, math, social studies, and science.

INCLUSIVE SCHOOL RENEWAL. A good school is an inclusive school! Research-based practices for effective schooling in which inclusion is at the center will be shared. An introduction to the Six Principles of Whole Schooling, designed to link inclusive education to school reform, will be discussed, thus providing participants with an understanding of the implementation of this process model and assisting them in developing a plan by which they may connect inclusive education to school improvement in their communities.

INCLUSIVE TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. This workshop describes and illustrates with photos and videotape school-wide and classroom instructional strategies to teach students with specifically vast differences in ability, ethnicity, and culture together well. Based on the recently published text, Inclusive teaching: Creating effective schools for all learners (Allyn and Bacon), this workshop draws from a detailed qualitative study of effective inclusive elementary schools.

INCLUSIVE MIDDLE SCHOOLS. This workshop illustrates with photos and videotape practical school-wide and classroom instructional strategies to teach students with vast differences in ability, ethnicity, and culture together well. Based on the recently published text, Inclusive teaching: Creating effective schools for all learners (Allyn and Bacon), this workshop draws from a detailed qualitative study of effective inclusive middle schools.

INCLUSIVE HIGH SCHOOLS AND TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO ADULT LIFE. Students with disabilities face substantial challenges in making the transition from school to adult life. This workshop describes a multi-faceted approach to transition that builds on relationships, neighborhood and community resources, as well as the resources of special educators and disability human service agencies.

MAKING MY LIFE: Person-centered planning and neighborhood connecting. In this workshop we discuss key resources for supporting individuals in community life and achieving their life dreams: connecting with community and neighborhood resources, building a circle of support; and using person-centered planning to focus the work of the circle.

SUPPORT FOR LEARNING: Co-teaching and Collaboration for Inclusive Teaching.
Every school has many resources to support teachers and children in learning. These include specialists such as special education teachers, gifted specialists, speech and language pathologists, parents and community, and children themselves. However, too often specialists pull children out serving to weaken rather than strengthen the general education class. Another approach is possible – building a systematic support system and engaging specialists in collaborative teaching with general education teachers, strengthening the learning environment for all. In this workshop, we discuss strategies for building-wide support systems and ways to facilitate co-teaching and collaboration among general education teachers and specialists.

BEYOND BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT: Linking Community Building and Positive Behavioral Supports. In many schools and classrooms, problem behavior of students causes great frustration for teachers, creating distractions from learning and growth. How do teachers deal with this? Two critical ways of thinking and doing help create a culture that both prevents problem behaviors, on the one hand, and deal with them in positive, proactive ways on the other – community building and positive behavioral support. However, these two approaches have seldom been used together systematically. In this workshop, we explore needs of students, strategies of community building, introduce positive behavioral support, and discuss how these work together to improve the school climate and academic outcomes.