Inclusivity: Let’s Do It Better This Year! with Larkin O’Leary

Happy Back-to-School Season! Whether you have already stepped boldly into the new school year or are frantically preparing for those upcoming first few days, all of us in the education world are hoping that 2022-2023 will be the best one yet! An important topic for any new school year is inclusivity; we should be asking ourselves how we can look for more inclusivity and make students’ lives better. Join us to learn more from today’s guest! Larkin O’Leary is president of Common Ground Society, an organization whose mission is to educate and empower people to be more compassionate, accepting, and inclusive of people with disabilities. She’s a Google-certified teacher who knew teaching was her destiny since 4th grade, and she firmly embraced this destiny by marrying into a family full of teachers. A general education teacher since 2005, Larkin’s passion is teaching and making connections with students, which she knows far outweighs the importance of academics. When her eight-year-old son, James, was born with Down Syndrome, hearing loss, and other medical issues, she knew that her teaching passion would intersect with advocacy work for inclusive education.  Show Highlights: How Common Ground Society was born because people want to learn more about inclusivity Why we need a perspective shift toward those with disabilities and special needs and learn to focus on what they CAN do Why we need differentiation even within special ed classrooms to accommodate different levels of learners–not a “one-size-fits-all” approach How our educational system is built on foundations that were created centuries ago—and those things aren’t working anymore; we need a reset! What school districts should be doing to train teachers for inclusivity How we can teach kids about inclusivity and acceptance Larkin’s advice to parents and educators Links/Resources: Connect with Larkin and Common Ground Society: https://commongroundsociety.org/ ( Website),https://www.facebook.com/commongroundsociety ( Facebook),