New unified elective course fosters inclusive culture where students of all abilities learn together  

This year, 18 students have the opportunity to be part of the “Circle of Friends,” which is the unofficial name of a new unified elective class offered to eighth graders at Eagle Ridge Middle School (ERMS).

A unified elective is a course that combines general education students or “peer helpers” and special education students into a collaborative learning environment, impacting the way students interact with and see each other on a daily basis.    

How it started

Last year, ERMS teacher Molly Moran taught an elective class that also included a group of students from Laura Hermansen’s special education classroom. Hermansen’s class of ‘Setting III’ students consist of students who receive specialized instruction for most of the day in a separate classroom due to their disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, developmental cognitive disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. 

Moran, who created the curriculum, had changed the physical layout of her room and tailored instruction to meet the students’ various needs. More and more, as Moran and Hermansen talked about the class and how it was developing, they wondered why an elective class didn’t look like theirs all the time for Hermansen’s students, who are typically self-contained and not included in a mainstream elective classroom.

“This is their one chance to go into the general education classroom and build social relationships with peers who are different from them,” said Moran. “So we thought, what if we built a whole elective where that was the premise?” 

“The Digital Age,” the official name of the course, was approved last spring by ERMS Principal Dave Helke, and is now fostering an inclusive culture where special education and general education students learn together.

Many schools offer a unified physical education class, but there are few that offer an elective course as an option for both special education students and general education students, who essentially become “peer helpers” in the class. However, both sets of students engage in elective learning that aligns with District 191 Pathways.   

The class offers something different each day for students to learn, including music, art, computer science and robotics. 

The course helps students develop social skills through daily interactions with their peers. Moran and Hermansen have seen Setting III students thrive in the class because of the positive relationships that have been built. General education peers are gaining those same skills but in a slightly different way, such as learning how to be a good role model, how to support students with special needs and how to encourage students when they are struggling. 

Academically, the class is designed for special education students; socially, both sets of students are developing skills but it’s essentially the general education students who are learning how to support peers who have special needs.

Inclusion, diversity and community at its core

The course is inclusive in a few different ways, one being the physical location of where the class is taught. Typically, Setting III students are contained to one classroom setting, but Moran and Hermansen intentionally moved the course to Moran’s room so that students would have to venture to a new space and walk through the hallway with their peers to get to class. Secondly, special education students are included with their general education peers into a singular learning environment where they are able to build relationships with each other. And lastly, special education students are included in the elective’s curriculum and gain access to Pathways learning. 

In terms of disabilities, the class is very diverse. General education students are interacting with peers who have different needs and learning how to support them. Special education students are interacting with general education students and learning how to connect with them. 

 “Students are learning about diversity in a totally different way, in an immersive setting,” said Moran. “The class is really a celebration of diversity.” 

All learning is supported through intentional grouping of students, but there’s a sense of community within the class. While general education students embrace the role of peer helper, special education students are fostering friendships with their peers. As staff and students observe these positive interactions happening, it’s creating discourse that hasn’t existed in the school before about people making relationships with people with disabilities and everyone coming together.            

“This is a magical part of my day,” said Hermansen. “As a special education teacher, it’s fun to see my kids do something different during their day and excited to be a part of the class. The sense of community is strong, and it’s pouring into the rest of the school.”     

“I love dreaming big for this class because I feel like this is the place where I’m allowed the creativity to do that,” said Moran. “All of the curriculum is hands-on, all meant to be super engaging and fun for students who typically don’t engage, and it’s working.”   

Hopes for the future

Moran and Hermansen have big hopes for the class. They would love to expand on what they’ve already done and be able to offer the elective both semesters.

“I hope that people see what a beautiful thing this course is,” says Moran. “I hope that it can be bigger. I hope that it can include other special education students, not just students in our setting III program. I hope that it can include other teachers, not just me, who want to facilitate something like this. I hope that it also spreads its way into electives that students in our Setting III program are pushed into for their one, non self-contained hour of the day. I hope that other teachers see this and say, ‘whoa, I can do something like this, too.’” 

Watch a short video about the unified elective course.