Behind the Lesson: Adding an Exercise Lesson to INCIGHTful Learning

Since 2008, INCIGHTful Transitions curriculum has been developed by a team of educators at INCIGHT. All the lessons focus on important skill development for students and jobseekers with disabilities, helping them to better equip themselves for college, career and life in general. We wanted to share a behind-the-scenes look at the process.

Last winter, INCIGHT interviewed Karen Gaffney for an article in The Understanding. She shared her story about how staying active and getting regular exercise was important in her life. Our Education team asked Karen if she would be willing to share this lesson with the students who use our curriculum. Karen, along with her mom Barb, spent time brainstorming to develop a lesson about regular exercise.

INCIGHT welcomes experts from all fields to share their lessons. Karen, an accomplished swimmer, is an expert in the field of exercise and how to remain active. We set out to create two lessons that would help people identify an exercise goal and figure out how they could prioritize it in their life; we developed a series of questions for a videotaped interview, plus an engaging activity to accompany it.

Karen has swam since she was very young. In fact, she could swim before she could walk! Toning her muscles and learning how to swim was an idea Karen’s father came up with to help her develop strong muscles. Swimming has proven to be an asset in so many ways. Over the years, Karen has participated in many relays and events, including swimming across the English Channel and to Alcatraz! She has made friends wherever she has gone to do a big swim. We were so lucky to get Karen’s words of wisdom about developing good habits for staying active.

When INCIGHT is creating a video lesson, our media director Judd Girard goes on-location to coordinate a space that is comfortable and well-lit to capture shots of our expert. Judd then shares the video with INCIGHT team member Romney Miller. Romney cuts and edits the video for the lesson, adding photos and video clips, as well as embedded captions, to accommodate the needs of learners. Romney uses techniques and practices that promote universal design when creating all of the video lessons. She adds icons and photos or clips that bring more meaning to the lessons and support learning in a multifaceted design.

“INCIGHTful Transitions is a college, career, and independent living curriculum which shares lessons to help students lead successful lives as they transition out of high school and into the real world.” Romney says, “When creating these lessons, I love using real examples of people—experts like Karen, who shares the importance of why exercise is important to her to inspire students to see what is possible for themselves. This lesson was really fun to work on because Karen had an idea of making the exercise part of the fun. She had a quick game she taught us, called Sit-Down Baseball. This is a warm-up exercise for the whole group to do together.”

Romney made it even more fun by creating a Sit-Down Baseball video to go with the game that students can watch at the beginning of the lesson. All students start by bringing a pretend bat to their shoulder, getting ready for a pitch—and with a swing, they’re off and running to learn more about ways to bring regular exercise into their lives.

Scott Hatley, INCIGHT’s Executive Director, explains why the INCIGHTful curriculum is so valuable. “Our lessons are designed to promote an expectation-driven philosophy and share the expertise of individuals in the community.” Hatley said, “Karen’s lessons not only outline ways people can set personal goals for their own exercise, they also share how exercise can contribute to social and emotional growth, build connections with people who share similar interests, and lead to meeting new people.”

We continue to build out the curriculum, adding new lessons. We are thrilled to showcase the expertise and success of individuals in our community, and to share the techniques and tools they have employed, so that we can help others unlock their fullest potential.

About INCIGHTful Transitions Curriculum

The lessons are designed for all high school students with IEPs and 504s, transition students with PreEts and any student with a disability. Currently there are 90+ lessons with videos and activities designed to fill a full semester of highschool. If you want to learn more about how to get our resources for your students, please reach out to Pia Gilgen at piag@incight.org!