I am an education major at Salisbury University, and I would like some feedback about teaching an inclusive classroom. How can a teacher be successful in an inclusive classroom and have all of the students involved? When I was in school, the special education classes were very separate, and I am not sure how the children would have acted if they were together. I just want everyone to learn to grow together, and I am not sure how to implement this?
Re: inclusion help!
Andrea,
We’ve been doing inclusion in my school since last year. I have had good and bad experiences. There is one key ingredient however. You need to have 2 teachers in the room who have the students’ (ALL) learning at heart. It is very important that the regular education teacher wants you to be there and to teach ALL students. Some teachers can not adjust to the accommodations and grading differences. Planning is also very important. The special ed. teacher needs to teach some or half of the lesson plans. I take that opportunity to model different approaches to learning. For example, some classroom teachers seem to think that children should sit for long periods of time doing worksheets. I try to show them that some children are kinesthetic or tactile learners. So I infuse movement in the lesson in some way. I try to encourage thinking outside of the box (er…..thinking outside of the workbook/basal/series). Sometimes it catches on and sometimes it doesn’t. But I do feel that my special education students reach higher and achieve more.
I find my expectations are higher now than when I taught just in the resource room. Good luck!
I’VE BEEN WORKING IN AN INCLUSION CLASSROOM FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS. IF YOU WALKED INTO MY ROOM, I GUARENTEE THAT YOU WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL WHO WAS AN INCLUSION STUDENT. I TEACH 6TH GRADE ENGLISH AND HAVE 5 NCLUSIVE STUDENTS PER SECTION. FOR THE MOST PART THESE STUDENTS ARE ABLE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND MOVE WITH THE PACE OF THE CURRICULUM WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A CLASSROOM AIDE. TH PROGRAM IS SUCCESSFUL AS LONG AS YOU HAVE WELL TRAINED AIDES, A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER WHO IS WILLING TO TAKE THE ROLE OF CO-TEACHER IN THE CLASSROOM, AND INVOLVED PARENTS TO WORK WITH THE CHILD AT HOME. IN MANY WAYS WORKING WITH INCLUSIVE STUDENTS HAS BEEN A LOT EASIER THAN WORKING WIT A RESOURCE ROOM CHILD WHO HAS VERY LITTLE SUPPORT.