Hello. My name is Kim and I am graduating in May with a degree in Elementary Education. In the past I have had a lot of personal experience with ESL students, individuals with physical limitations, and individuals who are developmentally delayed. I have had the opportunity to get to know those people for who they are as individuals and have found that there is so much more to each person aside from the obvious differences, whether that is a wheel chair or a difference in their cognitive abilities. Unfortunately, too often those minor differences become barriers. Too often people only see the differences between themselves and the other person. They never get to know the person to see how much they really are alike. I would like to change that in my classroom. How can I, the teacher, create a classroom in which all students, regardless of their ethnicity, physical differences, mental challenges, and emotional challenges, feel comfortable in the classroom? How can the barriers that separate students based on their differences be broken? Any advice that anyone can share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Re: Social Issues
I have taught regular classroom and as a special education resource room teacher for the past 13 years. I have taught in parochial and public schools. I have done complete pullout as well as team teaching. I also have a son who has NLD (Nonverbal Learning Disability). The ONE factor for success for ALL learners is that the regular classroom teacher is accepting and caring about all her students. So many times teachers see what the student cannot do instead of what the student can do and what progress has been made. I have had special education students who were made to feel like total failures by a teacher who did not accommodate or modify for them. So I would say your attitude and objective will do the most for all your students. Of course, teaching about differences will only enhance that. Keep your openness and willingness to teach all students!
Re: Social Issues
Just love them all. You set the tone. Yeah, do all that team-building and cooperative discipline stuff because it is good — but you are the model. Whatever you do, don’t be sarcastic — I personally find that really hard with teenagers — but it is more destructive than anything else.
In general, I’m proud of my students. They’re pretty accepting.Kim wrote:
Re: Social Issues
Dear Kim,
To facilitate inclusion in the classroom I feel that the teacher’s skills and atttitude are critical for successful inclusion. A teacher’s attitude and efforts are very apparent to students and parents and set the tone for how the other students will accept and then include all students. A teacher needs much patience when encouraging differently abeled students to participate and lack of patience is very apparent to the students. Teachers must utilize creative inclusion techniques to enable and encourage all students to participate in the classroom activities, reagardless of their differences. It is not enough to just allow the child who is different to sit in on the class, but the teacher must consistently demonstate a committment to have the differentl-abeled child feel and be a part of the class. Encouraging and faciltating equal participation by all students is very important.
The teacher must also possess a high degree of sensitivity to how the other students are reacting to and including all students. Early interception of intollerance, prejudices, insensitivity by other students is critical to setting and maintaining a positive classroom experieince for all.
Tolerance and respect for cultural and ethnic diversities is also critical in achieving an optimal classroom experience for all children. It is not just enough to teach subject content, exclusive of the context of the social, educational, and ethnic diversities of all of the students in the classroom. This diversity must be acknowledged with respect and openness so that all students are receptive to learning and not distracted or demoralized by the classroom environment.
The teacher makes or breaks all students’ educational experience, and performance can be closely related to how the student perceived his/her inclusion in the class.
Joyce Stout
What a wonderful question. As a teacher for 23 years, I can’t tell you how many times I have come across this issue. It is something you will face throughout your career of teaching. In my classroom I like to use team building activities to help students get to know each other. By getting to each other students will see past their differences and perhaps see what they have in common. One book that has wonderful activities to use when developing a sense of community in your classroom is Tribes.
I also believe that as a teacher, you need to really emphasize the strengths of each student. You may have a student in your classroom that has trouble reading and communicating their thoughts into words. As the teacher you need to highlight that student’s strengths.
I hope some of these suggestions help.
Joyce