How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met?
Our group decided to go with the topic of inclusive education for our blueprint and interactive learning resource, which makes this blog post all the more exciting to talk about!
In our resource, we have designed a professional development workshop for teachers who want to use inclusive education strategies in their classroom. In this plan, we discuss topics surrounding our essential questions, including “How can teachers create an inclusive classroom where all student needs are met?”. To answer this, teachers can encourage self-advocacy in the classroom, which is the “ability to [communicate] on one’s behalf and represent personal needs and interests” (Land & Duquette, 2014). Self-advocacy is crucial for students with learning disabilities, because they know themselves better than anyone else, and they need to be able to communicate with others in the classroom! To do this, teachers can implement strategies such as talking to the whole class about each persons “strengths and struggles”, “check-in charts“, flashcards, or computer technologies (AAC – Alternative and Augmentative Communication). The list goes on, this is just to name a few!
By using these strategies in an inclusive classroom, no one is being excluded, segregated, or simply integrated into the class, like the image below. Everyone in the classroom is included, like one whole unit that works together to meet each others individual needs and goals.
(Moore, 2019)
We also included a bit about making sure the parents are on board with the whole design. One of our essential questions was that if you have a parent who doesn’t want their child (who doesn’t have a disability) being immersed into this type of inclusive environment, then what do you do? We discussed how many resources there are and how much research there is (like this article) about how well inclusive education works, which a teacher can show to a parent inquiring about it.
Many of the inclusion strategies used in the classroom would do no harm to the learning of a student who does not have a disability. If anything, it would aid in a students’ opportunity to learn in diverse ways, regardless of their abilities. Instead of students with disabilities being pulled out of the classroom, extra support and assistance is brought in. In turn, “this allows for general education teachers and specialists to work together in the same learning environment, benefiting all students, who are offered additional resources and support” (Lathan, J., 2021).
A great resource that our group found was CAST.org’s UDL Guidelines. Essentially, these guidelines are a framework for teaching, allowing all types of learners to learn (CAST, 2021). These UDL guidelines can be implemented into virtually any lesson or workshop. They allow for all learners needs to be met, but it shouldn’t just be used as a checklist to say “oh yes, I have done my part for inclusive education” after including some UDL guidelines into one science lesson for the whole year. Rather, they should be considered for every day use, and what you can do to incorporate them into your daily classroom environment. Parent’s would be able to see that through the use of the UDL guidelines, every learner is being accounted for, no matter their abilities. Everyone learns differently, and we should teach accordingly!
If the above resources and suggestions don’t work, then we came up with the idea of having that parent come and sit in on a lesson or volunteer with an activity so that they can see first hand how an inclusive classroom is beneficial to not only students with any form of disability, but also to those without. By having all the parents in that classroom on board with the strategies used, then this can also ensure that the needs of all the students in the class are being met.
References:
CAST (2021). The UDL Guidelines. Retrieved from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/?utm_source=castsite&lutm_medium=web&utm_campaign=none&utm_content=aboutudl
Moore, S. (2019). blogsomemoore. April 2019. https://blogsomemoore.com/april-2019/
Land, M. & Duquette, C. (2014). Explicit Instruction of Self-Advocacy Skills. Retrieved from https://www.ldatschool.ca/self-determination-and-self-advocacy/
Lathan, J. (2021). University of San Diego. 4 Proven Inclusive Education Strategies for Educators (Plus 6 Helpful Resources). Retrieved from https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/inclusive-education-strategies/