Post #4 – Interaction [Inclusive Education]

Hi everyone! For the last blog prompt, I will be focussing on the topic of Inclusive Education which is the topic my group chose for our Interactive Learning Resource. Linked below is the video I have chosen for the prompt, “Transforming Inclusive Education” by Shelley Moore:

For our Interactive Learning Resource project, our target audience is a workshop of teachers and educators. This just helps to give some context about my response.

What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The way that Shelley Moore story tells is very intriguing. She speaks in a way that makes sense to anyone. After watching the video with my workshop students, I think that they would be pretty shocked and surprised. When I watched the video, I was shocked as well. I had never seen inclusive education described with an analogy in a way that made total sense. I would get the students to turn and talk to a neighbour and discuss what they just saw, all their initial thoughts and revelations. After watching this video, I don’t think that you can ever not think of inclusive education in the way that Shelley so perfectly puts it. And so, their response would most likely be inherent, and they would probably think of inclusion and bowling all the time!

In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

I don’t believe that this video requires any note-taking. Shelley speaks in a way that is interesting and upbeat. Especially because the video is short, I would expect my students to just listen along. Afterwards, however, I would get them to talk to their neighbour (as mentioned above), and get them to just really think about what they just watched and how it made them feel about inclusive education. This would be learner generated, but I would walk around and ask some questions, such as “do you view inclusive education differently now?”, “was there any part that really stuck out to you, or any part that didn’t really make sense?”, “do you have another analogy that might work to describe inclusive education?”. Then, we would transition into the next activity.

What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

The activity that I would do following the video and conversation afterwards is called “Conversation Cafe“. Essentially, there are around 4 tables surrounded with chairs for the participants, and a piece of chart paper and markers. On each chart, there is a question posed. Participants of each group will discuss the question, and generate any ideas or comments about the question, which is then written on the paper. After about 10 or 15 minutes, the groups will rotate. This will happen until each group has discussed each question. Questions I would pose include:

• After watching the video, what is one key take away that Shelley mentioned? Why?
• What can you do to implement what Shelley has discussed into your classroom? Do you see anything wrong with what she has talked about?
• How you do to ensure that “all the pins get hit” in your classroom?
• Brainstorm some ideas of how we can implement inclusive education strategies in the classroom. What are the challenges that arise?

This activity would help the workshop learners to hone in on their collaborative and creative thinking skills. This activity requires the participants to bounce ideas off of one another, and is a good way to get a conversation going. This activity can be done in person with chart paper, or it can also be done online, like a breakout room format with the whiteboard feature, or a private chat.

How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

Feedback on the activity would likely only be positive. This activity is a way for teachers to brainstorm and collaborate with one another. There are no wrong ideas in this activity! I would likely, at the end of the activity, gather all the chart paper or (if it is an online format) screenshots of the whiteboard and start a conversation. This feedback would be immediate, during the workshop, and as a whole group, we would discuss and highlight the main points that came out of the activity. Afterwards, I would likely send out an email to all of the participants, summarizing all of the findings from each question, followed by some comments made by me. I had a professor do this in one of my classes this past spring, and I really liked the format. It addressed everyone as a whole, so as not to single anyone out. This gave us a permanent way to look back on what was discussed, and the comments made by the prof were constructive and positive.

This concludes my last blog post! I am amazed by how much I have learned over the course, not just about inclusive education, but also from all my peers and all their blog posts. I’m excited to see how I can use my newfound knowledge in my future career as an educator!

References: 

Liberating Structures (n.d.). Conversation Cafe. Retrieved from https://www.liberatingstructures.com/17-conversation-cafe/

Moore, Shelley (2016). Transforming Inclusive Education. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYtUlU8MjlY