Double Entry Journal #1

(Weinberger & Zabudoski, 2010)

"Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability and their motivation."

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

(Inos & Quigley)

Providing this equal right to students by including students in the least restrictive learning environment is the goal of Inclusive Education. As students are introduced into an inclusive classroom, they interact and cooperate with each other in order to survive the day and to reach goals placed upon them by a teacher.  Because all students will benefit from a diverse classroom, inclusive classroom practices are intended to benefit students both with and without disabilities which challenge their ability to learn. The process of inclusion is combining students into a general education classroom regardless of their condition. By including students with disabilities into the least restrictive environment, the students are no longer excluded from multiple benefits. For example one would be the stimulation of a child's linguistic development as described in the Research Review for Inclusive Practices.

Although inclusion can be successful for all classroom learners, there are specific types of learners targeted with Inclusive Education. Three examples of these learners would be students who are bilingual, students who have a physical disability, and students of various ethnicity. As these learners are integrated into classrooms with more diversity, students gain the opportunity to provide services to each other in times of need. This is a positive characteristic of an Inclusive school. As students and teachers respect each other as a part of the school a strong sense of community is formed. Inclusion also changes the way teachers are running their classrooms. In fact, another positive characteristic of an Inclusive school is that teachers learn from each other as they teach "unsegregated classes". This style of teaching is referred to as "co-teaching". An example of this is an inclusive classroom where a special education teacher teams up with a general science teacher for an eighth grade science class.

Inclusion allows for a bond to be formed between students. A situation in which a student is able to help another student with a project or social dilemma is one that allows for students to become more responsible and effective in the inclusion process. This is done in many ways. A few examples are peer tutoring, peer mediation, or cooperative learning.

NY Teachers is a blog that addresses some issues surrounding the education field. In a specific blog posting titled Managing A Classroom: A Collaborative Effort, the topic of inclusion is discussed. Including this article with this entry is important to me because this article displays what inclusion requires in order to be successful. Inclusion extends beyond putting learners together into a classroom. Inclusion depends on attitude. The attitude that enables an inclusion classroom to work effectively is one that empowers students, parents, teachers, administrators, and all participants engaging in an inclusion classroom to relentlessly participate. The picture above was captured from the NY Teachers blog and is my symbol for inclusion. Everyone collaborates and participates together in order to gain/provide a valuable free and public education, which is a right bestowed upon all children of the United States of America.

References

Inos, R. H., & Quigley, M. A. Research review for inclusive practices. Retrieved from      http://www.prel.org/products/Products/Inclusive-practices.htm

Weinberger, P., & Zabudoski, D. (2010). Managing a classroom: A collaborative effort. Retrieved from http://nyteachers.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/managing-a-classroom-a-collaborative-effort/