Inclusion

Welcome to the Inclusion page.  This page is a cooperative effort between SOMEA and SOMSD.  Please take a look at some of the links below which may help you to understand the Inclusion model or help with working in an inclusive setting.

 

What Does An Inclusive Classroom Look Like?

Inclusive classrooms look different all the time because the environment is created by whatever interactions the teacher and students have as a group or as individuals in the group, explains Chris Kliewer, thinking of his second grade classroom in New York.

It's a lot of students doing different things with people helping them, students moving from one environment to another. It's also a classroom where everybody is smiling, the students are actively engaged, and the teacher is delighted to be there. It sounds like pandemonium and looks messy.

Students spend a lot of time in learning centers where they make a lot of choices about what they're working on. It's a classroom where learning often happens in small groups with peer helping and supporting each others.

It's a classroom with a lot of time for social interaction that means something to curriculum expectations.

It's a classroom that is student-centered. Students have a high level of responsibility for creating their community. They help structure the rules and are expected to follow them and to meet contracted expectations for curriculum.

It's a classroom where students know others will be doing different things and the issue of fairness doesn't come into play because that's just the way it is.

It's a classroom that reaches beyond the classroom and into the community as a resource for learning new skills.

Inclusion without resources, without support, without teacher preparation time, without commitment, without a vision statement, without restructuring, without staff development, won't work. -- Mara Sapon-Shevin

Portions of the inclusion pages courtesy of the University of Northern Iowa College of Education.