Inclusive Practices in Your Classroom

Summary

This video guide by Raynee and Tyler, graduate students from the University of Montana, offers insights on creating inclusive classrooms. It covers the benefits of inclusion, legal implications, best practices like Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and strategies for classroom community building and Response to Intervention (RTI), emphasizing the importance of high expectations and collaboration for all students.

Takeaways

• 🏫 An inclusive school integrates general and special education, ensuring all students have equal learning opportunities.
• 🌐 Inclusive classrooms replace pull-out services with supports that are portable and brought into the regular classroom.
• 📚 Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is implemented to accommodate all students' instructional needs, enhancing the curriculum for everyone.
• 🤝 Inclusion benefits all students by fostering teamwork, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, not just those with special needs.
• 🌟 Inclusive environments naturally promote equality, reduce bullying, and help students feel accepted and part of a community.
• 🔍 Inclusion is distinct from mainstreaming or integration, focusing on the child's right to participate and the school's duty to accommodate.
• 📈 Legal requirements, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mandate appropriate degrees of inclusion in education.
• 💬 Person-first language is crucial in inclusive classrooms, emphasizing the individual over their disability and promoting acceptance.
• 🔄 UDL guidelines in education require multiple means of representation, action, and engagement to cater to diverse learning styles and needs.
• 👥 Classroom community building is essential for creating a welcoming environment where students feel a sense of belonging and can collaborate effectively.
• 🔄 Response to Intervention (RTI) is an inclusion model that identifies and addresses students' support needs early, using a multi-tiered approach.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video made by Raynee and Tyler?

The main purpose of the video is to guide teachers and administrators in developing an inclusive classroom, covering topics such as the benefits of inclusion, best practices, and tips for implementation.

How is an inclusive school defined in the video?

An inclusive school is defined as one where general education and special education are no longer separate, and all students have an equal opportunity to learn together in a restructured environment that promotes community and equal participation.

What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and why is it important in an inclusive classroom?

Universal Design for Learning is an approach that accommodates instructional needs by providing a flexible blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone. It is important in an inclusive classroom as it helps ensure all students have equal learning opportunities.

Why is inclusion beneficial for students, including those without special needs?

Inclusion is beneficial for all students because it promotes a high-quality curriculum with UDL strategies, fosters experience working with peers of various ability levels, encourages natural conversations about equality and belonging, and helps combat issues like bullying by creating a sense of community.

What is the difference between inclusion, mainstreaming, and integration according to the video?

Inclusion focuses on the child's rights to participate and the school's duty to accept the child, rejecting the use of special schools or classrooms for separation. In contrast, mainstreaming and integration are primarily concerned with disability and special educational needs, implying learners must become ready for accommodations.

What legal implications does the video mention regarding inclusion in schools?

The video mentions the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires schools to offer a continuum of services for students with disabilities and to provide a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

What are some best practices for developing an inclusive classroom as mentioned in the video?

Best practices include using person-first language, implementing UDL, creating a welcoming classroom community, using Response to Intervention (RTI) models, maintaining natural proportions of students with special needs, and providing multiple means of representation, action, expression, and engagement.

How does the video suggest creating a classroom community that supports inclusion?

The video suggests starting the school year with ice breaker games and 'get to know you' activities to help students see their commonalities and understand their differences. Teamwork skill building activities can also help create a strong sense of community.

What is Response to Intervention (RTI) and how does it relate to inclusion?

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered approach that identifies a student's support needs early in their academic career. It differentiates instruction by offering increasing intensities of support and interventions, which is beneficial for inclusion as it provides tailored support to students.

What is the importance of maintaining natural proportions in an inclusive classroom?

Maintaining natural proportions ensures that the percentage of students with special needs in a class does not significantly exceed the percentage in the school or community as a whole, preventing clustering and promoting meaningful interaction among all students.

What are some quick-start tips provided in the video for implementing inclusion in a classroom?

The video provides tips such as practicing person-first language, making supports and assistive technology available to all students, eliminating learning barriers, promoting collaborative work, holding high expectations, providing varied expression methods, and developing lessons that cater to a range of academic abilities.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Inclusive Classrooms

This paragraph introduces Raynee and Tyler, graduate students at the University of Montana, who have created a video guide to assist educators in developing inclusive classrooms. They discuss the concept of an inclusive school where general and special education are seamlessly integrated, providing equal learning opportunities for all students. The paragraph emphasizes the benefits of inclusion, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and how it promotes a sense of community and combats issues like bullying. It also clarifies the difference between inclusion, mainstreaming, and integration, highlighting the legal implications of inclusion as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

05:04

🌟 Best Practices for Inclusive Classrooms

The second paragraph delves into the best practices for creating an inclusive classroom environment. It underscores the importance of person-first language to focus on the individual rather than their disability, fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance. The paragraph also highlights the significance of UDL in developing a curriculum that caters to all students' needs through flexible instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments. It outlines the UDL guidelines, which include providing multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement to accommodate diverse learning styles and ensure all students can participate effectively in the learning process.

10:04

🤝 Building Classroom Community and RTI Model

This paragraph discusses the importance of building a welcoming and accepting classroom community as a foundation for an inclusive learning environment. It references Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to emphasize the necessity of psychological safety and a sense of belonging before academic achievement. The paragraph introduces ice breaker activities and team-building exercises to foster a sense of community. It also explains the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, a proactive approach to identifying and addressing students' learning needs through a multi-tiered system of support, ensuring that all students receive the appropriate level of instruction and intervention based on their performance.

🛠 Quick-Start Guide for Implementing Inclusion

The final paragraph offers a practical quick-start guide for educators to begin implementing inclusion in their classrooms. It provides eight tips, starting with the practice of person-first language and avoiding negative connotations. The paragraph encourages making supports and assistive technology available to all students to reduce isolation and promote success. It suggests considering barriers to learning and finding alternatives to eliminate them, as well as promoting collaborative work among students through various methods. The guide also emphasizes holding all students to high expectations, providing diverse ways for students to express themselves, and developing lessons that cater to a wide range of academic abilities.

Keywords

💡Inclusive Classroom

An inclusive classroom is an educational environment where students with and without disabilities learn together, with the aim of providing equal opportunities for all. The concept is central to the video's theme, emphasizing the restructuring of schools to ensure that all students can participate and express themselves equally. The script mentions that in such a classroom, 'supports are portable and pull out services replaced by bringing the services into the regular classroom,' highlighting the integration of resources and strategies to accommodate diverse learning needs.

💡Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

UDL is a framework that guides the creation of curricula and learning environments to accommodate all students' needs from the start. It is mentioned in the script as a strategy to 'accommodate instructional' needs, suggesting that it is a key component of inclusive education. UDL principles are used to design materials and assessments that can be accessed and understood by everyone, regardless of their abilities.

💡Person-First Language

Person-first language is a way of speaking that emphasizes the person rather than their disability. It is highlighted in the script as an important aspect of best practices in an inclusive classroom, promoting acceptance and reducing stigma. The script provides an example by recommending the use of 'a child who has dyslexia' instead of 'a dyslexic child,' showing how language can influence perceptions and interactions.

💡Integration

Integration, as discussed in the script, refers to the practice of including students with disabilities in general education classrooms, but it is often seen as a temporary or transitional measure. The video contrasts it with inclusion, stating that 'inclusion is not the same thing as mainstreaming or integration,' and that inclusion is more about the child's rights and the school's duty to accept the child, rather than the child adapting to the mainstream.

💡Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

LRE is a principle from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that requires children with disabilities to receive education in the same classrooms as their non-disabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate. The script explains that the degree of inclusion varies and is flexible, aligning with the LRE principle, which ensures that students are not unnecessarily segregated.

💡Response to Intervention (RTI)

RTI is an educational approach that focuses on early identification and support for students who are struggling. The script describes RTI as a multi-tiered system that provides 'increasingly intensive instruction' based on student needs. It contrasts RTI with a 'wait-to-fail' model, emphasizing proactive support to prevent academic difficulties.

💡Natural Proportion

Natural proportion is the concept of maintaining a balanced distribution of students with special needs throughout a school, ensuring that no single class has a significantly higher percentage than the school or community average. The script warns against clustering students with severe disabilities, which can limit their opportunities for meaningful interaction and undermine the benefits of inclusive education.

💡Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a psychological theory that prioritizes certain needs, such as physiological and safety needs, over others like belonging and self-esteem. The script references this theory to argue that a sense of belonging and community is crucial for students to feel accepted and achieve academically, suggesting that social and belonging needs should be addressed before pushing for achievement.

💡Best Practices

Best practices in education refer to a range of activities, policies, and approaches aimed at improving student outcomes. In the context of the video, best practices for inclusive classrooms include using person-first language, implementing UDL, and creating a classroom community. The script provides several tips for introducing these practices, emphasizing the importance of high expectations and collaborative work.

💡Collaboration

Collaboration is a key aspect of inclusive classrooms, where students work together to achieve common goals. The script discusses various forms of collaboration, such as buddy systems, peer mentoring, and group projects, which help build relationships and a sense of community. It also stresses the importance of ensuring equal participation and opportunities for expression in these collaborative activities.

💡High Expectations

High expectations in education mean setting ambitious but achievable goals for all students, regardless of their abilities. The script encourages holding all students to high expectations, pushing them to achieve to their highest potential. This includes adapting workloads if necessary but maintaining the expectation of excellence.

Highlights

Raynee and Tyler are graduate students at the University of Montana, creating a guide to develop inclusive classrooms.

Inclusive schools integrate general and special education, ensuring equal learning opportunities for all students.

Inclusive classrooms are restructured to build a community where everyone can participate and express themselves equally.

Supports in inclusive classrooms are portable, with services brought into the regular classroom instead of pull-out options.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is implemented to accommodate instructional needs for all students.

Inclusion benefits all students by promoting equality, group membership, and a sense of belonging.

Inclusive classrooms combat bullying by fostering a sense of community and mutual support among students.

Inclusion teaches students appropriate behavior in various social settings, preparing them for life beyond school.

Inclusion is distinct from mainstreaming or integration, focusing on the child's rights and the school's duty to accept them.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires schools to offer a continuum of services for students with disabilities.

The least restrictive environment (LRE) principle of IDEA ensures education in the same classrooms for disabled and non-disabled peers.

Best practices in inclusive classrooms include using person-first language to emphasize the individual over the disability.

UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals that work for everyone through flexible, customizable approaches.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests that a sense of belonging is foundational for self-esteem and academic success.

Creating a classroom community through ice breaker games and team-building activities fosters acceptance and collaboration.

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a model that identifies and addresses student support needs early in their academic career.

Natural proportion in classrooms ensures a balanced distribution of students with special needs, avoiding clustering.

A quick-start guide for inclusion provides eight practical tips for implementing inclusive practices in any classroom.

Transcripts

Hi I'm Raynee, and I'm Tyler we're graduate students in the Curriculum and

Instruction department at the University of Montana.

We made the following video as a guide to help teachers and administrators

develop an inclusive classroom.

We will cover topics like the benefits of inclusion, some best practices

and provide tips to implement inclusion into your classroom. Please use the sidebar to

follow along with the presentation.

Closed captioning is also provided along the bottom of the screen.

So, what is an inclusive school? An inclusive school is one in which general

education and special education are no longer separate from each other

and completely indistinguishable. The school has been restructured so that all

students have an equal opportunity to learn together.

It changes the classroom to build a community where everyone has equal

opportunities to participate and express themselves.

In an inclusive classroom supports are portable and pull out services replaced by bringing

the services into the regular classroom.

Universal Design for for Learning is implemented to accommodate instructional

Universal Design for for Learning is implemented to accommodate instructional

Why is inclusion good for everyone? An inclusive classroom still offers the

same high quality curriculum,

just with the addition Universal Design for Learning, or UDL strategies

to help all students have equal learning opportunities.

Inclusion is also good for all students in the classroom,

not just the students with special needs or behavioral differences.

In an inclusive classrooms, students get experience working together

with students with a variety of ability levels. In these classroom settings,

conversations about equality, group membership, and opportunity

naturally occur which help all children to feel like they're accepted and a part

of the classroom community.

A community setting helps to combat

issues such as bullying, as children feel that they are all working together and

looking out for one another.

An inclusive classroom is also an opportunity for students to see how to

behave appropriately in a classroom

or in certain social settings. Is there a difference between inclusion and

mainstreaming or

integration? It's important to note that inclusion is not the same thing is

mainstreaming or integration.

Integration and mainstreaming tend to be concerned principally with disability

and special educational needs and

imply learners changing or becoming ready for or deserving

of accommodations by mainstreaming. By contrast, inclusion is about the child's

rights to participate

and the school's duty to accept the child. Inclusion rejects the use of special

schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students

without disabilities.

A premium is placed upon full participation by students with

disabilities and upon respect for their social

civil and educational rights.Inclusion gives students with and without

disabilities

additional skills such as collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving

that they can use in and out of the classroom. Legal implications of

Inclusion.

Not only is inclusion good for all types of learners

but appropriate degrees of inclusion are also required by law.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

or IDEA does not support an all-or-nothing education system

in which children with disabilities attend either regular or special

education classes.

Instead the Act requires schools to offer a continuum of services for

students with disabilities.

The least restrictive environment or LRE

one of the six principles of IDEA requires that children with disabilities

receive a free and appropriate education

in the same classrooms as their non-disabled peers to the greatest

extent

appropriate. The degree of inclusion varies from student to student

and is very flexible. As a student develops, the maximum appropriate

inclusion

in a general classroom can develop to. How can best practices be introduced in

your classroom?

In education, best practices is defined as a wide range individual activities

policies and programmatic approaches to achieve positive change in student

attitudes or academic behaviors.

When developing an inclusive classroom, there are several important aspects to

ensure best practices.

Person first language is important when working with students who have a

disability.

This puts an emphasis on the person not the disability

and it helps them to fit in and be an accepted member of the classroom.

It's important that students care more about how they're similar instead of how

they're different.

An example a person first language would be to use the term such as

a child who has dyslexia instead of saying a dyslexic child.

UDL is another important aspect to best practices in an

inclusive classroom. UDL helps the teacher develop a curriculum

that gives all students an equal opportunity to learn. It's a blueprint

for creating instructional goals,

methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone by using a flexible

approach that can be customized and

adjusted for individual needs. Guidelines for UDL require that multiple means

representation are provided.

This helps to maximize every student's strengths because it does not limit

instruction to only engage in one sense.

It allows all the senses to be engaged and used in the learning experience.

By providing information multiple ways students can work to their strengths

while building

understanding through multiple sense avenues. A second guideline to UDL is to

provide multiple means action and expression.

Learners differ in the ways that they navigate a learning environment and

express what they know.

There is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all

learners.

Providing options for action and expression is essential.

The final guideline for UDL is to provide multiple means engagement.

Learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can

be engaged are motivated to learn. Information that does not engage

learner's cognition

is in fact inaccessible. Relevant information goes unnoticed and

unprocessed,

not allowing the child to learn. Providing multiple options for

engagement is the only way to attract all students attention and engage them

in the

learning process. Classroom Community Building.

A welcoming and accepting classroom is key to the successful creation

an inclusive learning environment. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

states that both psychological and safety needs must be met before person

can address their needs related to social acceptance

and a sense of belonging. However many believe that a student's social and

belonging needs must first be addressed

and that self esteem comes from a sense of belonging. Many schools push students to

achieve so they can belong

instead of helping students feel belonging before asking them to achieve.

Creating that classroom community environment can help students feel

accepted and appreciated

and provides a great background for collaboration, understanding,

and

academic success. It can be very simple to create a classroom community.

At the beginning of the school year students can participate in ice breaker

games and "get to know you" activities

so they can learn about each other and begin to see their commonalities

and understand their differences. Students can also participate in team

work skill building activities

so that they are better able to see and apply each other's strengths

and create group many experiences. Even these simple activities can help to build

a strong classroom community

in which individuals are accepted and appreciated. Response to Intervention or

RTI is another inclusion model. Instead of the way to fail model

that waits until students show signs of failure before intervening.

RTI is a multi-tiered approach that identifies a student's support needs

early in their academic career. The multi-tiered approach

is used to efficiently differentiate instruction for students by offering

increasing intensities and instruction and offering specific

research-based interventions to match student needs.

The first, or bottom tier of the RTI triangle

is where all students receive high quality, scientifically based instruction

provided by qualified personnel to ensure that their difficulties are not

due to inadequate instruction.

Students not showing adequate progress under Tier 1 instruction

are moved up to Tier 2. In Tier 2,

students are provided with increasingly intensive instruction

matched to their needs on the basis of levels of performance and rates progress.

This instruction often takes place in a small group setting.

If a student isn't showing adequate progress through Tier 2 instruction,

they are then considered for the more intensive instruction in Tier 3.

Students receiving Tier 3 instruction participate in

individualized intensive instruction interventions that target the student's

skill deficit.

if a student isn't showing adequate progress in Tier 3 instruction

they can be evaluated and considered for special education services.

It is important to remember that a student's placement

any of the three tiers of instruction is not fixed. For example,

if a student receiving Tier 3 instruction begin showing progress with

fewer supports

they can move back into Tier 2 or even Tier 1 instruction.

Natural proportion is important to keep in mind in inclusive classroom.

Natural proportion ensures that the percentage of students with special

needs in any particular class

does not significantly exceed the percentage in the school as a whole.

This ratio should also be similar to that of the population in the community

in which the school is located.

If too many students with disabilities are placed together, or clustered,

the range of needs will make the class difficult to teach and many the benefits

of inclusive

education, such as peer models and high expectations will be lost.

when children with severe disabilities are clustered in the classroom,

they're often put in a separate part the classroom with an aide or

paraprofessional

which eliminates opportunities for them have meaningful interaction with their

classmates.

A quick-start guide for inclusion in your classroom.

Use the following 8 tips to start implementing inclusion in your classroom.

1. Practice person first language.

2. Avoid terms a project and unnecessarily

negative connotation, like deformed, poor

unfortunate, or victim. 3. Make supports and assistive technology

available to all students,

not just students with disabilities. This will lessen the isolation

an individual using supports can feel and help all students be successful

learners.

4. Think of barriers to learning

and try to come up with alternatives to eliminate those barriers.

5. Have students work collaboratively.

This can be done in a variety of ways. You can have students work in a buddy

system

which helps build relationships and increases community interaction for all

students.

You could also develop a school-based peer mentoring program.

In a peer mentoring program, the relationship between the mentor and

mentee

gives the mentee a sense of being connected to the larger community

where they may otherwise feel lost. Group projects are another great way to get

students to work collaboratively.

However, in group projects it's important to emphasize equal input and rolls for

all members of the group

to ensure relevant participation by all members and equal opportunities

for expression.

6. Hold all students to high expectations.

You want to push them to achieve to their highest abilities.

Even if you have to reduce the workload for some students,

you can still hold high expectations for them. 7.

Provide a variety of ways for students to express themselves and their

knowledge.

students work harder when they have some choice in what they're doing.

8.

Develop lessons with children on both the high-end and low-end of

academic abilities in mind. Don't build the lesson thinking only of the middle.

This helps to give all children opportunities to learn to their highest

ability.

We hope this video will help you implement inclusion into your classroom.

The resources listed are helpful if you have any questions along the way.

With careful thought and consideration all children can learn together in your

classroom and school!