Inclusive Classrooms

I love this post  - now to transfer these same principles into the High School classroom - it can be done!
Inclusion begins with....

One of my challenges is that as a part time teacher I am at the bottom of the pecking order for classroom allocations - and rooming is tight - so my class of year 7's transitioning into the big world of HS is in a different room every lesson. Such a silly thing - but it really helps disrupt the students' learning. Every lesson has a different 'feel' and it isn't because of my teaching or the boys personality - it's the lottery of room and who ends up sitting where and with whome - and the constant unpredicability of it all.

Expecting and welcoming each student - having a place for everyone - now that is doable. It builds trust and achieves lots. Meeting the students half way helps build successful relationships.

Reinvigoration - A new page in the journey....

This blog was set up to follow my family's journey in the NSW education system. After a while I found that the negative tone of the posts was not providing an accurate picture of that journey - even though those negative posts were all valid - so I stopped adding to Mainstream Musings..... fast forward a few years ...... I have 2 children requiring special education instruction. One has been identified as 'gifted' the other as having an intellectual disability (she has Down Syndrome). They are heading into middle school next year - and so my focus on High School for them will start in ernest. Oh and I have started working in a local High School as a special education teacher and just to ensure that there is no doubt that I am a somewhat psychotic overbearing control freak mother - I am currently studying a certificate in Gifted Education. Welcome travellers.... I hope that this blog becomes a place of positive practical advice and support. This schooling business isn't easy but it can be very rewarding.

My Piece of Advice - for Parents and Carers

Beware the assessments of High School - this seems to be an area where even sensible and caring teachers lose perspective. If your child has an intellectual disability - then ALL tasks should be adjusted in some way. A simple clear task may need extra time to complete or greater adult supervision/assistance to help the student. A breakdown of what the student needs to do should be provided - a scaffold. As the curriculum gets more complex (stage 5-6) then alternate tasks may well be needed. INSIST on them!! Please! Too often a student has to 'make do' with a task that doesn't test what they know, that doesn't provide the student with a valuable learning process. Instead it seems as if sometimes our kids are dragged through tasks by parents and learning asssitants who feel trapped by the system and the task rigidity.

BEWARE these tasks. Refuse to accept reports based on non adjusted tasks.

Adjusted tasks require teachers to have a clear idea of what is the essential skill/information that students need to know/demonstrate and a good working knowledge of what their special needs students can/can't do. Surely that is not an unreasonable demand. It's inclusive education.