Conclusion!

Overall, this course has been informative and beneficial to me as a student. I hope to implement the "why, how and what" concept as a leader. I felt that the video by Simon Sinek was a great way to finish the semester for how to accept the challenge of inclusive education. Thank you for all of the hard work you have put into our course and have a great Christmas break!!

Sincerely,

Cherish

Questions that I have about being a future teacher in an inclusive classroom.

From the movies in Setting the Direction-Moving Forward

1. It said that there would be many programs incorporated in making schools inclusive. How do we know it will not just be lifted and integrated then placed upon the teacher fully?

2. If we have to teach integrated classrooms plus an integrated curriculum why can we not be given the integrated curriculum instead of just the resources and tools to do so?

3. By stating that inclusive education will benefit all children, could this possibly be a cover up for funding? Is the underlying issue that they do not want to fund special education programs?

National Film Board of Canada- Shyness

We had the pleasure of viewing the video "Shyness" where the date of the movie was in fact 1953. At this time the education world was leaning towards progressivism and a "mental hygiene movement' was in effect. It was interesting to view a film that was creating at such an early date.

The three children showcased were Robert, Jimmy, and Anna. All three children were given a social skills test to see where each child was placed within the social circle. It concluded that they were outside the circle with no friends in school. One important fact about children outside the social circle is that children who are shy may lose positions in life from others with confidence. Not one of the students tested were capable of performing tasks with confidence.

Some facts that the movie provided:
1. Patterns of adult behaviour surface in early adolescence
2. Around the age 3-6 is the normal time in life where we adjust to situations
I found that these were two topics that were new to me about young children. It was interesting to ponder the fact that we as middle school teachers will be involved with children as they create their patterns of early adolescence. How do we make sure that these children reach their potential in early adolescence when we have more of an influence in their life than their parents may have? How will we as educators be able to reach all of our students if we become inclusive within the classroom? It will not be possible for us to develop our students to their full potential as citizens.

IPP Process

It has almost come to the conclusion of our class time together and I have found that the IPP assignment was extremely beneficial to me! I was able to work cooperatively with 6 other individuals and complete the assignment at a higher level of thinking. Overall, I would feel much more comfortable in my first teaching placement if I was expected to write a full IPP for a student.

Some key decisions that our group chose to take into consideration dealt with the entire way we would approach the IPP. We each took our own roles for the character Danny and brought information to the table that would make the situation more realistic. We all knew that this would occur out in the real world as well. We held multiple meetings were we each had to put on a different hat but understood that this may be tough to make happen if we were in a school setting. Every day problems and shortcomings create draw backs so that meetings are tough to make happen. As a future educator, we must understand that these "ideal" meetings may not actually occur.

I would have liked to be able to sit in on an IPP process in my observation week like a couple others from my group were able to. It would have been an interesting conversation that I would have loved to be a part of because I know that I will have to perform the same processes in the future.

By doing this assignment I could put together a document that would be a reference for me in the future but would also contribute to my online portfolio.

Inclusive Education Cont'

During my observation week, I was also able to sit in on a Horizons class. This is where the children have a GPA 135+. This means...very smart kids! This was probably the most interesting class that I have been a part of.

Let me explain the program to begin with. Horizons are an invite only program that runs through a department in downtown Red Deer. Parents who would like their children to be in this program will put them through a series of tests and then wait for the results. Once the results are determined, children will then be invited to join or else referred by the principal. One condition, once you decide to drop this program there is no way you can then rejoin it. This program is a lot like Foundations but on the higher end of cognitive abilities. These children were segregated for their core subjects but integrated for their options so it could also be considered a resource room or withdrawal room.

The class that I was able to observe had only grade 8 boys, no girls, and all had high cognitive skills. Even their mannerisms as students were highly developed. In this science class I was able to watch them learn about some physics then receive a project where they must build a model dentist chair. The whole idea and methodology in this classroom felt somewhat over my head as a future educator! So I asked the present teacher how she deals with such high functioning children. She said she must be on her toes at all times! Any slip ups will be questioned by these children. I felt that this would be a stressful environment for someone like me.

The most engaging situation that I was able to observe was their questioning skills. The whole environment truly felt like a college classroom. How would someone move into or want to pursue a teaching position in a program such as Horizons? I would definitely have to be prepared for anything!

My only issue with this program is the fact that these children will only be with these classmates until the end of grade 8. Once graduating from their Middle school they will eventually move into their high school and no such program exists at this level. In my opinion it is awfully sad to see that they move through the grade 8 curriculums so fast only to have to start learning the grade 9 curriculum and continue into high school only to begin reviewing information. I hope that in the future, our country will see the need for both Horizons and Foundations programs. It is the best way for these children's to function effectively. How are we as future educators supposed to stimulate such minds to their full potential if they are fully integrated! Their inability to stay stimulated will eventually turn into off-task and misbehaviour.

Inclusive Education and my Observation Week!

Throughout the week at my practicum school I was able to observe multiple classrooms; a regular class, Foundations, Horizons and also an inclusive educational setting. It was interesting to be able to view such a variety to further establish my beliefs on inclusive education.

The most interesting situation that I was able to have the opportunity to watch was the Foundations classroom. The children were tested then put into this program and they all had different levels of cognitive ability. So some children would be with Foundations for every option class and others may just be with Foundations for three out of four of the options. This allowed for every student to be able to learn at their own pace. The environment that this classroom provided for them was an uplifting and encouraging aura. One lesson that I watched was Math class and the teacher had four to five educational assistants (EA) helping. This class, the teacher went from student to student with their own individual work sheets and gave them each an individual lesson with the help from the EA's. This allowed each child to be individually engaged at the level of cognitive ability for them.

I then continued to follow one child in particular to a gym class and watched him/her participate in an inclusive education setting since their options were integrated. What shocked me the most was that this child had no more or less issues with behaviour whatsoever. It was apparent that her cognitive ability was an area of need while other children had way more advanced behavioural issues present. I think that in this child's case it is important for these children to have these opportunities. How else will they learn the social skills needed to function in our world today? All in all I agree with the term "resource room". It is a functioning place for children that need that outside help but also gives them the chance to develop those character and citizenship educational skills.
If these rooms are taken away I think that children will be at a great disadvantage and their issues whether cognitive or behavioural will become even more present and turn their school experiences in another direction.

Richard Lavoie Continued October 5, 2010

So today in class we finished the movie reviewing Richard Lavoie and I took quite a few points from him when talking about family and how disabilities have a tremendous impact on the family. It reminded me of a TV show that I watch regularly and it is called "Parenthood". The dymamic's of this family are clear and what Richard talked about today had a direct relation to the TV show. Below is a link for a clip on Youtube for this TV show and the importance of all areas of the family being involved with a child that may have autism. This boy has severe autism in the show and it is about Max getting accepted into a special program for children with learning disabilities. The parents have their disagreements and tough times but always seem to work out issues and communicate about what is most important for Max. Some episodes do indeed have the ripple effect occur from family member to family member but it shows different strategies this family uses to help get through the issues that are present. So far in the last season it has not talked about his schooling or what happens at school but there is a lady who is his mentor or helper with social relationships.

Richard also talked about how there are social obligations and social rejection and Max goes through these stages as well. The show portrays different situations and how the parents have troubles with maintaining a relationship with their son. The father feels as though there is not a father-son relationship present and gets angry with the mentor with how there is no change or positive progressions. It is important for teachers to understand that there are also challenges at home that need to be touched on. This must be important in the IPP process so we understand that parents are truly the ones who should be or are the experts on their children's special needs. Just as teachers go through levels of understanding, parents must also go through these levels of understanding so they take it seriously not personally.

Clip of Parenthood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1waWotx14I&NR=1&feature=fvwp

He also brought forth the questions:
How do you build self-concept and self-esteem in children that have special needs in your classroom? What about a regular classroom?

I would like to be able to answer these questions before leaving this class and be able to implement some strategies we have already discussed!

Inclusive Classroom Insights September 30, 2010

In class we finished viewing the movie by Richard Lavoie. He continued to discuss lifelong learning, differential diagnosis and the ongoing conflict between remedial versus compensatory. We also further discussed how we might use these insights in our own classrooms.

The focus was on the lifelong learning disabilities during adolescence. This is the worst time for students. There were 3 reasons why this is determined as the worst times and they are:
1)only years when they are expected to do ALL things well
2)only time where different equals bad
3)recognition of permanence which is the realization of life-long permanence of disabilities or issues in life
To fix these issues teachers must be able to celebrate the generalist at this age not the specialist, kids are all unique and must be celebrated for it, and defining disabilities is better in this day and age which allows for more overlap. Teachers must be able to understand these issues and determine the best way to fix them in their classroom.

I thought another important point that Lavoie made was about differential diagnosis. This means that people have the same symptoms but treatment must be very different. It relates to students on a more personal level. Some teachers will feel as though all students must be treated the same if for example, they cannot read a simple story from a textbook. One child may see the word as text and another may just see it as scribbles. A teacher must be able to determine the issue that is presenting itself and treat each student with different coping strategies. This also is the same for students with behavioural issues. They must be treated with differential diagnosis as well.

Some insights that we came up with as a group were:
1)pre assessment of students so you do not assume they know what their learning disabilities are before actually putting previous assumptions in place
2)work off a modified curriculum of both remedial and compensatory types of teaching
3)get students to get more active when reading if there is a reading or writing learning disability which could be such things as summarizing after each paragraph to a partner or predicting the end of the story
4)give them something that will get them to be more hands such as a slinky to play with while reading a novel
5)an active classroom with students standing and learning at the same time may allow students to learn in a different way which can also be described as a flexible classroom
These were the five insights that I chose to reflect on and start implementing into my own inclusive classroom philosophy.

Class: Richard Levoire/IPP Process September 29, 2010

Today we learned about the IPP process and what it entails. There are 12 steps to this process and I think that each step is as important as the last step. The center of the IPP or the "engine" is creating measurable goals and objectives. If these goals are not created for the student there is no essential direction for the IPP process. Now that I have received this information I feel more comfortable being informed. I can say that after the IPP assignment we are required to write, it will feel less stressful thinking about writing one once in the classroom. I do feel more informed after learning about the IPP process today.

We also watched the video "Beyond F.A.T City" by Richard Levoire. This was a very interesting video for me. It was more of a reflection video about the studies performed. There was one situation he talked about when he told the student he knew how they felt when the student had spelling and composition issues. It was nice to know that even professionals can make these mistakes. I have been in the same situation and told a child the exact same phrase. It was a huge eye opener because the child looked at me like "ya right.. you don't". Even as the words came out of my mouth I knew I would regret saying them.

His other point that really hit me was "never do to a kid what you would not do to an adult". I have to be honest and say that I would never have thought of using this phrase in my future teachings. But as he explained it in more depth it truly made sense. It is not fair to these children to treat them as inferior to you as a teacher. They should get what they need as human beings. Not what others believe they should get.

Rob asked us to reflect on this question "How might you use some of Richard's insights in your own inclusive classroom?" I could not really come to a decision so I am hoping that watching the rest of the film today will allow me to better understand myself and how I relate to his ideas.

Cohort Retreat September 22-23

So our retreat is done and it was extremely successful. At first I did not feel comfortable thinking this was going to be the group of people I will spend the next 2 years with. But it is very nice to feel at ease with these people and it helps when trying not to stress about school work. I now feel comfortable enough with these people that doing presentations will not make start to feel nauseous.

We did many activities at the retreat that started to build our teamwork skills as a cohort. Trust seemed to be the main focal point for the weekend so we worked on building trust and creating relationships between one another. We also had a chance to get to know Mona and Julia much better over the 2 days we were out at Sylvan Lake and that made it much easier to approach them with any issues that may occur.

When we had down time to relax over half of the cohort went down to the sauna and relaxed. It was really cold out so it was nice to steam off some stress! Then a few of us bared the cold and went diving into the lake over 3 times!! That was a major relationship builder for me with a couple other people. It was awesome to see that not only is our group risk takers, but they are also very passionate about where they are going in life.

Finally, we did an exercise where we had a chance to write on the backs of everyone on paper plates. This was to say anything specific and personal that will make that individual know that we took the time to get to know them! It was very entertaining and exciting to read what our cohort had to say about one another.

Video "A Mind of their Own" September 21, 2010

Today we watched a movie that dealt with issues and overcoming obstacles for kids with minor learning disabilities. It was an interview and overview of what 4 different children have to deal with everyday in a school setting. It was not new to me that children deal with these learning disabilities daily and have problems with such things as reading, writing, and math. It did give a point of view that was more realistic than watching teachers and parents discuss their children's needs. Usually children do not have such an understanding grasp on their own problems in the classroom.

The movie made sense and allowed the viewer to see that each child could embrace their strengths and weaknesses when dealing with different people in different situations. But all of their strengths were obvious when put in a more specialized situation. It makes sense that children with disabilities can accept and deal with their disabilities when surrounded by other children with the same types of learning disabilities.

So would a more specialized setting make sense for children with these disabilities? Yes, I think so. It allows them to embrace each day and not be frustrated with issues that may occur in a regular classroom. But obviously the issue is money and funding for these programs. It really is frustrating that the Board of Education cannot see what is working and what is not. Putting stress on teachers to deal with multiple learning disabilities will ultimately cause behavioural issues to occur and the children with other needs will not gain the attention to improve. Somehow there must be some understanding that individual help is important for students to gain confidence in a regular classroom and being forced into a class of 40 with one teacher will not be sufficient.

If I were put into a classroom with these children I would feel completely overwhelmed. Somehow I would need to distribute my time efficiently to my sure my lesson plans correspond with the student. All students must feel involved in an inclusive classroom to reduce negative situations. These students also had major test anxiety so testing strategies would need to be looked over and possibly even taken out of the unit to help these children with disabilities reduce anxiety. I do think that this is a major issue in many classrooms and first year teachers need to understand that anything can happen.

Entry #3 Delivery Service Models September 17

In class, service models were described and examples were given for each. I have never been personally involved with someone in the classroom that has a disability. I was always in a school that had Special Education classes instead of an inclusion way of thinking. As someone who does not have a disability, my opinions and beliefs may have been non-realistic after going through education with these ideas. I never had experiences that would make me feel comfortable while being around individuals with disabilities. It was not until this past year that I had to do a volunteer assignment for a previous class that had me work with all severity types of disabilities. Once being around that type of environment I found that some inclusion and also some isolation might be best. Because of this assignment I believe that there must be some form of inclusion in the classroom so all people understand that all kinds of people are in this world. It will allow for all kinds of benefits but also some negative aspects. I do believe that the idea of "resource room" could negatively affect individuals that have severe disabilities that may not be able to function along with a regular classroom. It might be more effective if students are placed in classrooms that might correspond with their individual disability.

It was interesting to listen to other students experiences with individuals with disabilities. It helps us who do not have those experiences understand how truly difficult it is. To be honest, I am quite frightened about getting into the classroom that may be fully inclusive. I hope to find out different methods and strategies that may become a more balanced educator. I hope to have erased all of the pre notions that I have and replace them with a level of understanding and empathy.

My definition of DISABILITY: Disability is the definition of a responsive framework where individuals have attributes of uniqueness which may or may not require outside assistance.

First Official Class: First Official Thoughts September 14, 2010

In my first official class outlining Inclusive Education and the belief system involved, I realized I was not sure what I believe in as a future educator. I have possibly used a variety of outlooks which would include all four attitudes or beliefs about disability in the classroom but have not chosen a direct path of an opinion. I am guilty of "naming the suffering", intervening, nature, and also nurture. I am truly not sure which direction I would chose to lean since I have not been directly involved with an individual with disability. I would like to use this class to understand the most important attributes of each views and combine them so a biased opinion will not occur when finally getting into my own classroom. I hope to establish those beliefs and continue to have an open mind with reasoning because I know that whatever beliefs I choose will have a direct effect on how I will educate and base my opinions.
With every new student that you have an impact on, I believe there is a certain level of accountability and reflection. Did I truly give 100% or more in this child's life whether they have a disability or not? How could I have changed my attitude toward certain situations and could this have a negative or positive effect on the outcome? Will I be able to provide an uplifting experience for myself and those around me? I think that these are all very important questions for teachers that deal with children with disabilities. There is a level of accountability that you will not allow the child to become "disable first, person second". All people with disabilities are "people first, disability second" and this will definitely be a hard concept for some when we finally get into the classroom. Opinions, actions and attitudes will all need to be reflected on a day to day basis to make sure that we give 110% to each individual. Understandably this will be very hard, but why be a teacher if we thought it would be easy?? There are so many different areas of a child's life that we have an impact on and I think the most important is going to be a student's memory of the classroom. If we do not keep an uplifting and supporting environment children may become lost. Keeping every single child involved is a goal that all teachers should strive for when dealing with disabilities!

Entry #1 September 12- Introduction and First Thoughts

To be honest, I did not fully understand the concepts of this course until finally the first class had begun. I was naive and thought that it was a basic psychology course dedicated to the realm of teaching. That was all. When I learned that this was indeed an Inclusive Education course, I was fully engaged and asking myself what can I get from the information going to be presented. I know some data and ideas from previous classes such as Adapted Physical Education and basic psychology courses but not the actual psychology element that is involved with inclusive education. But I do understand the concept of coding and further more the IPP plans coordinated along with a teachers day to day process with specific children in the classroom and hope to be able to put information I will learn to practical use in the future.
I believe that there is in fact a reality point of view and a scientist or a teachers point of view. In our first classroom session I was placed with a lady who has been involved with the basic reality of inclusive education since her son was born. She had multiple opinions and concerns dealing with inclusive education and I found this was a huge reality eye opener for me personally. I have not been involved directly with issues that she faces everyday so as a future teacher it was devastating but also informative to hear her personal story.
The first piece of information that I have learned from this course is to "Assess often and assess differently with a variety of ways!" I hope to be able to learn and understand multiple ways to fulfill this mission and become an experienced, practical educator in the realm of education.
So long for now!