The
idea of education as inclusive is regarded as a positive ideology, but I would
question whether or not it is being properly implemented in the classroom. The
idea that all students learn the same, and therefore all should be taught the
same way is one that has been disputed for as long as I can remember. However,
students with learning disabilities want nothing more than to be integrated and
included in their classrooms. “Although their intellectual capacity is average or above average, their learning
achievements in some learning domains are modest, and they are poorly integrated
into their social environment, which often results in their
discrimination” (Kavkler 2015). The approach to counter this is known as
inclusive education. However, not all students learn the same way, and it is
therefore up to the teacher to decide upon the best way to teach the student. This
is known as individualized education, and individualized learning. I believe
that we can find a happy medium between the two types of education, in order to
include all students, but ensure that each student is taught according to their
strengths.
Inclusive
education is known as the teacher being inclusive towards their students with
learning disabilities, ensuring that they get the same treatment as a child in
the class who does not have a learning disability. However, as seen through
this video, even children with learning disabilities are not being exposed to
the proper inclusive education:
Jan Wilson, through her TedX talks,
discusses the problem that many disabled students have today in trying to get
inclusive educations. She discusses the many difficult processes that she has
had to go through with her own daughter in order to have her daughter be
included in the school’s activities, and even acknowledged by her teacher. As a
future teacher, I can absolutely appreciate the benefits of inclusive education
towards students with learning disabilities, but I wonder if we can push it one
step further; include all students in learning, but have an individualized
approach to each student’s learning ideals. This individualized program should
be implemented for each individual student, and not just those with learning
disabilities (known as IEP’s). I believe that we as teachers can find a happy
middle between including every student, and not teaching all students the same.
One
of the first things that I was taught in my many education classes was that all
students learn differently, and it is the teacher’s responsibility to realize
each individual student’s way of learning, and adjust your teaching tactics to
fit their needs, so that they are able to facilitate their own learning based on their terms. This is very similar to the Montessori approach to education,
as it “encourages
independent decision making and goal setting, two values a Montessori
curriculum supports directly and indirectly. It is a structure with a
consistent framework. That is, the parts of a reading workshop are consistent
from day to day, and materials are stored in such a way that children can
access them as needed. This consistency enables children to make choices about
their own learning because they are not always waiting for direction from a
teacher” (Cockerille 2004).
Retrieved from http://www.vwmin.org/individualized-education-program-iep-cde.html
Instead, I believe that every student should have their own individualized plan in order to meet their needs and goals.
References
Gratz Cockerille, A. (2014). Reading Workshop in the Montessori
Classroom. Montessori Life. 26(3),
36-43.
Kavkler, M., Babuder, M., K., & Magajna, L. (2015). Inclusive
Education for Children with Specific Learning Difficulties: Analysis of
Opportunities and Barriers in Inclusive Education in Slovenia. CEPS Journal. 5(1), 31-52.
Carly,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that in such a broad range of topics to choose from we both applied individualization to the idea of inclusion of children with specialized learning needs. Taking the opportunity to watch your first YouTube clip, I commend you for selecting this to be a part of your blog. A quote that stuck with me after watching that video was: “I guess inclusive education is not always the answer for children with disabilities.” Being a support worker for children in summer camp programs the past two years, that quote really hit home for me. I am lucky enough to provide a service to families where their children have the opportunity to be included in regular summer camp programs and be provided with the same experiences we all cherish from growing up. Now, can you imagine growing up being isolated in a different classroom then other children your age simply because the teacher couldn’t work on ways to meet your learning style? I like the deep connections you make in the importance of creating individualized education plans not only for children with disabilities, but also for all children who have different learning styles. I encourage you to provide a more personal example of how you’ve seen this topic throughout your own life, and maybe indicate specific ideas as to how you will apply IEP’s in your classroom. Overall, great work and I look forward to reading your future blogs.
Ms. Rodrigues
Carly,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very appealing and your first post is centralized on a very important topic – individualized education. You also touch on the inclusion of unique learners, such as children with exceptionalities. The Ted talk and YouTube video that you included really helped explain the struggles students with disabilities experience and how we, as future teachers, should strive towards including all students by catering to their individual and personal needs. Overall this is a very good first blog post and you source everything appropriately! Perhaps for next post, you could include some hyperlinks to other websites! Great job!
- Sarah
Carly,
ReplyDeleteIt is often hard to accept the present day's education system in respect to its ability to individualize learning. I found your blog to be quite intriguing, especially when you wrote about how University students are the best of the best and among the top 5% of the population. It is hard for students in the Concurrent Education Program at a University who are destined to be teachers to even put themselves in the perspective of others. As you know, success although may take some time and hard work, comes relatively easy to us based on our knowledge of the education system and our manipulation to allow it to work in our favour. I can remember a professor of mine within my second year of education, also stating this fact. Throughout high school I was very determined to achieve good grades and make it to University; however, I had never thought of the grade as a learning process- how that grade is given to each student regardless of whether or not the teaching style was inclusive or geared towards them. This idea of University and that we are part of the top 5% is almost contradictory because here we are, having gone through high school with such a fixed mindset to achieve the grades to be accepted into university, to be further educated on how we need to have a growth mind-set, and perhaps you agree? The blog post is visually appealing, easy to read based upon its structure and relative content, and ultimately, informing about various individualization concepts. Looking forward to reading your next post!
Miss Robinson