Inclusive education starts with the teacher

Inclusive schools do not just automatically provide all students with equal opportunities for success in school. Inclusive education requires a continuous process of adjustments and reflection about how to better meet the needs of all students. Teachers need to actively look for students who are being  under-served by the current system, and search for ways to support them academically and socially. Schools and teachers who value inclusive education believe that all students must feel valued as members of the learning community, and that sense of value is not inherent in our society or even in our schools as the data from the GLSEN survey shows. This survey makes it very clear that we have a long way to provide a truly inclusive environment that is free of biased and offensive language and other forms of harassment. I believe that teachers have a responsibility to build a more inclusive climate that better meets the needs of diverse learners. By acknowledging that not all students learn the same way and accepting the fact that our differences can a good thing in a classroom, we can begin to approach lesson planning and assessments as tools that help us to better serve students’ needs. Inclusive education requires the teacher to do more than provide students with the same information, activities, and deadlines. It is about the teacher becoming responsible for creating a learning environment that helps students to feel included rather than expecting students to figure it out on their own. In order to build a more inclusive school as opposed to an inclusive classroom, school personnel must actively work to build a culture of acceptance and tolerance through professional development that is deeper than sensitivity training because it’s so much deeper than that and when done correctly it impacts instruction and assessment. Schools must also initiate meaningful conversations with students, teachers, parents and community members that acknowledge some of the exclusionary practices that may be occurring at the school and a willingness to make them better. Many schools are hesitant to have these discussions, but I don’t see how we can initiate meaningful reform without them. These conversations can work to build a more inclusive environment that values the voices of all stakeholders.

Inclusive Education

I posted two speeches by Sir Ken Robinson to the wiki this week.  Both speeches stress the importance of valuing creativity in schools as a way to build a more inclusive environment.  He does not discount the value of literacy and numeracy, but he feels that creativity is what helps people to realize their potential for brilliance.  “From territories as expansive as the nation-state and as localized as the classroom, the most powerfully inclusive senses of belonging are created when differences are recognized, productively used, and seen to be to everybody’s advantage. Try to ignore the differences, and many learners will feel less comfortable about their relation to what is being taught and other learners” (New Learning 128).  This week’s readings and Robinson’s speeches are powerful reminders that it is each teacher’s individual responsibility to provide all of their students with more than just access or the possibility of an equal education; we must actively work to help our students apply information to situations that are empowering and engaging for all students.  I do not see this as an additional burden on the teacher; I see it as a sharing of the curriculum in a way that values input from all members of the learning community.  Inclusive environments are not static.  If one truly values inclusive education, students must be given the opportunity to make choices about how they respond to what they’re studying.  Without this freedom, school become more about following directions as opposed to critical thinking.

Multiculturalism – recognition is not enough

Although the recognition of cultural differences is necessary in order to move beyond exclusionary practices, I still see it as a minor step toward true inclusion.  The mere recognition and basic level of acceptance/tolerance of differences is primarily a passive act that does little to help all students (regardless of race, culture, or gender) to feel included as valued members of the classroom.  I also think that this often responsible for an assimilation model of education that recognizes cultural and learner differences without acknowledging the need to differentiate instruction and content to more equitably serve students. It seems to suggest that the mere opportunity to participate is an act of generosity rather than a fundamental right.
I find this to be especially true in world literature or world cultures courses that take a voyeuristic journey through different cultures without building meaningful connections between cultures. This tokenistic sampling of perspectives cultural differences acknowledges the presence of diversity, but what does it do to value the people and traditions of these cultures?  The emphasis seems to be more on isolationism by region and difference rather than a curriculum that is focused on inclusion.

Assimilating Schools

Assimilating schools work to provide a curriculum that is designed to give all students a similar experience. This common experience avoids the obvious exclusion of any group from the same educational opportunities offered any other student.  The problem with this approach is that these schools do not account for the diversity of needs, experiences and backgrounds of the students they are trying to serve.   When schools become institutions that focus more on the content they provide rather than actual student learning, the result is usually an exclusionary system with little to no opportunity for those who are unfamiliar with the expectations and traditions of the dominant culture, and the ability of studnets to meet these norms is then communicated to parents, other schools, and future employers through grades that ultimately represnt a student’s level of compliance and integration into that culture.

A curriculum that focuses entirely on the teaching of common texts for all students actually works to exclude  people that do not understand or identify with that  particular text and leave the responsibility of learning more up to the student than the teacher or school.  Inclusive schools must work to differentiate their curricula to meet the needs of a diverse student population. Although books such as Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Gatsby have great literary merit,  we must ask ourselves if they are truly good books for all of our students.  By setting targets and goals that are based on student learning rather than cultural and behavioral standards, the teacher is no longer obligated to teach merely information.  The inclusive classroom is designed to help all students apply information to a variety of situations. Assimilating schools fail to recognize the value of diversity in helping students and teachers to all learn from one another as members of a learning community.

Citizenship in Education

Week 3 – Citizenship

Many schools are full of didactic models of instruction and discipline policies that communicate a nationalistic view of citizenship rather than one that promotes and fosters active participation in a democracy.   When we see citizenship as a passive experience, we fail to see the value and strength of our diversity.  Traditional learning environments often place students at the bottom of hierarchical authority and provide them with narrow sets of information and specific expectations that others have deemed important to know in order to be successful in school, and many of these expectations are more focused on correcting behaviors rather than maintaining a focus on learning.  While this system is able to provide many students with a strong, valuable education, it also serves to punish and exclude those who do not fit neatly into this model. “Nearly one-third of all public high school students—and nearly one half of all African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans—fail to graduate from public high school with their class” (The Silent Epidemic).

New learning can help us connect with more students and create a more equitable learning environment by providing all students with opportunities to connect their lives and experiences to the curriculum.  This inclusive model recognizes the potential of a diverse society and the ability of this society to participate in the creation of valuable activities, relationships and environments.  If schools and teachers want to value the diversity with their classrooms, they need to let go of the notion that all students need to know the same sets of information to be successful.  New Learning is based on the democratic premise that everyone can learn at high levels while recognizing that it is not necessary for all students to be proficient in all of the same skill sets.   In this respect, citizenship is more than a responsibility to the state; it is also a responsibility to help one another succeed.