Inclusion

In Student Oriented Curriculum by Wallace M. Alexander, one of the key points was inclusion in the classroom. Inclusion is when students who are identified as needing special education for any reason are taught in the regular education classroom along with their peers instead of being sequestered into a different room of the school. When speaking of working with Ed. Techs in the classroom, Alexander suggests team teaching with the tech instead of simply telling him/her what to do and who to work with. By team teaching, the students don't know who is the regular ed. teacher and who is the tech, and both teachers are able to go around and help all of the students, not just those who need the extra help. Also by doing this, the other students in the classroom get to know the tech better and are more likely to take instruction from them if the regular ed. teacher is absent. One thing that needs to be remembered when bringing inclusion to your classroom is that the students who have been labeled special ed. still need extra help or modified lesson plans in order to be able to understand the material. While this is not always necessary, simple things such as downloading the instructions for the activity for the student(s) could help them out with completing the assignment.