Inclusion in special education

Inclusive Classrooms

Inclusion, Special Education

Inclusive Classrooms -- How Literature Helps

The video I have chosen for this paper is: 'Making meaning in Literature: A Workshop for Teachers, Grade 6-8 -- Workshop 5: Student Diversity'. Various teachers who have been teaching in classrooms that have a heterogeneous group of students have come together in a group discussion with other teachers who are also in an inclusive classroom setting. The classes comprise of a diverse group of students with different ethnic backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds as well as different abilities. (Making meaning in Literature: A Workshop for Teachers, Grade 6-8 -- Workshop 5: Student Diversity., 2011)

For those who are used to having homogeneous class groups, where children come from the same sort of a socioeconomic background, are the same age and belong to the same race, a diverse group such as the one being discussed in the video could be too much of a threat, a mixed bag that could put their teaching skills at a test. Increasingly so in inclusive groups where some children have to be coached more than others.

This is because when children from different races and as well as those with lesser capabilities are grouped together, the pace of academic learning slows. But at the same time the children learn to be more mature in their approach towards life and have a more advanced set of social skills that enable them to adapt better to the environment they are in. This maturity often helps students in their lives ahead where emotional issues and social problems do not interfere with learning as they know how to deal with such situations, having been exposed to the diversity that life entails earlier on in their classrooms.

What an exclusive class does is that it increases the pace of academic learning, in that when everyone has similar opinions there is no need for a class discussion that is as profound as the ones depicted in the video. Therefore the class moves on to other topics without exploring each one, as a diverse class encouraged to ask questions and state opinions explores.

Learning from the Video

This video talks about various ideas that can be used in class by using literature and books as a tool to enhance learning, initiate discussions and expose children to different views, coming not only from the teacher, but also from the rest of the class as well. In turn it also helps special children to be exposed to a mainstream environment and makes them feel that they too are part of the society.

The teachers in such classes act as guides rather than playing a traditional role of an adult delivering a monotonous lecture. Therefore all children are encouraged to participate in class discussions and in doing so, kids learn that there is no one view of anything earlier on and this helps them to develop more maturely and enables them to have better cognitive skills.

As a part of a diverse classroom, the video details also that everyone is patient and learns to be tolerant as all of them have to match the pace of the group. Moreover, as children with learning or reading difficulties are also part of the group, other children learn to patiently listen while they read and in the process are more patient and take it for granted that they need to wait for their friend in class to finish.

The main crux of the video is the reading out aloud exercise. This exercise is practiced in different forms by the teachers. Some assign various characters in the book to different students and assign themselves one part as well, so that the exercise runs like a play. Children are encouraged to use different intonations of their voices so that the play becomes alive with character and emotions. It is better than reading words on a page that are there in boring black and do not work up an image as strong as intonations that each individual attaches to them. This helps children with reading difficulties as they learn from reading aloud what they can't from reading silently.

Another teacher uses the read aloud program in a different manner. He allows students to pick books of their choices and each child read a section out aloud and a class discussion ensues. Other teachers use a similar method and say that each child looks at it differently and when they discuss their viewpoints and ask what the meaning of it is. The children themselves say that they are surprised that other children think something completely different happened by reading the same section. In essence it is the different experiences and different family and racial backgrounds that lead children to have completely different viewpoints. In the end all children learn from this diversity and understand that there is no one way of looking at any situation and that everyone's opinions are correct and need to be respected.

Yet another way of using the reading out aloud tool is a concept called 'tag reading'. In this program each child is asked to pick a book of their choice and read a section of it. However, each child is free to read as much or as little as he or she likes. So that some children stop at a word they do not know and ask others to read from their pieces. In such a case, children who have reading difficulties do not have to suffer embarrassment at their slow pace as they can choose to stop reading when they feel uncomfortable. Moreover they learn better from their own peers who are strong readers and learn to pronounce and spell words the correct way, by listening to the correct pronunciations.

Reading out aloud is also used in book groups where all kids pick different levels of books and different grades according to their choice and everyone hears the piece so that they all learn something different as well as learn from the strongest readers in the group. Moreover when they question and discuss or answer questions that the teachers pose in class aloud, they better their comprehension skills as well and learn to analyze texts together aiding in their learning in all different subject areas as well.