High+Impact+Inclusion


 * TITLE OF PRESENTATION:** High Impact Inclusion


 * **YOUR NAME: Maria Ras** || **DATE:** 11/6/09 ||
 * **SCHOOL:** Heskett Middle School || **GRADE/DEPARTMENT: 8th Grade Language Arts** ||
 * **LOCATION:** NMSA Conference, Indianapolis, IN || **SPONSOR:** NMSA ||


 * PRESENTER: Teri Cox

Please provide the key points from the presentation or workshop.** Inclusion teaching is a style of teaching that takes careful planning, organization, relationships, time, and education. Inclusion teaching is only possible if both teachers are on board with the idea, if they sit down together and plan exactly how they are going to work together, if they are given the resources necessary (such as the Special Education teacher having the right amount of training in the subject area that they are expected to teach), and if they work together for at least 2-3 years to hash out how to run their classroom. Many of the problems with current inclusion models in schools today are administrative issues (class sizes above 24, with more than 30% of those students having special needs, scheduling issues, teachers not having common planning together, etc.). In order for a Special Education teacher to run an effective inclusion course, that teacher should be expected to teach one subject area only (and in the best case, only one grade level). If they are expected to teach multiple inclusion classes for different grade levels, it would be best to teach the same subject in all grade levels. Inclusion is like a marriage: it needs the right people with the right attitude to make it work.

I could see this material being integrated into my classroom if I had an inclusion class. I would utilize the checklist that Ms. Cox provided to ensure that I have open lines of communication with my co-teacher, and that we both understand the expectations in the classroom. I also can see myself utilizing the activities she suggested to get to know my learners in any classroom.
 * How do you see this material/strategy being integrated into your classroom instruction?**

The barriers that I see that would keep us from implementing this strategy currently are the lack of choice teachers have about teaching an inclusion class, that our special education teachers are expected to teach inclusion classes in multiple subjects/grade levels, that we do not always have common planning periods with the special education teachers, and scheduling issues (only offering one inclusion class in some subjects, amount of students in the class, etc.).
 * What questions do you still have or barriers do you see relative to the implementation of this strategy?**

Critical thinking and problem solving (categorizing activity).
 * To which 21st Century Skill(s) does this strategy most apply?**

[|Notes from the presentation] [|tericox.biz (includes Powerpoint presentation and handout from the session)] [|bookshare.org (reads aloud text)]
 * Are there other resources (links, titles, etc) to which we can go for information about this strategy/workshop?

Would you recommend this workshop to others?** I would highly recommend this workshop to teachers involved with inclusion classes and teachers interested in becoming involved with inclusion classes.


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