Tag Archives: inquiry

Personal Statements..

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–A visual to capture my personal statements.

As future educators, it’s important to have an understanding of what we value and what we will strive to build in our students. Having these goals builds a platform for what we will be working towards as we begin our journey as teachers. For me, there are five important statements that resonate with my beliefs and ultimately define my passion and goals for myself and for my students. Having an inclusive and safe environment that builds community and promotes uniqueness and voice within children is utmost important. If students cannot feel safe and belonged, they cannot flourish and grow intellectually, socially or emotionally. Moreover, teachers should be role models who influence and encourage behavior that students can mirror. Students spend more time with teachers than their own mothers sometimes so its crucial to be good examples for those young ones who often look up to you. Teachers should allow students to explore their passion and find their inner love for learning. Once this is accomplished, students become more motivated and work harder towards their goals. As educators, we should make every effort to create critical thinkers who will participate as great citizens. At the end of the day, we are striving to build hearts not just minds in our students so that they can function and work collectively to create a better society. I believe students should experience outdoors and out of classroom education that will enrich and enhance their learning. All of these beliefs will not do justice if it does not support the mental and physical health of all students which is significant in their overall learning. My inquiry project that explores inclusiveness of students especially those with special needs resonates with all my personal statements as a future educator. As I further delve into my inquiry project, I hope to increase my awareness of all these goals and find more ideas and strategies that promote these statements.

 

Thank you Shelley Moore..

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As we were sharing our inquiry resources to other colleagues last week, one of my colleagues shared a blog that was very relevant to my inquiry project. I went home and visited this blog, and was amazed and shocked at how brilliantly put together it was and how much useful ideas and information was presented. This blog is created by an inspiring inclusion consultant, Shelley Moore, who consults locally, provincially and beyond. She runs workshops and professional development all over the country and presents on inclusion, special needs and technology. It would be an honor to attend one of her workshops or presentations. The best part is, she resides right here in Vancouver. She has many different links to her blog, including a link specifically for curriculum ideas and activities that promote inclusivity in the classroom. She provides free activity ideas and resources for every grade and all subject areas so that all teachers could benefit.

Do you remember the game “GUESS WHO?” It was a board game that I remember playing as a child and enjoyed it very much. In her blog, Shelley uses this game with some modifications as an activity for the beginning of the year to help students get to know each other. She suggests to change all the people in the card into students and teachers in the classroom. What an amazing idea! This creates a fun and authentic way for students to learn about each other and creates classroom community. This is something so simple that can be easily done within all classrooms and could be inclusive of everyone in the class. In her blogs, she provides many more activities that foster inclusion and are fun and relevant. I have only begun looking at her blog and I look forward to see what other great ideas and activities will be available as I continue surfing through her websites.

I am fortunate to have found many practical ideas that could be implemented in the classroom which promotes and encourages inclusion especially for those with special needs which is the main focus of my inquiry project.

“Pick a Book, Any Book”

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As I was doing some research on different strategies that teachers could implement to be more inclusive in the classroom, I came across a variety of different ideas. However, one in particular that stood out to me was the use of picture books as a way to build classroom community and allow students to think about special need students in a different light. This article (reference provided below) provided an excellent starting point in addressing an important topic like special needs to primary students who might not have much awareness of it.

Through book reading and discussions, teachers can promote special needs awareness in a manner that will lead to greater understanding about individuals with special needs, and provide vocabulary that is current, appropriate, and relevant to all children in the class (Ostrosky, Mouzourou, Dorsey, Favazza & Leboeuf, 2015). This could include providing books depicting pictures and stories of children with special needs, introducing children to sign language, or using visual supports to increase understanding and participation of all children. However, choosing appropriate books and using the books effectively to facilitate understanding of children with special needs can be difficult.

Attitudes about individuals with special needs are complex, multi-component constructs learned from direct experiences (encounters with an individual with special needs) and indirect experiences (such as books, media, and conversations about individuals with special needs), and are highly influenced by the child’s primary social group (Ostrosky et al., 2015). It’s important as future teachers to be aware of these influences in approaching this sensitive topic. Recognizing this complexity when attempting to promote certain attitudes, educators should consider the fundamental influences on attitude formation and the key role that teachers play in mediating the social acceptance of young children with special needs.

This article also provides readers with specific discussion questions following reading a children’s book and explains the importance of discussion for children’s learning and understanding.  The focus of a guided discussion was to point out similarities between children with and without special needs rather than to highlight differences (Ostrosky et al., 2015).

Most importantly, I love this article because it provides readers with a page length list of children’s books associated with special needs which can be very useful for teachers! This is beneficial for new teachers who are looking for some ideas and relevant books with lots of options to choose from depending on what you want students to learn or focus on. “All Kinds of Friends, Even Green” by Ellen B. Senisi is an example of a picture book that the authors frequently used throughout the article.

Ostrosky, M. M., Mouzourou, C., Dorsey, E. A., Favazza, P. C., & Leboeuf, L. M. (2015). Pick a book, any book: Using children’s books to support positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities. Young Exceptional Children, 18(1), 30.

 

Inclusion, Inclusion, Inclusion..

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What a simple yet powerful word. I have witnessed the lack of inclusion in many different contexts, and have had personal experiences with it growing up. I am motivated to delve deeper into this inquiry of how educators could be more inclusive in the classroom especially towards those with special needs because it resonates with all my beliefs of the role of an educator. Our role as an educator is to teach children, and there is no specific category in which the term children falls into therefore, we do not educate any specific type of children, but all of them in all their shapes and sizes. Children should not be labeled, or categorized or distinguished from one another in any aspect. Children should feel safe, belonged, capable, and powerful.

In my opinion, in taking steps towards inclusion, of most importance is to remember that you as a teacher are a role model to the students. If the teacher shows unacceptance of the student with special needs, the other students won’t accept them either. Consequently, if the classroom teacher feels good about inclusion, the student with special needs will thrive. If the teacher feels resentful about the extra work, the student will likely suffer. Moreover, inclusion works better when the professionals in the school collaborate. However, not all professionals are available or are willing to collaborate. The regular classroom teacher must be prepared to continue teaching their student with special needs with or without collaboration. It is up to us future educators to not let the traditional ways of practice define our strategies for including students with special needs. We must work collaboratively to change the policies and create a more just education system for all learners.

I look forward in exploring this issue further throughout my education program and I am eager to learn more about it, implement and integrate it into my teaching.