Teach Effectively!

In an entry on Life on the Other Side of the Teachers Desk, a writer who identifies her- or himself as “deltasleep” reports on experiences during student teaching. There are several posts worthy of note, but I want to call attention to one about about how inclusion is practiced in the school to which deltasleep is assigned. Deltasleep is assigned to a regular-education 5th grade classroom that includes many students with disabilities.

I’ve not even started teaching yet and I’ve already got a real curveball! “Inclusion” is a special education term used to describe the process of providing special education students with the “least restrictive environment.” This typically means that a special education student attends a “typical” class.
TN classrooms(and probably others) have found a way to circumvent this by dumping all of the special education students in a grade into one class. Teachers call this the “inclusion class.” I find this practice totally abhorrent, as it is clearly a way to circumvent a law designed to help students.

I am surprised by this policy. I have to wonder to what extent deltasleep’s characterization of the situation represents it accurately, but if there is such a policy, it doesn’t align with sensible plans about promoting students educational outcomes. I hope that deltasleep will get a chance to (a) determine whether this actually is TN policy and (b) examine the effects on student learning and behavior closely and objectively.

Read the full entry and others at i>Life on the Other Side of the Teachers Desk.