Reflection #3

As a future educator, I believe in an inclusive classroom for all students. An educator cannot pick and choose which students they want to teach. However, meeting the needs of all the students that walk through your classroom door can be very taxing. Students have different learning styles, abilities, and needs. A teacher must work diligently to work to meet these needs and shape curriculum to fit different varieties. “For a teacher to prepare environments that facilitates interaction between children with and without disabilities, to teach methods of communication with each other, to model them and to get others to be noticed about handicapped child’s qualifications, first of all her/his attitudes and thoughts should be positive” (Aydin & Kuzu, 2013). Being positive provides a welcoming and inspiring environment for all types of learners. No matter what comes your way in the classroom, you must work to always find a way to improve upon previous practices to maintain an inclusive classroom. There is no reason I cannot work diligently to make accommodations for all my students.

I can work to have an inclusive classroom while student teaching this semester by working with my cooperating teacher to shape and form current curriculum to match specific needs within our courses. Along with shaping curriculum, I can work to consistently shape my assessments to include reviewable levels of content competency to allow me to review different needs levels. The results can help to focus efforts on specific areas certain students are struggling.  This will give me an idea on specific students I need to target to shape instruction accordingly.

Reference:

Aydin, A., & Kuzu, S. (2013). Teacher Candidates' Attitudes towards Inclusion Education and Comparison of Self-Compassion Levels. Online Submission.