Inclusion in Classrooms; Students with Disabilities

After reading more and more about inclusion in classrooms thus far in my first year of teachers college, I have begun to envision ways, as a future educator, to incorporate and acknowledge different learning needs in a classroom setting. In my post-secondary years, my best friend struggled with a learning disability. When it came to reading, she struggled with the pronunciation of words and the understanding of verbal information. One day, during English class, our teacher decided that we go around and each re-aloud a portion of the book Romeo and Juliet. My friend immediately panicked and began to have anxiety as she counted the students until it was her turn. She felt anxious that she wouldn't be able to pronounce certain words out loud and other students would make fun of her. She also didn't want students to know she had a learning disability.

When it came to her turn, she got flustered and felt under pressure by the teacher to read something she felt uncomfortable reading out loud. She trembled with her words and felt frustrated that she couldn't read at the same level as all her other classmates.

I quickly connected with this week's reading on Chapter 4, "Learner Differences and Learning Needs." The section on Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities talks about a critical aspect of how students feel when their disabilities are unacknowledged. The importance of helping students understand their disabilities acknowledges their differences, and makes them part of their classroom community. When educators don't help students understand their disabilities, students become victims of learned helplessness. When students' needs are not acknowledged, they begin to believe that they can't control or improve their learning, so they eventually remain passive and helpless in the classroom. This is how my best friend felt when the teacher didn't acknowledge her learning disability. As a future educator, I will engage in team teaching within groups to eliminate these negative ways of teaching students with learning disabilities. Hence, if students feel uncomfortable with reading out loud to a whole class, they have the option of reading with a confined group of peers. Collaboration is not always easy, but I believe it's worth it for both students and teachers. 

Courtesy of Alexia @NU OTECF