“Who deserves accommodations? Everyone!”

“Who deserves accommodations? Everyone!”, (Olinghouse, 2008, p.1)

My understanding of inclusive education so far tells me that I do have some knowledge and skills to implement it. However, I have a long…long way to go for there is no end to diversity. I also understand now why teaching becomes harder and then easier and then harder…and the cycle goes on. It is diversity that increases and once I overcome a challenge, a new set of diverse learners arrive and the work continues.

Knowledge and skills I currently possess

I am taking different aspects of classroom work to analyze my skills.

Content

I work very hard to ensure content knowledge form multiple perspectives. Maths is not a collection of rules but a language with a history behind it and a purpose in life. I try to explore maths from a student’s perspective which is generally around the question ‘why are we learning this?’ I am good in this.

Process

“Curricular adaptations are instances where teachers adopt certain elements of the curriculum design,” (Lloyd, 2008, p.8).

In Maths, I have good skills to cover diversity. I can, through careful strategizing, connect all learners to maths. I do follow the curriculum as designed by the department, but I bring in my own elements to it too. I have developed a reasonable amount of what (Bransford, 1999, p.133) calls “adaptive expertise” as far as use of pedagogies are concerned. I write about the strategies and share with everyone on the blog (Kochar, 2011).

Aids

The learning aids that I use depend on the task at hand. They could be anything from textbook, worksheet, video, laptops, buildings, trees or board. It is very flexibly organised around the lesson plan. However, my tendency is to be indoors most of the time. I could develop a better way of using the outdoors to learn maths.

Reflection

I am very reflective as a teacher. Every evening one of the tasks I do is reflect over the day and ask myself, ‘what was wow and what was muddy about today’? I follow the feeling of discomfort that is my guide in intuiting the answer. Then I take an action which could be anything from apologising to a student or re-teaching a topic.

Learning environment

The learning environment is warm and friendly. It is focused yet informal. Students might be working in groups or alone or at times flexible groups! Physical seating is flexible too with students taking their desk and chair where they want to, with some of them even sprawled on the floor!

My class reflects what (Olinghouse, 2008, p.1) says, “The differentiated classroom should include areas in which students can work quietly as well as collaborate with others, materials that reflect diverse cultures, and routines that allow students to get help when the teacher isn’t available”.

Classroom management

Classroom management is far from perfect! I am able to manage students who respond to affection or a dialogues. Those beyond that are hard to manage. I react very fast to incidents of disrespect. Then anger takes over! It is always followed by a guilt trip. I roll between authority, collaboration or allowing self-directed behaviour.

Relationships

I am good at building a connection and my students like me and I enjoy being with them. Over the years I have developed an unconditional love and support for the students. However, the need to relate to all of them in the same way – a quiet affection – is often very tiring. Then I am unable to feel good about myself.

What do I need?

Management tools

I need to learn research backed systems for teaching and classroom management. As (Candler, n.d.) used a graphic to facilitate students to reflect on their behaviour. I could use it instead of depending on building my relationship with the students and working through that. An external tool would make the process more impersonal and also, if successful, could lead to a better relationship with the students.

Co-teaching

In order to improve inclusion of students with special needs, I could explore co-teaching better. "Co-teaching allows for flexibility”, (Treahy & Gurganus, 2010, p.5). I could not use it very well. I have had a special educator with me for most of the classes but both of us were not sure how to work together. She worked with the group of special students in a corner while I teach, but it could be improved.

“…the co-teaching model - when designed with teacher expertise in mind, structural flexibility, sufficient planning, and close monitoring - presents a venue for effective mathematics instruction for all students in a diverse classroom” (Treahy & Gurganus, 2010, p.8) .

What I need - in 1 word – to rely as much on research backed practical tools and techniques as on my capacity to build a relationship.

https://humanemaths.blogspot.com/