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PPT Used during the Session - INSET JUNE 2024

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Broadening Horizons - Creating More Inclusive Classrooms - PYP - JUNE INSET

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Andy Vasily's article "The Importance of Differentiation in the Single Subjects" underscores the necessity of tailoring education to meet diverse learner needs, especially in specialized subjects like visual arts, music, and physical education. Vasily highlights how creating varied learning opportunities allows students to find personalized entry points into learning, fostering autonomy and engagement. Central to his approach is the Self-Determination Theory, which identifies autonomy, relatedness, and competence as crucial for intrinsic motivation. Vasily outlines a practical framework involving initial provocations, self-assessed challenges, and continuous adjustment to learning tasks. This strategy not only enhances student motivation but also improves classroom behavior and focus, illustrating its effectiveness in fostering inclusive and adaptive educational environments.

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Most educators understand the importance of differentiating their instruction and task expectations in order to meet the diverse needs of their learners. They also understand that voice and choice are an important part of the teaching process. However, putting these things into action is not always easy. Being explicit and specific about how students can find their own entry point into learning in a unit requires a carefully thought-out plan by teachers.

The power of entry points to learning

Whether it be visual art, music or physical education, teachers must consider creating powerful learning opportunities that match where the students are at and where they need to go next in regards to their learning. Learning opportunities that help students self-differentiate requires a distinct shift away from having all of them working on developing the exact same skills in the exact same way. As students have different levels of skills and abilities, setting up the teaching and learning environment in a way that encourages students to explore, discover, and self-differentiate gives them ownership of their learning in the single subjects.

Self-Determination Theory supports differentiation

Self-Determination Theory has proven that there are 3 fundamental human needs that must be met in order for people to be intrinsically motivated in their life to do the personal and professional work that they set out to do. These three needs are:

1. Autonomy: The need to feel ownership of one's behavior and actions

2. Relatedness: The need to feel connected to others

3. Competence: The need to produce desired outcomes and to experience mastery

It's worth considering how these three needs also interact in the teaching and learning space in order to better understand the importance of differentiation when designing units. At the heart of this approach is helping all students flourish in regards to their learning journeys in the single subjects. Therefore, it is very important to create the conditions for students to be intrinsically motivated to learn and to do the work necessary to make progress in visual art, music and PE.

Making personalization happen in single subject classrooms

When I work with single subject teachers, we often talk about what their biggest hopes are when teaching their subject area. The majority want their students to find a love of the subject area and develop the skills necessary to explore and discover what is possible. However, the traditional delivery of single subjects has often been a top-down approach. Taking on this type of approach can stifle autonomy, slow down the development of skills, and have a negative impact on the relationship between teachers and students.

This blog post is devoted to sharing a framework for delivering teaching and learning in a way that helps students find their own challenges and, ultimately, their own entry point to learning the units in the single subjects. It is very much based on research and evidence supported by Self-Determination Theory.

Making personalization come alive in PE

I will now outline what this process looks like first through an example from physical education.

1. Starting with a rich and meaningful provocation

A great provocation, coupled with a focused driving question, helps begin the process of students identifying not only the skills needed to be successful in the unit, but also the challenges that they might need to overcome in order to find success. When pitched right, a meaningful provocation can really set the scene for great learning to take place in the rest of the unit. Teachers can record students' thinking about the big ideas of what success looks like and what they feel their biggest challenges might be.

The example I share here is from a grade 5 cycling unit that I had run for the students at my current school. The provocation itself was about road safety and how safely they could ride on the roads in our community. However, rather than sending them off riding their bicycles on the roads around our school, we opted to have them meet on the outdoor basketball court and ride on the lines of the court as safely as they could. With other cyclists riding around them, they had to maintain space and distance and were required to use hand signals to show how they can safely signal to stop, turn left and turn right on the court.

Once we could see that the students could safely do this, they were then allowed to ride their bikes around different areas around the basketball court, on the grass, between the tennis courts, over rocks and soft ground. This was not only an initial pre-assessment of their skills, but also a way for us all to identify what was difficult for them to do. It was going to be through this pre-assessment where the success criteria for the unit was drawn out through student thinking.

The driving question used during the provocation was:
What are some challenges you experienced when riding your bicycle?
2. Exploration and challenge

The exploration and challenge phase usually takes place in the first couple of weeks of the unit. This phase is about getting students ready to do self-assessments using a specific assessment strategy.

Based on the provocation, teachers should have posted and made visual the skills needed to be successful and/or challenges that the students have identified as standing in the way of them being successful.

Once these challenges have been posted, students can begin to explore different activities/tasks on the bicycle in order to experiment with what they find easy, what they find too difficult, and what might be 'just right' for them based on their abilities and interests.

3. Red, yellow, green dot self-assessment phase

Depending on the class and the students, this self-assessment task is done in weeks 2-4 of the unit. Using a colored dot system, the students begin to self-assess themselves in relation to the different challenges they are exploring.

In this style of self-assessment, the color 'Red' means 'impossible at this point', the color 'Yellow' means 'not too difficult, not too easy', and the color 'Green' means 'easy for me to do'.

The students will choose the challenge that they have explored, pick the best color that applies to them and their learning, and then write their name on the colored dot and place it on the poster on the appropriate challenge they had tried to do. As you can see below, the poster will begin to fill up with self-assessments as the lessons progress in the unit.

As teachers, we planned for students to really understand that yellow is a good zone for them to be in as this is a 'just right' challenge. So, if something is too easy for them, they can choose to 'level up' and explore a more difficult challenge. If something is too difficult for them, they can choose to 'level down' to find a more appropriate challenge.

Showing Progression: This self-assessment is a great way for the students to show progress in regards to their skills. When they are ready, they self-assess on their own. The students are not required to self-assess all the time, but when they feel they are ready to do so. At times this takes some prompting from the teacher, but the Red, Yellow, and Green Dot self-assessment strategy is not done in just one class, but instead throughout a series of lessons from weeks 2-4 in the unit. See the example below of the layering of dots which shows that the student may have started with Red (Impossible to do) but made progress to Yellow (Not too easy, not too difficult) and then to Green( Easy to do, mastered). Once they get to Green, they level up to a more difficult challenge, but this is based on their choice (Autonomy in action!).

By helping students to identify their just right entry point into learning, they can focus on the tasks and activities that they need to in order to challenge themselves at the right level. Not only do behavior management problems drastically decrease, students stay more focused and on task.

4. Narrowing the focus (or not!)

This part of the unit usually happens from the 4th week till the end of the unit. Once the students have really explored what's possible in the unit, they can make a decision to narrow down the focus of their learning and really concentrate on this area of their development.

In our cycling unit, the students were allowed to choose multiple different areas to narrow their focus on. Some chose distance biking to work on their level of fitness, some chose racing with their peers, some chose riding up and down difficult hills, and some chose trying to ride over rocky, bumpy ground to practice off-road cycling. We still had some that wanted to keep practicing how to use proper hand signals as well.

At this point in the unit, it was about giving them autonomy over their choices in order to help them find joy in the experience. However, in saying this, some students still wanted to do a bit of everything. We call these types of students 'dabblers'. Rather than force these students to narrow the focus, we allowed them to continue to explore and try out a variety of tasks as this is what they wanted to do.

We took the students off campus for this part of the unit to a big, wide open area where they could do lots of different types of riding. However, they still had to self-assess, but this time using Red, Yellow and Green cards that we brought with us. At the end of each class, they had to show how their learning went in that class by choosing the most appropriate card that matched their learning.

5. Final reflection

At the end of the unit, students had to do a reflection to show what they learned, how they learned it, how they did, what they liked about the unit, and what they wanted to continue to work on.

Exploring this framework in music

Although this blog post showed a specific example from physical education, we use this exact approach in music and visual arts as well. Our music teacher likes to use a 'just right' challenge scale with his students, as you can see in the photo below. Rather than a red, yellow, green dot system, the teacher has students stand under the appropriate section of the challenge scale to reflect how easy or difficult a task is for them. If something is too easy or too difficult, the teacher gets them to either level up or level down.

Another music teacher offers different leveled songs to play on the ukulele. He provides three choices to students and allows them to either work alone or with a partner. Through exploration, they figure what is the 'just right' challenge song for them to learn on the ukulele so that they can continue to learn basic chords in a way that suits their ability and skills.

In another example in music, students have a choice of instrument and can explore basic chords. The number of chords explored will increase as the unit progresses.

Exploring the framework in visual art

In visual art, we like to create opportunities to explore and experiment with different media before having students narrow their focus and choose one media that they want to use to create a piece of art. We are very explicit about this and make it visual so that the learning journey is captured on the walls of the visual art space. In week 2-3, after exploring and experimenting, students narrow their focus. The artwork produced is all very different and unique, testament to how allowing students diverse entry points supports their learning journey.

In the photo above, you can see that the art teacher has provided different choices of media to the students based on what they have explored and experimented with. This allows them the opportunity to select the media that works best for them based on their skills and interests. Once the students start working on their final piece, the art teacher then gets them to focus in on the elements of art that will help them produce their best work.

In conclusion

The framework for delivering student learning in the single subjects is very much rooted in the evidence and research around the Self-Determination Theory. Allowing students to find their own 'entry point' to learning in the unit, encourages more intrinsic motivation to work on the skills necessary to get better at their chosen pursuit. By providing students with autonomy, we not only build our trust with them but also strengthen our relationship with them.

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The Importance of Differentiation in the Single Subjects

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Plan for differentiation in the single subjects to meet the diverse needs of your learners and help them find their own entry point into learning.

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This article delves into the dynamics of motivation, particularly through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a framework that explains human motivation and personality with an emphasis on autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These elements are seen as crucial for fostering intrinsic motivation, which is often more effective than extrinsic motivators like rewards or evaluations. SDT highlights the importance of supportive social and cultural environments that enhance individuals' volition and initiative, leading to better performance, persistence, and creativity. The theory is applied across various settings, including education, sports, and workplaces, underscoring the significance of understanding motivational processes to optimize wellness and performance.

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Overview

People are centrally concerned with motivation - how to move themselves or others to act. Everywhere, parents, teachers, coaches, and managers struggle with how to motivate those that they mentor, and individuals struggle to find energy, mobilize effort and persist at the tasks of life and work. People are often moved by external factors such as reward systems, grades, evaluations, or the opinions they fear others might have of them. Yet, just as frequently, people are motivated from within, by interests, curiosity, care or abiding values. These intrinsic motivations are not necessarily externally rewarded or supported, but nonetheless they can sustain passions, creativity, and sustained efforts. The interplay between the extrinsic forces acting on persons and the intrinsic motives and needs inherent in human nature is the territory of Self-Determination Theory.

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) represents a broad framework for the study of human motivation and personality. SDT articulates a meta-theory for framing motivational studies, a formal theory that defines intrinsic and varied extrinsic sources of motivation, and a description of the respective roles of intrinsic and types of extrinsic motivation in cognitive and social development and in individual differences. Perhaps more importantly, SDT propositions also focus on how social and cultural factors facilitate or undermine people's sense of volition and initiative, in addition to their well-being and the quality of their performance. Conditions supporting the individual's experience of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are argued to foster the most volitional and high quality forms of motivation and engagement for activities, including enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity. In addition, SDT proposes that the degree to which any of these three psychological needs is unsupported or thwarted within a social context will have a robust detrimental impact on wellness in that setting.

The dynamics of psychological need support and need thwarting have been studied within families, classrooms, teams, organizations, clinics, and cultures using specific propositions detailed within SDT. The SDT framework thus has both broad and behavior-specific implications for understanding practices and structures that enhance versus diminish need satisfaction and the full functioning that follows from it. These many implications are best revealed by the varied papers listed on this website, which range from basic research on motivational micro-processes to applied clinical trials aiming at population outcomes.

Meta-Theory: The Organismic Viewpoint

SDT is an organismic dialectical approach. It begins with the assumption that people are active organisms, with evolved tendencies toward growing, mastering ambient challenges, and integrating new experiences into a coherent sense of self. These natural developmental tendencies do not, however, operate automatically, but instead require ongoing social nutriments and supports. That is, the social context can either support or thwart the natural tendencies toward active engagement and psychological growth, or it can catalyze lack of integration, defense, and fulfillment of need-substitutes. Thus, it is the dialectic between the active organism and the social context that is the basis for SDT's predictions about behavior, experience, and development.

Within SDT, the nutriments for healthy development and functioning are specified using the concept of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. To the extent that the needs are ongoingly satisfied, people will develop and function effectively and experience wellness, but to the extent that they are thwarted, people will more likely evidence ill-being and non-optimal functioning. The darker sides of human behavior and experience, such as certain types of psychopathology, prejudice, and aggression are understood in terms of reactions to basic needs having been thwarted, either developmentally or proximally.

Formal Theory: SDT's Six Mini-Theories

Formally, SDT comprises six mini-theories, each of which was developed to explain a set of motivationally based phenomena that emerged from laboratory and field research. Each, therefore, addresses one facet of motivation or personality functioning.

1. Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) concerns intrinsic motivation, motivation that is based on the satisfactions of behaving "for its own sake." Prototypes of intrinsic motivation are children's exploration and play, but intrinsic motivation is a lifelong creative wellspring. CET specifically addresses the effects of social contexts on intrinsic motivation, or how factors such as rewards, interpersonal controls, and ego-involvements impact intrinsic motivation and interest. CET highlights the critical roles played by competence and autonomy supports in fostering intrinsic motivation, which is critical in education, arts, sport, and many other domains.

2. The second mini-theory, Organismic Integration Theory (OIT), addresses the topic of extrinsic motivation in its various forms, with their properties, determinants, and consequences. Broadly speaking, extrinsic motivation is behavior that is instrumental-that aims toward outcomes extrinsic to the behavior itself. Yet, there are distinct forms of instrumentality, which include external regulation, introjection, identification, and integration. These subtypes of extrinsic motivation are seen as falling along a continuum of internalization. The more internalized the extrinsic motivation, the more autonomous the person will be when enacting the behaviors. OIT is further concerned with social contexts that enhance or forestall internalization-that is, with what conduces toward people either resisting, partially adopting, or deeply internalizing values, goals, or belief systems. OIT particularly highlights supports for autonomy and relatedness as critical to internalization.

3. Causality Orientations Theory (COT), the third mini-theory, describes individual differences in people's tendencies to orient toward environments and regulate behavior in various ways. COT describes and assesses three types of causality orientations: the autonomy orientation in which persons act out of interest in and valuing of what is occurring; the control orientation in which the focus is on rewards, gains, and approval; and the impersonal or amotivated orientation characterized by anxiety concerning competence.

4. Fourth, Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT) elaborates the concept of evolved psychological needs and their relations to psychological health and well-being. BPNT argues that psychological well-being and optimal functioning is predicated on autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Therefore, contexts that support versus thwart these needs should invariantly impact wellness. The theory argues that all three needs are essential and that if any is thwarted there will be distinct functional costs. Because basic needs are universal aspects of functioning, BPNT looks at cross-developmental and cross-cultural settings for validation and refinements.

5. The fifth mini-theory, Goal Contents Theory (GCT), grows out of the distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic goals and their impact on motivation and wellness. Goals are seen as differentially affording basic need satisfactions and are thus differentially associated with well-being. Extrinsic goals such as financial success, appearance, and popularity/fame have been specifically contrasted with intrinsic goals such as community, close relationships, and personal growth, with the former more likely associated with lower wellness and greater ill-being.

6. Relatedness, which has to do with the development and maintenance of close personal relationships such as best friends and romantic partners as well as belonging to groups, is one of the three basic psychological needs. Relationships Motivation Theory (RMT), the sixth mini-theory, is concerned with these and other relationships, and posits that some amount of such interactions is not only desirable for most people but is in fact essential for their adjustment and well-being because the relationships provide satisfaction of the need for relatedness. However, research shows that not only is the relatedness need satisfied in high-quality relationships, but the autonomy need and to a lesser degree the competence need are also satisfied. Indeed, the highest quality personal relationships are ones in which each partner supports the autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs of the other.

Other Topics of Interest

As SDT has expanded, both theoretical developments and empirical findings have led SDT researchers to examine a plethora of processes and phenomena integral to personality growth, effective functioning, and wellness. For example, SDT research has focused on the role of mindfulness as a foundation for autonomous regulation of behavior, leading to both refined measurement and theorizing about awareness. The study of facilitating conditions for intrinsic motivation led to a theory and measurement strategy regarding vitality, an indicator of both mental and physical wellness. Work on vitality also uncovered the remarkable positive impact of the experience of nature on well-being. Some research within SDT has more closely examined the forms personal passions can take, with individuals being obsessive or harmonious as a function of internalization processes. Cross-cultural tests of SDT have led to an increased understanding of how economic and cultural forms impact the invariant aspects of human nature. Research on wellness has also led to new theory and research on the assessment of well-being itself, including the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic forms of living. Specific topics such as autonomy versus controlled motivation has led to greater understanding of internalized control such as ego-involvement and contingent self-esteem and of the differences between them and autonomous self-regulation. Indeed these few examples supply just a taste of how the generative framework of SDT has enhanced research on a variety of processes of interest to the field.

Applications

In addition to formal theory development, research has applied SDT in many domains including education, organizations, sport and physical activity, religion, health and medicine, parenting, virtual environments and media, close relationships, and psychotherapy. Across these domains research has looked at how controlling versus autonomy-supportive environments impact functioning and wellness, as well as performance and persistence. In addition, supports for relatedness and competence are seen as interactive with volitional supports in fostering engagement and value within specific settings, and within domains of activity. This body of applied research has led to considerable specification of techniques, including goal structures and ways of communicating that have proven effective at promoting maintained, volitional motivation.

The varied articles on this website demonstrate the many types of inquiry associated with the SDT framework, as well as its generative capacity with respect to practical issues in human organizations of all kinds. Relevant research reports and theoretical discussion are listed in the Publications section, organized by topic.

By focusing on the fundamental psychological tendencies toward intrinsic motivation and integration, SDT occupies a unique position in psychology, as it addresses not only the central questions of why people do what they do, but also the costs and benefits of various ways of socially regulating or promoting behavior. Overviews of the theory can be found in Ryan and Deci (2000) and in Deci and Ryan (1985, 2000), as well as numerous other articles and chapters identified here on our website.

References

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.

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People are centrally concerned with motivation - how to move themselves or others to act. Everywhere, parents, teachers, coaches, and managers struggle with how to motivate those that they mentor, and individuals struggle to find energy, mobilize effort and persist at the tasks of life and work.

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5 strategies with examples.

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Teaching and learning methodologies are constantly evolving and improving over time. Classrooms and lecture theaters of today look different from those of a decade or more ago. Likewise, they offer a very different experience for the students involved. So let's examine the rise of inclusive teaching and delve into some of the best strategies for creating a more inclusive learning experience.

Inclusive teaching or inclusive learning is being discussed more and more in today's teaching circles especially given its numerous benefits. With the increased levels of discussion, we thought it could be useful to dive deeper into what inclusive teaching is and what educators can do to transform their classrooms or lecture theaters.

Before we discuss some strategies for creating an inclusive learning experience for students of all age groups, we must first answer some basic but essential questions.

What is inclusive teaching?

Inclusive teaching often referred to as equitable or equality-focused teaching, is a method in which educators create a learning environment where all students - regardless of ethnicity, disabilities, gender, sexual orientation, and background - have equal opportunities to succeed.

All students must receive equal treatment and respect. Students must also be afforded every opportunity to reach their full potential. Educators must identify blockers, barriers, or boundaries preventing students from partaking, completing assignments, and learning.

Moreover, educators may self-assess to remove bias from their teaching method and appraise the source materials to ensure diversity. This means educators must consider how they interact with their students and grade assessments, and whether the material students read and consume comes from authors and sources with differing opinions, backgrounds, ethnicities, and so on.

We may conclude that inclusive teaching is quite a broad and far-reaching method that significantly impacts how students learn and how educators structure their lesson plans. Now we must examine what you can do to adopt an inclusive teaching methodology in your classroom or lecture hall.

What are the main features of inclusive teaching and learning?

When looking more in-depth into this topic we see that there are common characteristics and features that many inclusive classrooms share. For example, some may be:

Provide students with a sense of belonging

Offer an open and welcoming environment

Are psychologically safe

Promote active listening

Encourage participation

Actively work to combat biases

Focus on boosting and maintaining student motivation

We can see that there are several factors here for us to consider. You may be thinking that in order to employ all of these features you need to invest a significant amount of time and effort. This is, of course, true. But bear in mind that nothing worthwhile is achieved without some effort and the numerous benefits make this a worthwhile endeavor.

How to Create an Inclusive Classroom: 5 Strategies & Examples

There are several ways in which educators everywhere can make their classroom or lecture theater or whatever environment more inclusive for all of their students. And while we give some examples and strategies for achieving this, we also need to examine some of the features of inclusive teaching and the numerous benefits that educators who adopt this approach will undoubtedly see.

1. Create a safe learning environment

2. Diversify learning material

3. Taking into account students' needs

4. Make it easy for all students to participate

5. Develop a rapport with each student

1. Create a safe learning environment

Firstly, safety in this scenario implies a psychologically safe space within which students can express themselves and their opinions without fear of teasing, retribution, or backlash. It goes without saying that school should be a physically safe space free from harm or abuse too.

To do this, educators must make it abundantly clear that everyone needs to respect the views of others, show empathy, and not bully students for misunderstanding, for struggling, or for simply being incorrect.

Showing respect to one another is a key element of any interactive classroom. Educators may need to set ground rules and remind students before they proceed with a lesson.

In math class, some students are struggling to grasp a new equation and need to ask the teacher to repeat the explanation once more and to go into more detail this time around. In a psychologically safe space, these students would not hesitate to express their confusion and would not worry about being teased for misunderstanding.

2. Diversify learning material

There is a vast amount of academics and experts that can provide top-quality information on any given subject. For many students, seeing an author or studying a historical or influential figure of a similar background or situation can help them better connect to what they are learning.

Likewise, diverse views and opinions will help students develop their critical thinking skills and provide a more holistic view of a given topic. Letting students identify biases in authors, compare their works, and see for themselves which they can relate to, will provide a more enriching experience than using the same books and use cases over and over.

In a history lecture on the Vietnam war, instead of only looking at the war from the US perspective with source material from US collegiate professors, the lecturer combines studies from other academics, with accounts from US and Vietnamese soldiers to offer various perspectives. Likewise, the soldiers come from different classes and ethnic backgrounds, while the scholars have varying opinions on the war.

3. Taking students' needs into account

Knowing your students and adapting your teaching method to their needs should be a high priority for any teacher. Some students may have limited access to laptops and the internet at home, so their homework should not be overly reliant on spending hours creating Google Docs or searching the internet for answers.

Other students may have learning disabilities that could make reading difficult. Thus they may require more video or audio material to help them keep pace with their fellow students. The ultimate goal here is to ensure that no student is left behind simply because they have different needs from their classmates.

Two students in the class have medium to severe writing difficulties while another struggles with reading, thus leaving them at a disadvantage in written exams. The teacher thus decides to make the next French examination an oral exam so these students can better showcase their knowledge and comprehension of the language.

4. Make it easy for all students to take part

To some, raising a hand and enthusiastically answering a question is the easiest thing in the world to do. For others, this is a daunting experience, and despite having all the knowledge required to properly and correctly showcase what they know, some students lack the courage to do so. Thus, removing this barrier will go a long way to creating a more open and inclusive environment. If educators can give an added confidence boost to those students who need it, they will be far less likely to see the same confident hands shoot up.

Moreover, with the rise of online learning and remote teaching, having a tool or series of tools that make it possible and simple for students joining online to jump right into the discussions is also an important step.

A lecturer notices that while students have the capabilities and knowledge to comprehensively answer their questions, there seems to be something preventing them from doing so when prompted. The lecturer, therefore, begins to use Mentimeter and notices that 90% of the class responds to each question highlighting the desire to provide anonymous responses.

5. Develop a rapport with each student

Whether we like to admit it or not, even the best of us have implicit biases. While this may be difficult to admit, we can actively try to improve and mitigate this. It is essential for educators who should ideally not to show favoritism towards certain students or even act more negatively toward others. Students may also not be warm to teachers for a variety of reasons.

By building a rapport with students you may better be able to understand them and what makes them tick. Conversely, they may see you more than simply the person standing at the front of the room giving them homework. Students may thus be more willing to trust teachers and open up.

A teacher is disappointed by a student's poor behavior in class, as well as their inconsistent results on tests. After struggling to subdue the student's poor behavior, after deciding to speak to the child they find out the student believes the teacher singles them out on purpose, thus making them lash out. The teacher, thus, knows they must approach this situation differently to help the student enjoy school better and ensure they do not show favoritism.

Something as simple as this template could go a long way.

Benefits of inclusive teaching

Now that we have gone through a series of strategies and its definition, it's time to examine the added benefits of this particular method of teaching and learning.

It's best to bear in mind that many of these benefits will contribute to one another or become a byproduct of another.

1. Improving students' self-confidence

Standing up in front of any class and reciting an answer can be daunting for many. I recall countless instances of teachers asking questions only for hands to be shoved into pockets or rooted to the underside of the desk. Conversely, many students become terrified at the prospect of reading in front of a group or completing a written assignment.

An inclusive environment will address these stumbling blocks by either helping children overcome their fear of public speaking or finding another way to assess them while they develop the skills necessary to tackle that particular obstacle.

By avoiding these awkward and often painful situations, students can become more confident with their answers and not have to worry about the method in which they provide them.

2. Boosting participation levels

The goal of removing barriers and obstacles for students is an important one and doing so will encourage students to take part and make it a more enjoyable process. Students, no matter their age, will be far more likely to participate if they feel comfortable in their surroundings. This means that they will not be judged for what they say, that their opinions and views will be valued, and that there will never be negative pushback.

Likewise, if activities or assessments are less daunting for students, or cater to their specific needs, they need only worry about showcasing their knowledge and intelligence. Rather than coaxing responses out of students, educators that promote inclusive learning will more likely find students willing to participate willingly rather than simply because they have to.

3. Raising engagement levels

Going hand in hand with both confidence levels and participation is engagement levels. Unengaged students are far less likely to retain knowledge, actively participate in class, and see good results in examinations and assessments. Engaged students are more likely to enjoy a subject if they are engaged throughout.

Engagement is a tricky thing to quantify, but if you're in search of other ways to keep students engaged then we have some tips and tricks for you.

4. Improving students' comprehension

We have referenced the difficulties many students face when facing assessments and examinations. There are plenty of reasons students fail or struggle to express what they know. Those with writing difficulties will need more time or for someone to dictate what they say, while some will suffer from severe nerves and have a complete and total brain freeze when instructions are read aloud. Other students may have hearing problems or speech impediments that make oral or aural tests incredibly difficult.

Working to find ways of assessment that minimize these limitations can go a long way but so can self-reflection and self-evaluation. Unconscious biases can creep into our thought processes. For teachers and instructors at all levels, this can mean the difference between the benefit of the doubt to a negative mark in an examination resulting in a lesser grade.

5. Improving attitudes toward school and education

We have all heard the age-old trope that no one likes school and that learning isn't all that fun. The reality is far from true as we tend to only remember the most boring classes and subjects from our time in education when we reminisce on our time in both school and university.

Students that can see themselves in the authors they read or the themes and topics they explore in class will automatically be more invested in what they are learning. Devoid of this identification the topic can seem foreign and strange. Likewise, struggling with a series of written essays when you have difficulties writing will undoubtedly sour your opinion of exams.

Offering students an inclusive environment is quite a bit about offering them the best chance to succeed. Thus you are likewise allowing them to enjoy the learning experience and to be able to do it on their terms, in a way and in a place that makes them feel themselves.

Working to improve inclusivity and transparency

Creating the ideal learning environment for your students, as we have said before, is a worthy use of your time that will certainly require some time and effort. But there are of course countless ways in which you can smoothen this process to make it more time efficient and effective for yourself and your students.

The web is full of collaboration and teaching tools that will help teachers, tutors, professors, and lecturers with everything they need to dive right into inclusive teaching. Mentimeter is on hand to help you create this environment by providing all students with a platform where they can submit their answers anonymously, share their opinions in confidence, and ask questions without worrying about putting their names to them.

We have a complete MentiAcademy course with exercises and resources that are guaranteed to help you create a more inclusive learning environment.

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Inclusive Teaching: 5 Strategies & Examples

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Looking to better understand inclusive teaching and how you can bring it into your classroom or lecture theater? We have some strategies and examples for you!

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The special education student population in California and nationwide has grown, driven by heightened awareness and diagnosis of conditions like autism, ADHD, and emotional disorders, compounded by a broader mental health crisis among youth. This trend challenges educators and has spurred significant investments, such as California's $4.7 billion for children's mental health.

Since the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, special education has evolved towards inclusion, integrating students with disabilities alongside their peers, benefiting social skills, academic performance, and reducing stigma.

Kennedy High School's modernization in Los Angeles exemplifies efforts to enhance special education facilities and promote inclusivity. The project is part of a broader initiative by the LAUSD to meet national standards for inclusive education, aiming to boost academic outcomes and foster a positive school culture, demonstrating a commitment to equity and improved educational experiences for all students.

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The special education student population in California and nationwide has grown in recent years. The reasons are complex and at least partially related to increased awareness and identification of various conditions, including learning disabilities, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and emotional/behavioral conditions. As a result, more students who may have gone undiagnosed in the past are now being recognized and provided with the care and support they need.

Compounding this increase is the fact that there is currently an epidemic of mental health issues among young people, what, in 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy called a "mental health crisis." The pandemic compounded the already fraught landscape of adolescence, adding to a range of existing stresses and anxieties, including academic and social pressure, isolation due to excessive screen time, social media pressures, bullying, and economic pressures.

Together, students with disabilities and those experiencing mental health and behavioral conditions represent a group of the most vulnerable students in our schools, those most at risk for failing to connect educationally and socially. Educators and school districts are struggling to accommodate all of these nuanced and, at times, overlapping conditions. Significant State budget investments have attempted to address these issues, including Governor Newsom's 2022 $4.7 Billion Master Plan for Kids Mental Health and other resources delivered through MediCal, strategies to bolster community schools, and efforts to expand the healthcare workforce.
Inclusion and Evolving Special Education Standards
While it is important to understand the more significant macro situation, special education and instruction for vulnerable students are day-to-day challenges addressed at an individual and campus level. To understand the planning and design challenges, you have to know a bit about the evolving history of special education. Before the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) passed in 1975, many students with disabilities were denied access to education and opportunities to learn.

There was an "institutional" thinking and approach which carried with it stigma and worse. Since the passage of the EHA, the distinct field of Special Education emerged, including a legal framework that guaranteed access and accommodation for all students. With the law's name change to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), students with disabilities are receiving special education and related services today designed to meet their individual needs alongside their peers to the maximum extent appropriate and possible-a practice known as "Inclusion." Extensive research over decades has shown that an inclusive approach creates a more diverse and accepting learning environment, minimizes stigma, and delivers significant social and academic benefits for special education students and their general population peers. Inclusion allows for more complete educational opportunities that have been shown to translate into greater chances of success after high school for students with disabilities.

Creating environments that cater to the diverse abilities, needs, and learning styles of students can significantly benefit the growth of our special needs learners. An inclusive approach to design provides equal access to education and creates a sense of belonging, empowerment, and respect among a community of learners.

For students with severe disabilities, inclusion means balancing their needs and providing individualized accommodation, care, and instruction. The development of Individualized Education Plans (IEP) has become a key component of special education. These plans outline the specific accommodations and support each student needs to succeed in general education settings while also addressing unique disabilities and needs. IEPs are completed for every student who needs additional learning assistance.

There are specific instructional and care strategies that educators use to ensure the best outcomes for students with disabilities and to balance the goal of inclusion with the need for individualized instruction. Collaborative Planning between special education instructors and general educators is essential. Master Scheduling and Clustering are techniques used to build daily schedules and group students based on students' IEPs, considering specific logistical factors of the school day.
Kennedy High School Modernization-Expanding Equity and Access
HMC Architects is currently in the middle of a comprehensive modernization project at John F. Kennedy High School in the Granada Hills section of the San Fernando Valley, just north of Los Angeles. This multiphased $130 million project will update a significant part of the 2,400-student campus, including constructing a new two-story classroom building-a state-of-the-art learning environment designed within the context of the campus' midcentury New Federalist style.

Kennedy High School is nationally known for its acclaimed magnet and CTE programs in technical disciplines and the arts. This renovation will provide much-needed next-generation facilities to support those pathways, including revamping a performing arts theater. One of the key drivers of this project is to bring the special education facilities campus-wide up to modern standards. Approximately 14 percent of the student body has some type of special need or disability. (Ten percent of the special education population is typical for a school. At Kennedy, special education students can attend up to 20 years of age, accounting for this higher percentage).

The current classroom configurations are the product of an earlier generational approach, and they need to catch up to current standards and requirements. For instance, without adjacent facilities, in some cases, students with more significant physical disabilities need to call a nurse every time they need to use the restroom- the stigma is obvious.

There are three types of special education classroom configurations across the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) each with progressively more square footage and additional support spaces that correspond to more significant disabilities. The strategy is to provide direct access to enhanced support spaces, including calming spaces, environments to learn different life skills, specialized apparatus, lifts, or other equipment. The planning process was especially challenging as we were designing for current needs and attempting to look at feeder elementary and middle schools to anticipate future special education needs.

Another key strategy has been integrating special education classrooms among general education classrooms to support inclusion. We removed portables that had previously housed special education classrooms to reach this goal. There had been a complete rework of floor plans in existing buildings. The design process has to address the student needs, operational needs, and regulatory requirements.
Supporting Student Wellness
Part of the Kennedy High School project includes relocating the health clinic strategically near the front of campus to serve students. There are separate entrances for each group for security and to provide privacy for both groups. Throughout campus, other wellness spaces have been included in the design.

We have created outdoor spaces where students can cool off when things become overwhelming. Sometimes, a person needs time to gather their thoughts. We have emphasized nature, natural light, plants, and greenery in these spaces. Research clearly shows the benefits of fresh air and open space for mental health. It sounds overly simplistic, but we are trying to create cheerful and not institutional environments.
LAUSD District-Wide Commitment to Equity
The modernization at Kennedy is part of LAUSD's commitment to ensure every student across the district's 1,300 schools has full opportunities to be included in educational and social experiences. The district's position paper, Equity and Access for Students with Disabilities, outlines this focus, stating that the district's goal is to bring "more students into inclusive settings commensurate with national standards" and that they are now "pushing for a systemic shift in mindset to be better aligned with those laws." The paper says that through these efforts, the district "expects to see academic gains for all students, a positive impact on school culture, and a greater acceptance of diversity as a strength." As the second largest school district in the nation, LAUSD has the unique size and reach to impact this issue broadly.
A High School Experience Like Everyone Else's
In Los Angeles and across the country, significant progress has been made in removing barriers and developing better, more inclusive ways to care for and educate our most vulnerable students. There are a lot of people and organizations working hard on these problems.

If you spend time around students with disabilities, you start to see these questions in more human terms. Kids with disabilities and mental health challenges want a positive school experience, a campus experience like their peers-making friends and being part of activities-all the little things that make school years a formative time in a young person's life. The idea of just trying to be a normal kid is a good thing for all of us to remember.
Benefits of inclusive practices for students with disabilities

Higher rate of academic performance

More satisfying and diverse friendships

Higher student engagement

Improved communication

Less disruptive behaviors

Peer role models for academic, social, and behavior skills

Greater access to the general education curriculum

Increased inclusion in postsecondary life

More successful postsecondary outcomes

Benefits of inclusive practices for students without disabilities include:

Greater gains in math and reading

It reduces the fear of differences and increases social cognition

Students gain better ethical principles and improved self concept

Author's Note: Mental health and disability are highly complex issues. Due to the format limitations of this publication, this article is merely a high-level summary focusing on educational design and planning. There are many related clinical and behavioral topics that we have not explored here. For this reason, we include this list of further readings:

Design for How People Learn, Second Edition by Julie Dirksen, December 2015
Interior Design for Autism from Childhood to Adolescence by A. J. Paron-Wildes, October 2013

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Empowerment Through Design: Inclusive Design Strategies to Transform Learning Spaces | Ideas, Pre-K-12 Education | HMC Architects

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The special education student population in California and nationwide has grown in recent years. The reasons are complex and at least partially related to increased awareness and identification of various conditions, including learning disabilities, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and emotional/behavioral conditions. As a result, more students who may have gone undiagnosed in the past are [...]

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How Autism Works!

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Facts about Autism.

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Fast Facts About Autism For Kids (World Autism Awareness Day)

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Government of India - Checklist for all Disabilities identified in India.

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Differentiation Across Different Subject Areas 