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Students are incredibly perceptive -- they know when adults assume they can't do something, and adults know when their fellow students are othered. Assuming competence can make a world of difference for academic achievement and social acceptance

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It is important to differentiate material within a classroom because not all students who need differentiation or alternate formats actually have an IEP. It is important to allow all students an opportunity to learn in the way that is best for them.

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I learned about children's books that make the history of the Disability Rights Movement accessible to children and ways to implement these books in the classroom. I also learned about Jennifer Keelan, the six-year-old who participated in the protests that led to the passing of the ADA.

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Tomlinson considers differentiation to be a responsive process that is based on formative assessment, and should be catered to student need. This seems a bit different than some other perspectives that place differentiation as a generic process that can benefit all students universally.

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The topic of abilities and disabilities is much more nuanced than I realized. There are positives and negatives to increasing differentiation, so it takes a lot of reflection to try and strike a positive middle ground. Ultimately I feel like I learned that the best differentiation is about compassion and collaboration more than anything else. Your best ally is the student you are hoping to help.

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The different lesson planning topics I looked at prioritized big ideas. This goes along with the differentiation station where they talked about differentiating activities but maintaining the same learning goals & enduring understandings. Framing the lesson plan that way can help serve as a check

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My primary takeaway from today is that many children and adults with disabilities just want to contribute to, participate in, and feel recognized within their communities and the world at large. Part of this relies on their liberation from the “able” people that always seem to shadow them.

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A takeaway I had from Station #4 about Differentiation can be summed up in this statement from a video:

Differentiation is not hard, but breaking old habits is. We’ve seen so much one-size fits all teaching.

This demonstrates the importance of prioritizing differentiation in order to be responsive to student needs. The resources at this station helped me realize how differentiation can be straight forward as we adapt our instruction based on evidence of student understanding.

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Connecting the notion of liberatory pedagogy with "presuming competence:" offering space for students to possess unlimited potential.

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Through the picture books and the narratives I learned firsthand from disabled people and their wants/needs/desires/and feelings. This is one of my first experiences learning from these sources directly, rather than learning from able bodied people talking about them.

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Differentiation doesn't have to be one size fits all- modification can be built into activity types, reading sources, and assessments.

These varied activities are "meaning-rich for all students" (Tomlinson, 101) too, not just students who are directly in need of modifications.

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Inclusive education is not a point to reach but a process that requires continuous efforts. It is impossible to say "in doing this or that, I have achieved inclusive education". Teachers, students, parents, school administrators and policymakers have to work collectively and continuously to sustain the inclusive schooling.

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Differentiation is common sense good teaching. It follows assessment to respond to student needs. One differentiates student readiness (prior knowledge), student interest (the content), and student learning profile (modality).

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Differentiation can be organized, designed, and understood by three considerations: Differentiate What? Differentiate How? Differentiate Why?. I find this framework student-responsive and reflective in nature in order to ensure the inclusive practices in class are purposeful and relevant to the goals of the overall curriculum.

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Station 1 (Biklen & Burke, School as a Sensory Field) - Maeve

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Station 1 (Biklen & Burke, School as a Sensory Field) - Maeve

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I found this conversation of sensory sensitivity interesting (between a professor and autistic high school student) - talking about how challenges with sensory experience in school do not justify or necessitate separate schools or classrooms, but rather adequate sensory supports including targeted therapies to break down these barriers.

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Station#1: School is a place where one should feel confident, where one learns to respect understand and embrace each other's abilities. One should be able to express oneself freely. Other than providing good infrastructure, the school is a space which should be just.

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I enjoyed this activity because I was able to share and discuss different people's opinions and perspectives. It was interesting to choose the stations that I was interested in, and this activity gave me time to think more deeply about disabilities. In particular, children's picture books related to disabilities caught my attention. Seeing illustrations rather than just reading about disabilities made it easier to understand and feel more warmly about the subject. I think it is very effective for children to learn about disabilities through such picture books.

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Public schools are highly politicized spaces. How belonging is constructed depends on many values, resources, cultures, beliefs, contexts. Creating an inclusive environment is not static, it is a transformative process.

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Students with disabilities want to be seen as individuals.

not as experiments.

Instead of following a "fixer upper" mentality

teachers should instead be supportive of who their students are.

There is no need to fix them.

Building an inclusive curriculum that allows students with disabilities to

learn an array of skills, not only the skills that teachers and administrators

believe they are capable of learning. This puts them in a box and does not

Give them the opportunity to follow their own paths.

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Through reading the Bilken and Burke article I got to directly hear the perspectives of a person with a disability. The article mentioned that more often than not educators are placed in positions of authority and asked to speak for students with disabilities. "it would seem best always to seek ways for the other person to explain himself or herself."