INCLUSIVE TEACHING

CHAPTER ONE Towards the Celebration of Difference

INCLUSIVENET

The internet provides a valuable source to explore issues related to segregation and inclusion, people with disabilities in school and society, and inclusive teaching. Following are some Internet sites which you may find interesting and valuable.

General inclusive schooling sites

Network for Inclusive Schooling The people who organized National Inclusive Schools week are forming an international network. You and your school can join.

Inclusion Solutions This site in the UK is packed with great resources for dealing with difficult situations in including students with differences. Photos illustrate practices.

Pictures in time

Disability is Natural. New ways of thinking about disability -- a gentle rebellion against old attitudes and perceptions.

Dealing with Difference

Norm Kunc is a person with a disability who, along with his wife Emma Van der Klift, makes his living speaking on issues of social justice and inclusion. On this site he has some useful materials from his talks including a video you can download. He's the source of the discussion of extermination, segregation, benevolence, and community in Chapter 1.

Towards inclusive schools: students from diverse races and cultures

Racial segregation of schools growing. Schools are becoming more racially segregated.

Critical Behaviors and Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students. ERIC/OSEP Digest E584.

Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

Principles for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Good article from the Education Alliance at Brown University.

Diversity and Complexity in the Classroom: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender.

Charting a New Course toward Racial Integration: Districts seek legal routes to capture the benefits of diversity.

The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. A great site with lots of useful resources.

National Institute for Urban School Improvement. A site dedicated to inclusive education in urban schools. Full of great materials.

Towards inclusive schools: Students who are poor

A growing number of school districts are working to integrate students from different socio-economic backgrounds - a process called socio-economic integration. Richard D. Kahlenberg wrote Socioeconomic School Integration for the Poverty & Race Research Action Council. Several school districts have written about their promising experiences, including: Cambridge Schools; Raleigh Public Schools; and Seminole County, Florida.

Why segregation matters: Poverty and equality. An excellent document in pdf format.

Communication Across Barriers. This is the site of Donna Beegle, a lecturer and authority on educating children and adults who are very poor. She, herself, experienced deep poverty and talks from personal experience. There are a number of great articles and resources on this site.

Towards inclusive schools: Dominant language learners

Valuing Language Diversity and Fostering Inclusion By Nancy L. Cloud, Ed.D.An excellent article!!

Language Diversity in the Classroom--A Challenge and a Benefit

Ten Common Fallacies about Bilingual Education. ERIC Digest.

Model Strategies in Bilingual Education. Article that summarizes various approaches to teaching dominant language learners.

Towards inclusive schools: Students considered gifted and talented

Highly Gifted Children in Full Inclusion Classrooms A good article by Kathi Kearney.

Inclusion of Gfited Students in General Education Classrooms. An excellent article from the Pennsylvania Association of the Gfited.

The Inclusive Classroom: Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students: Differentiating Mathematics and Science Instruction- It's Just Good Teaching. By Jennifer Stepanek

National Association for Gifted Children. National organization aimed at "supporting the needs of high potential learners".

Towards inclusive schools: Students who are gay

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN states that it "envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression". This is an excellent resource.

The Truth About Gay and Lesbian Issues in the Public Schools. This article describes 4 types of programs designed to help gay students.

Towards inclusive schools: Students with disabilities

Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. Deparment of Justice site. ADA documents.

Ragged Edge. Journal of civil rights activists who have disabilities.

Disability Rights. Links to many disability rights organizations including ADAPT, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities; Disability Rights Advocates; and The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (TASH).

The growing movement to inclusive schools

Inclusion Press A site filled with resources, publications, videos, and other information related to inclusion and social justice.

Inclusive schooling around the world

Welcoming Schools - an initiative on inclusive education by UNESCO, a agency of the United Nations. This is part of their overall initiative Education for All. Here also are UNESCO's Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Education for All (pdf document).

School and Classroom Practices in Inclusive Education in Australia. A comprehensive document. Here information on Inclusive education in Queensland, Australia.

Inclusion UK. This page will link to four organizations that support inclusive education in the United Kingdom.

This article describes movements towards inclusive education in Brazil. In 2001 the first Congress on Inclusive Education was held in South America.

Here you can read about efforts in India to respond to students with disabilities and here about the journey in that country towards inclusive education.

In the same general part of the world, here's a document which describes inclusive education as the wave of the future in Pakistan with practices, policy issues, and a pilot project. A pdf document.

Inclusion in Viet Nam: More Than a Decade of Implementation. A good article by Rich Villa and colleagues.

Postsecondary inclusive schooling

Making Excellence Inclusive: initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Postsecondary Education Options for Students with Intellectual Disabilities. A good article from the Institute for Community Inclusion in Boston.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

Wright's Law is a site for parents and advocates that focuses on special education law and advocacy.

This website provides public access to data about children and youth with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

On this site you can download copies and interpretations of the law itself.

Teacher leadership for inclusive teaching

Artwork reprinted by permission of
Martha Perske from PERSKE:
PENCIL PORTRAITS 1971-1990
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998.