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Inclusion of Students on Classrooms

Tina Berlin Ledesma

Fresno Pacific University

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Inclusion of Students in Classrooms

There are a variety of students in classrooms who have a variety of natural born talents,

and there are other students who have many struggles either way they all participate in

mainstream schooling. Many students who need special services are participating in general

education classrooms with the assistance that provides the student with their essential needs.

There are students who are deaf and need accommodations or modifications undoubtedly, it is up

to the teachers to find a way to assist students the best way possible.

According to the textbook written by Turnbull (2016), inclusion can be effective when

teachers use strategies to enhance vocabulary development such as building on prior knowledge

(pg. 303). For students who are deaf, and English is not their main source of communication, and

who participate in an inclusion classroom can find it difficult to explore the English language.

There is typically an interpreter who accommodate students in the classroom when necessary.

While interpreting is taking place, teachers must also keep in mind the lag time, within the time a

student receives and responds to questions. Small groups can also help students gain more

participation in engaging with peers. Additionally, teachers use ethical reasoning skills during

teaching when they have a student who needs extra time in completing a task or uses visuals to

see what they are learning. In inclusion classrooms, teachers can use a strategy called systematic

mapping which enhances the learning of more vocabulary words.

This concept of systematic mapping is solely building on prior knowledge. In the

example of teaching material that Turnbull gave, offers teachers the strategy known as, “know-

what-learn” in assisting students in expanding their vocabulary (2016, p. 303). For instance, the

teacher writes the new word in the center of the board and circles it, then he will ask students to

write down words that have the same meaning around that word. This is encouraging students to
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explore their known knowledge of the word by relating familiar words. After students have

shared their words on the board, the teacher will ask the students to group the words by asking

themselves two questions the first being, “what is it?” The next is, “what is it like?” (Turnbull,

2016, p. 303). Next the teacher asks each individual student to write down what they would like

to learn about the topic. Lastly, the teacher assigns the homework which is reading from their

textbook the material that pertains to what she taught in class.

Modifications can be applied to academic material when it can be explored by students

when they struggle to gather their thoughts by brainstorming questions. As teachers offer

multiple avenues of learning strategies, by using a universal design this enables all students to

have the opportunity of learning. Another strategy many teachers have used is thematic

organization, it offers one theme to be taught in all areas of academic learning. For example, if

students were learning about airplanes, it would be applied in history, math, science, social

studies and reading. Yet again, this is a modification that accommodates every students’

opportunity of leaning. Teachers can divide the classroom into small groups and hand out large

white paper for students to jot down their prior knowledge of airplanes. This can be a family trip

or their joy of making paper airplanes; nonetheless, by doing this the teacher is drawing out

personal interests in a topic that can spark motivation.

There are many teaching materials that offer participation, making it accessible for deaf

students to engage in classroom activities. The interpreter is actively translating the assignment

in sign language. When it is time for students to apply science, to their assignment all students

can research material using a computer as a small group. All students can see and read what each

person wrote for their information in contribution to the project. As for the literature lesson, they

will read and draw out their understanding of how air pressure affects the wings of an airplane.
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They will add a Venn diagram to show the differences of a car and an airplane. The variety of

learning styles aids in different channels of learning for students’ written, visuals and a drawing

of an airplane identifying what they learned. Students can absorb material efficiently when they

have experienced as many areas of their senses as possible to the lesson.

When modifications need to be made, students in small groups can feed off each other’s

thoughts and ideas. All children have different strengths and abilities, and when a small group is

actively learning they can pull their abilities to help their peer who may not have those exact

strengths. For example, a deaf student was able to read the material and apply the written part of

the Venn diagram including the application in the drawing of an airplane. Whereas, a student

who has poor reading and writing skills could not participate as effectively.

In conclusion, as a result of accommodations through the ethical consideration of the deaf

population, the need of interpreters conveys lessons through sign language which is an essential

accommodation for some students. When students are grouped together their natural born talents

are expressed through what they can offer their group. Interpreters are a vital component for

students in working together to complete classroom assignments. When there is one missing

sensory component the other senses may be enhanced namely, since there is much practice in

using them to rely on.

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Reference

Turnbull, A, Turnbull, R, Wehmeyer, M., Shogren, K. (2016). Exceptional Lives (8th Ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.