Curriculum Plan and Inclusive Practices, Business Proposal Example

Pedagogues are challenged to effectively meet the diverse learning needs and strengths of various students in the classroom, which is an arduous task, especially in special education classrooms or in classrooms with an amalgam of students with divergent learning capacities. Teachers must always be prepared to correlate the content of their lesson plans and curriculum, programs, and units of inquiry with the students’ weaknesses, interests, and strengths (Cole et al., 2000). In various educational institutions, special education teachers are privy to collaborating with general educators in order to discuss and collaborate on how to accommodate such a diverse student body with learning capacities that fall on both sides of an education continuum. All pedagogues who engage with young students in the classroom are critical in a child’s successful education endeavors, both general and special education students must work together in order to cultivate an integrated and inclusive classroom that meets the needs of all of its students (Agran et al., 2003). As such, pedagogues must take into consideration and implement a variety of learning activities that cater to all of the students,  and they must become role models within the classrooms as accepting of diversity and differences (Kochar et al., 2000). The following is a sample curriculum plan for teachers who work in schools with both general and special education programs.

Context

This school accommodates both general and special educations students, so class sizes are larger than the average size. There are two instructors in each classroom who have 3-4 teacher’s aides helping them ensure that the students behavior and are actively engaged in all of the activities. The community is moderately sized, so there are approximately 15 students per classroom although this number is subject to fluctuation because students often come and go. Curriculum design almost always begins with a situation assessment on the teaching contexts and a needs analysis of the young learners. Such analysis also takes into account demographic information of the students and class size in order for pedagogues to lay out their objectives and goals as well as the learning outcomes they hope for and expect.

Educational Philosophy Statement

My personal educational philosophy statement centers on my fervor to actively challenge young students and watch them grow and develop to reach their full potential. I hope to push students to reach for a different level and develop, which facilitates the maturation process and his or her betterment as an individual overall. As such, group work is critical for achieve success in the classroom and is activities that I truly value, especially with children enrolled in the special education program who often struggle socializing with others. Students assisting other students during group work directly changes each individual student, transforming the class atmosphere as a whole.

In my specific classroom, I provide students with ample freedom needed for them to show their creativity and expression. Students retain the free to experiment with their tastes as well as the dislikes in order to realize both their weaknesses and strengths in various facets of the educational process. Subsequent to the development of this base, the curriculum can them be molded in order to graft in each individual student’s own unique learning style. I aim to teach students–despite the fact that they are in a special education program—in a very matter-of-fact and straightforward style of instruction that provides students with ample room to grow, develop, and expand on their own. As the teacher, I will take the lead in class discussions throughout the year, although gradually as the school year progresses I encourages students to come up with their own questions and attempt to answer such questions on their own. The process of ascertaining their own answers to questions that arise expands student knowledge and itself is didactic in nature by teaching them how to find data and information through a litany of avenues.

As an educator working within the special education programs, it is vital not only to assist students with special needs who  I am teaching but also to guide them and impart a sense of direction that will in turn propel them to help their peers in the near future. Education is one of the most significant mechanisms available to people today, and every child and youth deserves to have access to the best education as possible regardless of their learning capacities and special needs. Students with special needs should be situated in environments that are more liberal and less restrictive so that they gain the life skills needed and learn how to better socialize and communicate with people who come from diverse backgrounds, thereby enhancing students’ abilities to relate to one another while fueling the academic success and growth of a student on a quotidian basis. Working with special needs students poses various challenges, but it has always been my ardor to assist any young student discover their individual talents so that they reach their full potential and become valuable, contributing members of society in the near future.

Vision, Mission, and Statement of Purpose

It is the goal of many special education programs to embrace inclusive classrooms and schools in which the responsibilities and roles of the special educators must evolve in various fundamental ways. Moreover, a shift always takes place regarding how pedagogues collaborate—from making the curriculum accessible to a diverse and vast array of students, especially those with different types of disabilities, to conversing about student problems at the individual level. As such, the task that educators have at hand is to effectively integrate knowledge regarding the curriculum and new trends that have emerged in the curriculum with certain expectations regarding how learners who exhibit varied traits will interact with and engage the content. Collaborative dialogue facilitates and precedes tenable actions, and pedagogues have the power to shape what takes place within the classrooms in order to optimally benefit the students even before content is present.

Through such collaborative discussions—and, then, actions—teachers can shape what goes on in classrooms to the advantage of all students before presenting content—rather than after a student encounters difficulty. Doing so helps mitigate any future difficulty the student might face prior to them encountering them. All schools aim in the broadest sense aim for students to procure the skills and knowledge needed for them to live satisfying and productive lives. Unfortunately, many special education students fail to progress within the standard curriculum because they were segregated into special education classes away from general education classrooms (Falvey, 1995). Doing so effectively denies them access to a curriculum that is inclusive. Indeed, pedagogues working in inclusive settings are encouraged to adopt a far more proactive planning perspective as they are challenged to frame dilemmas and quandaries that take place within the classroom to alter the curriculum in order to better meet the needs of all students

Such values stated above suggest that both general and special education teachers cannot broach the topic of curriculum in a blasé manner. Unfortunately, professional collaboration between the various teachers has hitherto constituted of assessing the learning and behavioral deficits of students as a major source of the problem. As such, both general and special needs educators must reorient their perceptions of inclusion towards curriculum issues (Pugach & Warger, 1993). In order to accommodate a diverse array of learners, pedagogues must reconsider the various demands that the curriculum puts on the young students. Collaboration in the development of the curriculum include broad-based curriculum planning that is preventative in nature, or troubleshooting problems in the classroom that arise due to inherent issues in the extant curriculum that must be immediately addressed.

Ultimately, educators acknowledge that the unique learning needs of students have become the norm rather than peripheral issues. Inclusive class environments eschew excluding students who are special needs or who deviate from the modal subjects. Rather, fomenting learning environments within which all students have a chance for success has spawned a paradigm-shift in thinking about the curriculum in relation to students, especially those hampered by certain disabilities (Pugach & Warger, 1993). This curriculum development is rooted in the collaboration between social and regular educators and holds much promise for the enhancement of the educational experience for young students. Curriculum-centered, pedagogical collaboration enables educators to collectively focus on the systemic barriers that impede on human success and cultivate new environments within which all students, both regular and special education ones, have an amplified opportunity for success within the educational realm.

Curriculum Design

The curriculum design calls for the formal and informal involvement of special education students within the planning process. Even young students can get involved by making choices regarding what they would like to learn and posing questions when they get to class. Indeed, young students possess a wide range of interests and curiosities, so they retain some agency in the curriculum design for a more inclusive classroom. In order to enhance student learning, educators must provide students with a vast array of ways to both interact in and learn in the classroom. While class discussions and lectures will remain one component of the curriculum, teachers should not solely use those types of platforms to teach young pupils. With the advent of various technologies that have infiltrated the classroom, teachers should present students with various opportunities to experience different lesson structures that include debates, simulations, projects, drama, games, workshops, labs, and cooperative learning projects. Doing so would better engage the students, and students with or without impairment will enjoy the learning process more; retain more information; and utilize higher-order cognitive skills. Teachers must make sure of the resources and technologies available to them when instructing these students. Globes, maps, posters, and DVDs, among others, all retain currency as instructional materials. Choosing the materials for teaching is significant because it provides learners an avenue for success by letting the student ascertain how he or she learns best.

Curriculum Development Process

The development and delivery of special education services within the framework of a revised curriculum is more effective and efficient if all stakeholders contribute using the same base knowledge. School teams spend what little time they have constructing the very foundations for inclusive programs that cater to special education students.  Such a development process can be characterized as non-technical because the revised curriculum does not aim at yielding measurable results such as boosted test scores. The classroom is a dynamic space rather than operating like a machine, so the curriculum development process is far more subjective in nature and highly dependent on the people who are involved in the process. Learners supersede the stakeholders involved, as subject matter only retains currency if the special education students render them meaningful. As such, this approach to curriculum development provides special education students with the space to reflect and engages with these students to create meaning out of the world they discern and within the classroom. Revising the curriculum to become more inclusive is predicated on the concept of learning as being holistic rather than categorized by clear-cut steps. Rather than devising a curriculum prior to interaction with students, this curriculum would develop in an ad hoc basis based on the student-centered, collaborative model. As such, pedagogues and pupils engage in an ongoing dialogue with one another regarding mutual areas of concern and interests

Implementation Process

The development and implementation of an inclusive curriculum for special education students requires meticulous and vigilant implementation process. As special education teachers, they must embrace and implement various different teaching styles throughout the school year: an interactive approach to teaching, meaning pedagogues must switch roles of reviewing, monitoring and presenting instruction to the students; an alternative approach to teaching, which means on educator teaches, enriches, and reiterates a certain concept for a smaller group of pupils while teachers’ aides and other educator help monitor and assist the other pupils; parallel teaching, which is when the teacher divides students into groups comprised of different learning and literacy levels, and all aides and co-teachers teach the same material to one of the small groups; and station teaching, which is when the class is broken down into small groups and educators rotate stations. Educators must remain vigilant of student needs and offer any accommodations outlined in the individualized education programs for special education students. In order to best manage this type of classroom, educators must create a structured classroom by designing in a way that is conducive to both group and individual work; hang up classroom rules in a visible spot on the wall; create a daily schedule that is colored with vivid markers; develop and teach students various classroom signals in order for them to quiet down, get out their materials for the day, and to begin work in silence; and constantly monitor student activity. Resistance to changes may come at the grassroots level, especially general students and their parents who may evince some antagonism towards a shared classroom. Any resistance can be met by bi-monthly parent meetings in order for an ongoing educational dialogue to commence, which will help strengthen school culture.

Evaluation Process

The  very core of achievement of special education curriculum objectives relies on its assessment process amidst curriculum development. The selection of content in relation to objective and content organization is quite integral as the process of curriculum development takes place (Armstrong, 2000). However, there is usually no evaluation of the current curriculum in place, so there is a dearth of feedback that would facilitate the revision of the curriculum accordingly. In addition, various assessment accommodations must be made to catered to students enrolled in the special education programs within this school and school district. Such accommodations must be designed on an idiosyncratic basis, and the accommodations listed below are not all-inclusive as they may not quite apply to all young students who retain commensurate eligibility with his or her peers. Moreover, the possibilities are not all inclusive in nature:

References

Agran, M., Ph.D., King-Sears, M. Ph.D., Wehmeyer, M.L., Ph.D., and Copeland, S.R. (2003). Teacher’s guide to inclusive practices: Student directed learning. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Armstrong, T. (2000.) Multiple intelligences in the classroom. (2nd Ed.) Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Cole, S., Horvath, B., Chapman, C., Deschenes,C. Ebeling, D. G., & Sprague, J. (2000). Adapting curriculum & instruction in inclusive classrooms: A teacher’s desk reference. (2nd Ed.). Bloomington, IN: The Center on Education and Lifelong Learning.

Falvey, M. (Ed.) (1995). Inclusive and heterogeneous schooling: Assessment, curriculum, and instruction. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Giangreco, M.F. Ph.D., Cloninger, Chigee J., Ph.D., and Iverson, Virginia Salce, M.Ed. (1998). COACH: Choosing Outcomes and Accommodations for Children: A guide to educational planning for students with disabilities (2nd Ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Janney, R., Ph.D. & Snell, M., Ph.D (1999). Teachers’ guides to inclusive practices: Modifying schoolwork. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Kochhar, C.A., West, L.L., Taymans, J.M. (2000). Successful inclusion: Practical strategies for a shared responsibility. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Lambert, C. (1999). Introduction to students with exceptionalities: Course materials. Ellensburg, WA: Central Washington University.

Pugach, M. C., & Warger, C. L. (1993). Cultural considerations. In J. I. Goodlad & T. C. Lovitt (Eds.),  Integrating general and special education (pp. 125–148). New York: Merrill.

Silver, H.F., Strong, R.W. & Perini, M. J. (2000). So each may learn: Integrating learning styles and multiple intelligences. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum      Development.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A. (1998). Best practice: New standards for teaching and learning in America’s schools. (2nd Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.