Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners in the General Education Class

Shirley A. Ritter, Ph. D.
Furman University
Greenville, South Carolina, USA
shirley.ritter@furman.edu

Stephanie Morris
W. E. Gable Middle School
Spartanburg District 6
Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA

Abstract

How do teachers learn about their students’ cognitive abilities, interests, the language spoken at home, and their students’ preferred learning styles? It is critical at the beginning of the school year for teachers to quickly get to know their students. Learning is facilitated when students are motivated, instructed via their preferred learning styles, and content is taught at the students’ cognitive levels. This presentation describes how one university teaches its undergraduates, as future teachers, to get to know their students so that optimum learning can occur.

Introduction

Increasing numbers of students with special needs are being taught in the general education setting. Furman University, a small liberal arts university in southeastern United States, coupled with a local school district and created the Teacher to Teacher Program to support its university seniors as well as it first year teachers to better meet the needs of the diverse range of students in their classes, especially those with special education needs. The initial licensure is in elementary education. The focus of this paper is to address those students who are in the general education setting, but have some documented disability. This teacher preparation model includes a heavy emphasis on getting to know the students in one’s class: every student’s strengths, learning styles, home information, and interests. This is done via a team who provides support within the school, the district, and the university-district partnership.

Literature Review

Data easily support that increasing numbers of students with special and diverse needs are being served in the general education setting (US Department of Education, 1998). Research also continues to indicate that grade level teachers feel unprepared to meet increasing diversity within their classrooms (Lewis & Doorlag, 2000; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2000; Zionts, 1997). Legislation (P.L.105-17, IDEA Amendments, 1999) mandates the requirement for students to be served in the least restrictive environment to the greatest extent possible. Teachers in general education classrooms readily confirm that students in their classroom represent greater number of special and diverse needs (Mercer & Mercer, 2001; Walther-Thomas, Korinek, McLaughlin, & Williams, 2000).

Additionally research supports the need for teachers to understand their students’ backgrounds in order to best meet their instructional needs. A cultural mismatch between the backgrounds of teachers with that of their students might well result in students not performing at their academic potential (Obiakor, Algozzine, & Ford, 1993). While the student population has become more diverse, there are insufficient changes in the preparation of teachers (Bennett, 2001; Gay, 1997; and Pugach & Seidel, 1998). Banks (1994) reported that seldom are general education teachers prepared to plan for cultural differences when planning their instructional units. In addition to needing to meet the diverse needs in any one classroom, beginning teachers are struggling to complete daily and weekly lesson planning, instruction, and classroom management (Huang, 2002). Following is the approach one institution developed for its first year teachers to better meet the needs of all learners in the general education setting. The model includes a high level of support to the induction year teacher as well as this novice teacher working diligently at the beginning of the school year to learn as much about the students in the class as they could. This is especially relevant since the overwhelming majority of the novice teachers are originally from out of state and some are not from the geographic region.

Background

School districts in the United States are locally based and not state based. In South Carolina, with a population of nearly 4 million, there are more than 80 school districts. While there is a South Carolina State Department of Education, each local district elects its own school board, with many decisions made at the local level. Furman University and a nearby school district entered into a partnership targeted to prepare teachers by inviting Furman University seniors into a school, where that senior completes a variety of course work, culminating in a practicum in teaching in the spring term of the senior year. That senior is interviewed by the district, and, ideally, hired by the district and begins one’s first year of teaching in that same school. When this occurs, the first year teacher begins one’s first year of teaching in a school in which that induction year teacher has already developed a support system and is already acquainted with school staff, procedures, and other aspects of ‘how this school works.’ This happens frequently, that the Furman senior is hired by the district, but not always, due to a variety of factors.

In our sixth year of partnerships, now with 4 local districts, the partnerships focus on teacher candidates in their senior year, beginning with the start of school (early August) and continuing in subsequent field experiences throughout the year and during the induction year at the same location. The first-year teacher has the support of a master teacher who is released from classroom duties. The role of the master teacher is to coach, mentor, and guide the first-year teacher. Each master teacher works with 4-5 first-year teachers, in the primary role as a master teacher and a mentor.

Table 1

Timeline for the Extended Program

Another unique factor of the program is the university calendar. The academic year at Furman is 12 weeks (September to December), 7 weeks (January and February), and 12 weeks (March to May). The college seniors, however, return to the university in early/mid-August for “early experience.” The public schools begin in early/mid-August, so the university seniors return for the first three to four weeks of the public school year. This enables the senior to be a part of the class from the outset of the school year and field experiences during the senior year enable the teacher candidate to continue working in the classroom, which will be the teaching practicum site in the spring. The teacher candidate leads classroom procedures, teaches several lessons, and participates in seminars three days each week during these three-four weeks in August to early September. One of the assignments, the community/school/classroom profile, is due in late September. This is the focus of this presentation.

While the seniors do not enroll in the courses until the spring term, the work completed during early experience, as well as that completed during fall and winter terms, and the fall and winter seminars are actually part of the grades awarded in the spring Senior Block. Seminars are held throughout the fall and winter terms. The seniors also complete a behavioral cases study on one student in the fall term. Typically the seniors spend about 6 hours per week in their school placements during the fall term; this is somewhat reduced during the winter term.

In the spring term of the senior year, the teacher candidates enroll in four courses (3-credit hours each) that comprise the Senior Block. This includes both coursework and seminars, but the majority of this Senior Block is the practicum in teaching. The four courses taught during this spring term are: Assessment for Teaching and Learning; Diverse Schools Culture for Teaching, Learning, and Management; Integration of Curriculum and Technology; and Practicum in Teaching. The courses are introduced, initially, with the seniors/teacher candidates participating in intensive classes on the college campus for the majority of the first three days of the spring term. Then the teacher candidates begin their teaching practicum at their school placements. The Senior block then looks a great deal like a traditional student teaching placement. Each senior gradually assumes full-time teaching of the class. There is a minimal requirement of at least 3 weeks of full time planning and teaching. Due to district and university calendar differences, there are several full-day seminars on the Furman campus.

The year following the Senior Block, considered the induction year, the teacher candidate (the Furman senior who is seeking a teaching licensure) is employed at a reduced salary as a first-year teacher (but with full benefits). During that year, the first-year teacher completes the internship and an Inquiry and Research course to earn one’s teaching licensure. The nucleus of the action research course is some question that the first-year teacher has and needs to confront in his/her classroom. The first-year teachers also enroll in an induction year course, which is typical for all first year teachers.

Community, School, and Classroom Profile

The profile is compiled during early experience and due in late September. This assignment results in the Furman seniors becoming very well and quickly acquainted with each of their students, including those with identified special education needs.  The profile consists of three components: An introduction to the community, to the school, and to the classroom in which the teacher candidate will become a co-teacher in the spring term of the senior year.

The undergraduates who attend Furman University are typically not from the area. Some students are from South Carolina, others from the southeast United States, and others from other regions of the US. A critical introduction to their senior student teaching placement is, therefore, an introduction to the community. An administrator from the school takes the Furman seniors on a community tour pointing out various neighborhoods and subdivisions, businesses that support the local community, and other aspects and resources of the community. The Furman senior also interviews local lifelong residents. Community values emerge from these interviews.

To become acquainted with the school, in addition to attending faculty meetings, the Furman seniors interview school faculty and staff. A segment of the interviews  includes  a discussion of how the school ‘fits in’ with the larger community.

The larger section of the profile is the section that focuses on the classroom in which the teacher candidate will be assuming all responsibilities in the spring term of the senior year. Included in the classroom section are content area tests, assessments that evaluate external variables, interviews, observations, and other informal measures to add to the profile. Also included are learning preference surveys. Finally the teacher candidate identifies those areas and/or students for which additional information is needed to better get to know all learners in the classroom. They set up an Excel (or similar) files to compile the assessment information. Each teacher candidate includes how the information compiled in the profile will be used when teaching those students in the spring.

• Classroom Profile Components
• Following is a brief explanation of the “classroom profile” assignment: The teacher candidate compiles an extensive profile of the classroom. Classroom data include evidence of state administered assessments, any beginning of the year assessment information, formal and informal interviews, informal observations, and parental surveys of their child’s interests. The teacher candidate also incorporates interest inventories. These typically assess learning style preferences and external variables (e.g., do I work better when the light is on or off, if the room is warm or cool, in groups, pairs, or alone). Other informal information is also included. Finally the teacher candidate will identify those areas and/or students in which additional information is needed to best describe the learners in the classroom.
• From the Classroom Profile to Its Adaptation for a Novice Teacher
• Once a teacher enters his/her first year of teaching, the classroom profile begins to develop more into a tool that will be useful not only to the teacher, but the students as well.   The initial profile (see figure 1) is quite comprehensive and is designed work with any grade level or subject area, which is helpful for a student teacher to consider the various elements of classrooms spanning kindergarten through twelfth grade (see figure 1 for an example of some of the information gathered).   Figures 2 and 3 depict how class data can be displayed. A teacher may not spend his/her first year in the same grade level, subject area, or school as he/she did student teaching, so it is important for the teacher to have the tools necessary to create a classroom profile tailored to the new environment.   Teachers may make format or content changes to the learning preferences profile or the student interest inventory based on the developmental levels of the students.   They may find that some of the information they gathered does not help them get to know their students’ needs and they now have the freedom to customize the profile and make it more relevant to the current environment.   This may include involvement from the parents.   One middle school teacher has begun including a parent survey (see figure 4) to get another perspective on what students need and things to watch for or encourage in the classroom.   This is a great way to obtain parental support immediately because they see that the teacher really cares about their children.
• Another element of the profile is testing information.   Students take different standardized tests at different grade levels, and it is important for the teacher to be able to interpret those results.   This information is important to include in the classroom profile in order to get a general sense of the students’ academic and developmental levels as a starting point for further evaluation and assessment.   Teachers may use this information to help students set goals for themselves and to discuss various test-taking strategies.   It also allows the teacher to see which students are testing below grade level in order to identify those who will need more individualized support.   The Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a different assessment tool to include in this section of a classroom profile because it allows teachers to know which students receive special education services and the various accommodations needed in the regular classroom environment.   Having a discussion with students, parents and other teachers regarding services received and accommodations provided helps the teacher know how to reach those children in a regular classroom setting in a way that is both supportive and challenging.
• In South Carolina, schools must update their community profiles, which include important demographic information, at least every five years.   This information is excellent for a novice teacher to include in the classroom profile to create a baseline of the community to which the teacher can compare his/her students.  This can be helpful to the teacher because he/she may have a class of students who have either fallen short of or exceeded the expectations set by the rest of the district.   This allows a teacher to judge where his/her students are and how much progress they may be able to make in a year’s time.   The community tour is another method student teachers use to get to know the community in which they will be teaching.   Along with the demographics from the community profile, student teachers are able to ride around and see the types of housing in the district as well as what kinds of businesses are nearby.   The socioeconomic status of the community becomes very apparent when teachers have the opportunity to view, first-hand, the type of living arrangements and environments in which her students live.
• Something not required in the initial classroom profile created during student teaching is student involvement.   A classroom profile is a valuable tool to any teacher once it is complete; however, it can be a cumbersome task if a teacher teaches at the middle or high school level, sometimes having more than one hundred students.   This can become a burden to any teacher dealing with that many surveys, test scores, IEPs, etc.   Novice teachers should take advantage of the resources in their own classrooms: students.   As a middle school math teacher, one second year teacher begins her curriculum with data analysis and graphing.   Children are innately curious, so building a lesson around information relevant to them, especially information they have provided, makes the experience more meaningful.   The teacher gives them various sets of data, pulled from interest inventories, parent surveys, testing data, removing any mode of identification and allows them to create a spreadsheet in Excel and create their own graphs (see figures 3 and 4).   This way, they can see what kind of learning environment they are in and how to make the most out of it.   These activities even aid in building a classroom community, which is essential to having a successful school year, because students get to know each other and learn about each others’ interests and needs.   It also helps students develop their own goals for the year, and makes learning fun for them.   The teacher continues to use this information throughout the year to tailor her lessons and/or units to things that they find important or interesting because she knows who her students are and how to engage them.  
• The three main elements of a classroom profile are essential to understanding who students are, from which environments and backgrounds they come, expectations that have been placed on them, as well as how they measure against the other students in the community.   Teachers are encouraged to include all of this information in their profiles as student teachers as well, but it is more of a prototype for what the profile will evolve into during the first years of teaching, which is a meaningful visual representation and tool to teachers, students, and parents to ensure student success in a particular environment.
• Summary

Furman’s five years’ of data are encouraging! Furman’s first year teachers are strong candidates, working to meet the need of each student in the assigned class. These first year teachers possess the skills to quickly acquire data on each of their students. Their instruction results in student learning. The broad mission of teaching is to teach not only students with special needs, but every student within today’s classroom. The Teacher to Teacher Program has begun the unfolding of better preparing novice teachers to better meet the challenges of all their students.

References

Banks, J. A. (1994). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice (3 rd Edition). Boston: Ally & Bacon.

Bennett, H. (2001). Genres of research in multicultural education. Review of Educational Research, 71, 171-188.

Gay, G. (1997). Multicultural infusion in teacher education: Foundation and applications. In A. I. Morey & M. K. Kitanl (Eds.), Multicultural course transformation in higher education: A broader truth (pp. 192-210). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Huang, H. (2002). Designing multicultural lesson plans. Multicultural Perspectives, 4(4),  17-23.

Lewis, R., & Doorlag, D. H. (2000). Teaching special students in the mainstream (5 th ed.). New York: Merrill/Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (2000). The inclusive classroom: Strategies for effective instruction. Merrill/Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Mercer , C. D., & Mercer, A., R. (2001). Teaching students with learning problems (6 th ed.). Merrill/Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Obiakor, F. E., Algozzine, B., & Ford, B. A. (1993). Urban education, the general education initiative, and service delivery to African-American students. Urban Education, 28, 313-324.

Public Law 105-17, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—Amendments. (1999) Federal Register, 64, 34048-34100.

Pugach, M. & Seidl, B. (1998). Responsible linkages between diversity and disability: A challenge for special education. Teacher Education and Special Education, 21, 319-333.

US Department of Education. (1998). To assure the free appropriate public education of all children with disabilities. Twentieth annual report to Congress on the implementation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

Walther-Thomas, C., Korinek, L., McLaughlin, V. L., & Williams, B. T. (2000). Collaboration for inclusive education: Developing successful programs. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Zionts, P. (ED.). (1997). Inclusion strategies for students with learning and behavior problems: Perspectives, experiences, and best practices. Austin: Pro-Ed.

Figure 1

Student Interest Inventory

Name     ____________________________                 Today’s Date     ______________

Gender ____________________________                 Birthdate           ______________

Race      ____________________________                 Religion                         ______________

I was born in _________________________________________________________

                                    City                                           State                             Country

Sports:

My favorite to watch is___________________________________________________

My favorite to play is    ___________________________________________________

At Gable, I play             ___________________________________________________

Arts:

My favorite type of art to create is        ________________________________________

I play this instrument    ___________________________________________________

Free Time:

My favorite things to do on the weekends are __________________________________

___________________________________________________

My favorite things to do after school are           __________________________________

___________________________________________________

Entertainment:

My favorite television show is    _____________________________________________

My favorite movie is       ___________________________________________________

My favorite celebrity is            _____________________________________________

My favorite song is        ___________________________________________________

My favorite type of music is      _____________________________________________

General:

The thing I like most about myself is ________________________________________

Figure 1 continued

The thing I like least about myself is ________________________________________

The thing I do best is    ___________________________________________________

The thing I do the worst is         _____________________________________________

Family and Home:

I have these types of pets          _____________________________________________

I have this many brothers and sisters     ______ # of brothers   ______ # of sisters

I am the oldest, middle, or youngest child (circle one).

I usually speak this language at home with my family      ____________________________

I get everything I need at home                         Yes                                No

I get everything I want at home                         Yes                                No

I can ask someone at home for help

with homework.                                      Yes                                No

There is usually someone at home

when I come home from school.             Yes                                No

I usually go to bed at this time   ________________________________________

I have these chores to do at home          ________________________________________

I know my neighbors                                          Yes                                No

Homework:

I like to do homework                                        Yes                                No

I like to eat when I study                                  Yes                                No

I like to listen to this type of music when I study           ____________________________

Background noise bothers me

when I study                                                     Yes                                No

This is where I like to do my homework __________________________________

I get distracted easily                                       Yes                                No

Figure 1 continued

School:

I like to read on my own                                    Yes                                No

My favorite book is        ___________________________________________________

My favorite subject is    ___________________________________________________

My least favorite subject is _______________________________________________

My favorite teacher from any grade level is ___________________________________

I need to be told to stay on task often, sometimes, or never (circle one).

I prefer working with a partner, in small groups, or by myself (circle one).

I always do my best on my work                         Yes                                No

I work harder when I know my            

work will be graded                                           Yes                                No

I am comfortable asking for help

when I need it                                                   Yes                                No

I learn best by hearing information, seeing information, or doing activities with my hands (circle one).

I pay attention in class best when I sit up front, sit in the back, or it doesn’t matter where I sit (circle one).

This is what I want to be when I grow up           __________________________________

Overall, I like school                                         Yes                                No

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Please complete the following information and return it by Monday, August 16, 2004.

Last Name____________________ First Name_______________________ MI___

Name wished to be called____________________   Birthdate __________________

Guardian Contact Information

Name__________________________    Name____________________________

Relation _______________________       Relation __________________________

Work Phone_____________________      Work Phone_______________________

Email__________________________     Email____________________________

Home Phone (_______) ______ - __________

1.   Does your child have access to a computer at home?         YES                  NO

2.   Does your child have problems seeing the board?              YES                  NO

3.   Does your child wear glasses or contacts?                         YES                  NO

3.   Does your child have problems hearing the teacher?         YES                  NO

4.   Are there any medical problems or special needs I should know about?   Please be sure to list any food allergies and severity.)   _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Continued on Back

Figure 4

Student Name:________________________________

Survey Completed by:__________________________

• How would you describe your child?

• What are the best qualities about your child?

• What is the most important thing about your child I need to know?

• How do you think your child learns best? (lecture, pictures, hands-on, etc.)

• What can I do to help your child succeed in my class?

• What do you do at home to help your child be successful in school?

• If your child has struggled in math in the past, why?

• As a teacher, what do you expect from me?

• As a parent, what can I as a teacher, expect from you?

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