The Inclusive Class

By Guest blogger, Mari Nosal 1) I Caught You Raffle For behavior management I use a “catch them when they are good” system. During the day give the children a ticket for various positive behaviors that are noted. Have them write their name on the ticket and put it in the box. At the end of the week, pull out a determined amount of tickets from the box. They then can earn small tokens like a pencil, homework slip, chart, book, etc. this is a great positive reinforcement technique. By recognizing positive behavior, negative behavior does not get reinforced. With a tangible object to look forward to at the end of the week, the majority of the children love to join this “game”. A math lesson on percentages is a secondary outcome of this game. The odds of having one’s name drawn in the raffle according to how many tickets are earned during the week can be calculated. Middle level elementary age students and older can keep graphs from week to week to chart the correlation betwee...

1.  All children have equal access to education. 2.  All children learn alongside their same-age peers. 3.  The focus of education is on the child's abilities, not disabilities. 4.  Children become accepting and understanding of one another's abilities, talents, personalities and needs. 5.  Meaningful relationships and friendships develop as students spend quality time with one another. 6.  Students develop confidence in their ability to interact with one another and the world around them. 7.  Teachers in inclusive schools are highly trained and skilled at delivering appropriate, student-centered curriculum through differentiated activities according to ability level. 8.  In addition to the classroom teacher, children with special needs are supported by special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and specialists such as Speech/Language Therapists. 9.  Various resources and assistive technologies are ava...

Nicole is an Elementary Educator who spent over 15 years working in an inclusive school system in British Columbia, Canada. Together with parents, administrators, co-teachers and paraprofessionals, Nicole taught children with various moderate to severe abilities in her fully inclusive classrooms.  In addition to her work experience in the school system, Nicole held the position of Chairperson for a local member group of the Gifted Children's Association of British Columbia for 4 years. During her time as Chairperson, her group successfully advocated for more appropriate education for the gifted children in her community.  Since moving to the U.S., Nicole uses her wealth of experience to support and raise awareness for the inclusive education of children with special needs. Nicole's belief that ALL children should have equal access to the curriculum drives her desire to share her knowledge with parents and colleagues in order to improve learning conditions for children wi...