Week+3+-+Importance+of+Integration+Inclusion

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//Post and sign off on your resource/paragraph/insight/contribution below before the end of the day **Monday, January 30th.** Should we leave the other 'resource' page for our discussed or finalized resources to keep it a little more organized?// ======

Integration and inclusion between physical education and fine arts is not as far apart as many people think. It requires some creative thinking and effort, but this 2008 TED talk “Playing the Music in Your Head” by Tod Machover and Dan Ellsey shows that the integration of music, movement, and technology combines to form a dynamic partnership. They’ve developed a long term project called Toy Symphony that uses small squeezey “instruments” that look like bugs and are filled with beat sensors. These instruments allow for rhythms to be tapped in by one child and passed on, flipped like a hot potato, to another child. That child repeats the rhythm, adds more rhythm of their own, and tosses it on. This involves creativity, active movement, collaboration and technology.

The music software developed at MIT called Hyper Score allows music to be composed in bands of colour. The composition can be played as is or, with the push of a button, be transposed into formal notation. The concept of performance that is such a part of Phys. Ed. and music is certainly part of this program. Any musician or orchestra can then play the music written using Hyper Score. This allows special needs students to participate fully as there are many entry points available with this composing software. (Sherry)

Reference: http://blog.ted.com/2008/04/15/machover_ellsey/

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So, I was skiing all weekend and had a lot of time to ponder some things on the lift and on the drive, and so, naturally, I was considering the importance of inclusion and integration. What I realized is that I am actually fairly **biased** when it comes to integration/inclusion. That is, my immediate instinct is to go with "integrate" in any situation. And, though I still feel that this, way more often than not, will be the better option than not integrating or even segregation, for the purpose of being a **critical thinker**, and not someone that just blindly and ignorantly states "integrate", I began to consider some cons of integration and inclusion.

The first thing I thought of is why do people not integrate or try new things. Why do people stay in little cliques? The word that came to mind is "comfortable": people like to be **comfortable**. They like to be comfortable with the **people, cultures, funds of knowledge, etc.** of the situations they find themselves in. In thinking this I noticed that I automatically thought of those people, that choose not to integrate, as "less". I suppose the argument could be made that their horizons and funds of knowledge/knowing, and therefore embodiment of self, is less because they are limiting themselves (confining themselves to a network of knowing that they are already a part of), but that is probably a whole nother discussion. Any ways, the thing that struct me is that my **default response** was to think about these "comfortable individuals" **negatively**, and almost with contempt. I then thought, "what's so wrong with being comfortable?". Obviously, we, as future "experts at learning", are inclined to think that not wanting to experience new things and learn is a bad thing, but being comfortable is a pretty comfy thing. The point is that is does have a lot of positive associations. I suppose the answer to all of this is there's a **balance**, a balance between being challenged and uncomfortable and feeling sure and confident and safe and comfortable. After all, **learning best occurs** in an environment where individuals feel safe and have a high level of self-efficacy, and I can see how these characteristics might be forgotten in the name of "integration".

This reminded me of some discussions we had in 401 seminar last semester; We were talking about inclusion of learners with special needs into the (regular) classroom. Eventually, we came to the conclusion that **each situation** should be **considered individually** and that the **needs and interests of each student** in the class (not just the student with the defined special needs) **and the class as a whole** should be considered. An important point in this is that **integration may not be the best option** then. What I get from all of this is that in any situation, not just ones involving students with special needs, the decision to integrate/include will be made based on the specific circumstances. Further, it is each person's own decision, and will likely be made in the moment (very artsy). - bg

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Another critique of integration is the integrity and purity of the separate disciplines. For some people, [|the idea of purity]is very important. Purity means different things to different people. To give a few examples: soccer and basketball would be neither soccer or basketball if the two games were mixed; orange juice and apple juice might taste weird or terrible if mixed, marriage to a different racial group may bring challenges to and from both sides of the family, their values and traditions. However, some things are mixable and turn out better than either thing was before when it was segregated. Other things are mixable, and the new thing is just as enjoyable as the separate things. An inclusive classroom can be a wonderful experience, but it can just as easily be a dreadful experience where the teacher only focuses on "managing" behaviour of those deemed less able cognitively, linguistically, socially or physically. Mixing is not always easy or fun or productive. It takes a lot more brain power and creativity to make and keep the experience harmonious.

I think one of the strongest bridges between physical education and fine arts is dance. For my school experience, dance was a module most kids dreaded in gym. It could be very structured, such as learning ballroom dancing or line or swing or latin, or it could be more expressive and students can come up with their own dances to songs of their own choosing to present to their classmates. On the more artsy spectrum, one can incorporate a bit of drama in dance, and visual art as well, if you used your whole body as a brush and your floor as a canvas. I saw a really neat children's book called [|Color Dance] by Ann Jonas where ballet dancers show the audience how to mix primary colours to get secondary colours and teaches elementary colour theory though dancing with coloured translucent scarves. This would be fun to enact in real life, I think, and is a lot less messy than having kids mix different coloured paint and clean up brushes after. It never hurts to have more than one way to show a concept. What mixing real paint offers that overlapping coloured scarves doesn't is the experiment of figuring out how much of each colour one should mix to get an even tone. I don't see why kids can't paint with their feet as an activity either. I've seen a lot of hand prints, but there's too much upper body work in school as it is, in my opinion. Footprints would be more interesting.

Adding to that, if I were to lean more towards the physical edcuation side of the spectrum, we could come up with a game for this, grouping teams by primary colour to collaborate with other colours as they run in different pairs or mixed colour groups. Now that I've exhausted my ideas for colours, we can move onto textures or lines. Just as one can represent bumpy, straight, curvy, loopy, smooth and zigzagging in visual form (2D), you can do the same in a gym by using the whole body (3D) to create textures through lying down in different positions in groups, sitting up, running in different directions, changing directions, and the possibilities are limitless. [|Dance is the bridge between phys. ed. and fine arts]. It is about wellbeing, health, movement, freedom, escape, play, communication, expression, representing abstract ideas, embodiment, living in the moment, creativity and imagination. Imagine filming this from the roof if kids are wearing coloured scrimmage vest pinnies. Combined with music and film, this would be one very [|integrated, interdisciplinary lesson]. -cw ^^^LOL!^^^

A school is a microcosm of society. Part of the role of the school is to prepare children for the greater world, one in which they will experience great diversity. I will briefly outline the positive social effects of integration. Integration allows children to become a more socially cohesive group among peers with varying degrees of ability. The result of this is twofold. First, cognitively and physically challenged students are able to integrate into a larger group of students, expanding their relationships in the classroom. When I was growing up, there was always a special education class in which the children were never welcome to mingle with the “normal” classes. It was implied that these students “keep to themselves”. This is no longer the case, and the most obvious benefit is to the special needs child who now is able to form friendships beyond the walls of the special education classroom. The second result is the impact on the average student in the classroom. It is unfair and unreasonable to educate children with the expectation of being segregated from the special needs individuals. In a work setting, all employees are expected to cohabitate. There is no special room for the ADD employees or the physical handicapped workers, who most definitely will be found in any organization today. Children learn empathy and acceptance of diversity when they are exposed to difference. Shielding them from different students does not benefit them at all in a social sense.

Integration is especially interesting when discussing fine arts and physical education. Both disciplines could have a therapeutic effect on all students. According to a short article from the American Parks and Recreation magazine, “Two things are abundantly clear: people with disabilities grow from participation with those who don't have disabilities, and people without disabilities grow from the same.” While this comment was made in the context of physical education activities, it can apply to any discipline, any grade, and any disability.

- Deirdre C.

I found an article that discussed the benefits of an inclusive setting, and also some factors that are associated with a successful inclusive setting. Some of the benefits of an inclusive setting, according to the article, are increased social acceptance, greater opportunity to create friendships, and increased student engagement. While I agree that inclusive settings can provide students with these and other benefits I believe an inclusive setting can also be a negative experience for some students. While I was in the field during the first semester I saw many examples of children with special needs who were included in the regular classroom. Sometimes it worked, and other times it did not. When it wasn't working, often times the student with the special needs was left to their own devices. I think this was probably due to the teacher having little or no experience with children who had special needs. This really cemented to me that I need to keep up with current research because I do not know about all the different disabilities my students may have.

Some of the factors that are associated with a successful inclusive setting are the quality of instruction/instructors, quality of curriculum, and the collaborative relationships among the adults. The article also says the success of inclusive programs was less about characteristics of the child, and more about the collabor. ative relationships among the adults.

Odom, L. S., Buysse, V., & Soukakou, E. (2011), Inclusion for Young Children With Disabilities: A Quarter Century of Research Perspectives. //Journal of Early Intervention,// 33, 4. 344-356.

Ashley K. _

I thought this was such a neat and practical article as it focuses on incorporating story telling and diverse sociocultural traditions from throughout the world into our curriculum. In the article they speak of games and sports to work into our physical education lessons such as Long Ball which originated from the Iroquois people, Kick Ball Relay from the Pueblo, Navajo and Zuni in the SW States, and the Scissors Broad jump, an activity of the annual World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. In PE and art we can consider integrating multiculturalism and some diverse viewpoints by looking into the origin, history, traditions of sports and art/craft practices rather than just focusing on the key learning targets or standard curricular goals.

**The Games of Life: Integrating Multicultural Games in Physical Education** Journal article by Dan Ninham; JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. 73, 2002

-Elise

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Whitehurst, T, Howells, A. (2006). 'When something is different people fear it': Children's perceptions of an arts-based inclusion project. //Support for learning 21// (1), 40-44.

While sitting on the train this morning, a man came up to me with shining eyes and said "Hi!" like we had been old friends. I asked him if we had met, and he promptly shot out his hand to shake mine while he told me his name. I shook his hand and responded by telling him mine, and invited him to sit down. He had some sort of intellectual disability, but instead of making me uncomfortable, this immediately put me at ease, as I knew that his hello was a genuine gesture of wanting to communicate as opposed to an instance of confusing me with someone else. We had quite the lovely conversation - he told me about how involved he was with Lloyd's Rollercade, how he is helping to get Forest Lawn's Rollerland up and running again, how he's been promoting the centre on the radio, and other things about his life that made for really enjoyable conversation. Whenever I couldn't think of anything to say, he graciously brought up more to talk about while we traveled along together - trips to BC, people and animals in our lives, and so on. It was effortless, genuine, totally civil and made me feel more connected to my surroundings (as opposed to the usual 'train routine' of just feeling like another tuned-out stranger with the headphones plugged in, making minimal eye contact). It felt really good to form an ephemeral connection with a perfect stranger who had no fear of saying hello.

Why do we view "disability" as a tragedy? It is obvious that this person is living a rich life and has found a place in the world where he can affect significant and meaningful change that benefits his community. There is absolutely no reason why he should be segregated from the rest of the world - he is fully included within it and is obviously enjoying his time here on the planet and making valuable contributions. The real world IS inclusive (at least, the parts of it that we like), so why do our schools reflect otherwise? It amazes me how normalized a binary paradigm of "enabled vs. disabled" can appear, as we have been socialized to think this way...that all truths are composed of 2 opposing entities that are defined by one another, and are separated by a rift. The fact is that this binary paradigm is illusory, and because we have not been offered alternative ways of thinking by our dominant culture, we have bought into it. The article I have chosen speaks of society's misconception of disability as 'tragedy'. Quoted within is an adult with autism: "There is a tragedy that comes with [|autism] ... the tragedy is not that we're here, but that your world has no place for us to be."

If we continue to segregate students with disabilities, we will be perpetuating the discriminatory binary paradigm and condemning such people to remain segregated once they are out of school. They are viewed as inferior and UNable, rather than different (and we are all different...we all have different needs, but the ones we share are the most important: the needs for acceptance, appreciation, love, friendship, to develop our own identity, etc.). The article focuses on how 'able' children's (something fundamentally wrong with the terms in general, hey?) perceptions change over time through having interacted with special needs children in the context of appropriately structured encounters over the course of a collaborative theater project. It's all about "demystifying the inclusion experience for mainstream students" (Whitehurst, Howells, 2006). My eyes are definitely starting to open up to possibilities that could come of living in a world where people with disabilities are not viewed as being at a major disadvantage - they are only disadvantaged because of how the dominant culture views them, and this does not have to remain set in stone. We must recognize that inclusion is "a socially valuing process, which states to each individual with disabilities "you are a welcome, valued and equal member of our community" (Whitehurst, Howells, 2006).

-Katie