Week+3+-+Summary+Paper


 * Integration and Inclusion **


 * Logistics/Rubric Assessment/Reflection: **

This week we saw some confusion as the group agreed to meet in Science A at 2:30pm in order to minimize the walking distance to class at 3:30pm. However, all the classrooms were occupied, so 6 members of the group managed to arrange a meeting at an empty classroom in the Education building 356. We were unable to reach the other 3 members because we did not have their phone numbers and they forgot to check their emails. The last member was with us in spirit, since he was unable to attend and gave prior notice. As such, our split group did some community building on their own, chatting about things under the sun until we managed to meet up again at 3:30pm when rooms in Science A were free.

Most of the group was able to post a paragraph of their thoughts and suggest additional resources to the wiki page for this topic. One person got their paragraph bumped since they posted almost the same time as another member. The three that didn’t post were understandably busy. We decided to move the posting deadline to Tuesday night for next week, giving 24 hours for the facilitators to prepare on Wednesday for Thursday’s discussion.

While we were able to hear from everyone’s voices, in part thanks to the prior wiki posting from our absent member, we still want to be more mindful of who is speaking to minimize cross-talk.


 * Discussion: **

The topic for this week is integration and inclusion. Starting with one volunteer in the circle, we took turns sharing our personal definitions of integration and inclusion, mentioning our prior contributions to the wiki. The question of the day was:

Define integration and inclusion: What do the terms 'integration' and 'inclusion' entail?

Some members interpreted the question, “What do the terms 'integration' and 'inclusion' entail?” in terms of subject and discipline, while others were interested in learning differences/disabilities in their definition. In the end, we settled on using ‘integration’ to deal with subjects and disciplines, while ‘inclusion’ had the connotation of accepting all kinds of learners. We all agreed that we wanted to look beyond the scope of disability.


 * What is integration? **

Besides the integration of phys. ed. and fine arts, which is what this group is all about, the ‘real’ non-academic environment is integrated, where technology and disciplines must work together from business to community projects. In nature, the world is not divided up so neatly into separate compartments—the world is interconnected. When we mix subjects, like math, science and the humanities, what we get is something—a context—which is more realistic and authentic. The learning is then rooted to everyday life, rather than abstracted into theory, separate from the act of practice.

Our culture is shifting to become more accepting of interdisiciplinary pursuits, where the perspective form one discipline informs and transforms another. Sherry gave an example of Hyper Score and digital instruments like Garage Band that can be used by all kinds of people, regardless of ability—fully inclusive—that integrate fine arts and phys. ed. Music plays a big role on our energy levels, raising or lowering our moods. We ought to make use of music in our lessons plans where possible. Charlene gave two examples of Bohannon’s (2011) [|dissertation through dance] and Weiss’ (1971) [|Protein Synthesis film] which integrates biochemistry lesson plans with interpretive dance. Elise gave the example of Ninham’s (2002) article, “The Games of Life: Integrating Multicultural Games in Physical Education.”


 * What is inclusion? **

Inclusion is the acceptance of all learners in the same space (classroom). It has its benefits and drawbacks. Some people support inclusion while others do not. Most of the time, we do not know how an inclusive classroom is going to actually turn out due to the myriad of factors influencing the personalities of each participant in the room. From our personal experiences, some kids still get taken out into the hall or elsewhere to do work, which reinforces the notion that segregation is the solution. Laissez-faire inclusion can occur, which is akin to daycare when the teacher has little background and does not know what to do with the special needs student. As long as the student is happy drawing in their book in the corner, the teacher gives no further special instruction or attention.

A huge issue is FUNDING. Inclusionary classrooms are possibly encouraged by government and school boards because they potentially cut the costs of hiring additional aid and support positions/programs. Does inclusion justify budget cutbacks?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">After discussion inclusion from the perspective of an objective: a way to assign grades and get students through classrooms, we moved onto inclusion as an attitude and a feeling of community. Rather than looking from the teacher’s perspective of getting students to jump hurdles and work collaboratively, we examine the students’ perspectives. How can the students help each other? Can they create and own an attitude of inclusion?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We brought up Noboru Kaetsu ’s<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> (2003) documentary ‘[|Children full of Life],’ about 4th grade teacher Mr. Kanamori showing his students how to live, work as a team, a community, the importance of openness, the harm caused by bullying and how to cope. A clip of this documentary was shown in our EDUC 403 final exam, which brought tears to many of us pre-service teachers. One of the lessons Tom took from the documentary was how a student’s job was to be “happy,” and that job description gives students a way to talk about how they are feeling day to day, moment to moment. EVERYONE needs support, not just the people who need ‘more’ help.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There is very little research done on how 'less attention' from teachers affects the average learner. Questions raised include: We are really good at noticing and educating with 'extremes', but where do the average learners fall? How do we commit enough time to everyone while having to meet umpteen diverse needs simultaneously? Much contends for our attention, so how do we distribute it evenly? Can we taking for granted that some kids can self monitor, and assume that we can give them less 'teacher time'? <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The deficiency vs. sufficiency model no longer serves us. It is performance based rather than learning based. We need to understand how this model affects our perception of everyone around us. The term 'able' is tricky; Are we not all 'able' in different ways, as opposed to "unable"? What does a strengths-based learning model of education look like?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Our world is structured so that "disability" means imminent failure to perform in terms of able-bodied scopes/fields. What is wrong with how we are structuring our activities? How do we draw out the strengths of all individuals? What if the inclusion/integration happens within the process? Can we let the child decide (or have some voice in) what they can and cannot do? Does inclusion work in our system with standardization? For cooperative environments such as in athletics and music, where a team works together towards a shared goal, could someone with Down's Syndrome be in the band? Do we set up some students with special needs to be failures by giving them an instrument to play and blaming them when they play out of tune? Is there a way to include them without highlighting their difference, to play to their strengths? What are their strengths?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">People develop because of genetic, epigenetic, historical, cultural, etc. factors. Everyone does things at their own speed and own time because of these factors—such as how some of us pre-service teachers are also balancing work and family with our education. Many of things were out of our control when we were born into this world. No matter who our parents are, what we inherited, whatever traumas, levels of nourishment and love were given to us while still in utero or in the early months of our development—we must live with. There is no such thing as laziness in Charlene’s opinion. When you are tired, when you have crashed, overworked, are malnourished, it may look like you're lazy but you're not. What child wants to be seen as stupid and lazy? Is low energy or crankiness not a symptom pointing to something else in our biochemistry or psychology? <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It is important to aspire to a BLAME-FREE ATTITUDE. When things go awry, we eventually come to accept what has happened has happened. The question is not who is to blame, but how do we fix things? For example, it is reasonable to blame the rapist and pity the victim, but we do not want the victim to feel victimized (or treated like a victim) by the incident for the rest of his or her life. The rapist too, needs support to address his or her crime in order to have hope for forgiveness and of redemption. This attitude is what inclusion is about.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">JIGSAW **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The article chosen for the Jigsaw activity was Whitehurst (2006)’s “When something is different people fear it: Children’s perception of an arts-based inclusion project.” Our group expressed deep sympathies for the children in the article, mainstream or not, and brought up our own fears and lack of experience dealing with different needs of various students. We dealt with the questions:

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What is required to make an inclusive setting work? <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What could be challenging (what are our fears)?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This study shows that opinions CAN change through interaction and experience. We ask, "is it true that we fear that which we do not understand?"

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Time, attitude and knowledge are most important to make an inclusive setting work. Usually, “inclusion” is temporary, limited to almost ‘forced’ interaction in a certain setting over a certain period of time (in this project, it was 2 years). We agreed that, <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"If you're not immersed, you aren't going to get it, much like learning a language." That is, people are better able to develop an inclusive mindset when the special needs person is someone they get to know over time, especially once a relationship is formed, via school, work, friendship or a relative. Appropriately structured social encounters via preparation and planning to provide practical skills beforehand is crucial so that people know how to treat one another—having some background knowledge helps the demystification of the whole situation. Kids learn to be sensitive, not too demanding. There is reciprocity of learning from both sides, "mov[ing] away from perceptions of difference."

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Difference is potentially an advantage; the minority can be powerful: one such example include left vs. right handed people in sports. Because left-handed athletes (say, in baseball) were rare, they often had an edge because right-handed athletes were unable to predict their movement (pitch) due to lack of exposure alone. There is also a blurry line between person and technology. Are prosthetics a part of the body? Does a certain athlete belong in the Olympics or the Paralympics? <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We must be mindful of what people can do and where they are at in their development. We cannot assume things about their abilities and attempt to scaffold where unnecessary. We also want to know how different cultures address disability. Some cultures value the disabled as part of their community and revere them as shamans, holy people, medicine people, etc. Can we learn from their example?


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Summary: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Integration is the connected nature of various disciplines. Inclusion is the complex reality of human communities. Our language reveals an ablest binary, which we want to work on abolishing because we recognize that all learners learn differently. By letting the “able” students shine, we dim the lights of those perceived as less able, rather than letting each student take turns shining. Performance-based schooling does not foster opportunities for learning from these differently, perhaps non-academically minded, learners. If teachers want to create safe, equitable classrooms, they must address their own lack of knowledge and attitude around students with special needs, and make time for students to learn from and about each other. After all, when they grow up, they will share the same planet.