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My Theory of Inclusion
Alexis Field
Inclusion: What it means to me.

 Personally, inclusion means all people are willingly and purposefully

accepted and included in this world.
 For students, inclusion means all students’ needs are met within the
general education curriculum. No student OR their needs are an
afterthought meant to be added on after problems occur.
 No student is separated from their peers based on their ability or
disability.

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Why
inclusion is Inclusion is completely
important to shaping the type of
educator I want to be.
me as a future
educator.
At first, I thought I should be a special education teacher so I could
work closely with children with disabilities.

Now, inclusion has taught me that all students belong in the general education
classroom. I have a better chance of witnessing true inclusion, if I advocate for it as a
general education teacher.

That is how I can fight for my students with disabilities to stay in my classroom all
day, rather than a special education classroom.
My three key tenets of inclusive education.

Community First-Hand Presuming

Builders Experiences Competence
Each of these tenets
are essential to my
understanding and
belief in inclusive
education.
 Community Builders

 “What is a Community Builder? It is an activity done with a group of people with the deliberate
purpose of bringing people together and creating a sense of community.” (Miller, 2020)
 They help create a safe and inclusive classroom environment because students become more
comfortable with each other, there are multiple ways to change them to include everyone, students see
their similarities rather than their differences, and meaningful relationships are built.
 Community Builders cont.

 Community Builders provide opportunities for more difficult or foreign conversations.

 When you ask your students how they liked the activity, you get them more comfortable with talking
openly to each other about their feelings. Closeness can fuel inclusion.
 They also get us thinking about questions such as, “How might you change the community builder to
increase the access for all learners? With varying needs? From different backgrounds? Cultures?
Abilities?” (Miller, 2020)
 These questions help us to include all people and all abilities from the beginning, so we do not have to
attempt to make room later.
First-Hand Experiences

 The best way to learn about any person and their

needs, is to simply ask them. To be inclusive, we as
educators need to learn from the experiences of
individuals with disabilities.
 Since inclusion for students means they are all
included together, and all their needs are being met,
we need the knowledge from their first-hand
experiences to best meet their needs.
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First-Hand
Experiences cont.

 We should include all students because we

value each of them individually and
recognize their own unique strengths.
 Learn from those strengths, raise
expectations for students with disabilities,
and make disability part of our new
“normal”.
 If we don’t make these decisions, we are
actively “objectifying disabled people, for
the benefit of nondisabled people.”
(Young, 2014)
 Then, we will continue to reinforce the lie
that disability “is a bad thing, and to live
with a disability makes you exceptional”
(Young, 2014).
Presuming Competence

 Presuming competence is the first step in seeing an individual’s abilities

rather than only their disabilities.
 It is truly dangerous to assume that a child is incompetent because,
“assumptions about students can affect their education.” (Causton &
Tracy-Bronson, 2015)
 Also, no one can accurately determine what a student understands so we
should presume that every student is capable and competent.
 Doing so refuses to limit opportunity for students.
Presuming Competence cont.
Presuming Competence cont.

 If we are pushing for all students to be included in a safe space where they can learn, and if we are assuming
that they can learn, then we also need ways to reach and teach every student as well as their unique learning
styles. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides us with those ways.
 UDL helps design material and instructional methods that can be used by many students. People with
disabilities are considered in the original design and not added on later.
 “When we design for variability using the UDL framework, clarifying the goals and integrating flexibility in
engagement, representation, and action and expression, we acknowledge that learners do not learn in one
linear pathway.” (CAST, 2019)
When we proactively
design a learning  When we prepare ourselves for those
environment for differences, there is no room for segregation
because of a difference.
variability, then we
anticipate and value the  We only make room for inclusion.
strengths and diversity of
each student.
References

 Miller, A. (2020). Community Builder Assignment Description and Rubric. Intro to Inclusive Education.
SUNY Cortland. Cortland, New York. Retrieved from
https://bb.cortland.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1207951-dt-content-rid-11959717_1/courses/2020Spring-FSA212-6
01/Community%20Builder%20Assignment%20Description%20and%20Rubric%20%28Spring%202020%20
Online%29.pdf
 Miller, A. (2020). FSA 212: Introduction to Inclusive Education. Intro to Inclusive Education. SUNY
Cortland. Cortland, New York. Retrieved from
https://bb.cortland.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1252292-dt-content-rid-11597139_1/courses/2020Spring-FSA212-6
01/FSA212_Spring%202020_Week%201%20%28601%29.pdf
References cont.

 Young, S. (2014, April). I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much?language=en#t-5
38504
 Causton, J., & Tracy-Bronson, C. (2015). The Educator’s Handbook for Inclusive School Practices. Brookes
Publishing.
 CAST. (2019). UDL and the Learning Brain. Retrieved from
https://bb.cortland.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1277304-dt-content-rid-11936295_1/courses/2020Spring-FSA212-6
01/2019Fall-FSA212-602_ImportedContent_20190823015255/CAST%202019%20%28UDL%20and%20Th
e%20Learning%20Brain%29%282%29.pdf