Welcoming All: The Three C’s of Inclusive Education
Amber Chandler discusses the three C's of inclusive education: community, communication, and consistency.
When most non-educators think of a classroom, they are likely to picture a single teacher at the front of the room, and a roomful of students. For those of us who are in education, we know that a single class can have all kinds of support—a special education teacher, a personal aide for a specific student, or an aide for the whole class, an English as a New Language (ENL) teacher, and even student teachers. Depending on how integrated your special education students are in your district, you could feasibly have a trio of support, which happened a few years ago when I had a student with a physical need, an ENL student, and the class itself used an integrated co-teaching model with a special education teacher. This equaled four adults in the room. Meeting the needs of all students by differentiating is a challenge, and I am eternally grateful to teach three ICT (integrated co-teaching) classes with a phenomenal teacher who has become my best friend, Laura Klein.
If this idea of a classroom sounds disjointed or chaotic, you’d be right. However, when a “lead” teacher (I don’t love that word, but it is how the regular ed classroom teacher is typically identified) is intentional about creating a community where communication and consistency are evident for the students and the adults in the room. There are so many benefits from having another grownup in the room, and I’d like to share how I’ve made my classroom welcoming with an authority of care (to learn more, this webinar will help).
Community
Often, as we are busy planning lessons, going to meetings and doing the actual job of instructing, we are hit with a surprise that ends up knocking our ship off course. That surprise sometimes comes in the form of a shortened schedule because of an assembly that you forgot about; it could be a late bus; and other times, it is the unbearable, yet incredible, weight of impacting students’ lives; and of course two dozen kiddos sometimes try to commandeer the ship.
While the “lead” teacher is juggling all of that, the others in the room have their own responsibilities, which most lead teachers don’t know in detail. In short, there’s a lot going on in any classroom, and unless we view ourselves (including everyone in the room) as a community, the ship will have a hard time staying afloat, much less getting to our final destination.
For all people to be successful in their role—no matter what it is—sharing expectations is a must, and letting the class know what they will be doing is important.
With this in mind, intentionally including all people in the room in conversations about the community goes a long way. For example, my course overview says, “If you are in period 1,2, or 3, you have the fabulous Mrs. Klein in our community. If you are in period 4, the amazing Mrs. Page will be teaching with us, too.” I do this with communications to parents, my admin, and students.
For all people to be successful in their role—no matter what it is—sharing expectations is a must, and letting the class know what they will be doing is important. For example, when students are working independently, I’ll say, “If you have a question about what you are supposed to be doing, talk to Mrs. Klein; if you need help formatting, ask Mrs. Page; and if you need grammar help, come up to me.” By giving all of us a role verbally, I’m setting the tone that we are all “real teachers.” I mention this annoying phrase because when all adults aren’t treated as valued members of the community who are invested in all students learning (not just “their” students) the kids will pick up on this, and always value the “lead” teacher the most.
Communication
All of this is to say there must be open, honest conversations that allow everyone to do their jobs but not make anyone crazy! It’s a silly thing, but my co-teacher always hands out papers for me because I lose my train of thought. Our ENL teacher enjoys checking students’ papers to make sure they meet the requirements. We use checklists so that our community of students and adults knows what is expected. Of course, to welcome everyone into this community, we need to talk about the curriculum as well as the scope and sequence of what we need to be doing; but equally as important is a brutally honest assessment of who does what. I’ve had to tell some adults they are too chatty during independent work time, and I’ve been told that I need to quit talking so fast. My co-teacher and I can finish each other's sentences, but I must relay how much the other adults are expected to participate and when. I’ve been told that it is a weight off their shoulders because they can focus on their responsibilities instead of second-guessing what level of involvement they should have. It’s a balancing act of personalities and responsibilities that requires an intentional conversation, not leaving it to chance. If the adults in the room can’t work together, how can we expect students to do so?
Consistency
In theory, this doesn’t sound too hard; but in practice, this one is tricky. What if I am absent? What if my special ed co-teacher is? What if we both are? This is my actual sub plan from April 9 of this year. Both of us were going to be absent, so my sub would ostensibly be in the room with her sub too. I spell all of it out in my plans, as well as send them to the “red folder” for “How We Do Things Here.” Within that folder, I provide my sub with an overview of our classroom and what to expect, outlining the things that would be very different from most classrooms like flexible seating, allowing students to eat and drink in my class, and letting them charge their phone and check it during the last three minutes (for more info, check out my website, flexibleclass.com.) I list who is on pass restriction, a list of my students’ preferred names (for why that is crucial for community and consistency, check out this blog) and a brief description of the kinds of things that are norms in our community. This way, subs have the necessary information to be a consistent adult in the room.
As I mentioned earlier, the teachers who co-teach with me have things they are responsible for in our community, and it is really important for the “lead” teacher to consistently include all of the adults in the room. It is crucial for students to see that everyone has a place in our community, and everyone pitches in. A few years ago, during the hellish hybrid days, I had a student with a personal aide for fragile health and physical needs, and one of the things the aide did was sanitize all of the areas where the student would be, which was generally their desk. However, she asked if she could wipe the desks down between classes, and I was more than happy to oblige. Soon, students wanted to help, and within days we had a consistent routine that was organic in nature, but very much how we want our community to care for each other. Welcoming all to our classroom becomes second nature, and any new person—kiddo or adult— will find a space and purpose for them!
More Resources for the New School Year
Get the new school year started off on the right track with more resources on topics such as classroom management, social-emotional learning, family engagement, supporting English-language learners, building successful community schools, and more.
Amber Chandler is a National Board Certified middle school ELA teacher in Hamburg, New York with a Master’s Degree in Literature, as well as a School Building Leader certification. She is the 2018 Association for Middle Level Educators’ “Educator of the Year.” Amber has enjoyed a wide variety of... See More
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