3 Resources for the 7 Essential Questions

This entry asked us to look at a site with 7 essential questions that general educators can ask themselves about special education.  As the education system moves towards more inclusive classrooms, it is important for general education teacher to understand how they can best help students with disabilities succeed in their classroom.  I chose three question that stood out to me and the resources I found that would be helpful in my own practice as a teacher.

1. What instructional methods will help to ensure that all of my students learn?
The link I found that would reference this question is http://www.cpt.fsu.edu/ese/ssdownloads.html.  This link pertains specifically to my field which I have not really found many resources for yet.  The social studies section includes access points for students with severe cognitive disabilities that will help them specifically with this content area.  The site offers a workshop but for those that cannot attend also provides all of the handouts, slides, and lessons that are used during the workshop for an instructor to use at their own discretion.  I think that this would be really beneficial and I will definitely spend more time exploring the lessons and thinking about what I could incorporate into my own classroom.

2. What are some strategies for building a more positive sense of community in my classroom?
One helpful link that I found for building a positive community in the classroom was http://www.tolerance.org/activities.  This site is dedicated to promoting acceptance of all people regardless of whether they have special needs or not.  I really liked this particular section of the site because it provides a number of great activities for promoting a sense of community and has the breakdown of which age group each activity is appropriate for.  For some activities  it even has the same activity but varied in small ways so that it can reach students of any age.  I think this would be really helpful to any teacher trying to build a strong community in the classroom and create a safe zone for students to express themselves.  The easy navigation of activities also helps the user find the right activity for what they are trying to accomplish in the classroom.

3. How might a student's prior experiences  and level of development affect his or her learning?
This question is really important to me as a teacher because I really like the idea of incorporating the funds of knowledge into the classroom.  This would be no different in a classroom including students with disabilities and a resource I found that would really help me in this area is http://www.allkindsofminds.org/reach-more-learners.  This site includes a variety of resources that deal with reaching the minds of every student in the classroom and allowing them to fully participate in the classroom whether they have a disability or do not.  It also contains access to a blog where teachers and other professionals can share their insights and things that have worked for them which goes back to the role of collaboration outside of the classroom.  I definitely think that this site is great for anyone looking to get all members of a classroom engaged in the learning process.