I just presented with some colleagues at the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education summer conference.
You may or may not know what inclusion is but the chances are good that you do know someone who has a child who has spent time in an inclusive classroom.
Inclusion speaks to an educational philosophy that seeks to have students with learning challenges educated within mainstream classrooms as often a possible. Advocates of inclusion ( educators, parents and support specialists ) gather at this conference each year to share resources and ideas.
Inclusion means many things to many people. Everyone wants to feel included, to be a part of something. To belong. We, humans, evolved to be part of a tribe because there is safety here. People know you and have your back. You then want to contribute and do things that help you stay connected. The biggie is that you can accomplish more together than out there on your own.
Being asked and feeling included is fundamental to learning and growth. These days the tribes are harder to create and find. In our earlier days, humans were born into a tribe and hung around in them. Today we have to go in search of our tribe. Being connected takes more work and there is no end of obstacles.
If you are a student with a disability or if you are “different”, you need to connect just like everyone else and feeling included doesn’t go away. It is still important. You may even need some help from trusted adults or others who want to help you be a member of the tribe.
This is what inclusion folks do. They help you get connected to your tribe. The tribe of the school, the classroom, the workplace.
I use the prosocial matrix to help build tribes in schools, classrooms, and organizations. Maybe you do too. To have a tribe, people need to notice or be aware of what they are doing. The first thing I do is invite them in. Then I get curious about who and what is important to them. We talk about the yucky stuff, like not feeling included and what they do when the yucky stuff shows up inside of them. We also talk about what they want to do doing to keep moving toward the important stuff.
The next step is to gather the tribe. This is usually a group of students and a teacher. It could just as easily be a manager and her employees. We talk about the shared purpose of what we are here to do, how we want to be treated, and how we want to treat others. Everyone is included and it feels pretty good. Since yucky stuff is part of being in the tribe, we also jot down what yucky stuff like fear, frustration or feeling misunderstood could show up and get in the way. Next comes looking at things members of the tribe may do to avoid and escape from their yucky stuff. Finally, we build a plan for what we hope to do to keep moving toward being a tribe where everyone feels included, how we can support each other, and get stuff done ( since that is why tribes exist). Since everyone is a part of the discussion, they get involved and want to do more.
There are lots of ways to do inclusion, but in the end students big and small need to be invited, validated and asked to contribute for it to work. This means that the adults will want to be modeling and doing the same thing.
