Instructional Course Map- 2 Hour seminar

Professional Development, Education

2016

Creating an Inclusive Educational Environment

Instructor: Ryan Mathews

RMCAD
2/22/2016

Title: Creating an Inclusive Education System

Course Classification: Professional Development, seminar.

Description of Content: The purpose of this course is to help current educators

and leaders understand inclusiveness and how to create an inclusive
environment. By understanding the definitions of inclusion, educators can
better understand how to be inclusive in their classroom and daily lessons.
Todays world is full of poor-understandings of the meaning of diversity,
resulting in micro-aggressions, exclusion and inequality.

Vocabulary Covered in this course:

Inclusion
Discrimination
Privilege
Diversity
Equality
Exclusion
Micro-aggressions
Community

Main Objective: The main objective of this course is to provide educators with the background knowledge of exclusion and modern definitions of privilege to better
help motivation, engagement and effective communication in the classroom.

Target population: Adults, teachers, leaders.

Additional Information
Course segments

Subcategory objectives

Number of participants

Types of learning styles this

course adheres to

Access

3 sets of objectives aligning

with the last 3 segments of
course

Unlimited

Visual, verbal, Mathematical,

Auditory

Digital
On-campus

Amelio, R. (n.d.). The Four Layers of Diversity. Color Magazine. Photograph. Retrieved from: http://www.colormagazineusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219:

Instructional Plan Creating Inclusiveness in the Educational Environment

Ryan Mathews

Motivational Purpose

Condition - Timing
Motivational Strategy
Inclusion - Beginning T o engender an
1. Allow for Introductions
awareness and feeling
of connection among
adults
8. Clearly Identify all goals and learning expectations

Learning Activity or Instructor Be havior

Icebreakers, Introductions, what do you know, what do you want to know
Ice Breaker Human Mapping project.

Course Introduction
What does Inclusion mean to you?...Discussion .
What you will Learn.
What you want to learn.
Personal note reflection.
1. To allow all participants to talk and learn about e ach other. Creating a
safe place in which sharing and opinions are
Welcome.

Le arning objectives T o develop positive

1.
attitude towards the
subject matter and
meaning of course
content.
Attitude - Beginning To create relevant
2. Provide participants with the opportunity for Multidimensional What does Inclusion mean?
Definitions of vocabulary, Diversity, Exclusion, Equity.
learning experiences. learning.

43. Use Case study methods, for examples, and new learning
visions.
T o create challenge,
engagement and
Le arning Objectives decision making skills.
Meaning - During

Healthy examples of inclusive classrooms, situations of demonstration.

Equity models.
1. Participant will be able to define, Inclusion, diversity and privilege.
2. Participant will be able to name three scenarios in which to create
equity.

41. Story use, personal and professional experiences, that influenceAppreciation of Diversity.
attitude
Micro Aggregations.
Student to student conflict.
54.Use self-assessment methods, to measure growth, new skills and Creating an Inclusive community.
vocabulary.
What is Community, goal, communication and collaborations?
T o conclude with
understanding, new
skills and motivation.

Le arning Objectives

3. Participant will be able to define community.

4. Participant will be able to describe two changes in the e nvironment to
make a
Community stronger.
5. Participant will be able to name three content/context projects the class
could
Complete to anchor inclusion.

Competence - Ending

15.Use of scaffolding learning techniques for reflections and reteaching.

Instructor presents real life sceneries, and participants act and solve the
conflict.
Highlighted elements of the content previously.

T ed T alk danger of a single story

19. Use relevant models to display content and context participants Strategies for creating inclusiveness in your classroom.
can use in their own classroom, strategies.

45. Use simulation techniques for transforming situations in the

future.

Participants share ideas and discussion more strategies in groups of k-12 and
higher education. Sharing list ideas as a method of self assessment.

Le arning Objectives

Sche dule
Couse Se gme nts

Class interactive Activities

Instructional Content

Ice Breaker- Human Mapping

project
Series of questions.

1.

All Participants start on an even

line and a series of questions are
Beginning/Inclu
asked:
sion
Example: take a step forward if
your parents were married until
you were 18.
Take a step backward if your
family made less than 30,000 a
year growing.
.Discussion of experience with
inclusion

Inclusion put into simple words is the process of providing students with equal educational
opportunities. However the definition goes much deep than that, many factors contribute to
the results of inclusion. The word inclusion is, in fact just an umbrella over the many terms
of diversity, privilege, and Equity. Inclusion simply sates a balance between all the terms
represented under the umbrella. To create an inclusive environment for higher education you
need to have knowledge on the modern definitions of the terms that exist under inclusion.
This is referred to as creating an inclusive community.

Self-note reflection, what is

inclusion, and various definition
2.

Be ginning
/Attitude

Presentation of graph, could use Inclusion put into simple words is the process of providing students with equal educational
for note taking and reference.
opportunities. However the definition goes much deep than that, many factors contribute to
the results of inclusion. The word inclusion is , in fact just an umbrella over the many terms
Presentation
of diversity, privilege, and Equity. Inclusion simply sates a balance between all the terms
represented under the umbrella. To create an inclusive environment for higher education you
need to have knowledge on the modern definitions of the terms that exist under inclusion.
This is referred to as creating an inclusive community.
Diversity is perhaps the largest contributor to exclusion (unsuccessful inclusion). Diversity
refers to individual differences such as personality, learning styles, and personal experiences.
In addition diversity refers to culture differences such as race and ethnicity. Finally diversity
defines differences in gender, sexual orientation and political and religious affiliations. In
short understanding diversity is the first step to creating an inclusive community. The
meaning of privilege is connected to diversity but it takes a step further. Privilege refers to
the underlying effects of a diverse individual that places them with an advantage over
another person or a group of people. Examples of privilege include an individual being part
of a majority race, higher class economically or the majority gender. The three example
listed previously are just three common ways a person can have privilege above another
person or group pf people. Equity is brought into discussion because it represents a
progressive culture towards inclusion in education. Equity means the creation of
opportunities for historically underrepresented populations to have access to education and
programs that would result in equality in student success and progressive future, examples of
this can be seen today in income based educational programs, specific scholarships, and
specific non-profit organizations .
In conclusion in order to create inclusion, a community around diversity equality and equity
must be provided to each individual student. Community is a key word when referring to a
group of individuals who are present for a common goal, such as a class, action group, o r
organization.

3.

Me aning/
During

Creating a community of diverse , Creating an Inclusive Community

individuals
Community, in this context, should consist of both a team of educators and a team
of students. Classroom in this context will be referred to as the forum in which students
learn, interact and engage with other students and the educator. This classroom could be an
online class, on campus class or weekly meeting group. Community is an aspect that should
be pushed in and out of the classroom. This consists of awareness that everyone in the class
makes up a community. This also creates an understanding that through differences and
original ideas the community is strengthened.

Another side of community in a classroom is collaboration. Collaborative community

projects help students further: understanding of one another, appreciation and respect one
another but, also connect with each other. In addition working together also helps students
further their learning, through sharing, combining ideas, problem solving together and
promoting leadership. The importance of promoting community in the classroom will result
in more of an effort towards an inclusive environment. By conducting community projects or
collaborative work, diversity and privilege becomes obsolete because students have a
common goal and act in tandem to complete that goal, everyone at that point is and should
be considered equal to one another. A collaborative project should contribute to inclusion in
the classroom and will help result in the absence of racism, and exclusion.
In conclusion, an effective learning community is made up by diversity, some people have
different strengths than others and when that is recognized, a successful learning
environment is present. A contributor to a successful learning environment discussed above
is impacted by the curriculum and if the curriculum caters to inclusion in the classroom
community. Often some projects takes time to develop a community, for example maybe the
first collaborative project in classroom helps the growth of the class. By the second project,
students really exercise more abundant ideas and leadership roles amongst one another. They
are more open to change and they have more respect for others and their ideas. These blocks
are the key to students learning how to learn.

Acting out conflict sceneries.

4.

Competence/En
ding

Curriculum for a class could contribute to inclusion or exclusion. It is important that an

educator is aware of how to create curriculum that could be impactful towards inclusive
results. The list below articulates different aspects to keep in mind when attempting to plan
an inclusive classroom community.

Group strategies 1. Assume that a group of students is extremely diverse, that the target
and presentations population should not be a stereotype, and don't assume a majority.
for inclusion.
2. Never ask students to speak for a particular group, they are individuals,
not representatives of a group of people, nor should they think so.
3. Be aware, most diversity is considered invisible and cannot been seen
on a surface level. Get to know students as individuals but never assume
you know everything that causes stereotyping.

4. It is general instincts to teach towards the majority, fight against that

because in all actuality the majority is just an assumption and most likely
doesn't exist.
5. Don't let personal bias, or preferences every impact an interaction with
another person. Personal expression is OK but you must understand how
it can impact others and come off a discrimination.
6. All students should be acted as anonymous individuals, find strategies
for grading, assessment and responses that eliminate stereotypes that
make for unfair judgments.
7. In most cases keep religion out of content but Religion in subject
matter is OK when it remains as general religion, could be any religion
and not one specific type is named as an example. Students may add
personal perspectives but as the teacher you add a bias when you use a
specific religion as an example.
8. Gender inclusive, no masculine or feminine terms, even try to stray
from he/she. "They" is the proper term for ambiguous gender in the
singular.
9. Don't fear diversity, invite conversations that are absent of
discrimination but impact the understanding of the term. As the teacher,
ask open ended questions, no leading questions, be absent of
bias..always.. And immediately defer students when you feel they are
crossing the line of discrimination. Defer in clever, concise and inclusive
ways.
10. People have privilege, its a thing, it something to be aware of but not
to hold against someone and should never become a prejudice.
11. Some people are shy and soft spoken, others are outgoing and loud,
try not to favor attention either way. Instead create an assignment or
activity that allows equal access by both parties that could be more fairly
judged.

Video/ Rflection

Refer to previous reflection, did you achieve

your checklist? Share and complete

Lynch, S. (n.d). Sucessful Inclusion. Photograph. Retrieved from:

http://specedsteiner.weebly.com/successful- inclusion.html

References

Baldiris Navarro, S., Zervas, P., Fabregat Gesa, R., & Sampson, D. G. (2016). Developing Teachers'
Competences for Designing Inclusive Learning Experiences. Journal Of Educational Technology
& Society, 19(1), 17-27.

Hockings, C., Brett, P., & Terentjevs, M. (2012). Making a difference, inclusive learning and teaching in
Higher education through open educational resources. Distance Education, 33(2), 237-252.
doi:10.1080/01587919.2012.692066