No Experience with Inclusive Pedagogy
Vignette #26
Context
I am a newly qualified teacher. My task was to assist in "difficult" classes. A particularly difficult case occurred in a sixth grade.
There was a student with autism and two students with ADHD.
It was incredibly difficult to teach properly in this class! One of the students with ADHD often had tantrums and started to cry (especially during the class tests).
The other two pupils with ADHD could not sit still and walked around during the lesson. They threw things at their classmates, cut their headphones, spit drinks over the tables...
The student with autism moved from periods of pushing himself to the forefront and wanting to teach himself to periods of complete refusal to work and resignation.
I had no contact person and was completely overwhelmed by the situation.
Tension emotional response:
- This was a very difficult experience for me without any support.
- I felt very sorry for all the children in this situation
- Both the "inclusion children", who were often ashamed of their behaviour and resigned because they could not change it and felt somehow condemned and excluded by everyone.
- But then also the other children, for whom the situation in the classroom was impossible. There were many quiet children who could hardly concentrate in the noise. Other children let themselves be carried away by the generally turbulent proceedings and thus hardly noticed anything of the lessons.
Dilemma
- How can I design inclusive teaching that meets the needs of all?
Choices
- I could talk to experts (e.g. counseling teacher , psychological counselling centre, social worker at school...) (tool 10)
- I could talk to my colleagues (tool 9, 11)
- I could reflect on my values (tool 6)