Inclusion, or inclusive education, has been a global consideration for more than three decades. Most educators agree that ideally all children and youth would be included in our school systems and classrooms, however, many doubt that this is possible. So how do we return imagination, inspiration, and passion to the dialogue about, and implementation of, inclusive education? How do we show students, parents, teachers, and administrators that not only is inclusive education possible, it can be achieved in spite of the perceived “actualities” of budgets, systems, and student diversity?
    I've worked hard this year to do just that. Over 100 workshops, a book, six journal articles, research, university courses...it's been quite a ride!
    Inclusive education means just that, inclusive: providing an education in which ALL students are welcomed and included. The truth is, we are all diverse. How I learn is different than how you do. My background knowledge, life experiences, personality and interests are different than yours. In any room, you have just as many different learners as there are people. All children are diverse: fat/thin, rich/poor, personalities, ethnicities, languages, family constructions, and learning styles all contribute to the makeup of a diverse classroom. Inclusive education has to be about ALL kids. There is no point in working to include one population, only to find we are then not meeting the needs of another.

The goal is providing high quality education to ALL students!

    Our history as inclusive educators has followed the path of child development. In the early stages, we were egocentric, unaware of anyone who did not fit our needs and desires – we simply excluded them (i.e., we placed them in institutions, special schools, etc.). As we began to mature, we learned how to parallel play: we placed special classes in regular schools, so they could live alongside us, but not with us. Sometimes, we placed children in a regular classroom, but their program was a parallel program. They did math when we did math, but a different math, and usually with an educational assistant, not in interaction with their peers. It is time, now, to grow into maturity. To achieve “interactive inclusion” – a mature sense of inclusion and interaction - to develop a system in which we all grow and learn in interaction with each other, celebrating what our diversity brings, sharing our triumphs and challenges, and creating compassionate learning communities for all of our children/youth. It can be done.
  
    Inclusive education is what will lead to an inclusive society. In our schools, every student, family member, community member, and staff member must be valued for who they are and what they contribute to the community. Children who grow up in such an environment, will know themselves as worthy, and recognize diverse others for the richness they bring to our world.

The Three Block Model of UDL started out as survival. Survival for a young teacher (me), in very diverse classrooms, trying to meet the needs of my students. It evolved with study, research, experience, and a great deal of collegial input from incredible master teachers all the way to brand new student teachers into a framework for inclusive education now being implemented by schools from K-12 in four different provinces from coast to coast. It is more than survival now. It is also more than theory or framework, model or strategy.

Inclusive education, and the Three Block Model is a vision, an imagination – a belief system.

Not in the exact pieces or steps or even blocks – they will continue to evolve and grow – but in the hearts of those in classrooms across this country working to make it come to life, to make inclusion come to life.

It is the imagination to flexibly implement it in such wide ranging settings as remote First Nations community schools, urban inner city high schools, and private preparatory academies.

It is a belief that it can be done.

I look forward to 2013 - to seeing that vision of a truly, interactively inclusive school system come to being.

For all the challenges and issues and debates, every teacher in Newton, Connecticut on December 14th, 2012, put themselves between their students and the bullets being fired from an automatic weapon. Every teacher I know would do the same. In the end, they are all our kids. That is the essence of inclusive education. Every child, and every teacher, counts. Everyone belongs.

May we never need such a brutal reminder again.

...at least, the first draft is :)
This book discusses the ways in which the role of the RT changes in a universally designed, inclusive school system, and current policy across Canada in this regard. It lays out the skills and knowledge necessary for RT's to support the implementation of the Three Block Model, including consultation skills, collaborative practice, neurodevelopmental and behavioral assessment, the designing of IEP's, and how to include students with significant disabilities in a UDL classroom. Like the first book, this is not just a theoretical discussion - it is a professional development book intended to be practical. The book uses case studies, work and assessment samples, and video clips to teach resource teachers how to conduct cognitive and behavioral assessments, build learning profiles and design IEP's in new ways that truly support social and academic inclusion. Look for it in 2013!

Heartbroken over the news of the school shooting, I taught kindergarten, can't get the image out of my mind. We had mentally ill parents at schools I worked in too - but they did not have access to guns. Mental illness is a tragedy, and we can have compassion for those who suffer from it, but giving them access to guns is the craziest of all. When will America protect her children instead of her hunters? They were just babies...

Headed to Rossburn collegiate, a high school working on implementing the Three Block Model of UDL. I am going to spend the next two days learning from them about how it's working, and work alongside them to figure out the challenges! Love this work...

Today I did a workshop for the staff of Binscarth school, a small rural K-8 school a four hour drive from Winnipeg. They had asked me to come out and work with them, but I was unable to find the time to drive out and do so this term. These teachers were so motivated to learn, to make a difference for their students - that they drove in on a Saturday to meet with me. That's 8 hours of driving, and giving up a Saturday at the end of term when everyone is tired...

I am just so moved by their dedication to their students. Kudos to you Binscarth teachers!