The document discusses research-based classroom management strategies for promoting an inclusive classroom community. It identifies strategies for creating a sense of community, facilitating friendships, using positive behavioral supports, and addressing the problems with exclusionary discipline policies. The purpose is to move away from punitive approaches and toward inclusive, community-building practices that support all students.

2. “ Ilivein a cocoonof socialmaking
Peepingout at the world from
behind a curtain”
-Hans (2003)

3. INTRODUCTION
The inclusion of children with disabilities in general
education classes provides an opportunity for
teachers to identify classroom management policies
and practices that promote diversity and
community.

4. A focus ondisabilityin globaldevelopment
not onlyraises questions of diverse local
interpretations of the same issue but also the
needto accept the diversity of needswithin
this groupdependingon boththe nature of
impairmentand cultural context.

5. Community-buildingmanagementstrategiesthatfacilitate
friendships, collaboration, parent involvement, and
addresschallengingbehaviorsinapositive,proactive,and
educativemannerareconsistentwiththegoalsofinclusive
education.

6. In order to develop a truly inclusive school
community, management policies and practices
that are inconsistent with inclusive education -
suchasexclusionarydisciplinepolicies-needtobe
addressedbyteachersandadministrators.

7. Inclusive classes with minor to moderate
learning disabled are no longer exceptional in
thepresentscenario.
Inrecentyears,thenumberofstudentswith
learning,behavioural,andothereducational
disabilitiesbeingtaughtingeneraleducation
classeshasmorethantripled.

8. PURPOSE
The purpose of this talk is to discuss research-
basedstrategiesforcreatingandmanagingadiverse
classroomcommunity.

9. Classroom Management Practices:
Relevant Questions
How do teachers create a sense of community in classes comprised of
studentswhodifferintheirabilitiesandbehaviours?
Howcanteachersformasafeandresponsivelearningenvironmentforall
members of the classroom community using knowledge from two
traditionallydiscretefields(i.e.,specialandgeneraleducation)?
What considerations and accommodations need to be made at the
buildinganddistrictleveltoensurethereareexplicitandfairexpectations
forallstudents?

10. Strategies Enhancing the overall
Quality of the Classroom Environment
CreatinganInclusiveCommunity
Promotingmembership
Facilitatingfriendships
Collaboration
SupportingPositiveBehaviourinAllStudents
Positiveandsupportivebehaviouralstrategies
School-wideuseofpositivebehaviouralsupports

11. Can Exclusionary Discipline Policies
Work in Inclusive Schools?
Positive approaches to school discipline are consistent with the goals of
inclusive education, but are far less compatible with existing school or
district-wide discipline policies that punish and exclude children from
school.
Exclusionary discipline policies, known as zero tolerance policies, have
become increasingly prevalent in recent years in response to growing
reportsofschoolviolence.
Designedtosendamessagethataggressivebehaviourwillnotbetolerated,
manyschoolshaveadoptedatough,clear,andseeminglysimpleplan:evict
studentswhocommitspecificactsofaggression.

12. Major Problemsin the use ofZero Tolerance
Policies inInclusiveSchools
First,thesepoliciesmayunderminetheirownpurposeaswellasthe
goals of inclusion by eroding civility within the school and by
disenfranchising those students most in need of emotional
connectedness(Skiba&Peterson,1999,2000).
Second,zerotolerancepoliciesmaynotapplyequallytoall students.
There is a substantial body of evidence suggesting inequities in the
mannerstudentsgetsuspendedorexpelled.

13. Students with emotional and behavioural problems have
been overrepresented in reports of suspensions and
expulsions and are most likely to be removed from
inclusivesettings.
While some educators are trying to meet the needs of
students with disabilities in typical settings, the goal of
others "may well be the removal of troublesome students
from mainstream educational environments" (Skiba &
Peterson, 2000, p. 340).

14. HowtheInequitiescanbedealtwith?
Through the use of legal safeguardsfor students with
disabilities.
Safeguards should be procedures to protect students
from being unfairly punished for behaviours beyond
their control or when the consequences of the
behaviourwerenotunderstood.

15. School personnel must also determine whether the
studentwasreceivinganappropriateeducationasdefined
byhisorherownindividualizededucationplanatthetime
theincidentorbehaviouroccurred.
Legal safeguards can require schools to make a
determinationastowhetherastudent'sdisabilityisrelated
to his or her mis-behaviour before deciding what, if any,
consequenceswillfollow.

16. Problems
oTheseproceduresshallnotnecessarilyprotectstudentsorhelp
themtoreceivetheservicesandsupportstheyneed.
oDifficultyofarrivingatanaccuratedeterminationastowhether
achild'sbehaviourwasaresultofhisorherdisabilitybecause
disability categories are themselves subjective, socially
constructed phenomena (Sleeter, 1986) and teachers'
judgments about students with disabilities are likely to be
biased(Soodak,Podell,&Lehman,1998).

17. Lack of developing methods for making valid and unbiased
judgments aboutstudents'behaviour.
Expecting an inherently exclusionary discipline policy to be
fairly and equitably applied to students within a diverse
schoolcommunity.
Lack of awareness among the members of the school
community for considering the reasons for and implications
of punishing and excluding students and then determining
whether alternative strategies, such as positive behavioural
supports, would be more effective in reaching the school's
goals.

18. Teaching Strategies for the
Inclusive Classroom
Giving Each Child aChance to Shine
Teaching With "Big Questions"
Using Learning Centers
Incorporating Goals into the Lesson

19. StrategiesforGoodClassroom
Management
In the real world, students come fromall walks of
life. They all have problems, and somedonotdeal
well with stress or conflict.
Of course, students know the classroom rules and
school rules. The boundaries are set before work
begins. Notall strategies work withevery student.

20. Strategynumber5– Keep the lesson moving. If you
have a forty-five minuteperiod, plan threedifferent
activities. Try to get themup outof theirseats at least
once during the class period. Those students with pent
up energy willthankyou for it.
Strategynumber4– Don’t lecture forthewholeperiod.
Studentswho are actively engaged in a learning activity
are generallynotdisrupting the class. Hands-on
activities work great for vivacious classrooms.

21. Strategynumber3–
Talk to your students. If yousee them in the campus or
outside the schoolcampus, ask them how theyare. If
they dosomethingnice,tell them that youappreciate
their kindness.This lets them know that youreally do
care about them.

22. Strategynumber2-- When students are
beingdisruptiveby talking,poking,
pulling orcrumpling paper,go stand by
them. Thisworks bestwithboys.This
sends them adirect messageto stop
what they aredoing. Mostof the time
they stopandget backto work.

23. Strategynumber1– Whenyouhave stood
by the student, talked to the student and
kept them busy with lessons, and they still
are disruptive, take them outsidethe class.
Ask them, “Are youOK?” They will crumble
and tellyou that they had a fightwith their
parents, didn’tget up ontime or are having
other issues.

24. Suggestions
Generaleducationclassesaremorelikelytobediverseandinclusiveof
studentswithdisabilitiesthaneverbefore.
The strategies identified here offer a starting point for classroom
practice and professional dialogue about the possibilities of a school-
widecommitmenttoteachingallstudents.
Teachers shouldidentifyandaccessthesupportstheyneedtocreate
an inclusive classroom community that ensures membership and
opportunitiesforfriendships,collaboration,andparental involvement.

25. Teachers also need to consider the benefits of using positive
approaches to behaviour management rather than punitive and
exclusionarymethodsininclusivesettings.
Administrative support willbe neededfor teachers toimplement
positive behavioural approaches and other strategies to promote
aninclusiveclassroomcommunity.
This suggests that school discipline issues are minimized when
studentsfeelwelcomed,safe,andsupported.

26. Conclusion
Inclusive education has already begun to affect school and
classroom policies and practices. An increasing number of
schools are employing inclusive, community-building
management practices. It is now the responsibility of all
educators to ensure that school policies and classroom
practices are consistent with what is in the best interest of
allchildren.

27.  Managementissues are important, complex, and deserve any
teacher’s serious attention..Good classroom managementis not an
end in itself, but a meansfor creatinga climatewhere learning
happens as fully as possible.
 Classroom managementis also about "orchestrating"or coordinating
entire sets or sequences of learningactivities so thateveryone,
misbehaving or not, learns as easily and productively as possible.
Good classroom managementisthe creation of a positive learning
environment, because a term callsattentionto the totalityof
activities and people in a classroom, as well as to theirgoals and
expectationsabout learning.

28.  Skiba,R.J.,&Peterson,R.L.(1999). Thedarkside ofzerotolerance:Canpunishmentleadto safe
schools?Phi DeltaKappa,80, 372-382.
 Skiba,R.J.,&Peterson,R.L.(2000). Schooldiscipline atacrossroads:From zerotolerancetoearly
response.ExceptionalChildren, 66,335-347.
 Sleeter, C.E.(1986). Learningdisabilities:The social constructionofaspecial educationcategory.
ExceptionalChildren,53, 46-54.
 Soodak,L.C.,& Erwin,E.J.(2000). Valuedmember ortoleratedparticipant:Parents'experiences in
inclusiveearlychildhoodsettings.TheJournalofthe AssociationforPersonswith Severe
Handicaps,25,29-44.
 Soodak,L.C.,Podell, D.M.,&Lehman,L.(1998). Teacher,student,andschoolattributesas
predictorsofteachers'responsestoinclusion. JournalofSpecial Education,31,480-497.