Effective and Inclusive Teaching in the 21st century

Our current school inquiry is based on becoming more effective and inclusive teachers in order to cater for all learners in our classrooms. We are being led in our learning by our teachers enrolled in the Masters of Clinical Teaching through Melbourne University. Our inquiry is based on the work from the following reference:

Graham, L Berman,J and Bllert, A Sustainable Learning; Inclusive practices for 21st century classrooms, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Australia, 2015

I would like to share with you the understandings I am gaining around this topic as it unfolds and see what transformations in practice can take place.

One of the “Big Ideas” in this book links very well with my PLN as it is around Lifelong Learning. In the introduction it states that “Sustainable learning is learning for all, teaching that matters and learning that lasts. Its foundation is effective classroom practice, and its goal is to provide for the learning needs of all students throughout their school years and into lifelong learning.”

A big consideration we have as classroom teachers in the 21st century is the fact that our students come to us with diverse backgrounds, needs, abilities, cultural understandings and interpersonal skills. This means that adjustments may be needed in order to cater for those students who have difficulty in their learning. Intervention within or outside the classroom is sometimes required in order to meet the needs of some of our students. As teachers, we need to be able to demonstrate instructional differentiation and understand exactly where our students are at in their learning.

The goal is to strive to provide quality learning experiences for our students and have the skills to know what is required to make a difference.

At the end of the day, the person who makes the most difference in a child’s education is the classroom teacher. In order to build our capacity, we need to have a mindset that we too, are life-long learners and we must continually grow and evolve as teachers to deliver our best practice for our students.

Graham et al. states that “Sustainable learning is learning for all, teaching that matters and learning that lasts… Effective, responsive teaching supports learning for everyone.”

Stay tuned for my next blog about the ATRiUM capabilities and my mind map link on this learning journey….