Mindfulness in the Inclusive Classroom
Mindfulness in the Inclusive Classroom

Author: Toby Karten

Publisher: National Professional Resources, Inc.

Published: 2019-04-01

Total Pages: 6

ISBN-13: 1949961044

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Emotions and cognition are connected (CASEL, 2012), with social and emotional learning integral to students’ academic and personal growth. Mindfulness--being aware of the now in our thoughts and actions-- allows students and their educators to have their hearts, bodies, and minds focused on the present moment. People who practice mindfulness are better able to recognize and attend to their surroundings, feelings, and thoughts with increased awareness, non-judgment, and empowerment. In the classroom, mindfulness decreases anxiety, which interferes with learning, and makes students better able to participate, collaborate, and learn. Mindfulness allows school staff to acknowledge, validate, and increase students’ competencies and capacities to learn. This reference guide, for teachers of grades K-12, presents strategies and tools to help students and the staff who instruct them in inclusive classrooms develop and advance mindful practices. It includes activities which can be used with the whole class that will benefit all learners, as well as recommendations for exercises to address challenges specific to certain learners, including those with specific learning disabilities (SDL), intellectual differences, executive function difficulties, emotional differences, autism, and physical disabilities.

Safeguarding Mindfulness in Schools and Higher Education
Safeguarding Mindfulness in Schools and Higher Education

Author: Leigh Burrows

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-08-04

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1351737201

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Although mindfulness can be located in a number of different traditions and disciplines, it was originally an esoteric and powerful practice based on developing a capacity attainable only by certain people. After previously publishing on the positive outcomes, in this book the author identifies a range of adverse effects of mindfulness meditation for some individuals that, from the point of view of mindfulness in schools and higher education, represents uncharted territory. The author demonstrates through research, personal experience and case studies how mindfulness activities can be safe for all students in education settings including the most vulnerable. This book assists teachers in school and higher education settings to make informed decisions about whether to include mindfulness in their teaching, depending on their own capacity, student cohorts and activities to make sure it is safe for more vulnerable students. This guidance is based on a combination of existing pedagogical and clinical knowledge about meeting the needs of vulnerable students, clients and patients and the specialized expertise of trained mindfulness clinicians and teachers. This book puts school and university teachers in the driver’s seat as regards mindfulness teaching in education settings. It argues that the only way forward for mindfulness in education is to adopt an individualized approach which builds on what effective teachers already do in their work with vulnerable students through extending their knowledge about mindfulness and its possible effects. In this way teachers’ existing skills are celebrated and extended, and mindfulness pedagogy develops organically with teachers, becoming a genuine and felt experience both for themselves and their students rather than an ‘add-on’ intervention.

Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills
Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills

Author: Efthymiou, Efthymia

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2024-08-21

Total Pages: 435

ISBN-13:

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The push for inclusivity has revolutionized educational practices, policies, and frameworks. Schools are no longer merely institutions that impart knowledge; they are shaping societal values, promoting social justice, and preparing students to progress. This evolution is driven by the understanding that inclusive education benefits all students, not just those with disabilities or special needs. It promotes empathy, reduces prejudice, and equips students with the skills to contribute to a complex, interconnected world. Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills explores the life-changing potential of inclusive education. With a strong emphasis on the word “revolutionizing,” the book challenges traditional practices and conventional thinking in the field of inclusive education. By integrating mindfulness practices, understanding neurodiversity, and developing executive functioning skills, the book offers a fresh and innovative approach to inclusive classrooms. Covering topics such as assistive technology, neurodivergent learners, and student well-being, this book is an essential resource for academicians, researchers, school administrators, educators, preservice teachers, and more.

Mindful and Relational Approaches to Social Justice, Equity, and Diversity in Teacher Education
Mindful and Relational Approaches to Social Justice, Equity, and Diversity in Teacher Education

Author: Julian Kitchen

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-12-30

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1498598927

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As teaching is socially, culturally, and politically constructed, it is important that teacher educators committed to social justice attempt to create secure environment where all voices are heard and teacher candidates can inquire into personally and socially challenging topics within a safe and caring classroom culture. Relationships of trust are fundamental to teaching about social justice and to being receptive as learners in such classes. Mindfulness on the part of teacher educators and teacher candidates can go a long way in fostering respect, openness and acceptance in such classes. Together they can lead to teacher educators and candidates thinking deeply about themselves, schools and schooling as they move towards a vision of a more equitable and just society. The teacher educators who have contributed to this volume recognize the challenges of balancing respect for their students with the call to social justice. Their accounts and critical reflections convey how relational and mindful approaches might offer positive avenues to self and shared exploration by teacher candidates and teacher educators alike. Several chapters attend to the challenges for educators as they encounter culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Others attend to these issues within the complexity of diverse university classrooms in order to guide teacher candidates towards dispositions and practices that help foster inclusion and engage diverse learners and communities. Together, these chapters offer thoughtful approaches to living alongside aspiring teachers as they develop deeper understanding of the concepts of race and diversity, and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning.

Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools
Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools

Author: Candy Gunther Brown

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2019-03-27

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 1469648490

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Yoga and mindfulness activities, with roots in Asian traditions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, have been brought into growing numbers of public schools since the 1970s. While they are commonly assumed to be secular educational tools, Candy Gunther Brown asks whether religion is truly left out of the equation in the context of public-school curricula. An expert witness in four legal challenges, Brown scrutinized unpublished trial records, informant interviews, and legal precedents, as well as insider documents, some revealing promoters of "Vedic victory" or "stealth Buddhism" for public-school children. The legal challenges are fruitful cases for Brown's analysis of the concepts of religious and secular. While notions of what makes something religious or secular are crucial to those who study religion, they have special significance in the realm of public and legal norms. They affect how people experience their lives, raise their children, and navigate educational systems. The question of religion in public education, Brown shows, is no longer a matter of jurisprudence focused largely on the establishment of a Protestant Bible or nonsectarian prayer. Instead, it now reflects an increasingly diverse American religious landscape. Reconceptualizing secularization as transparency and religious voluntarism, Brown argues for an opt-in model for public-school programs.

One Without the Other
One Without the Other

Author: Shelley Moore

Publisher: Portage & Main Press

Published: 2017-02-13

Total Pages: 90

ISBN-13: 1553796993

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In this bestseller, Shelley Moore explores the changing landscape of inclusive education. Presented through real stories from her own classroom experience, this passionate and creative educator tackles such things as inclusion as a philosophy and practice, the difference between integration and inclusion, and how inclusion can work with a variety of students and abilities. Explorations of differentiation, the role of special education teachers and others, and universal design for learning all illustrate the evolving discussion on special education and teaching to all learners. This book will be of interest to all educators, from special ed teachers, educational assistants and resource teachers, to classroom teachers, administrators, and superintendents.

Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom
Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom

Author: Judy Willis

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2007-05-15

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1416617434

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Many teachers in regular classrooms feel unprepared to teach students with learning disabilities. Fortunately, brain research has confirmed that strategies benefiting learners with special challenges are suited for engaging and stimulating all learners. In this book, neurologist and classroom teacher Judy Willis explains that we can best help students by putting in place strategies, accommodations, and interventions that provide developmentally and academically appropriate challenges to suit the needs, gifts, and goals of each student. Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom will help teachers * Understand how the brain learns and the technologies that reveal this process. * Implement strategies that are compatible with students' individual learning styles and honor their multiple intelligences. * Improve the focus of students with attention disorders and help them gain the confidence and skills they need to develop goal-oriented behaviors. * Create an enriching learning environment by incorporating student-centered activities, discovery and hands-on learning experiences, cross-curricular learning, and multisensory lessons. * Implement strategic review, study, and test preparation strategies that will allow students to retain information and connect it with future learning. * Build safe, supportive classroom communities and raise class awareness and empathy for students with learning disabilities. It's time for teachers to lower the barriers, not the bar. Using strategies that align with research on how people's brains function, teachers can engage all students as individuals and help them reach their maximum potential with joy and confidence.

Transformative Inclusive Education
Transformative Inclusive Education

Author: Rick Freeze

Publisher: Canadian Scholars

Published: 2023-08-25

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 1773383620

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Inclusive education is a critical issue at the forefront of educators’ minds. Transformative Inclusive Education tackles the subject by reimagining current practices in education and renovating teaching strategies. This collection demonstrates that inclusion is an educational reform movement that can only succeed if educational institutions and practitioners rethink the meaning, substance, and purpose of education and adopt the new missions, patterns of decision-making, understandings of teaching and learning, pedagogies, collaborative roles, and classroom practices that flow directly from the inclusive reform movement. Featuring contributions from a diverse array of scholars, practitioners, and people with disabilities, this text weaves together the historical, legal, theoretical, and pedagogical currents that underpin the implementation of inclusive education and speaks to current research in the field. From there, it moves forward with a practical trajectory and guide for enacting lasting, effective change in schools to create an inclusive environment for all students. The authors integrate concepts such as RTI, UDL, MTSS, and SEL, and address issues such as collaborative decision-making, positive approaches to behaviour, academic scaffolding, and inclusive technologies and teaching practices. They also look beyond schools, extending inclusive education to families and communities and integrating self-advocacy in practice. Including case studies, realistic examples, and activities for further learning and reflection, this volume is a vital resource for undergraduate and graduate students in education. FEATURES - Provides a framework to redesign teaching practice and enact positive, lasting change for truly inclusive schools - Connects theory to larger pedagogical constructs such as experiential learning, social construction of knowledge, student engagement, and authentic learning - Contains resources for further reading and activity boxes with essential takeaways for student review

Teaching English Learners in Inclusive Classrooms
Teaching English Learners in Inclusive Classrooms

Author: Elva Duran

Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher

Published: 2020-08-11

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 0398093326

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This newly revised text, Teaching English Learners in Inclusive Classrooms, updates and expands upon issues of great concern to those working with students who are English learners as well as having special learning challenges. Given the unacceptable school drop-out rates of these students, this book provides practical tools and strategies for educators to approach the unique learning needs of these students. It draws upon the most current laws and research in the interconnected fields of bilingual and multicultural education, language and literacy, and special needs. Additionally, Dr. Durán draws upon her extensive experiences via classroom teaching, university-level instruction, and textbook writing in these fields to present a highly useful compendium of ideas. The range of chapters exemplifies the width and breadth of this material. A sampling of these chapters include topics such as functional language, teaching students with more extensive needs, working with cross-cultural and linguistic diverse students in the U.S. and Central America, helping students with autism and includes information in the area of transition for mild/moderate and students with more extensive needs. There is also information as before on literacy and a chapter in the content subjects as it relates to social studies as well as a chapter on families of cross-cultural students. Many of the chapters look to use of direct instruction approaches that have proven to be successful strategies in addressing these educational areas. Teachers and teacher trainers will find this clear, well-written text to be an invaluable resource in addressing the needs of myriad and unique students.

Decolonizing Inclusive Education: Centering Heartwork, Care, and Listening
Decolonizing Inclusive Education: Centering Heartwork, Care, and Listening

Author: Keith, Erin

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2024-05-07

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13:

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Inclusive education faces a critical challenge rooted in an outdated paradigm that treats students as fixer-upper projects rather than recognizing their holistic needs. The prevalent toolbox approach, governed by frameworks like MTSS and RTI, tends to prioritize immediate academic gains, neglecting the intricate tapestry of students' identities, cultural nuances, and unique strengths. This myopic strategy fails to foster sustained growth and well-being, undermining the true potential of inclusive education. Addressing this pervasive issue, Decolonizing Inclusive Education: Centering Heartwork, Care, and Listening, provides a groundbreaking solution. By shifting the focus to heartwork, care, and listening, the book pioneers a decolonizing praxis in inclusive education. It challenges the prevailing tool-centric model and advocates for an approach that embraces the diverse identities, funds of knowledge, and cultural understandings of students. The book delves into topics such as classroom stories, engaging families, funds of knowledge, and decentering whiteness, offering a comprehensive guide to transform inclusive education into a space that not only acknowledges but celebrates the holistic well-being and growth of every student.