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Welcome, Patricia R. Renick Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2009 Edition of The Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education. The conversation concerning inclusion continues to reflect and international representation. However in this edition we have a number of voices unique to this culture and this perspective.

Kimberly Rombach of State University of New York College in Cortland provides a synthesis of the research concerning inclusive education. Additionally, the article introduces an Inclusion Definition Instrument (IDI) to help researchers identify specific characteristics of inclusion aid in their research.

Norma S. Blecker, Richard Stockton, and Norma J Boakes of Stockton college of New Jersey survey both general and …

Implementation Of Inclusive Education In Brunei Darussalam: Review Of Possible Implications For School Counselors, Lawrence Mundia Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The paper looked at the provision of counseling services to students in government schools after the implementation of inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam. The creation of the Special Education Unit and the Division of Counseling and Career Guidance (both in the Ministry of Education) to coordinate the respective services was a welcome decision in the right direction. Inclusion, however, may have expanded the role of school counselors in many ways and possibly brought other unforeseen problems. Thirteen identified and selected factors that may impact negatively on the work of school counselors under inclusion are discussed. In addition it was observed …

Voices Of Classroom Managers: Their Realities Of Full Inclusion, Oi Yee Monica Ratcliff Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of the three regular education teachers about full inclusion practice in a metropolitan elementary school. This study was intentionally designed as a participatory and constructivistic inquiry. Through the process of classroom observations, participant observations and in-depth interviews, this study was attempted to answer three research questions: (1) What are the perceptions of regular education teachers who participate in the full inclusion program? (2) What are their perceptions about student learning? and (3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of full inclusion? Findings revealed three themes that were related to …

"Welcome To Holland: Characteristics Of Resilient Families Raising Children With Severe Disabilities", Thomas Knestrict Ed. D., Debora Kuchey Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This descriptive study sought to examine the resiliency factors families developed when faced with the challenges of raising a child manifesting a severe disability. The study compares and contrasts how families managed the additional responsibility and stress of raising a child with special needs. The study seeks to identify, the key characteristics present in resilient families allowing them to not just survive but thrive.

The study found that there is relationship between resilience and Socio Economic Status (SES). The study also found that having the time and the ability to reflect was key to reconfiguration, which is seen as crucial …

Guiding Principles For Educational Programming, Randy L. Seevers Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This article presents the outcome of a reflective study where pre-service teachers created visual representations of principles that guide their teaching in the inclusive classroom. Based on evaluations and reflections of the activity, results suggest that creating the visual representations served as an effective tool in helping pre-service teachers recognize and support children with disabilities in the inclusive classroom. Examples of the completed projects are included.

Effective Inclusion Practices, M. Alyssa Barnes Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This study examines effective instructional practices, which support the inclusion of students with special needs. Eight teacher and administrator participants completed interviews about their experiences working in a full-inclusion environment. In addition, the research includes narratives based on observations from the school. The findings summarize five practices essential in successful inclusive environments. These strategies include assessing the whole child, performance-based assessments, and use of visuals, specifically graphic organizers, and collaboration. Finally, the data demonstrate the idea that all of these practices benefit students with and without disabilities.

Creating A Warm And Inclusive Classroom Environment: Planning For All Children To Feel Welcome, Jessica L. Bucholz Ed.D., Julie L. Sheffler

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The type of classroom environment that a teacher creates and encourages can either increase or decrease a student's ability to learn and feel comfortable as a member of the class. The classroom environment should do as much to foster cooperation and acceptance as the teaching methods that the teacher uses. This article describes a number of methods to help teachers plan for and create a classroom that welcomes and supports all children.

Clarifying Research Synthesis On Inclusion: Using The Inclusion Definition Instrument (Idi), Kimberly Rombach Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Synthesizing research on inclusive education is essential to developing a wide-scoped view of knowledge that has been gathered from previous studies. There are key components central to the practice of inclusive education that need to be revealed to fully understand the context of inclusive classrooms. This article distinguishes the need for contextually defining inclusion and introduces the Inclusion Definition Instrument (IDI) that can assist researchers to better identify specific characteristics of the context of their studies on inclusion.

Language Module, April Dixon

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

A study of children with learning disabilities and of children without provides a clear picture of the acquisition of language development of children. Language skills are generally typical of children at different age levels who do not have diagnosed learning disabilities. Language skills of the learning disabled are generally atypical due to constraints placed on the child during critical learning periods by the disability. Analyzation of the data in this study shows a correlation between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and language development in young children. Strategies can be implemented by classroom teachers to enhance the acquisition of language.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editor's Message.

Jaepl, Vol. 15, Winter 2009-2010, Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Linda T. Calendrillo

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Peter Elbow - Reflections from a Grateful Guest Editor

Sheridan Blau - Believing and Doubting as Hermeneutic Metbod: Reading and Teaching Paradue Lost

Tim Doherty - Lessons from tbe Believing Game

Anne Ellen Geller - The Difficulty of Believing in Writing Across the Curriculum

Shelly Sheats Harkness, Catherine Pullin Lane, Sue Mau, Amber Brass - The Believing Game in Mathematics: Stories in a Discipline of Doubt

Judy Lightfoot - Saying Yes to Freestyle Volunteering: Doubting and Believing

Clyde Moneyhun - Believing, Doubting, Deciding, Acting

Irene Papoulis - A Refiection on Habitual Belief and Habitual Doubt

Stephanie Paterson - Friday …

Lessons From The Believing Game, Tim Doherty

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

My essay reflects on different lessons I have learned in using the believing game to promote deliberative dialogue in first-year writing courses. I have learned that it helps not to be in a hurry: spending enough preparation time with students thinking about belief itself, listening to students' stories and sense of attachment to beliefs, and playing the game repeatedly. I also explore the believing game as a mode of play, especially the fruitful way that role-play can be integrated into the believing game.

The Difficulty Of Believing In Writing Across The Curriculum, Anne Ellen Geller

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

What would happen if we tried to consider writing-acrossthe- curriculum work through the lens of Peter Elbows methodological believing? If we were to believe that every faculty person in the university is a writer, thinks about writing, and teaches writing in his or her own way, what virtues would we find that doubting leads us to disqualify?

The Believing Game In Mathematics: Stories In A Discipline Of Doubt, Shelly Sheats Harkness, Catherin Pullin Lane, Sue Mau, Amber Brass

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Many people view mathematics as a discipline of certainty and rigidity. Answers are either right or wrong, and, when they are wrong, it is easy to play the doubting game. We invite readers into our mathematics classrooms as we story our attempts to play the believing game. We provide a lens into how we suspended our own logic, assumptions, and interpretations until we first tried to "unpack, " understand, and honor our students' logic, assumptions, and interpreta· tions. Within our individual stories, elements of tension, surprise, and wonder emerged as collective themes.

Saying Yes To Freestyle Volunteering: Doubting And Believing, Judy Lightfoot

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

My formerly academic interest in Peter Elbow's work developed fresh relevance a few years ago after a member of my family was diagnosed with schizophrenia. To volunteer "outside the box" with individuals who suffer from mental illness or homelessness, I needed a skeptic's doubt as well as an enthusiast :S belief But the first step was believing.

Believing, Doubting, Deciding, Acting, Clyde Moneyhun

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I used Peter Elbow's believing and doubting games and cooked up two games of my own, to structure a first-year writing class aimed at teaching students to read and reason critically. The first new game has been hinted at by Elbow himself: the deciding game, in which students used their exercises in believing and doubting to make up their minds about a topic. The second new game, which my students called the living game, asked them to extend their intellectual decisions into the world and take or recommend actions based on them. This was all enacted through a series of …

A Reflection On Habitual Belief And Habitual Doubt, Irene Papoulis

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Some people are habitual "believers" while others are habitual "doubters." I' m a believer, but doubting others helps me believe myself I explore the idea that examining our individual habitual relationships with believing and doubting helps us think better and relate better to others and to ourselves.

Friday Writes: An Exercise In The Believing Game, Stephanie Paterson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I introduce the basic principles for the practice of proprioceptive writing and describe the experience and outcomes of incorporating this ungraded writing into three undergraduate compostion classes. I offer this as a case study of a writer, teacher, and reflective practitioner emboldened by Peter Elbow's believing game, and I point out some of the intellectual and pedagogical discoveries that emerged in my fourteen-week experiment.

Before Belief: Embodiment And The “Trying Game”, Donna Strickland

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I use my experience of teaching "Mindful Writing" to reflect on the pre-cognitive act of "trying out" new ideas. It seems that there's an important piece of the believing game that happens before the cognitive act of belief and that involves the body as much as the mind.

A Highly Incomplete Bibliography, Peter Elbow

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

I’m nervous to include this because I’ve not read a lot of these books and articles, and the whole thing is so inadequate for such a large topic. Many are titles I’ve jotted down for when I “have time.” But the list also includes a few suggestions from the authors in this issue, though this list mostly doesn’t duplicate the valuable Works Cited sections they’ve put with each of their essays. I’m risking the amateur quality of this enterprise in hopes that it can help others to pursue an important issue. (At the end, I’ve listed my various essays about …

Reviews, Julie J. Nichols, Charles Suhor, Edward Sullivan

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reviews

Julie J. Nichols - Meaning and The Evolution of Consciousness: A Retrospective on the Writing of Owen Barfield

Charles Suhor - The Great Transfonnation: The Beginnings of Our Religious Traditions

Charles Suhor - The Chalice and the Blade

Edward Sullivan - The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

Connecting, Helen Walker, Andrew Statum, Vic Kryston, Jie Li, Dominique Zino, Joonna Smitherman Trapp

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Connecting - Helen Walker

Andrew Statum - The Question

Vic Kryston -Conflict Resolution

Jie Li - Teaching with Accent

Dominique Zino - Space

Joonna Smitherman Trapp - Composition Class 7:45 AM

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Reflections From A Grateful Guest Edit, Peter Elbow

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Believing And Doubting As Hermeneutic Method: Reading And Teaching Paradise Lost, Sheridan Blau

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Using a variation on Peter Elbow's believing game, I help students discover the degree to which Milton in Paradise Lost succeeds in his explicit attempt to justify God's ways to man and in that success also offers us an account of human happiness and misery that is psychologically sophisticated, spiritually illuminating, entirely rational, and supremely wise as a guide to living a humanly satisfying life. Such an approach to Paradise Lost also fosters an experience of the text through which many students undergo a modern version of the spiritual transformation and enlightenment that Milton explicitly aimed to make possible for …