Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms

by Lee Ann Jung

"A thought-provoking and practical new vision for inclusion built on five disruptions to the status quo necessary to move inclusive schooling practices to the next level and realize the promise of meaningful educational experience for all students, including students with disabilities"--

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Leadership

Unknown Binding

Published September 1, 2019

Reviews

[Elisha Janelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this as a professional development book study and my favorite part was when it was over.

This book is full of generalizations. It’s a fairytale guide to inclusion in a utopian world. It does not bridge the divide between general and special education; it’s more like “hey, special education teachers…you’re doing it wrong, be better and quit stifling student achievement”.

[Abigail Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had two different reactions to this book. The strongest reaction is that this book offers an idealized educational system where time, money, patience, teachers, and understanding, are no object. Call me a pessimist, but I cannot foresee a situation where this is possible for most classrooms, especially while standardized test scores remain the main focus for evaluating the effectiveness of teachers.

The other reaction is an eye-opening discussion of the true responsibilities of support staff at schools who need to be recognized as full-fledged educators. But, ultimately, this book offers up sympathetic characters but I am no more convinced that their story will come true than those of works of fiction I read.

I would like to give a higher rating because I would love to see some of these changes happen and happen successfully, however, I remain a skeptic. And if I have doubts, as someone who WANTS to buy in, how would this book be received by someone who does not see the value of those educational services at all?

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a teacher, but I am a school librarian at a school for the Deaf and the blind, and I am also the parent to children that have learning disabilities. I have seen some of the excluding that happens by separating children into special ed classes. My son is mostly in a regular classroom, other than for one of his electives and being pulled for math help, but when we had his IEP meeting, exactly one of his six regular classroom teachers showed up. My son has also mentioned that he feels stupid when he is singled out to be pulled from class. It is also like pulling teeth to get the reports that are supposed to happen every day or even answers to emails about his assignments so that I can offer him extra help at home.

I don't know that the classrooms talked about in this book are possible. I do know that the current education system is failing these students.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collaboration is my big takeaway. It is the BIGGEST tool that personnel have to solve many of the problems we have with children falling behind. You have an expertise and I have an expertise so let's help each other! And then there is the fact that students better succeed if they are pulled into the goal setting and can see their dreams (Hattie effect size 1.44). Build each other up, not tear down!

As always the ideas are idealistic unless you are working with people who are ready and willing to make some drastic mindset shifts!

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for class

I read this book after the "A Teacher's Guide to Special Education" (Bateman). This book was useful to think about special education beyond the legal requirements and thinking about creating truly inclusive classrooms. I do wonder about how much of this can be achievable when we are facing such extreme shortages within special ed staffing.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good overview of how to re-think educational structures to support all students. There were a couple times I felt like the authors were sprinting through a long list of excellent ideas but only skimming the surface. I wish there was a "recommended resources" at the end of each chapter so that readers could investigate further any ideas mentioned in the text.

[Robin Olsen Winkler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like there are sections of the book that are valuable And make sense and other parts that won’t work but sound great on paper. The teacher has a lot on their already full plates tweaking a few things won’t work to make adjustments.

[Sheila Borcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

📖 3⭐️I read this book as part of a book study through my ESU. As a special education teacher, several of the points presented in this book hit home for myself in my current district. This book has given me several things to consider as our district continues to look at improvement.

[Chris Pawluk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, concise exposition of modern approaches to inclusive education.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought-provoking

[Suzanne Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for any sped or gen ed teacher. Important lessons about how categories and labels can hard children and practical ways to create inclusive schools where everyone benefits.

[Hailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great overall philosophical review of the tenants of incliis practice that are currently in practice and should be implemented in all schools.

[Amy Werking · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Interesting perspective on including special ed learners in classrooms, but doesn’t address high achievers as the “all learners” intro implies.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, concise exposition of modern approaches to inclusive education.

[Alexandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a Special Education course. It was very good. It made you think about new ways to be inclusive in the classroom! It was very well written!!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class and it was ok. No earth shattering learning happened for me in this one, but an easy read.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and thought-provoking book on increasing inclusion for students with disabilities in our schools. Having our whole sped leadership team read it and discuss.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were sections of the book that really inspired me and gave me ideas to help change the status quo and make my classroom, perhaps my school, more inclusive. But, I felt it still did not fully acknowledge the shear weight/burden of responsibility placed on the general education/classroom teacher. Still left me feeling like special educators were somehow better experts than classroom teachers - this mentality still really bothers me. We have a HUGE amount of mundane daily tasks that consume HUGE amounts of time and are NEVER taken into consideration when dividing up responsibilities. Also, I did not feel like there were enough practical ideas to move forward in a meaningful way.

[Jason Wheatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tools for moving towards a culture of inclusion. Really interested in framing special education as an equity issue in our system. Equity audit tool will be implemented soon!

[Lynne Beavers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really blows up the conventional thinking about how to service students with special needs. Very thought-provoking!!!