Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-2017
Capstone Advisor
George Theoharis
Honors Reader
Christine Ashby
Capstone Major
Teaching and Leadership
Capstone College
Education
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Professional
Subject Categories
Disability and Equity in Education | Education | Special Education and Teaching
Abstract
Inclusive Education is the practice of educating all students in one classroom. Students with disabilities or who qualify for special education are members of regular education classrooms, and remain in the classroom for as much of the day as possible. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) legalized that schools provide free and appropriate education, as well as educate students in the least restrictive environment. The least restrictive environment is in the general education classroom. This legislation helped to increase the prevalence of inclusion in schools.
This research represents my development as a future educator. I entered Syracuse University as in Inclusive Elementary and Special Education major. My focus, however was neither special education nor inclusive education. Throughout my four years at Syracuse University however, I have changed my mindset and beliefs about special education, disability and inclusive practices. I use my own experiences and memories from my four years in college to research how a person’s mindset can be transformed. I begin exploring my thoughts during my first two years in the program, highlighting key lectures and placement moments that challenged my thinking. I then look at my experience studying abroad where I had my first experience needing my own modifications. In this second section, I additionally look at my semester post-abroad and how I became more critical of my professors and how they were not doing what they were teaching us. The third section explores how my student teaching is the first time I saw inclusion working for all students, and how my mindset began to change, during planning lessons and on a philosophical level. I finally reflect on all these experiences and where I am at moving forward as an educator.
Recommended Citation
Reuter, Lindsey, "Entering the Inclusive Space: An Autoethnography of a Future Educator" (2017). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 1025.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1025
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
