The time had come. After four years of preservice education, I was finally on my own, teaching in my classroom, with my students, and my carefully constructed lessons. I anxiously waited for my first students to walk through the door so I could grab their attention and immerse them in my love of agriculture. However, students weren't the first through the door that initial morning on the job, the special education coordinator was. She walked in, handed me a stack of file folders labeled with students' names, asked me to sign a sheet of paper, and waltzed back out, all within one minute. Curious, I opened the top folder and scrolled down until I saw the intimidating word "Accommodations." Suddenly, I realized my carefully, yet narrowly constructed lessons weren't going to work for my students, at least not the way I had originally planned. My excitement dwindled and panic took over.... was I really ready to teach ALL of my students? How was 1 going to accommodate the varied special needs of my students? How, in my preservice education, did my view of what my students needed to be successful become so narrow? Was I alone in this feeling, or were my peers feeling the same way?
In summary, secondary agricultural educators will be working with learners with special needs. It is essential that they know and understand how to contribute to an IEP, as well as how to follow what the requirements state of them as directed through an IEP. However, many preservice agricultural education programs are lacking this skill development.Teaching Techniques and StrategiesThe inclusion of learners with special needs is not only mandated by law, but is a civic and moral duty for secondary agriculture teachers. The driving force behind federal mandates that schools must follow is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was originally established in 1975 and known as Public Law 94-142. It was this landmark legislation that established mainstreaming and prescribed that which schools must do to serve the handicapped (Iverson, 1993).SummaryPreservice Teacher EducationThe need currently exists to prepare teachers to use effective methods of teaching for learners in an inclusive setting. A 2007 census study of secondary agriculture teachers in Ohio was used to report that teachers needed more competency when teaching learners with special needs (Hoerst & Whittington, 2009); the preservice agriculture teachers from the land grant university in Ohio were required to complete only one course on teaching learners with exceptional needs. Thus, teacher preparation programs need to be aware of the limitations and consequent concerns of those teachers who are currently serving learners with special needs.Newcomb, L. H., McCracken, J. D., Warmbrod, J. R., & Whittington, M. S. (2004). Methods of Teaching Agriculture (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.Kisanji, J. (1999, March). Historical and Theoretical Basis of Inclusive Education. Keynote address at the meeting of Inclusive Education in Namibia: The Challenge for Teacher Education, Namibia.Hoerst, C. M., & Whittington, M. S. (2009). The current status of classroom inclusion activities of secondary agriculture teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 50(2), 38-51.Teacher education programs, designed to address the instruction of learners with special needs, have existed since at least the late 1800s. However, as the number of learners with special needs increases in agriculture programs, agriculture teachers' needs for additional training also increases (Elbert & Baggett, 2003).ReferencesIverson, M. J. (1993). Will we serve the academically disadvantaged? The Agricultural Education Magazine, 66(6), 4.In the previously mentioned study of Ohio secondary agriculture teachers, it was indicated that discussion and lecture were among the most-used teaching methods when teaching learners with special needs (Hoerst & Whittington, 2009); however, those were also the most-used techniques reported in a study of learners in a traditional classroom (Falk, Beck, & Whittington, 2009). Preservice teachers need to be taught to step outside of their comfort zones, and experiment with teaching strategies that they may not traditionally use, such as role play or peer teaching in order to reach learners with special needs. Teaching by demonstration and learning-by-doing should also characterize the instruction used in inclusive classrooms (Newcomb, et al., 2004). In addition, the problemsolving approach to teaching has been used throughout agricultural education, and is an effective approach for implementing instruction for learners, regardless of ability (Newcomb, et al., 2004).Falk, J. M., Beck, W. M., & Whittington, M. S. (2009). Describing student cognitive retention in an animal science unit. NACTA 2009 Abstracts and Awards, p. 43-44.Brief Evolution of InclusionSpecial education teachers often work in their own classroom or office and can be underutilized by agriculture teachers. The continued separatist approach in teacher preparation considers special education as a separate entity "and one that did not and need not involve intensive collaboration or even cooperation with regular classroom teachers..." (Osgood, 2005, p. 120). However, special education teachers are responsible to collaborate with all teachers to develop effective Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) for learners. Agricultural education teachers, given their current preservice education curriculum, typically have limited experience with IEPs. According to Elbert and Baggett (2003), secondary agricultural education teachers need additional training to help develop IEPs. In addition, 60% of secondary agriculture teachers in Ohio reported needing more training in writing educational goals and objectives for IEPs (Hoerst & Whittington, 2009).Elbert, C. D. & Baggett, C. D. (2003). Teacher competence for working with disabled students as perceived by secondary level agricultural instructors in Pennsylvania. Journal of Agricultural Education, 44(\), 105-115."If our teaching is to be studentcentered, we must accept the idea of teaching individual students in classes rather than teaching classes" (Priebe, 1971, p. 239). Education is successful only as it relates to the needs, interests, and attitudes of the learners to whom it is directed. Teachers of agriculture have been proponents of this philosophy and have structured their programs accordingly. As we move forward, it will be increasingly important to prepare our preservice teachers for thinking beyond the narrow peephole approach to accommodations, and instead to embrace an open door of inclusion for learners with special needs.Inclusive education of learners with special needs "recognizes that special learning needs can arise from social, psychological, economic, linguistic, cultural, as well as physical (or disability) factors, hence the term 'children with special needs' rather than 'children with disabilities'" (Kisanji, 1999, p. 3); they are learners first, and their special needs should not define who they are. Disability advocates argue that disability is socially constructed and that society places barriers on certain groups of people. Therefore, these advocates believe that learner-centered classrooms provide the most effective education for learners with special needs.Beck, W. M., & Whittington, M. S. (2009). Describing teaching techniques for assessing student cognitive retention. NACTA 2009 Abstracts and Awards, p. 42.
Newcomb, L. H., McCracken, J. D., Warmbrod, J. R., & Whittington, M. S. (2004). Methods of Teaching Agriculture (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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