How to Use Enrichment in an Inclusive Classroom

Enrichment can happen even in inclusion classes.

Inclusion classrooms are those that include both general education students and special education students. Teachers who wish to provide enrichment activities in an inclusion classroom must plan carefully in order for all students to be able to participate. Enrichment activities do not have to be more difficult, although some teachers do define enrichment in that way. Alternately, enrichment can simply mean activities that cover a topic in greater depth or that use supplemental materials.

Instructions

1. Have advanced students plan and teach the class a lesson. Part of the enrichment process is to have students become more aware of their own learning. Usually this is done in journals where they reflect on what they have learned. In an inclusion classroom, special education students often benefit from having lessons repeated. Having a group of advanced students work together to create a lesson about something the class has learned will provide enrichment for the advanced students and review for the special education students.

2. Group students for enrichment activities. Enrichment activities can include taking an interesting topic further than the curriculum dictates. Grouping students together in teams that include both general education students and special education students will provide challenge and additional learning opportunities for all students. Part of the challenge for the more advanced students will be helping those students who are less advanced or have disabilities. An example of this includes creating an advertisement for an invented object after learning about types of advertising.

3. Use supplemental materials to enrich a lesson. As enrichment can be the use of materials not typically included in the curriculum, one example of enrichment is to bring in a braille book for students to touch after a lesson on Helen Keller. You can purchase a tadpole from a local pet store and have students keep a journal of the changes they notice as the tadpole turns into a frog over several weeks when teaching about the life cycle of a frog. Think creatively as you plan your lesson to find other enrichment ideas.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult the special education instructor for additional enrichment ideas that are suitable for the students in your class who have learning disabilities.

• The special education instructor will also be able to tell you what enrichment activities are beyond the capability of the special education students in your class.

References

• "Exceptional Children"; Implementing inclusion at the middle school level: lessons from a negative example; Norman E. Fox and James E. Ysseldyke; Fall, 1997
• Oxford Brooks University; What Do We Mean by Enrichment?; Westminster Institute of Education; May, 2006
• Teacher Vision: Teaching Students with Special Needs

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Teacher Vision: Extension & Enrichment Activities