Observation Week

After being at Mother Theresa Catholic School in Sylvan Lake for a week, I observed a great deal of inclusive classrooms. The students with learning disabilities in this school did not experience full inclusion, but rather they used a resource room approach to inclusion. Prior to this experience I did not support the concept of the resource room. I felt that by pulling students out of class to get special help they would feel stigmatized and embarressed in front of their classmates. In my opinion the resource room approach attached a prominent label to the children with learning disabilities. After spending time in a school that used this approach it became clear to me that this is not the case at all. The students that need extra help with specific subjects were recieving the help that they needed to feel successful. The resource room had the opposite effect that I had anticipated, rather then feeling stigmatized the students had the self confidence to contribute in their regular classes without feeling inadequate. This experience has shown me the importance of seeing a theory in practice prior to making a judgement as to whether or not it is effective.