1. Identifying Effective Teaching
Strategies
Assessing the Effectiveness of
the Inclusive Classroom

2. Identifying Effective Teaching
Strategies
Goals and objectives for Using Inclusive Teaching
Strategies
2 overall goals for using carefully selected inclusive
teaching strategies:
• Successful learners: to help all children experience
success in learning
• Independent learners: to assist children in gaining
independence as learners

3. The major goal of inclusive education in
early childhood is to promote the success
of all children in their early learning
experiences. There are several objectives
teachers in inclusive classroom seek to
accomplish through careful and
deliberate use of learning enhancement
strategies to:

4. • Encourage children’s engagement
• Improve the quality of play and learning
opportunities
• Streamline learning process of children
• Activate children’s prior knowledge
• Facilitate children’s social and learning
interactions

5. Selecting Inclusive Teaching Strategies and
Practices
There is abundant evidence indicating that
‘how’ children are taught is just as critical as
‘what’ they are taught. Teachers tend to spend
time planning the curricular activities that
present children with the curriculum content
or ‘what’ is to be learned.

6. Insight from Brain Research
Nature and nurture
• Through neurobiological research, we learn
that brain development is a dynamic process
that involves a unique interplay between
nature and nurture.
• A long-standing assumption of scientists has
been that nature, the biological and genetic
characteristics of individuals, affects how a
child’s brain grows and develops.

7. Scientists are finding evidence that several
complex environmental variables that
constitute what is commonly referred to as
nurture also exert a profound influence on the
growth and development of the human brain.
The type of stimulation children receive, the
adequacy of their nourishment, the kind of
care they are given, and the social interactions
children experience are among the types of
environmental conditions identified as
influential in the development of the amazing
organ that we call the brain.

8. Critical Period
Scientist have determined that the brains of
infants and toddlers are far more active
compared to the brains of adults.
Researched suggested that environmental
contexts in which a child grows and develops can
exert either a positive or negative influence on
brain development and learning. We also know
that warm, responsive care giving is essential for
optimizing brain development, especially during
critical periods for specific types of learning.

9. Implications for parents and teachers
Interactions, such as those that occur as a
result of efforts to teach children, can have
extra ordinarily powerful affects on the brain
development of the children. The type and
number of different strategies and practices
teachers and parents use may affect the
quality of interactions and experiences of
children during periods of growth that are
prime for the development of the brain and
the acquisition of knowledge and skills.

10. Early is best
It makes sense for early childhood teachers to
be especially conscientious in planning their
roles in facilitating children’s learning in the
classroom.
It is important to plan beyond the activities
and materials that will be offered to children
daily

11. Implications for teaching children with
special needs
It is most efficient to ensure proper brain
development through attention to adequate
nutrition, care, health, and safety for all children.
When trauma and negative influences on
children’s brain development have not been
averted, it is critical to focus on providing these
children access to prompt and intensive
intervention during the early years when the
brain is most likely to recover.

12. Implications for inclusion
Howard Gardner and others have long
contended that “one size fits all” teaching fails
to reach all children.
Effective teachers adjust their teaching
strategies to the learning styles of individual
children in their classrooms, which is
particularly true of inclusive early childhood
settings.

13. Guiding preparation and practice
Professional standards and guidelines serve a
dual purpose in early childhood education:
1. These documents provide a solid research
basis for guiding practice in early childhood
settings.
2. Professional guidelines provide a framework
for personnel preparation.

14. Staying informed
Early childhood teachers in inclusive
classrooms are obligated to stay apprised of
accepted strategies and practices across
disciplines and fields of study.
Teachers in inclusive classrooms should check
for relevant information in
multicultural, special
education, giftedness, and bilingual education
literature to name a few.

15. NATURALISTIC STRATEGIES
What are Naturalistic Strategies?
Naturalistic strategies are implicit teaching
strategies and practices that naturally occur
within the typical contexts of early childhood
settings.
Incidental or milieu teaching > a type of
naturalistic strategy where teachers embed
strategies as incidents occur to enhance learning
within the usual milieu of the classroom activities
and functions.

16. NATURALISTIC STRATEGIES
• Respect a child’s way of learning
• Value play as a natural catalyst for learning
• Maximize transitions and routines
• Are unobtrusive
• Foster learning in a relevant context

17. The Importance of Naturalistic
Strategies
Helps maximize learning through daily
routines and activities at home and school.
Permits teachers to significantly increase the
chances for children to learn without adding
undue pressure.

18. Play-based strategies
• Children’s play activities offer a variety of
opportunities for teachers to enhance
children’s learning.
• Play linked to culture and is present in every
society across the globe.
• Play appears to serve a cultural function of
creating a cohesive bond between children
and their society.

19. Naturalistic strategies in Preschool
Washing hands
• Sensory awareness: “Feel the water running over
your hands? Is it cool or warm? How does the
soap make your hands feel? How does the soap
smell? Tell me how the water sounds.”
• Vocabulary: “Water is…wet, cool, warm. It
splashes, sprinkles, drops.
• Mathematics: “How much water do you think you
will use to wash your hands?”

20. Walking to playground
• Motor: “Can you walk tall? Walk small? Can
you be quiet as a mouse?”
• Finding Bug Outdoors: “what is this bug
doing? Walking, running?”

21. SOCIOCONTEXTUAL STRATEGIES
What are Sociocontextual Strategies?
Sociocontextual strategies are a type of
naturalistic strategy that involves children with
others in authentic situations or contexts.

22. SOCIOCONTEXTUAL STRATEGIES
• Help children acquire collaborative interaction
skills
• Foster group thinking to learn
• Enhance social interaction
• Provide opportunities for practicing expressive
language and communication skills

23. KEY SOCIOCONTEXTUAL STRATEGIES
• Select games and activities that promote interaction.
• Encourage children to work and play in pairs or small
groups.
• Reduce materials for some activities to foster sharing
and cooperation
• Assist children in delineating roles for group activities
or play.
• Scaffold children’s interactions.
• Interact with children frequently during their activities.
• Stimulate peer mediated play and learning.

24. Assessing the Effectiveness of
the Inclusive Classroom
USES OF ASSESSMENT AND RELATED ISSUES
What is the Difference between Testing and
Assessment?
Assessment > a term that is usually more broadly
defined than testing. It is the ongoing process of
gathering data and artifacts over a span of time
and analysis of the collected information. The
goal of assessment is to provide an accurate view
of the child’s progress, allowing teachers to make
informed decisions about instruction or strategies
to stimulate a child’s learning.

25. • Testing > is generally defined more narrowly
as a method of checking for skill
mastery, content knowledge, or determining
performance of a task.

26. ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES
Child Performance Assessments
Monitoring children’s progress by evaluating
their performance on specific learning task is
widely accepted as an alternative assessment
method in early childhood and early
childhood special education.

27. Portfolio and Work Sample Systems
 Teachers using this method find it is a versatile system for
assessing children’s progress and keeping tangible records
documenting their work samples. In an inclusive
classroom, portfolios represent a strength-based system
that highlights a child’s abilities rather than disabilities.
Role of Collaboration in the Assessment Process
 When teachers use collaborative methods that bring others
into the assessment process, the resulting information will
likely be more comprehensive and accurate.
 Personal profile > it is similar to a case study; however, it is
a greatly abbreviated form with bulleted categories of
information.

28. CULTURE-FAIR AND GENDER-FAIR
PRACTICES
Selecting Assessment Techniques and
Instruments
Living in poverty can impede a child’s chances
for success in school. An ongoing scheme of
cultural-fair assessments to guide instruction
may help close the academic gaps precipitated
by poverty, lack of preschool experience, or
other factors.

29. Collaborative Approaches with Professionals
TIPS:
• Establish contact with professionals already
involved with the children in your inclusive
classroom.
• Identify professionals not yet in your network
who can contribute ways to assess the child’s
skills and abilities.

30. PROGRAM EVALUATION
Ongoing Evaluation of Program Effectiveness
Informal evaluation
3 key program indicators have proven reliable as
barometers for estimating the overall quality
of an early childhood programs:

31. • The education attainment of teachers is
associated with high-quality programs.
• Low child-to-staff ratios are likely to signal
effective programs.
• Low class size has been reported to have a
high correlation with quality programs.

32. Involving families in evaluation
Ask families to comment the following
major programs areas:
•Communication
•Satisfaction with programs strategies
•Child’s satisfaction with the program
Child’s progress in learning new skills.

33. End !!
Thank you!