Jaime Castellano keeps his eyes on his audience as he recites an alphabet riddle:
I start with a “V” and end with a “T”
When I talk, there's something you cannot see
I can sound near; I can sound far
It takes a very good eye, from a woman or a guy
To know what I am
Can you tell?
Jaime Castellano
"I wish you could see the looks on your faces," Castellano told his workshop participants as they pondered the puzzle. "It's the same look you see on the faces of kids as they try to solve it."
Creating brainteasers and giving students a chance to express their mastery of the language, asking students to think creatively and divergently—these instructional strategies are often associated with gifted education, Castellano pointed out. In fact, a 5th grade student with learning disabilities wrote this riddle to describe his hobby—he's a ventriloquist. The riddle represents the kind of high-level thinking that can occur when teachers move toward "a model of inclusion that is rooted in acceleration and enrichment," Castellano asserted.
Castellano, who holds a master's degree in special education and who has "worked with every conceivable exceptionality that you can imagine," charged that expectations for students with special needs are too low. The reason? Many teachers aren't aware that "the instruction that should be occurring in the special education, inclusion classroom" can mirror the instruction that occurs in the general education and gifted classrooms, he said. The focus should be on helping students at any level exercise their higher-level thinking skills, he added. And, of course, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires a challenging curriculum for students with disabilities.
Differentiating instruction is the key, said Castellano. Children "come to us with strengths," and teachers can build on those strengths by providing a balance of enrichment and remediation activities. It's not easy, he conceded. "I still scratch my head trying to figure out what we need to do for these kids."
Castellano insisted that teachers need to keep asking: How can we move our inclusion program from mediocre to okay, from okay to good, from good to great, and from great to excellent? "This is the kind of dialogue that needs to exist," he said. "The hope is that, when we work with diverse groups of students, we are empowered to do what we can to meet the needs of those students. Isn't that what IDEA represents?"
Note: Castellano adapted his alphabet riddle activity after reading Alphabet Riddles by Susan Joyce, April 1998, Columbus, NC: Peel Productions.