I recently heard it said that "one size fits one," from a colleague.  The statement struck me as truthful, yet demanding as a teacher working in an inclusive classroom.  In order to successfully deliver a "one size fits one" instruction, I must not only incorporate best practices for individualized instruction, but also foster an environment where relationships can grow authentically with, and between, each and every student.  The combination of these two aspects - individualized instruction and relationships - gives the "one size fits one" statement a much more practical application for myself as a teacher in the day-to-day lives of very different students.  

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I recently worked with a student with exceptionalities - I will refer to the student as Allison.  Allison presented challenges to me as I tried to implement instruction.  Some of these challenges came from the other students in the class, while other challenges came from the students themselves, and still other challenges came from me personally in relying on my own background knowledge and teaching practice.  

The other students in the class all formed different relationships with Allison, who was more successful in academic settings with highly structured routines and reliable expectations.  In group work, it was challenging to be able to incorporate a student-led approach to problem solving because Allison could not always anticipate other students’ comments, actions and ideas.  When other students would offer alternate methods of approaching a group problem, Allison would at times become angry and verbally reject the idea with a personal criticism directed towards another student.  Sometimes the group would be able to change their communication approach and the discussion continued, but sometimes this was not the outcome.  There were many times where an argument between students became passionate and prevented productive work from happening.  It was important for me to be able to develop all students in three domains - content knowledge, social-emotional learning, and personal development as an individual - while I grew in my ability to teach and learn alongside the students in the class.  The more we are challenged in our learning and as individuals, the greater we are able to overcome; learning becomes limitless.  Without these struggles, we are not able to grow in ways which make the content meaningful.  

All students, including me, were able to expand our understanding of the content and the world around us, the community around us and ourselves through these experiences.  Allison was an equal and valuable contributor to everything we did in the classroom.  I struggled as a teacher trying to understand how to approach instruction, how to balance the demands of the curriculum and how to maintain integrity in the education of all the students for that lesson.  However, those struggles really enriched the learning.  Without all experiences, the classroom and content becomes less authentic and meaningful.  Without inclusion, the classroom would become more and more limited in its ability to really explore who we are and what we can learn.

No child is the same.  No group of children are the same and all things in our world are constantly evolving as we grow too.  Reflecting on my own practice, this means that exceptionalities among and within children are as dynamic as the diversity around and within us.