Preparing pre‐service teachers for inclusive classrooms: revising lesson‐planning expectations

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of a lesson‐planning template designed to support and scaffold pre‐service teachers’ lesson‐planning techniques for a wide range of learners in inclusive classrooms. This template is currently used across the final three semesters of a dual certification inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation programme. This article reports on an empirical study using a mixed methodology that addresses the following question: How do pre‐service teachers, university faculty, supervising teachers and field supervisors perceive their experiences using this template? Addressing that question led to revising the original template. This article concludes with that revised lesson‐planning template.

Keywords:

• inclusive classrooms
• lesson planning
• pre‐service teachers
• teacher preparation
• universal design