Pedagogical strategies to inspire teachers to teach all: How to change teachers’ perceptions about students from being a problem to having a problem

Abstract

This study juxtaposes W. E. B. Du Bois’s question raised in 1903, “How does it feel to be a problem?” to students who are deemed as a “problem” in classrooms today, using a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) lens incorporating social justice and equity awareness into perspectives on disability in particular and on education in general. Two separate but mutually enhancing research projects (one project with pre-service teachers and the other with in-service teachers) share pedagogical approaches to assist the participants in learning to perceive their students not as being a problem but as (sometimes) having a problem. Project 1 applies a DSE approach to teacher candidate coursework in (special) education, and Project 2 engages practicing teachers in professional development activities designing classroom Calming Corners. Results indicate that teachers can be empowered to create inclusive and equitable classrooms by providing them with a DSE lens and with tools such as the Calming Corners.