ABSTRACT

Student teaching must be understood as one of the most challenging experiences in one's entire teaching career. A major challenge throughout student teaching is finding what roles teacher can play in this borrowed classroom. In an effort to contribute to increasing the inclusion of students in the New York City Schools, each year the author invited the elementary education master's students who were interested in inclusion to join a discussion/study group that met across both semesters of student teaching. Concurrently, they were placed in inclusive classrooms in various New York City public schools. New York City was about 15" behind its neighboring districts in regard to teacher salaries. New York City has a two-tiered special education system. The 32 Community School Districts that are spread across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island provide special education services to students formally labeled with the term Moderate Intervention Services (MIS).