ABSTRACT
The author began her teaching career knowing that she wanted to teach inclusively. She needed to experience the physical, emotional, and intellectual work of inclusive teaching. She was amazed by all of the great literature that exists about inclusive schooling practices, and specifically, about designing authentic, multilevel instruction. The Whole School Consortium has documented five major tenets of schooling that the author believes teachers might consider in thinking about instruction. They are empower all citizens in a democracy; include all; teach and adapt for diversity; build community and support learning; and partner with families and the community. These guidelines involve integrating social issues with academic learning. Her second semester of student teaching, she was placed in a small, alternative school in a fourth-/fifth-grade classroom. This school, or learning in this school, was very much structured around project time, a time for children to explore materials, build models, and try to make sense of the world around them.
