 Building an inclusive learning environment naturally comes with its fair set of challenges, some of which may be ongoing. Knowing what challenges lie ahead and planning for these obstacles help students and teachers avoid many of the frustrations that come with establishing inclusive environments. It is important to understand the common challenges that exist and learn how to find innovative solutions no matter what challenges arise. Some students may bring with them severe physical, cognitive, social or behavioral challenges. Individuals may overwhelm teachers at times and finding a balance to meet the needs of all students can be difficult. It is important to remember that meeting the needs of students within an inclusive learning environment does not rest with one person but rather with a group of people including teachers, parents, specialists and administrators who must work together to provide students with a proper support to meet their unique needs. I think you also need strong administration that is supportive. This is a process. We are continuing to evolve and get better and better and it's it is a big challenge to teach such a diverse classroom. You need administrators who say, I see what you're doing, I see what you're trying. It didn't work. This part didn't work. That's all right because everything isn't going to run smooth and there's going to be days and moments when you're pulling your hair out but it can be done. As we've evolved as it's gotten going this the success has been just it's been moving to see to see students who came into our school and said I hate school to now leading class conversations because they know how smart they are. Providing students with the tools they need to succeed often includes technology which can be unpredictable and uncooperative at times. Always having a backup plan is necessary when using technology with students. When the technology is not working the moment can be used as a learning opportunity for students to provide suggestions on how to best overcome the obstacle. Using technology in an inclusive learning environment if it's working is wonderful. We have found that as Laila mentioned earlier that sometimes programs are freezing or kids can't log on. That can be very frustrating so you do have to have a built-in plan of what if the technology isn't going to work as most teachers will always have a plan B anyway. You always have to have that going on. Technology does work. It's hugely successful but again that always having a backup lesson is a challenge but it's something that over time you get pretty used to how you can do that quite quickly. Being prepared and having lesson plans that incorporate multiple means of representation can be a challenge especially when first creating inclusive learning environments. Creating lesson plans with a teaching partner or teaching team can help alleviate a lot of this pressure. The other one to go with that are the lesson plans. Early on when you're first dealing with an integrated classroom you think you have a lesson plan ready for all the needs and then you go and you realize part way through the lesson it's not going the way you had envisioned it and that next time you remember okay I need to have more supports more modification for certain lessons and so the next time you do it then you'll you always have those experiences where oh that wasn't the best lesson that I maybe had half the class with me and the other half just I was running around trying to meet their needs one you know one-on-one or my team teacher and I and that shouldn't be like that it should be really the kids are independent as much as they possibly can be so when you can create a really great lesson it's smooth the kids are not putting up their hand every two seconds that they know how to use the technology they're given and they can follow the instructions that we've laid out for them so that's always a challenge is to establish those really great lessons regardless of the challenges faced within an inclusive learning environment teachers can learn to overcome any obstacle by being innovative in their approach to teaching it is important for all teachers to be flexible within an inclusive learning environment as situations can change suddenly depending on the dynamics of the day as teachers get to know their students better adjustments may be required to better meet their needs or to emphasize newly discovered strengths just an attitude change I think you need as a teacher to really be flexible I've heard I've heard people say before well it's not fair that they're someone's writing a different test and I think just applying that not just to L&L classes but to every class really do we all know everything at exactly the same time we all come to the understanding of a concept at the exact same time and are able to show it in the exact same way is is that fair I don't think it's fair to do it that way and it's letting go of sort of the some of the old-school methods that we had of doing things and being flexible giving kids more time giving them a different way maybe they don't write a test can't they just come and show you what they know through a conversation is is that not a good way to assess and just looking being flexible and able to let go of some of the ways you used to do things a teacher working in isolation will soon discover that it is impossible to meet the needs of every student alone teachers must work collaboratively with their teaching partners specialists administrators parents and community members in order to effectively provide the level of support that is needed to build an inclusive learning environment teachers who collaborate with their students may also discover innovative solutions that may not have previously been considered just that when you as a teacher are committed the kids can see that and I think that that's when you get really good results from them because they're more willing to work for you when they know what you've been doing for them and they know you care they know you care about them so there's if you have a vested interest it helps them to have a vested interest there's not that if they know that you're willing to try different ways to help them learn they don't give up so easily teachers must also be willing to take risks in their teaching practice and have the courage to try out new ideas testing different approaches with your students and having your students actively involved in the learning process can be a powerful experience for both teachers and students you know it really is about collaborative practice and it's it's about trying to set an environment where you're really are setting up the classroom design and the design of the student task to allow entry from all perspectives and all learning styles and all abilities and that just takes so much talk time it takes a lot of planning time and it's risky you're opening your classroom to other professionals you're working together and sometimes things might work out better than others and so sometimes things go wrong yes and so it's been a it's being able to kind of say well we started with this intent it maybe didn't work out perfectly but here's what we learned here's what we gained and and so here's how we're gonna try again and and that's that can be a really scary thing for a professional because again it is risky one of the the big things in terms of the commitment that it takes is willing to be a risk taker yourself and I really like to try and be authentic with the students and if I'm asking them to take risks if I'm asking them to push themselves to try new things to not be afraid to fail I also have to be willing to do that in my own practice and in my own conversations with them and it's far richer establishing inclusive learning environments takes time patience and understanding overcoming obstacles requires an awareness of the challenges that commonly arise within inclusive environments along with a willingness to explore innovative solutions flexibility collaboration and risk-taking are essential elements for any environment that strives to be inclusive of all learners