Chapter 4: Innovative Teaching Methods For Young Children With and Without Disabilities

In our ever changing, fast-paced world, there is a need to provide students with an education that is real, relevant, and engaging. In order to achieve this, teachers must experiment with innovative teaching methods that are geared toward truly engaging students in the curriculum and providing them with opportunities to participate in authentic tasks. Although the goal of education has always focused on helping students to become productive members of society, students today are different from those in the past. For example, students today have access to information at their fingertips. As a result, current teaching methods must reflect societal changes, and move beyond rote memorization and “teaching to the test” of the past to providing students with real world problem solving skills. This chapter provides insight into how teachers at the elementary level can develop innovative teaching methods to teach diverse student populations—both students with and without disabilities.