Differences Between Inclusion First Grade and Special Education

I have had the opportunity to help in both an inclusion first grade class and a special education class. I can see huge differences in these two types of classes. First, the special education class that I am working in has kindergarten, first, and second graders. The wide range of grades makes it difficult for the teacher to teach. While in the special education class, the students do homework and class work that they did not have time to finish in their regular classroom. Every student works on something different. For instance, the kindergarteners might be on the carpet working on a puzzle that focuses on the alphabet, the first graders might be working on handwriting, and the second graders might be working on vocabulary. After the students are done with their assignments, they can read a book, draw a picture, or play educational games on the computer. Therefore, the entire classroom is utilized because each student is doing something different in a different part of the room. In my opinion, the special education class is more of a catch-up class then actual learning. The special education classroom is more hectic then the first grade classroom. Students continuously come and go. They start in their regular classrooms then go to the special education classroom for an hour. Next, they go to other specialties such as Speech and return to the special education classroom an hour later. Each student has a different schedule based on his/her needs. It is difficult to keep track of all of the students and know exactly where they are at all times.