Within my school, I have a large percentage of SPED, ELL, and gifted children.  I understand that's quite unusual to have a high percentage of all three of those groups, but I teach in a very small country school close to the University.  A lot of the special population in the area comes to us because parents know we can serve their children well.

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That being said, there are various different ways the special pops in my school are being serviced.  Firstly, the SPED students are in an inclusion program.  There are two SPED students in our school who require Life Skills classes, but the remainder of the SPED students have at least an additional aid in the room to help with core classes, and in some circumstances, there is a certified teacher helping the student.  In all cases, the SPED student is able to have someone available to help better understand concepts when they need to be explained differently or more slowly.  This way, the teacher of the class can teach to the upper portion of the class as opposed to slowing down drastically to help the few struggling students at the bottom of the class.  The SPED student gets the help he or she needs without detracting from the rest of the class.

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Our ELL students are also given services by our ESL provider in a self-contained class.  This year, we only have one student in our self-contained ESL class.  The rest of the ELL population has either graduated or are being monitored in the mainstream classes.  Since we have such small groups that need self-contained classes at a time, we can concentrate on helping the kids that need the most help.

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Finally, our Gifted students are very well served with a vast array of extracurricular activities and a special Project Based Learning class through grade 8.  These students are allowed to reach high potential with the guidance of their teacher and learn leadership skills by helping other kids in their classes.