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The concept of inclusiveness encompasses more than just the integration of students with special needs into the general education setting. It involves modifying and reorienting access to the curriculum so that the learning experience encourages talent development that reinforces scholarly traits that are reflective of the needs, interests, abilities, and cultural backgrounds of the learners in the classroom. In this chapter, the authors overlay two instructional strategies for classroom teachers—scholarly traits and the talent development model—and articulate how they can reinforce the building blocks of a culturally mediated and inclusive learning environment that broadens access to the curriculum. The goal of this chapter is to model how research-based pedagogical strategies can be altered to intersect, tailored to reinforce, and reworked to be responsive using aspects of universal design for learning and culturally-mediated instructional practices to create inclusive learning experiences for all students.

A major myth of gifted education is the idea that gifted and advanced learners should already possess the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in rigorous learning experiences. This myth reinforces the underrepresentation of historically marginalized groups in gifted programs, as the institution does not value or recognize how they demonstrate knowledge. This chapter addresses that misconception by constructing differentiated learning experiences using students' home and community pedagogies. The Home and Community Connections Model authentically responds to the strengths, talents, and interests of each learner by purposefully designing classroom opportunities that value these areas. This chapter defines the prompts of the Home and Community Connections Model and demonstrates how they can be integrated into classroom instruction. The activation and recognition of potential through students' home and community assets create the access points for equitable educational experiences that challenge deficit-minded beliefs and misconceptions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled school districts into virtual instruction with little advanced planning or preparation. This chapter deconstructs the gaps in the virtual learning environment and provides pedagogical strategies for teachers to increase cognitive enrichment, engagement, and access. The shifts in pedagogy from in-person to virtual learning will be examined with concrete strategies to develop student-centered learning experiences in a virtual context. Emphasis will be placed on differentiation as a means to enrich and the art of questioning to engage students. Woven through enrichment and engagement, the student's cultural, familial, linguistic, and social capital are incorporated as assets, or cultural wealth, and used to facilitate equitable access. When combined, these three instructional strategies interrelate and reinforce rigorous cognitive instruction that is accessible for all students in the virtual classroom.

The need to create inclusive classrooms is well documented in the literature. The use of inclusive pedagogies as a means to respond to the needs of all learners is also well-established. Yet, the definition of “all learners” remains somewhat evasive and inequitable. Historically underserved and systemically marginalized learners continue to be left out of conversations regarding “all learners” in special and general education programs. This chapter examines how inclusive education strategies can be reoriented through a lens of culturally sustaining pedagogies. This chapter proposes a home and community connections model for constructing culturally authentic and sustaining classrooms that truly value the assets and interests of all learners. Classroom activities and examples are provided and serve as a framework for special and general educators to integrate these pedagogies into their own practice.