When the head of the University of Kentucky's Special Education Department could not identify who the special needs students were in Gwen Ferguson's classroom at Warner Elementary School in Nicholasville, it was a testament to the success of her total inclusion program. Mrs. Ferguson engages her students in challenging after-school and summer projects, such as the Jessamine County Bicentennial, in which students compared maps, visited local historical sites, interviewed local historians and used digital cameras to record their findings. They then compiled and captioned these images for a calendar and a Web site. Beyond the classroom, Mrs. Ferguson assists fellow educators in adapting their teaching practices to include special needs students.
1974 University of Kentucky, B.A.
