Literary Luminary:
1. "'You know, I could never do what you do. I am glad there are people in the world like you.'"
2. "It is further implied that a very special person is needed--preferably one with the zeal and sacrificial nature of a missionary--to work with disabled children, who present formidable and presumably undesirable challenges." (p.40)
**(1. & 2.) I haven't whole-heartedly disagreed with much that I have read so far but these passages certainly did me in. This book says that we shouldn't regard special educators as "set apart" and different, but I disagree. They have gifts that serve a population that learns in a different manner. It is the same way that a high school English teacher may regard a Kindergarten Teacher as a "very special person"--a Kindergarten teacher may not be a Special Educator but to that high school teacher boogers & tears are "formidable and undesirable challenges" that would certainly prove to get the best of her, but not the Kindergarten teacher. In the same way we regard a Neurosurgeon as someone special and set apart. By the definition the book is using I feel like they should be regarded as "just another Joe Shmoe" regardless of their abilities as a physician. I believe that different people have different abilities and different callings that lend them to functioning higher and doing better in certain areas and in certain capacities. Does this extend to teachers? Yes, I think it does. Why does one teacher excel at teaching math while the other excels at teaching reading? These different gifts and talents are some of the many reasons why I am a Physical Educator and not a classroom teacher.
3. "It is worth noting that Madelyn scored below her age level on the Vinelan Adaptive Behavior Scale--one of the social behavior measures that contributed to her newly acquired label of "mentally impaired." Had the previous scenario been a test of social competence, how many nine-year-olds could have negotiated it as successfully..." (p.51)
**(3.) What this passage does not reveal is that Madelyn has just politely and successfully finished asking an individual who is a bouncer by profession if he could find somewhere else to smoke. How many times do we assume that because a child doesn't fit the cookie-cutter idea of how they are supposed to act or function that clearly there must be something wrong with them. Madelyn scores on the behavioral scale that indicated she may not be competent in social interactions certainly did not keep her from approaching an adult and successfully navigating a social situation that would have had most adults ducking for cover.
Essence Extractor:
Inclusion requires us to "normalize" every learning style students require.
Rigorous Researcher:
Below is the way that Merriam-Webster defines the word "normal". There is a long list of all of the ways in which it is used but there are a few that pop out as being very relevant to how we as teachers use this word or comparison when we talk about the needs, requirements and abilities of our students.
Definition of NORMAL
1 : perpendicular to a tangent at a point of tangency
2
a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle
b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern
3: occurring naturally
4
a : of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development
5 of a solution
a : having a concentration of one gram equivalent of solute per liter
b : containing neither basic hydroxyl nor acid hydrogen
c : not associated
d : having a straight-chain structure
6 of a subgroup : having the property that every coset produced by operating on the left by a given element is equal to the coset produced by operating on the right by the same element
7 : relating to, involving, or being a normal curve or normal distribution
8 of a matrix : having the property of commutativity under multiplication by the transpose of the matrix each of whose elements is a conjugate complex number with respect to the corresponding element of the given matrix
I think that the definitions that have the most impact on us are definitions 2 a.&b. as well as 4 a.&b. Each of these are applicable to our teaching as we look at our students and discuss with peers and co-workers what "normal" age-appropriate activities or actions of our students are on their part.
Hi Ruthie-
ReplyDeleteI read your response to your 1st and 2nd quotes a few times before I decided to post my comment. I have a different perception of the roles teachers play each and every day. I believe that each teacher at times will be the Math teacher, the Reading teacher, the physical education teacher, the aide, the social studies teacher and so on. I believe that each child learns differently and has different interests, therefore teachers, no matter what their title, need to modify their instruction to the needs of the child. For example, I am not a occupational therapist but I incorporate the use of heavy stimulization in my speech therapy to assist the student with his needs. We throw the large orange, heavy ball to one another while using oral language to give him the tactile reinforcement he needs. I have also taken students to the gym to run, walk, jump etc while following verbal directions to given them the physical output they have needed to begin their day. You pointed out that special education teachers should be set apart. I disagree. We need to not be "set apart" but joined together and learn from each other to assist the students as a whole.
That last post was from me--- Andrea K (forgot to sign it.
ReplyDelete