I've been reading a blog from Christine Southard recently. She is a special education teacher in NY and a very big advocate for inclusion of all students. In fact she currently co-teaches in a classroom with both general education students and special education students. This unique setting gives her a very interesting take on teaching. She participated in a internet Meme (sort of a thought that gets passed around) and I thought it would be interesting to share my feelings on the meme:
There are 3 things I believe about all students:
1. All students can learn
2. All students deserve the opportunity to communicate
3. All students are children first
As teachers, I believe it is our responsibility to help our students achieve these 3 things EVERYDAY.
I'm going to tag a couple of people to help continue this meme:
Jeanette Van Houten
Sam Sennott
Kate Ahern
Richard Byrne
Ricky Buchanan
Yuichi Tamano
Patrick
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Thanks for keeping this meme going @Patrick. Keep in touch.
ReplyDeleteI believe that all students deserve to be challenged appropriately in their learning - this means that things are presented at a level appropriate to the student whether that level is mastering cause/effect or a gifted 10 year old who is learning college-level math. Age is not what determines the level that people can learn at.
ReplyDeleteI believe all students can learn, change, grow, develop, and otherwise advance (and sometimes regress) and that this must be allowed for in the learning curriculum.
I believe all students deserve to learn in a way that best suits them and utilising the toolbelt that best aids them (Toolbelt theory a la Ira Socol). And that whether it's chalk-and-talk, reading books, listening to audio, getting out and doing stuff with their hands, or something else is more or less irrelevant to the end result. I was a kid who read incessantly and was lucky to be in the apparently small percent who actually prefer textbooks and lectures as a learning mode. I have three brothers with different manifestations of dyslexia and ADHD and most emphatically did not learn the way I did. They were only so successful at school because our parents spent a lot of time and energy making damm sure we got what we needed in terms of education - all of us have at least batchelor level degrees now, two of my brothers have more. This would absolutely not have been possible without the advocacy of our parents and their willingness to spend time, money, energy, and (I'm sure) a lot of grey hairs on our collective behalf - for which I am thankful. But not all kids have parents who can or will do this stuff for them, and those kids deserve it just as much as we did.
Wow. I guess I had more to say about that than I thought! My first reaction to being tagged was "I'm not a teacher or a parent or currently involved in education in any way, what right do I have to participate?" but I obviously have a lot of opinions on the topic!
ReplyDeleteAnd, when I think about it, I might not be involved in any formal learning instutitions but I sure as anything am still learning and growing every year. I learn a lot reading the blogs of so many teachers and AT professionals such as yourself, and for that I'm grateful. Thank you.