My First Reflection
Posted on January 30, 2008
I have been thinking a lot lately on how far special education has come. Growing up in suburban Connecticut and attending a small neighborhood schools, I can remember "that room" where "those kids" (students with intensive needs) were taught. I can remember wondering why they were in there and not with the rest of us kids. After all they were kids too. When I reached high school, I remember "those kids" were put into a room at the other end of the high school, pretty much out of sight of the rest of us. Seeing this really sparked my desire to be a special education teacher.
It is amazing how the times have changed. Today, by law, everyone has the right to access the least restrictive environment and be in the regular education classroom. I feel that overall the school I work in is very supportive of inclusion. Sometimes though, I question if they are truly being included. I feel that many times teachers do not really know how to modify the curriculum. Even after I have worked them to modify the necessary topics, they become frustrated. They feel that they have to get through a curriculum and that modifying takes to much time. As a result, these teachers seem burnt and in the end, as the special educator, I am given the responsibility for educating these students. When this happens, I feel that the idea of inclusion is lost and my best practices as a special educator are also endangered.
While reading the chapters and the other readings, the idea of student ownership kept popping into my head. Personal learning plans, I believe and maybe in a perfect world, should be implemented all through a student’s educational career. No matter what their abilities may be, students take charge of their learning; they are invested. Their teams are there to guide them on their way.
I think that overall, we as educators loose sight sometimes of why we went into education. It’s not for the curriculum or the paperwork but for the kids. We sometimes tell students and not listen. They really have excellent insight on what is going on around them; we just need to stop and listen.
Comments
I agree that modifying the curriculum is a tough issue for classroom teachers. There are an increasing number of demands on teachers, and sometimes the idea of differentiating gets left in the dust. State standards and standardized testing only make this issue tougher, because teachers are pushed to teach a standard curriculum. We need to advocate for the idea that teachers are responsible for the learning of ALL STUDENTS in their classrooms. We also need more time to effectively collaborate.
Posted by: Erin at January 31, 2008 8:54 AM
Rebecca:
I really agree with you when you say "we just need to stop and listen". That is great advise. We need to do that with kids and also with each other.
Thanks for the reminder
Tim
Posted by: Tim at February 4, 2008 8:03 PM
It is a tough thing for teachers to truly modify the curriculm for students with special education. it seems that we are at a crossroads where the experience of the teachers overlaps with pre IDEA and the progressive-ness of our thinking now about children with special needs. The generational differences are overlapping now--I also agree that it will be very interesting to see what special education and inclusion will look like 40 years from now. There will no longer we special education and every child will be on an individualized learning plans with all necessary modifications and accommodations fully funded by our very functional government! :)..ok ok. But it will look very different. I choose to look at the struggles I am dealing with as far as inclusion and differentiating instruction (what is REALLY is and what is REALLY looks like) as big contributions to what special ed will look like in the future. We are at a philosophical shift/crossroads.
Posted by: Cortney at February 4, 2008 9:31 PM