To begin
this week’s post I must apologize for it being so late; it’s just been one of
those weeks! But I really want to start by saying how much I loved this article
and how impactful it was for me to read. The students and teachers in the
observations were so inspiring and rare; a few times throughout my read I
couldn’t help but praise these people. The teachers are so awesome and skilled
at what they do, and it’s great to know that there are people in the world like
them. So this week I decided to post a few quotes out of the many that I found
to be intriguing and thought provoking.
Quote 1: “Community acceptance requires
opportunity for individual participation in the group, but opportunity cannot
exist outside of community acceptance.” (pg. 75)
This statement caught my eye because
it states a reciprocity that many people, including me, do not necessarily
attribute to a classroom setting. This “human reciprocity” that the teacher
refers to is a pivotal point in the success of human interaction and is more
difficult to attain between people with disabilities. The children in the room,
whether they are said to have a disability or not, must accept another child
for what they’re worth and only then will they all have an opportunity to give
back in a positive way to their own community within the classroom.
Quote 2: “’So what…if you don’t fit exactly
what you’re supposed to? You know, it’s not like I fit many people’s idea of
what a teacher’s supposed to be like.’” (pg. 77)
This was by far one of my two
favorite parts of the whole reading. When the teacher from Shoshone said this, I
couldn’t help but think -- you go girl!! She knows that her students do not fit
the molds that others try to put them into, and she is more than okay with
this. She appreciates, accepts, and loves her students for who they are and
what they contribute to the classroom on a daily basis. She knows how to
trigger learning for each individual child in ways that best suit them, which
is more work than a run-of-the-mill teacher would dream to take on. She does
not fit the idea of what a teacher is supposed to be like because she is
someone nobody ever thought could exist! Needless to say, she’s basically a
role model for me.
Quote 3: “Instead, she saw incompetence as a
perception ascribed to a child by others who misunderstood the meaning of the
child’s performance.” (pg. 83)
Again, Shayne Robbins goes above and
beyond. She can understand how a child learns and works differently without
categorizing them as incapable. Many psychologists and medical professionals
would say that children with disabilities are worse off than they truly are
just because they, once again, did not fit a certain mold. This teacher can
recognize that just because a child arrives at a solution to any issue at hand
differently, that as long as they are contributing something valuable to their
environment, then they are worthwhile….something everybody should realize when
interacting with others…
Quote 4:“It’s not Lee you’re picking out. It’s
your stereotype, your mind-set. It’s you, and it has nothing to do with Lee.
But if that’s how you choose to see him, I don’t know that anything I could do,
we could do, I don’t think there’s anything Lee could do to change your mind.”
(pg. 84)
This was part two of my favorite
parts to the reading. The teacher working with Lee, a second grader with Down syndrome
could not have said this any better. She was talking about how if you looked at
all the children in the classroom and were told to pick out the one with the
disability, you would not pick out Lee right away. You would, however, pick him
out based on your preconceived stereotypes of people with Down syndrome. His
facial features and body language give away his disability, but his
capabilities and contributions make him more normal than ever. This quote hit
me hard and made me think of all the times I may have stereotyped others as
incapable, and how many times I was wrong for doing so.
Here are
some links to resources and advocates for children with special needs!
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