Promoting
acceptance and social integration of children with disabilities in school,
communities & society is a rather large job. In the classroom the responsibility rests
with myself and my co-teacher. One way
that we tackle this challenge is by creating a safe, bully-free learning
environment. All of our students
understand that we care for them & embrace their differences. We do this by creating 4 different tiers of
learning within the classroom. The tiers
are designed to promote friendly socialization within the small group. The small groups are organized as small
independent work stations. The stations
rotate around the room from teacher stations, computers & independent
stations which includes work that has already been taught. By keeping our students consistently moving
every twenty minutes and collaboratively working together, we feel that social
skills strengthen. However, this
solution is NOT a magic pill. We deal
with many young children that have never been taught social skills at home like
we have. Many of our students are wards
of the state and have been shuffled through the system in a variety of
placements from birth. Therefore, mom
and dad were not present to be role models on how to socialize. My co-teacher and I often incorporate various
role-play scenarios, read alouds, and videos to address some of these social
needs.
After reading the
text about Jeremy & Gabrielle from Education for All, my heart broke
for the families in reference to the challenging differences that each family
faced that they faced. When the Dr.
uttered the words “Mongolism. Retarded. Incurable.
Institution (35)” in regards to Jeremy, it made me think about my
students, all of the ones that were handed over to the state because they were
born addicted to drugs & alcohol, or clearly had some type of physical or
mental disability. Fortunately our text
book did highlight loving parents that defied the odds and kept their boys at
home despite the social obstacles that they had to face. America is uneducated when it comes to
understanding and accepting characteristics out of the “ordinary”
I am a cheerleader
for my students when it comes to making them feel accepted. My goal is to model behavior that encourages
them to share journals in front of the class, work in groups on research,
testing a hypothesis in Science and feeling comfortable to speak freely and be
themselves without judgment. We encourage
and embrace all differences in our students and feel that we can all make a
difference one classroom, one parent, one student, one administrator at a time!
Chrissy what you are doing for the students in your classroom is very inspiring. You aren't just their cheerleader, teacher and role model. You are providing a warm, safe secure environment where they are learing to be loved and cared for. You are Leading the Team that many are for the first time a part of. Go Chrissy! Go Team! You are making a difference! PS. Any Pharmaceutical companys working on that "Magic Pill"?
ReplyDeleteWe also work on rotations in our school. The students travel from station to station for 20 minutes each. I had never experienced that until I came to MKS. I have seen over the years how it really benefits the students by placing them in small groups,they are up and moving (not having to sit for long periods of time, etc. We put more of a priority of grouping students based on positive social interactions. This really helps, but at the same time can be more difficult because you have multi-leveled groups. Its been 6 years that I have been working under this system and each year I feel that I get better at it;)
ReplyDeleteI think the use of role-playing is a great way to expose students to specific situations that they may have never been a part of or may not know how to react. Kids with disabilities need to work more on their social skills not because they necessarily may need it, but the fact that the rest of the community does not know what to do. Encouraging social skills with disabled is great in the classroom and being able to apply it in the real world.
ReplyDeleteSocial skills and anti-bullying programs are so important. I often think that students say things or pick on other students and they really do not see how hurtful that can be for any child. The role playing concept can be so fun for students and powerful as a learning tool.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the methods that you are using in your classroom to promote a comfortable learning environment for your students! It is amazing to hear that you and your co-teacher are united in coming up with such great ways to help your students learn social skills. One of the most important aspects of being able to help your students is having a solid team to create a plan of action. Having the support of your co-teachers is invaluable and helps to bring different ideas to the table. When you are on the same page with the rest of your team, you can help your students in a more effective way!
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