Citizenship in School: Re conceptualizing Down Syndrome
By: Christopher Kliewer
REFLECTION
I chose to reflect on this piece because I have learned more from this piece than any other article we have read. I want to become a special education teacher and reading this made me think about the many situations I will have to face inside the classroom and with other students and teachers. There will be students with many disabilities, besides Down Syndrome and I need to learn how to handle these students and teach them and inspire them in the classroom. There were many points brought up about the importance of spoken word and communication and these points reminded me of the Silence Dialogue article and how these students will never be understood unless they are heard somehow. Some of them cannot physically be understood but by observing them and watching what they enjoy to do, teachers are able to communicate with them in other ways besides oral words or listening to them speak. I am affected by this article because the teacher that incorporates Where The Wild Things Are into her lesson plan is really inspiring. She takes one interest of one student and uses it to follow many standards that are required for the children to learn; they are able to be artistic in the making of the play and they are able to practice their reading and writing skills in reading the story and writing a script for the play. It is so important to keep all the students happy and I think it is especially important to listen to those students who may not have a strong voice in the classroom, those with disabilities unlike the other students. I hope to work in a classroom with mainly special education students but learning how to work with special education students as well as not disabled students is equally as important.
Points to bring up in class: Throughout school there was a handful of students that I knew who were disabled for many reasons and they were put in mixed classes as well as classes where there were only disabled students. My questions are only for them because I would not be able to answer it. I really wonder what it is like to be in a classroom different than the ones I have grown to know. Some students had an aide with them all through school, others only had the aide for certain classes. How long are they able to have the aide? What did the aide do?
I have added a link describing that the number of babies born with down syndrome has actually decreased over the years.
http://www.downsyndromeprenataltesting.com/gone-150000-fewer-people-with-down-syndrome-in-the-u-s/
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Tracking: Why schools need to take another route
By: Jeannie Oakes
QUOTES
"Perhaps as important as student's access to knowledge are critical instructional conditions in their classrooms, that is, the quantity of time spent on learning and the quality of the teaching" (178).
This quote is relevant because as future teachers and educators we have to realize how important our job is, not just to us but to the students. It is our duty as teachers to lead these students to a successful future. This quote is mentioned in the section on Uneven Opportunities and I think it is crucial that we recognize the opportunities that we create for every child and how every child seems to have different opportunities depending on their abilities.
"Creating constructive alternatives to tracking presents technical as well as political problems. Despite promising research findings about heterogeneous grouping, little is likely to be accomplished by simply mixing students up. To be effective, alternatives will probably require fundamental" (179). This quote is relevant also to the fact that we will be teachers and educators and we have to adapt to the changes that occur all the time with the tracking systems and testing alternatives. Tracking as positive and negative affects and can lead to many issues as well as many successes, for the children and the system. I think tracking pressures students to do better but it also makes them feel too pressured and eventually they don't care where they stand. Personally I did not like having a rank in my class because it made me feel poorly if I were below.
"Some rules of thumb can help teachers judge whether the lessons they plan are likely to help students of all ability levels succeed" (180).
Another aspect of teaching that we will have to get accustomed to is creating lesson plans and making sure they work for all types of students. This is a difficult task because it is difficult to figure out what type of lessons work for every student and we have to adjust and accommodate to all the needs of the students. It is helpful to have a student teacher in the classroom at the same time so they can work with students individually on certain subjects that they have issues with.
Points to bring up in class: Although this article was mainly discussing the differences in abilities in students and how different classrooms and teachers accommodate many different students, I want to know the opinions of my classmates of how they plan on working in the system.
I have posted a video about a teacher assigning seats, what do you guys think about it?!
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/assign-classroom-seats
By: Jeannie Oakes
QUOTES
"Perhaps as important as student's access to knowledge are critical instructional conditions in their classrooms, that is, the quantity of time spent on learning and the quality of the teaching" (178).
This quote is relevant because as future teachers and educators we have to realize how important our job is, not just to us but to the students. It is our duty as teachers to lead these students to a successful future. This quote is mentioned in the section on Uneven Opportunities and I think it is crucial that we recognize the opportunities that we create for every child and how every child seems to have different opportunities depending on their abilities.
"Creating constructive alternatives to tracking presents technical as well as political problems. Despite promising research findings about heterogeneous grouping, little is likely to be accomplished by simply mixing students up. To be effective, alternatives will probably require fundamental" (179). This quote is relevant also to the fact that we will be teachers and educators and we have to adapt to the changes that occur all the time with the tracking systems and testing alternatives. Tracking as positive and negative affects and can lead to many issues as well as many successes, for the children and the system. I think tracking pressures students to do better but it also makes them feel too pressured and eventually they don't care where they stand. Personally I did not like having a rank in my class because it made me feel poorly if I were below.
"Some rules of thumb can help teachers judge whether the lessons they plan are likely to help students of all ability levels succeed" (180).
Another aspect of teaching that we will have to get accustomed to is creating lesson plans and making sure they work for all types of students. This is a difficult task because it is difficult to figure out what type of lessons work for every student and we have to adjust and accommodate to all the needs of the students. It is helpful to have a student teacher in the classroom at the same time so they can work with students individually on certain subjects that they have issues with.
Points to bring up in class: Although this article was mainly discussing the differences in abilities in students and how different classrooms and teachers accommodate many different students, I want to know the opinions of my classmates of how they plan on working in the system.
I have posted a video about a teacher assigning seats, what do you guys think about it?!
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/assign-classroom-seats
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Becoming Something Different: Learning from Esme
COLLEEN M. FAIRBANKS
PENNY MASON CROOKS
CONNECTIONS
After reading this piece I connected the points made to two previous pieces we read, Speaking the Unspeakable and Hunger of Memory. In Speaking the Unspeakable, there was a lot of discussion revolving around the difference between public and private spaces and how the two can be combined. In Becoming Something Different, Esme is struggling between the pressures in her home life and the pressures in her academic life. Although in Speaking the Unspeakable it is sexuality that is the main topic but I think the bigger picture of private and public spaces in everybody's daily lives is the most relevant point that is made and can be correlated with topics other than sexuality. In this case, the barrier is lack of communication between two languages. Esme constantly struggles with learning English in school and it is very difficult for her because at home her parents speak primarily Spanish. The pressure Esme feels from the school is to learn English in a certain amount of time and speak it proficiently or she is placed in special literacy classes clashes with the pressure she feels from her family at home who wants her to keep her heritage and not be like the other American children. When Esme reaches high school it becomes more evident that her parents are strict about their cultural ideas when her father does not allow her to have any boys over.
In the Hunger of Memory, Ricardo faced many of the same challenges that Esme did throughout their academic careers. He deals with the same conflicts of private and public space that Esme deals with because his family primarily speaks Spanish in their household as well. All three of these pieces deal with the differences between public and private spaces and the challenges that ELL students face in their homes and in schools. It is not only a lack of communication between two languages but lack of understanding between cultures.
Points to bring up in class: Does everybody face issues between private and public spaces? How is this a challenge? Sometimes issues at home can meld into the issues going on at school and children will miss school because of these issues but what is the big picture here. These children are not being taught equally and are being pressured by too many people.
COLLEEN M. FAIRBANKS
PENNY MASON CROOKS
CONNECTIONS
After reading this piece I connected the points made to two previous pieces we read, Speaking the Unspeakable and Hunger of Memory. In Speaking the Unspeakable, there was a lot of discussion revolving around the difference between public and private spaces and how the two can be combined. In Becoming Something Different, Esme is struggling between the pressures in her home life and the pressures in her academic life. Although in Speaking the Unspeakable it is sexuality that is the main topic but I think the bigger picture of private and public spaces in everybody's daily lives is the most relevant point that is made and can be correlated with topics other than sexuality. In this case, the barrier is lack of communication between two languages. Esme constantly struggles with learning English in school and it is very difficult for her because at home her parents speak primarily Spanish. The pressure Esme feels from the school is to learn English in a certain amount of time and speak it proficiently or she is placed in special literacy classes clashes with the pressure she feels from her family at home who wants her to keep her heritage and not be like the other American children. When Esme reaches high school it becomes more evident that her parents are strict about their cultural ideas when her father does not allow her to have any boys over.
In the Hunger of Memory, Ricardo faced many of the same challenges that Esme did throughout their academic careers. He deals with the same conflicts of private and public space that Esme deals with because his family primarily speaks Spanish in their household as well. All three of these pieces deal with the differences between public and private spaces and the challenges that ELL students face in their homes and in schools. It is not only a lack of communication between two languages but lack of understanding between cultures.
Points to bring up in class: Does everybody face issues between private and public spaces? How is this a challenge? Sometimes issues at home can meld into the issues going on at school and children will miss school because of these issues but what is the big picture here. These children are not being taught equally and are being pressured by too many people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)