Our guest speaker this week spoke on students with disabilities. As teachers we are required to follow the guidelines that students' IEP and 504 plan set up. However, these are some questions that I would like you to consider to think upon:
1)How much care do we give to students with special needs? Do we simply follow the IEP or do we go beyond the means based on what we as teachers "believe" is right for our student?
2) How do you, if you do, inform the other students within the class that their fellow peer is special needs? (Not only applying to those with educational needs, but physical and health wise also).
3)Do you attempt to make changes to the curriculum for students that have not been diagnosed/ gotten an IEP/504 plan?
I am also sharing the novel that Mrs. Young spoke about in the presentation which is
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida.
1. I think that with all students, teachers should aspire to go above and beyond. Of course we may be restricted by time (esp. if we have 25+ students in 4 or more classes...) or administrative constraints, but I guess for the most part we try. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "go beyond"--if it's guiding a student toward success by pressing a little harder, sure, but there may be problems ("It's not fair!") if we try to impose more accommodations than an IEP calls for. We don't want to hold students back by helping "too much" and not giving them any autonomy.
ReplyDeleteI realize that this response is kind of scattered, but.
2. "Everyone in this room is an individual and deserves to be treated fairly. But some people are starting at different starting lines than others. I want you all to know that some people may receive extra attention or extra accommodations, and that doesn't make the class any 'less fair' for you--it only makes it 'more fair' for them."
Oh and also educate students on what specific disorders actually are. I know that kids can be cruel, and if they don't understand what something like Autism is, they won't treat students who have it with understanding or fairness.
3. Yes, this is part of differentiation.
1) I think it's important to try and "go beyond" for every student, regardless of their needs. Every student is different and requires different things, even if they don't have an IEP, and I think it's out jobs as teachers to make the classroom and the lesson as accommodating as possible to everyone in order to faciliate a better learning environment and experience for them. In the case of IEP's, like Melanie said, we have to try, even if it's not possible to create the perfect situation for a student because of constraints, but it is important that we try.
ReplyDelete2) I think one of the most important things is to educate students on disabilities. Like Melanie said, people can be cruel when they don't understand something. Obviously this is important for any type of disability but I think educating is particularly important in terms of invisible disabilities that people can't see because then people have a tendency to act as if there is no disability simply because it isn't obvious on the outside. Aside from educating the students, it is important to get across the idea that, even though a student might need extra help or accommodations, everyone is equal and having a disability doesn't make anyone less than anyone else.
3) Absolutely. Just because someone doesn't have an IEP doesn't mean they don't need help. There are plenty of students whose parents don't want to classify them like that but the student still needs help. This is a part of differentiation and it's important that you try to accommodate for every student, regardless of whether they have an IEP or not.
1) Well, I work with students with IEPs currently, and when I started, I was completely befuddled. I felt completely unprepared to handle students with such needs and I was also so scared of screwing up and doing something totally wrong. I was also scared of losing my patience and giving up. To me, this job was a true test of my innate ability to be an educator. I've been on a learning curve ever since and everyday my wonderful supervisor, the classroom teacher I essentially work for/ with, is not only well-trained and incredibly well-suited for the job, but she's also very good at showing and teaching me the best approaches and strategies to use with her students. I've learned so much in the short time that I've been there and now I feel much more capable than when I started.
ReplyDeleteHow does this relate to my future career? Well, I think the fear and hesitancy I felt when I first started is the same fear and hesitancy every teacher in every subject and grade level feels when they first start out, no matter how well-trained and how well-prepared they begin the school year. It's an even greater fear and hesitancy when dealing with students with IEPs and 504s, I think, for many first-year teachers. But this job has given me a small stepping stone to overcome some of that initial fear and hesitancy.
Going back to the question, I don't actually get to see the IEPs of the students I work with, and my experiences are not a good rule of thumb to follow because I think other schools handle things differently than this one. What I do is that whether teacher go beyond what is required of them by the IEP depends very much on the district, the parent of the student, and what the IEP actually says. Some IEPs may allow for that kind of flexibility, others may not. Classroom teachers MUST follow the IEPs and if they think there's a need for different strategies with a particular student that's not allowed by their current IEP, then it is that teacher's prerogative to get in touch with the right people so those changes can be made. Melanie and Ashly both said that we as teachers must try, and I completely agree. I'm just saying that there is a certain way to go about it and teachers must be sure to go through all the right legal channels.
2) I'm definitely a proponent of being honest with students. In the case of 504s, it's usually obvious that the student requires accommodation and I would first speak with the student with a 504 and ask them if they would be comfortable speaking to his or her classmates about their particular situations. If they are comfortable with it, then a dialogue should certainly be opened. If they are not comfortable, then perhaps it is best to leave it alone until the student with the 504 feels comfortable enough to speak on it or until it comes up in class in a negative way that disrupts that day's lesson. Otherwise, it's usually not a good idea to speak about a student's situation to the rest of the class; you run the risk of making the other students treat or look at the student with a 504 differently.
ReplyDeleteWith IEPs, it's a little different. Depending on the type of IEP in question and depending on the age group of your class, it may be difficult to explain and students may not fully understand the situation. By bringing it up in class, you once again run the risk of excluding that particular student. The best approach, I think, is to tread with caution, gauge the maturity level of your class, and do everything in your power to make sure students with IEPs and 504s are included in as much as they are capable of; in other words, pair them with other students without IEPs and 504s during group work, include them in class discussions, talk about their work, their interests, and accomplishments when appropriate, give them ample opportunities with interact with all their classmates and to speak in front of the class, etc. It is, after all, called inclusion.
I think the best way to educate students on disabilities, especially if your IEP/ 504 students are not comfortable opening up to their classmates about it, is to include in your curriculum in some way. You can use literature to talk about themes of acceptance and themes of how to behave around people who seem different from others. You can always use literature with themes of bullying as a way to disguise a lesson on the proper way to behave around kids who are bullied because they're "strange" or "weird" or "not quite right." Use literature to talk about what's fair versus what's equal. Use literature, in other words, as avenues to have these discussions rather than using specific students.
3) Absolutely. Like Melanie said, that's part of differentiating. And it's especially important for those students who, like Ashly pointed out, don't have IEPs/504s when they do, in fact, need one.
1. I agree with Melanie and Ashley that going beyond is certainly required or needed skill as a teacher; to be able to assess what your student needs or how they need to learn. I feel as though that can be applied to any students, even those without IEPs
ReplyDelete