Getting Habituated

It's hard to believe my first week of class is almost over. It has been a whirlwind and I'm surprised I'm still in one piece. Moving cross-country has all kinds of implications you wouldn't expect.

Every time I leave Portland, Oregon, I realize how much I identify with some key "Portland" values. Preserving the environment, respect, the willingness to evolve, and the focus on social justice are just a few such values. For better or worse, the injustice of the world will be thrown at me every day this Fall in the schools, and also on the streets when I see the complex homelessness problems Boston has. The history and diversity of Boston makes everything at least a couple layers deeper than what I've seen out West.

As much as the disparity between the wealthy and the poor upsets me and being constantly confronted with it confuses me on an existential level, I know that it will give me a sense of purpose this year. There are many problems my generation is faced with that are so big. Yet I am just one person and as cliche as it is, if I am dedicating a percentage of my time to solving problems that I care about, then I am doing my part and I can find meaning in enjoying my spare time in the city.

Getting to know my instructors and cohort is continuing to be an exciting and overwhelming process. I look around the classroom of 30 or so and I'm so excited to hear about each and everyone of these individuals and their stories. I can't believe how brave, or desperate (ha), all of us are to be in this program together.

Today in Inclusion we talked about more legal nitty gritty of special ed. Every time I hear Dr. G, I have more respect for her. I reserve a special sense of admiration for people who work with those with disabilities. I was touched by her stories today about easy and simple ways to include students with disabilities. She gave examples of how the JROTC could teach the special ed (or "Sped") kids to march, even if they couldn't do all the ropes courses or whatever that all the other kids could do. Then those kids could wear their JROTC uniforms on Tuesdays and they were so proud to wear them that there was better attendance those days. Dr. G talked about including kids on sports teams. On real sports teams, not just "special" teams. She spoke of a 6'5" autistic guy whose only job was to play a few minutes once in a while and run straight to the basket when "John" got the ball. So he'd keep anyone from catching it off the rebound. He felt so important, she said, and his whole family came out to see him at the games. It just really touched me that public school staff could be so aware and sensitive and considerate. There are simple things that don't take much that go a long way, just so those kids can feel "normal." Even if they don't understand "Beloved" the same way regular ed kids do, the fact that they have the same curriculum is so important. They can pull out their "Beloved" book at lunch and feel like the other kids. I just thought that was really...well, special, for lack of a better word.

Content Literacy was fun today. We moved around a little bit. We did an activity with our high school math sub-group where we talked about where reading and writing skills are applicable in math. It was hard to come up with examples the way history or science teachers might, but I'm glad we got to talk about it. Then we did this cool thing called "Journal Clubs." Each of us has to take turns presenting a relevant peer-reviewed article to a small group. Today's presenter, a Haitian-American, told us about an article on English Second Language Learners. We learned about how integrating these kids in with the fluent kids can be really helpful, especially if you pair a high content knowledge and low English ability student with a low content knowledge and fluent English ability student. Apparently this is an argument in Sped as well. It turns out that according to some research, "tracking" only makes it more difficult to teach struggling students. If you keep them together, it allows the kids who get the material more quickly to be teachers. And we all know that nothing drills something into your head like learning to teach it. I thought that was pretty interesting too.

I'm amazed at the members of my cohort so far. Two of the math teachers learned English as a second language. One worked in a rehab center where all the "trouble" kids went because they got kicked out of public school. These are really bright, motivated people and it's a diverse group, too. (A city with DIVERSITY, I just can't get over it!)

I think my biggest take-away today was, once again, realizing just how much I have to learn from my instructors. They are those people in a room you shut up and listen to because you know they are wise. And when someone's wise AND funny, it's definitely worth listening. :)

Dr. G gave us a lot of information about how to work with parents. Boy, is she a smart lady. She gave examples of how diffusing a situation can often lead to success. For example, if a parent is (G-d forbid) about to hit their child right in front of you, finding a way to ask the parent to talk to you for a second or finding some sort of excuse to just literally "diffuse" the situation by creating more space--for example, taking a step or two back if a parent is threatening you or getting in your face--is a simple way to improve the situation. There were so many pearls of wisdom like that today. I just hope I remember them later this year!

Today was a long day--I'm just trying to get in the habit of reflecting on my "teaching." Or for now--being in class! I'm still really excited about everything!