I definitely picked up a theme in today's classes. Things ain't what they used to be. Thankfully, the realm of education is a rapidly evolving world. I think teachers were saying things like that to me when I was in gradeschool. "We don't teach like they used to." It's only natural. It's crazy to think just how many ground-breaking changes have occurred in my lifetime like the internet and the prevalent use of cell phones.
When I was born, Autism was a new thing. Now, that generation of discovered autistic kids are maturing to adulthood, so Dr. G says. These kids are turning 19 and 20 and we have no idea what to do with them. I think it's really interesting too that this is a "newer" disease. Is it really just "new" or is it like depression in the way that it occurred for a long time but never had a name or was talked about? Maybe I'll find out when the group researching Autism presents.
In "Inclusion" we talked about how elite public schools don't know what to do with their autistic students. There are 3 public schools in Boston you have to test into and they are very competitive. Children with Asberger's can often do very well in school but struggle with social cues in ways that would disrupt a classroom. So these kids test into the school and all of a sudden they're just there in these competitive schools. Some of these schools have been around for 50 or even 200 years because it's New England and it's Boston. One thing I have learned about this place is that history runs deep. History is an overpowering force when it comes to so many things--mainly politics and governance and how it effects life out here. And people just feel set in their ways and traditions. The default of doing things as they have been done is often easier than change. Which I find funny in a place they call the "Athens of the US," with all these educational institutions. Such an interesting blend.
So Dr. G talked about how these schools are having to change their culture and their approach to working with kids. These kids with Asberger's need accommodations like there haven't been before. Even if there were intelligent and successful blind and deaf people in such competitive high schools, they would be given the same "sink or swim" treatment as everyone else. Yet, with student's with Asberger's, they are physically unable to do things we think of as within their control. Say, for example, a student with Asberger's has to walk along a certain line of floor pattern to get out the door. If a bully steps in front of them on the line, that student with Asberger's literally *cannot* move around the bully. They are physically incapable of it. They need those routines and they need those idiosyncracies. After all, the brain commands the body, and the brains of people with Asberger's are clearly just different from ours. I think this is really important to understand because I could see how people would expect that person with Asberger's to adjust or treat them with scorn, cynicism, or going all control freak. The good news is we now have more information about the disease and its symptoms and can therefore understand and accommodate such individuals.
I am also learning that Boston is not such a P.C. place. It is incredibly diverse. There is that whole liberal culture here, yes. But there is also the mean grit of the city and it is full of all different types. I have to admit, I am actually shocked and sometimes appalled by what my classmates sometimes say about disabilities. I think it's important to question accommodations and modifications we make for those with disabilities because the proof is in the pudding. Historically, when we first started making accommodations for students with disabilities, the pendulum swung the other way and suddenly things were better for kids with disabilities than they were for regular ed students and that's not fair either. So that balance is important and it's important to question. But it's also a sensitive topic. And I guess I just feel like I was raised with an understanding that some people are different. Some people have handicaps. Some people are gay. Some people are just weird. And they all have a place in society. I could go even further, but I'll stop there. These concepts I thought were commonplace, like making accommodations for people with disabilities and making sure they aren't being bullied (even if they don't realize they are being bullied, because some kids with these disorders don't) are things that are questionable to some of my peers. And I guess I should start accepting it. I probably had a really good education and exposure to how to treat people with disabilities and from all my work with mentoring and based on my nurturing approach I think that maintaining peace in the classroom and making sure everyone feels safe is just a no-brainer. And while members of my cohort would probably agree on those last two points, the "how" may differ. I once heard a mom say that new moms often think there's only one right way to do things and they don't realize there can be more than one way. I imagine the same could be true for teaching. Rather than judging my peers, I hope to see the questioning as healthy and understand that I may sometimes disagree with others' teaching methods but there is also more than one way.
In "Content Literacy" we also discussed how teaching has become more dynamic than it used to be. Teachers put more effort into making things interesting and engaging for the kids. Activities are designed so that kids have 3-dimensional interactions with the text, like bringing in celery if celery is mentioned in the story to pass around so everyone can feel it. You're getting tactile senses involved. There's modeling metacognition so students can learn about the reading process from you. There's pre-reading activities so that kids learn about words they may struggle with before they even struggle with them. There's post-reading activities that are creative. It's crazy. And yet it makes so much sense. The kind of reading strategies we are learning about weave the classroom into this sort of web where no one gets left behind and no one falls between the cracks. Or at least, struggling readers are identified early on so that they can receive the help that they need. I think it's really cool. I just hope to come up with ways it can be used for math.
I feel my confidence level increasing--in terms of walking into Dorchester and teaching kids in the Fall. I feel confident because we're all doing this together and it's started to boost me a little bit. It's nice to get to know other math interns at my high school. I'm beginning to see their strengths and get to know their personalities. I think we're all starting to get a little excited for the Fall.
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