...appears to be climate control. In New York City, my classrooms were generally incredibly hot in the winter. Yes, the winter. The heaters would be extremely overactive to the point that I would wear short sleeve shirts when it was the dead of winter. Conversely, if you were unlucky your classroom would not be used during summer school so you wouldn't have an air conditioner which meant you would be crammed into a tiny classroom with 30+ students in 90+ degree weather. If you were lucky, you'd have an air conditioner that hummed so loud you never got that quiet, everyone at work feeling going and everyone froze because they were a bit too powerful. Additionally, the students always argued over whether it should be on or off. Good times!
Now, 3000 miles across the country, I have a feeling of kinship with my NYC pedagogical sisters and brothers. When I got into my classroom at 7:45 this morning, I was greeted with blasting air conditioning. A quick weather check on the computer reveals it being 33 degrees out this morning. It's parent-teacher conferences here so I'm now writing at 7:22 PM having spent more time in my classroom today than I do in most weeks (due to the fact that I only have 3 conferences scheduled today and I spend most school days all over the building- not just in my room). When the principal dropped by he was pretty incredulous. The heating and cooling is controlled at a central building which is not open at 7:30 at night. So I've got my fleece on (thanks, Dad!) and my winter hat and my hands are freezing. Unreal!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Transitions
My four 8th grades will move on to the high school next year. This worries me because the high school is 3 times bigger than our middle school. Also, the behavior program staff is the same size but the case load is 100-150% larger. Not good! So we've been talking a lot about what we can do to get our students ready for this transition and honestly, there are times when I feel like the answer is: not much.
I think the high school here is simply not designed for students with difficult behavior. Each guidance counselor has a case load of 200 students or more, with one social worker, one mental health worker and, as I said before, just the one behavior specialist and two assistants. Not exactly a lot of support. In contrast, my 8th graders go to all of their academic classes with an assistant and come to me for another class. The only time they're really on their own is in PE and their elective. I wonder whether the level of service they're getting here is actually a disservice in some ways. But we're able to prevent all manner of trouble they would get into otherwise and generally avoid a 'middle school as hell' experience. How could I justify pulling back?
We are starting to work on what we can do to get them ready to move on to high school and this includes regular visits to the high school combined with a social skills class in which we're working exclusively on how to make and keep friends - this is on top of the study hall they have with me every day. Finally, we're going to practice talking to adults for things like passing in work, asking for forms and requesting help. I'm hoping that between these three things they can start to function a little bit more independently. I worry that it's too soon to expect them to do this because maybe they're just not there developmentally. We'll see.
My students are clearly nervous about this transition as well because they joke about us getting jobs at the high school next year. But at the same time my repeated pleading for more initiative on their parts has gone unheeded- not that I should find that surprising - planning for the future is not something you come to expect from impoverished and emotionally disturbed students. I don't want to imagine a future in which all the work we've been doing with these students doesn't translate into some form of high school success but the reality is that by this time next year they may have given up already.
Though I'm not the most important person in this equation I do have to balance not becoming desensitized to the reality of the situation that many student with behavior-related needs drop out of high school while at the same time not allowing that possible future derail my present day work. I don't think there's a way to avoid this post being a bit of a downer except perhaps to note that my 8th grade students have really made some tremendous growth over the years. We just have to hope that it's been enough.
I think the high school here is simply not designed for students with difficult behavior. Each guidance counselor has a case load of 200 students or more, with one social worker, one mental health worker and, as I said before, just the one behavior specialist and two assistants. Not exactly a lot of support. In contrast, my 8th graders go to all of their academic classes with an assistant and come to me for another class. The only time they're really on their own is in PE and their elective. I wonder whether the level of service they're getting here is actually a disservice in some ways. But we're able to prevent all manner of trouble they would get into otherwise and generally avoid a 'middle school as hell' experience. How could I justify pulling back?
We are starting to work on what we can do to get them ready to move on to high school and this includes regular visits to the high school combined with a social skills class in which we're working exclusively on how to make and keep friends - this is on top of the study hall they have with me every day. Finally, we're going to practice talking to adults for things like passing in work, asking for forms and requesting help. I'm hoping that between these three things they can start to function a little bit more independently. I worry that it's too soon to expect them to do this because maybe they're just not there developmentally. We'll see.
My students are clearly nervous about this transition as well because they joke about us getting jobs at the high school next year. But at the same time my repeated pleading for more initiative on their parts has gone unheeded- not that I should find that surprising - planning for the future is not something you come to expect from impoverished and emotionally disturbed students. I don't want to imagine a future in which all the work we've been doing with these students doesn't translate into some form of high school success but the reality is that by this time next year they may have given up already.
Though I'm not the most important person in this equation I do have to balance not becoming desensitized to the reality of the situation that many student with behavior-related needs drop out of high school while at the same time not allowing that possible future derail my present day work. I don't think there's a way to avoid this post being a bit of a downer except perhaps to note that my 8th grade students have really made some tremendous growth over the years. We just have to hope that it's been enough.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Redesign the redesign
The first year I taught in Oregon was the first year my school switched to an inclusive model for their middle school behavior programs. Previously, it was a self contained model in which the students spent all day in the same special ed class. The redesign has been working well at my school. However, there are some strains in the system due to the set up of general ed here. There are 6 academic teams, 2 at every grade level (6th-8th). Generally, students with IEPs are spread out evenly over the teams to avoid ability grouping and over-burdening a teacher with a group of really needy students. That works well for most students with disabilities because their case managers only work with 2 teams each. However, my students are spread out evenly too which means I have students on 6 different teams. This makes delivering service difficult, as you can imagine.
I met with the principal today to discuss a new design for the behavior program for next year. Since there are 3 staff members in the behavior program (myself and two assistants) and 3 grade levels, I proposed that we group the students onto three teams only and that each of us work almost exclusively with one team. That way we could attend all of the classes our students go to as well as well as all of the team meetings and we could even help teachers prepare for classes by planning curricula that is inclusive. Furthermore, we can move to a co-teaching model so that we're not just standing around in the classes we support waiting for someone to need help. We can be an active participant in the teaching.
I know what the teachers are going to say - we don't want all of the behavior students in our classes, we want them spread out. I hope they see the benefit of having another adult with them at all times. I'm guessing that this gets shot down though.
I met with the principal today to discuss a new design for the behavior program for next year. Since there are 3 staff members in the behavior program (myself and two assistants) and 3 grade levels, I proposed that we group the students onto three teams only and that each of us work almost exclusively with one team. That way we could attend all of the classes our students go to as well as well as all of the team meetings and we could even help teachers prepare for classes by planning curricula that is inclusive. Furthermore, we can move to a co-teaching model so that we're not just standing around in the classes we support waiting for someone to need help. We can be an active participant in the teaching.
I know what the teachers are going to say - we don't want all of the behavior students in our classes, we want them spread out. I hope they see the benefit of having another adult with them at all times. I'm guessing that this gets shot down though.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Racing to Know You
When we get a new student we often have to race to get to know the student before she can shoot herself in the foot too many times. Case in point, my new student, Easy E, started in right away with behavior that's going to get him in hot water. Not only was he disruptive in class but he immediately alienated the kids around him. Double whammy. Easy E came to us having done almost no work last year and having been suspended repeatedly. He's a nice enough kid and quite interesting to talk to but he has no idea how to talk to other kids. He got into a fight at the bus stop the other day that was pretty serious and wound up with a 5 day suspension (to be fair, he thought fighting at the bus stop would mean he wouldn't get in trouble - nice try Easy E). We're starting to figure out what his needs are but he's not making it easy. We're racing to figure him out before he makes enemies with all of his classmates and teachers. Hopefully we win and he does OK here. If we lose, it's a rough year for all of us.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a series of books by Rick Riordan that I've been reading. Actually, I've been reading the first book out loud to an English class I attend to support one of my students. It's a pretty fun book about a kid who lives in NYC and keeps getting kicked out of schools because his ADHD and dyslexia get him into trouble. Then he finds out he's the son of a Greek god. In the world of this book the Greek gods are now in the US because they follow the height of Western Civilization around (which should put them in Sweden, I would think). For instance, you can access Mount Olympus by going to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building and Hades by going to a Los Angeles night club. It's a pretty smart book with some good insider jokes.
The disability connection is that Percy's dyslexia is due to the fact that he is supposed to be reading ancient Greek instead of modern English. His ADHD is blamed on the fact that he's supposed to be out on the battle field, not in a classroom. Since there are many, many demi-gods in the world of the book who are similarly diagnosed the implication is that all kids with ADHD and/or dyslexia may be the offspring of a god.
That's a pretty cool twist for an author to add in. If you're a kid struggling to read it's probably nice to imagine that you're really supposed to be fighting the minotaur rather than getting sent to the principal again. This take on disability misses the point though. Kids with a disability won't be cured and they're not going away. They're here to stay just like they are. What's slightly disturbing is that there's a way in which this book fantasizes their disappearance- though with a positive twist. The reality is that there are kids who can't sit still for long or struggle with reading and they still count as humans. So while it's fun to think of a "last shall be first" world like the one presented here, it's better yet to imagine a world in which atypical kids are are accepted for who they are.
That said, I'm 2/3's of the way through the 2nd book and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
The disability connection is that Percy's dyslexia is due to the fact that he is supposed to be reading ancient Greek instead of modern English. His ADHD is blamed on the fact that he's supposed to be out on the battle field, not in a classroom. Since there are many, many demi-gods in the world of the book who are similarly diagnosed the implication is that all kids with ADHD and/or dyslexia may be the offspring of a god.
That's a pretty cool twist for an author to add in. If you're a kid struggling to read it's probably nice to imagine that you're really supposed to be fighting the minotaur rather than getting sent to the principal again. This take on disability misses the point though. Kids with a disability won't be cured and they're not going away. They're here to stay just like they are. What's slightly disturbing is that there's a way in which this book fantasizes their disappearance- though with a positive twist. The reality is that there are kids who can't sit still for long or struggle with reading and they still count as humans. So while it's fun to think of a "last shall be first" world like the one presented here, it's better yet to imagine a world in which atypical kids are are accepted for who they are.
That said, I'm 2/3's of the way through the 2nd book and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The End of the World (this week)
Let's Ride Bikes was bummed today. He's not allowed to see his only friend for a while because they were hitting each other. I guess the story is that one of them stayed over the other one's house and the parent didn't like what she saw. So the parents on both sides decided they should take a break from each other. Of course, for these two, it seems like the end of the world. Let's Ride Bikes said to me, "If I don't have any friends, what's the point of coming to school?" True, true.
I set up a meeting with their guidance counselor so that they can talk about how to be friends without getting in trouble- which is going to be really difficult for Let's Ride Bikes. This is something that he, and several of my students, struggle with. Most of us pick up how to get along with folks from social cues but these guys need direct instruction and practice with role playing in order to understand what they should do to make and keep friends.
A tiny ray of sunshine seeped in when I told Let's Ride Bikes about the meeting with his guidance counselor and friend. But for now, he's a very sad boy.
I set up a meeting with their guidance counselor so that they can talk about how to be friends without getting in trouble- which is going to be really difficult for Let's Ride Bikes. This is something that he, and several of my students, struggle with. Most of us pick up how to get along with folks from social cues but these guys need direct instruction and practice with role playing in order to understand what they should do to make and keep friends.
A tiny ray of sunshine seeped in when I told Let's Ride Bikes about the meeting with his guidance counselor and friend. But for now, he's a very sad boy.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Damn You Creativity! Damn You!
I love, love teaching middle school. What a perfect age...
Headache is a student of mine who is aptly describe as "unmotivated". He lies and lies about the work that he has done at home, in his locker, already passed in, etc, etc. Also, his nom d'blog comes from how he pretends to have migraines in order to get out of work- usually math class. (Funny how headaches and pre-algebra seem to occur at the same time...) But of course, he's motivated by what he's interested in. To wit, he has created a coded alphabet with each letter being represented by a symbol he created. He hand-copied and passed out code keys to all of his friends and they've been furiously sending notes to each other. This is a student who can't be bothered to write out the words "I don't know" instead abbreviating it as IDK when he's trying to fill in the lines of a worksheet he hasn't bothered to look at closely enough to figure out that he does actually know what to do.
Today, my trusty assistant, Wrestler, got his hands on a code key and made the fact known to Headache. Headache then announced to the class to stop using the current code because he was going to make a new one. How great is that?
Right before we left for the day, Wrestler was uncrumpling a piece of paper he picked up off the floor and noticed it was a coded message. He whipped out his trusty decoder and went to work. The message read: Asshole, you got me in trouble.
Did I mention I love middle school?
Headache is a student of mine who is aptly describe as "unmotivated". He lies and lies about the work that he has done at home, in his locker, already passed in, etc, etc. Also, his nom d'blog comes from how he pretends to have migraines in order to get out of work- usually math class. (Funny how headaches and pre-algebra seem to occur at the same time...) But of course, he's motivated by what he's interested in. To wit, he has created a coded alphabet with each letter being represented by a symbol he created. He hand-copied and passed out code keys to all of his friends and they've been furiously sending notes to each other. This is a student who can't be bothered to write out the words "I don't know" instead abbreviating it as IDK when he's trying to fill in the lines of a worksheet he hasn't bothered to look at closely enough to figure out that he does actually know what to do.
Today, my trusty assistant, Wrestler, got his hands on a code key and made the fact known to Headache. Headache then announced to the class to stop using the current code because he was going to make a new one. How great is that?
Right before we left for the day, Wrestler was uncrumpling a piece of paper he picked up off the floor and noticed it was a coded message. He whipped out his trusty decoder and went to work. The message read: Asshole, you got me in trouble.
Did I mention I love middle school?
Thursday, October 11, 2007
File Under: Hard to Believe Yet True
Students who receive special education services have an IEP (indivdualized education plan). This is supposed to be written by a team consisting of a general ed teacher, a special ed teacher, a representative from the district who can allocate resources, any related service providers (like OT or PT), a parent/guardian and the student. The IEP lasts for one year.
Below is a list of things that are supposed to happen at an annual IEP meeting:
Here's the what we did at a recent IEP I was invited to for a student who attends one of my self-management classes:
Here's why this is bad. The IEP is the cornerstone of the special ed law (IDEIA). IEPs can be very useful documents in ensuring a student with a disability receives a free and appropriate public education. The idea behing the IEP is that a group of people will craft a plan that will best serve the student. The fact that you have to have a meeting every year and there are mandatory participants is supposed to ensure that no single person is determining what is best for someone else's kid while they're at school. This case manager circumvented this by taking advantage of an ignorant teacher, parent and assistant principal.
I want to complain here that I have to do something about this now and I'm really not looking forward to it. But I know that it's not really about me, right? If it was about me I'd write that if I don't say anything then I have to live with myself knowing that I'm that guy who is in a position to call someone out on their disservice to kids but I didn't. So I will. But because it's not about me I'll just note that I'll do something in order to make it more likely that this kid will get what he deserves.
Below is a list of things that are supposed to happen at an annual IEP meeting:
- Review of the students' present levels of academics and behavior including test scores, grades, recent evaluations, etc.
- Review whether the student met the goals on the previous IEP
- Writing of new goals for the year
- Determination of type and amount of service the student requires
- Deciding what sort of state testing is to be done
- Deciding whether and how much the student will be removed from general ed classes and why
- Deciding which program the student will be placed in
- Signing the IEP by all parties
Here's the what we did at a recent IEP I was invited to for a student who attends one of my self-management classes:
- Review of present levels- grades, and a couple of informal evaluations only
- Signing the IEP
Here's why this is bad. The IEP is the cornerstone of the special ed law (IDEIA). IEPs can be very useful documents in ensuring a student with a disability receives a free and appropriate public education. The idea behing the IEP is that a group of people will craft a plan that will best serve the student. The fact that you have to have a meeting every year and there are mandatory participants is supposed to ensure that no single person is determining what is best for someone else's kid while they're at school. This case manager circumvented this by taking advantage of an ignorant teacher, parent and assistant principal.
I want to complain here that I have to do something about this now and I'm really not looking forward to it. But I know that it's not really about me, right? If it was about me I'd write that if I don't say anything then I have to live with myself knowing that I'm that guy who is in a position to call someone out on their disservice to kids but I didn't. So I will. But because it's not about me I'll just note that I'll do something in order to make it more likely that this kid will get what he deserves.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Don't Believe the Hype
Students with a history of behavior problems seem to be preceded by a great deal of hype. Previous case managers and teachers often report an extensive list of difficult and out of control behaviors and folks on the receiving end always seem to believe it. I'm trying to remember to disregard these histrionics.
For example, I've gotten two new students in the past couple of weeks with extensive case histories that include residential settings with extreme behavior. They are fine: no behavior incidents so far. A change in environment coupled with whatever progress they made in their previous setting can often spell success. We're talk about case histories which means stuff that happened in the past.
More examples: at the end of last year a 5th grade student with some behavior issues was brought to our attention and his future case manager was all in a tizzy about him. He was supposed to be so difficult and so needy and clearly a candidate for the behavior program or even outside placement. This continued for the first two weeks of this school year with stories about his outrageous antics whenever the new case manager could get someone to listen. However, the other day she told me in passing, "I've got him under control." [Note: Though I object to the language and idea of controlling students, I appreciate that the case manager felt like she was able to work with the student successfully.] It's like he was never on the radar screen.
Now this same case manager is bringing me in to consult on two more students. The first of which clearly has some unmet needs but is very likable and fun. The case manager has already given up on him as beyond reach. The kid loves playing saxophone in the school band. This is not an unreachable, hardened kid. The other student is transferring here from another district. His old teachers are calling us daily with reports of how difficult and needy this new student is going to be...
And he could be. I don't want to suggest that none of the students coming my way are not significantly needy or that their case histories are irrelevant. What seems to worry folks is that these students could potentially demonstrate that they need help by acting out immediately. They might not wait for us as we learn about them. And this makes some folks make conclusions about just what kind of student they're working with - the kind they can't work with. Most of the time though, in my experience, if you can get keep moving forward with learning about a student and then work toward meeting the student's needs, the difficult behavior will decrease. It does take patience on everyone's part and it helps to remember that most students don't live up to the hype that precedes them.
For example, I've gotten two new students in the past couple of weeks with extensive case histories that include residential settings with extreme behavior. They are fine: no behavior incidents so far. A change in environment coupled with whatever progress they made in their previous setting can often spell success. We're talk about case histories which means stuff that happened in the past.
More examples: at the end of last year a 5th grade student with some behavior issues was brought to our attention and his future case manager was all in a tizzy about him. He was supposed to be so difficult and so needy and clearly a candidate for the behavior program or even outside placement. This continued for the first two weeks of this school year with stories about his outrageous antics whenever the new case manager could get someone to listen. However, the other day she told me in passing, "I've got him under control." [Note: Though I object to the language and idea of controlling students, I appreciate that the case manager felt like she was able to work with the student successfully.] It's like he was never on the radar screen.
Now this same case manager is bringing me in to consult on two more students. The first of which clearly has some unmet needs but is very likable and fun. The case manager has already given up on him as beyond reach. The kid loves playing saxophone in the school band. This is not an unreachable, hardened kid. The other student is transferring here from another district. His old teachers are calling us daily with reports of how difficult and needy this new student is going to be...
And he could be. I don't want to suggest that none of the students coming my way are not significantly needy or that their case histories are irrelevant. What seems to worry folks is that these students could potentially demonstrate that they need help by acting out immediately. They might not wait for us as we learn about them. And this makes some folks make conclusions about just what kind of student they're working with - the kind they can't work with. Most of the time though, in my experience, if you can get keep moving forward with learning about a student and then work toward meeting the student's needs, the difficult behavior will decrease. It does take patience on everyone's part and it helps to remember that most students don't live up to the hype that precedes them.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Dependence
This past week the three adults who work in this program - I'm including myself here - went to a training on working with students with difficult behavior. It's a good training led by a guy who knows what's up. However, it occurred to me that our students have become far too dependent on us. Generally, with my returning students, there are few behavior issues of note. But while we were gone, some of them regressed to pre-us behavior. This not good but not because they're supposed to behave dammit! but because, obviously, we're not always going to be around. In fact, the most dependent students are the ones that are going to high school next year where they won't be able to access nearly the same level of support as they do here because the high school program - and specifically the guy who runs it - sucks.
So the other day we made a T chart of all the things that went well yesterday and all the things that didn't go well. Then the students took turns coming to the board and circling in green what would have happened if we had been here and circling in red what wouldn't happened. And we talked about that for a bit. Then we listed a bunch of ways they're currently counting on us in order for them to be successful. The list had items like, "remind me to stay on-task," "tell me to get to class on time," "get me started on my homework," etc. Each student then chose one item that he thought he could begin trying to do alone. So, among others, I'm expecting Headache to turn in his own work and RB to attempt his homework without prompting. We'll see.
Monday I'm out again to learn about changes in the IEP and how to write IEPs that are compliant with the district's interpretation of the state's interpretation of the federal department of education's updated interpretation of IDEIA 2004. I expect that Tuesday we'll do the T chart. Today I will remind them of what happened and what they can do to avoid it happening again.
The worst thing I can think of is making these students overly dependent on help because not only will they most likely fail in its sudden absence but they'll also feel abandoned. Moving toward greater independence is going to be a major theme this year.
So the other day we made a T chart of all the things that went well yesterday and all the things that didn't go well. Then the students took turns coming to the board and circling in green what would have happened if we had been here and circling in red what wouldn't happened. And we talked about that for a bit. Then we listed a bunch of ways they're currently counting on us in order for them to be successful. The list had items like, "remind me to stay on-task," "tell me to get to class on time," "get me started on my homework," etc. Each student then chose one item that he thought he could begin trying to do alone. So, among others, I'm expecting Headache to turn in his own work and RB to attempt his homework without prompting. We'll see.
Monday I'm out again to learn about changes in the IEP and how to write IEPs that are compliant with the district's interpretation of the state's interpretation of the federal department of education's updated interpretation of IDEIA 2004. I expect that Tuesday we'll do the T chart. Today I will remind them of what happened and what they can do to avoid it happening again.
The worst thing I can think of is making these students overly dependent on help because not only will they most likely fail in its sudden absence but they'll also feel abandoned. Moving toward greater independence is going to be a major theme this year.
Monday, September 24, 2007
That sound you hear, that's my heart breaking
Twice today. First, at a training on how to make sure we don't get sued I ran into the dude who does my job at the high school. He was telling me about my students who are now his students. He tells me that Z might already be "lost". He was absent all last week. Z has extreme anxiety and zero people skills but is so fun and interesting. I knew high school was going to be tough for him especially given that the first thing the aforementioned "teacher" does is inform his class that half of them won't graduate. Z is going to be a mechanic as an adult and make way more money than me if he can survive high school with some hope intact. Now I have to contact the social worker up there, give Z a call, get some teachers here to call him and try to brainstorm some other ideas for how to keep him in school. If that kid drops out, the fault rests with me in part.
Second, I get back to my school from the training and am informed by my sub that Fake Gangsta's family is being evicted and they have to move this weekend. This kid, whom his teachers said didn't belong in this school, who totally baffled me for 3 months last year, who required a gigantic investment of time on the part of the staff in my program and who we used to hope would be absent every once in a while to give us a break went on to win the most improved student award for his team. He started this year having avoided regressing behaviorally and with an attitude towards school success that I never would have guessed would come from him. This is the poster child for inclusive behavior programs. If that kid moves, I seriously might cry.
Second, I get back to my school from the training and am informed by my sub that Fake Gangsta's family is being evicted and they have to move this weekend. This kid, whom his teachers said didn't belong in this school, who totally baffled me for 3 months last year, who required a gigantic investment of time on the part of the staff in my program and who we used to hope would be absent every once in a while to give us a break went on to win the most improved student award for his team. He started this year having avoided regressing behaviorally and with an attitude towards school success that I never would have guessed would come from him. This is the poster child for inclusive behavior programs. If that kid moves, I seriously might cry.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Starting Stats: 8-1+1+1
Before starting the school year there were 8 students on my caseload. One student moved out of district which brought the caseload down to 7. (And the circumstances for her move are tragic: she was placed in temporary foster care that had been ongoing for some time. That placement was the only stable living situation she had known. Her foster mother had been ill for quite some time though and passed away over the summer. She's now living in a group home. This is not a girl who should not have been subjected to one more iota of trauma for the rest of her life.)
One student refuses to attend school (School Much?) and is placed on out-of-school tutoring. So there were 6 students attending the school in my program as of week 1. I have a new student who started today who is originally "from Africa" his therapist tells me- Africa being the most diverse place on the planet and larger than it appears on our US-centric maps, it was disappointing to hear all Africans get lumped in together...but I suppose that's a blog for another time.
Another new student starts next week. Short on details at this point. So, here are the players in our great drama (some of whom you may recognize from last year):
Math Major
Head Ache
Let's Ride Bikes!
Miss Popularity
Fake Gangsta (formerly C)
Trains! (formerly RB)
School Much?
Virgil
New student- as yet without a blog name
w/ Interrupt & Wrestler as assistants and me as myself.
Stay tuned for the further adventures of me and "the bad kids".
One student refuses to attend school (School Much?) and is placed on out-of-school tutoring. So there were 6 students attending the school in my program as of week 1. I have a new student who started today who is originally "from Africa" his therapist tells me- Africa being the most diverse place on the planet and larger than it appears on our US-centric maps, it was disappointing to hear all Africans get lumped in together...but I suppose that's a blog for another time.
Another new student starts next week. Short on details at this point. So, here are the players in our great drama (some of whom you may recognize from last year):
Math Major
Head Ache
Let's Ride Bikes!
Miss Popularity
Fake Gangsta (formerly C)
Trains! (formerly RB)
School Much?
Virgil
New student- as yet without a blog name
w/ Interrupt & Wrestler as assistants and me as myself.
Stay tuned for the further adventures of me and "the bad kids".
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The R Word
Some of my otherwise brilliant friends use the word retarded as a pejorative. Many of my students do the same. A couple of years ago I tried to figure out a way to get folks to stop saying it. I first decided to reply to, "That's retarded" with, "Like my brother?" The problem being that I don't have a brother who identifies as retarded - in fact, I don't have a brother at all - and using, "Like my sister?" would have felt weird since I do, in fact, have sisters. I also thought being disingenuous was probably not the best approach. So I've started using, "Like my students?" That worked for a little while because I did teach a weekly literacy class with students identified as mentally retarded when I was teaching in NYC. Now that I'm a special education teacher out in Oregon, I don't actually work with students labeled mentally retarded. I've still been saying, "Like my students?" though because it's easier than saying, "I really wish you wouldn't use that word because it's offensive." Of course, the latter doesn't ruin anyone's day whereas a few times I've dropped "Like my students?" on someone I didn't know well and it really bummed them out and made me seem like a jerk. I don't mind coming across as a jerk for a good cause but I think it was mostly counterproductive. So I may be forced to be all mature about it rather than snarky.
Of course, none of this works with my students who say the R word all the time. They also say, "That's gay" constantly. However, given that my students have a host of problems I generally don't make an issue out of their use of either of these words as epithets. There are bigger (tofu) fish to fry, as it were.
I think I should point out that being literally retarded - slower or delayed when compared to the average - is mostly irrelevant much like being black or gay. But when we say, "That's retarded" or "That's gay" when we mean "That's really dumb" or "That's really uncool" there is no difference from saying "That's black" to mean someone about being really athletic but prone to crime and poor in academics or saying you're going to Jew someone down in order to get a better purchase price for something. So using those words as insults is insulting the millions of people who use those same words to describe themselves. You dig?
Of course, none of this works with my students who say the R word all the time. They also say, "That's gay" constantly. However, given that my students have a host of problems I generally don't make an issue out of their use of either of these words as epithets. There are bigger (tofu) fish to fry, as it were.
I think I should point out that being literally retarded - slower or delayed when compared to the average - is mostly irrelevant much like being black or gay. But when we say, "That's retarded" or "That's gay" when we mean "That's really dumb" or "That's really uncool" there is no difference from saying "That's black" to mean someone about being really athletic but prone to crime and poor in academics or saying you're going to Jew someone down in order to get a better purchase price for something. So using those words as insults is insulting the millions of people who use those same words to describe themselves. You dig?
Friday, August 31, 2007
Jerry Lewis Renounces Telethon, Cripples MDA
This post is part of a group effort.
Jerry Lewis, comedian, actor and longtime fund raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), held a press conference today too apologize for years of insulting people with disabilities during his MDA telethon. The long-running telethon has been criticized for years by the disability community for portraying people with disabilities as pathetic and half human. Today Lewis apologized for what he termed, "My enduring ignorance and insensitivity to people with disabilities. I want to stand up and be counted among the enlightened." When asked about the sudden change of heart, Lewis said that, "I was blind but now I can see." Additionally, he regretted the years of "turning a deaf ear and a blind eye" to the disability community's protests.
Lewis has decided to start a new telethon that will work with disability activists to raise money for organizations deemed worthy by the disability community rather than himself- a non-disabled person. Lewis commented, "It's time I took a stand alongside all of my wheel-chair using and otherwise disabled friends to fight against the medical model of disability." He added he "had been paralyzed with fear for years" by the possibility of becoming disabled but has come to realize that disability is natural. Additionally he noted that he looked forward to "opening the ears" of the non-disabled to community to his new understanding of disability.
Lewis said will omit any use of disability simulations on his telethon because many people with disabilities object to them on the grounds that one cannot simulate disability anymore than one can simulate being black or gay. Instead Lewis pledges to show videos such as "Talk" by the Disability Rights Commission in the United Kingdom which portrays the discrimination faced by people with disabilities in social situations such as dining out, professional ones such as applying for a new job and even within metropolitan infrastructure such as inaccessible public transit.
The MDA responded to Lewis' press conference by issuing the following statement: "Wanted: One famous person to run a telethon in order to raise money for a group of people by insulting them in order to pursue ends they largely do not support. Qualifications: Know little to nothing about disability but have a great many opinions about it. Position open immediately."
Lewis directed his final words during the press conference to the people he has offended in the past with his telethon: "No longer will I portray people with disabilities as pathetic because that's a really retarded thing to do. It's crazy to think that disability is anything other than a social construction. I know that may leave some of you speechless but I believe that all of us normal people will come to see the light and stop being so lame."
Jerry Lewis, comedian, actor and longtime fund raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), held a press conference today too apologize for years of insulting people with disabilities during his MDA telethon. The long-running telethon has been criticized for years by the disability community for portraying people with disabilities as pathetic and half human. Today Lewis apologized for what he termed, "My enduring ignorance and insensitivity to people with disabilities. I want to stand up and be counted among the enlightened." When asked about the sudden change of heart, Lewis said that, "I was blind but now I can see." Additionally, he regretted the years of "turning a deaf ear and a blind eye" to the disability community's protests.
Lewis has decided to start a new telethon that will work with disability activists to raise money for organizations deemed worthy by the disability community rather than himself- a non-disabled person. Lewis commented, "It's time I took a stand alongside all of my wheel-chair using and otherwise disabled friends to fight against the medical model of disability." He added he "had been paralyzed with fear for years" by the possibility of becoming disabled but has come to realize that disability is natural. Additionally he noted that he looked forward to "opening the ears" of the non-disabled to community to his new understanding of disability.
Lewis said will omit any use of disability simulations on his telethon because many people with disabilities object to them on the grounds that one cannot simulate disability anymore than one can simulate being black or gay. Instead Lewis pledges to show videos such as "Talk" by the Disability Rights Commission in the United Kingdom which portrays the discrimination faced by people with disabilities in social situations such as dining out, professional ones such as applying for a new job and even within metropolitan infrastructure such as inaccessible public transit.
The MDA responded to Lewis' press conference by issuing the following statement: "Wanted: One famous person to run a telethon in order to raise money for a group of people by insulting them in order to pursue ends they largely do not support. Qualifications: Know little to nothing about disability but have a great many opinions about it. Position open immediately."
Lewis directed his final words during the press conference to the people he has offended in the past with his telethon: "No longer will I portray people with disabilities as pathetic because that's a really retarded thing to do. It's crazy to think that disability is anything other than a social construction. I know that may leave some of you speechless but I believe that all of us normal people will come to see the light and stop being so lame."
New School Year
As it stands I have 7 students on my caseload to begin the year with one student most likely beginning the year on tutoring - which means he won't attend my school. All of the students are returning students, none of whom are particularly difficult. I have one new educational assistant that seems like she's going to be pretty good and one returning assistant who, if God existed, would be God's gift to me.
I've also been selected to mentor a couple of teachers in my district who do my job at other schools. These are folks who are not new to teaching but new to the district and, I think, new to working with kids in a behavior program. It's quite possible that they have a good deal more experience than me in teaching and almost certain that they've got more special education experience since this is only my second year. My selection as their mentor speaks more to the fact that the pickings are slim for people returning to the job in the district.
There are two new assistant principals at my school this year since one of ours retired and the other was hired as a principal elsewhere. One of the new APs is new to administration and the other is a veteran. Seems like this is going to be OK too.
There are close to 20 new staff members at my school (out of 60) so there are a lot of new faces. My school is supposedly the toughest school in the district- which means most diverse really - so we had a lot of turnover.
I've got things pretty much together at this point. I'm enjoying my last non-contract week day (holidays aside) until June.
This will be my eighth year teaching. Here we go.
I've also been selected to mentor a couple of teachers in my district who do my job at other schools. These are folks who are not new to teaching but new to the district and, I think, new to working with kids in a behavior program. It's quite possible that they have a good deal more experience than me in teaching and almost certain that they've got more special education experience since this is only my second year. My selection as their mentor speaks more to the fact that the pickings are slim for people returning to the job in the district.
There are two new assistant principals at my school this year since one of ours retired and the other was hired as a principal elsewhere. One of the new APs is new to administration and the other is a veteran. Seems like this is going to be OK too.
There are close to 20 new staff members at my school (out of 60) so there are a lot of new faces. My school is supposedly the toughest school in the district- which means most diverse really - so we had a lot of turnover.
I've got things pretty much together at this point. I'm enjoying my last non-contract week day (holidays aside) until June.
This will be my eighth year teaching. Here we go.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Gilliam does disability wrong
(Note: The following bit of writing contains spoilers regarding the movie Tideland)
Terry Gilliam, a director who has made a slew of great movies, including Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, also wrote and directed Tideland which I just got around to seeing this past week. The movie was largely panned due to its graphic content - though I found it approximately as controversial as Sesame Street.
I did however find its treatment of disability disappointing. The movie ends with Dickens, a person with a developmental disability, blowing up a passenger train that runs near his house using dynamite he stole from a construction site that he had been holding on to in order to do just this deed- which, according to the film, is because Dickens doesn't understand what he's doing. Not only has he most likely killed dozens of people, he too seems to die in the explosion. I'd like to do a little unpacking of two points.
1) The implicit message is that people with developmental disabilities are a threat to the (so-called) non-disabled world. This is a classic in film and literature (see, for instance, Of Mice and Men) and is the exact opposite of reality. The non-disabled world daily visits horrors upon people with disabilities and generally seeks a world devoid of "them". But film and literature would have you believe the opposite - that the disabled world seeks the destruction of the non-disabled world (see, for instance, The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Personally, plots to kill the able-bodied world by someone with a disability is not something I spend much time worrying about. It's disappointing that Gilliam would subject his audience to such malarkey.
It is the case that Dickens is in need of help. We could blame him for making errors in reasoning except that we know that his reasoning is atypical which makes those around him complicit in his acts. We could blame his sister, who is his caretaker, but she appears to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the death of their mother and disappearance of her lover. As always, we need to look at the lack of social services available to the majority of people with (and without) disabilities in this, the richest country in the world. We can, for example, give billions of dollars in "aid" to Israel and Saudi Arabia (and in this case "aid" means "weapons to kill people with") but we can't get a respite care worker to aid Dickens and his sister.
2) That Dickens dies implies that he simply cannot live in this "able-bodied" world. There is no place for him in the world that Gilliam shows us in Tideland. Again, this is a common theme that goes something like, "The safest thing for 'us' and the best thing for him is that he should die so he can never hurt anyone else." (Again, see Of Mice and Men for another "fine" example of this.) Gilliam, and the rest of us, should at very least become reconciled to the fact that the difference we label as disability has always existed and always will. We may be able to kill "them" off in film and literature (and we may attempt to do so in real life- see, for instance, the Nazis) but "they" are here to stay. When we accept that we might be able to start figuring out how exactly "we" are going to have a society that considers "them" as more than an after thought we'll be getting somewhere.
Terry Gilliam, a director who has made a slew of great movies, including Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, also wrote and directed Tideland which I just got around to seeing this past week. The movie was largely panned due to its graphic content - though I found it approximately as controversial as Sesame Street.
I did however find its treatment of disability disappointing. The movie ends with Dickens, a person with a developmental disability, blowing up a passenger train that runs near his house using dynamite he stole from a construction site that he had been holding on to in order to do just this deed- which, according to the film, is because Dickens doesn't understand what he's doing. Not only has he most likely killed dozens of people, he too seems to die in the explosion. I'd like to do a little unpacking of two points.
1) The implicit message is that people with developmental disabilities are a threat to the (so-called) non-disabled world. This is a classic in film and literature (see, for instance, Of Mice and Men) and is the exact opposite of reality. The non-disabled world daily visits horrors upon people with disabilities and generally seeks a world devoid of "them". But film and literature would have you believe the opposite - that the disabled world seeks the destruction of the non-disabled world (see, for instance, The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Personally, plots to kill the able-bodied world by someone with a disability is not something I spend much time worrying about. It's disappointing that Gilliam would subject his audience to such malarkey.
It is the case that Dickens is in need of help. We could blame him for making errors in reasoning except that we know that his reasoning is atypical which makes those around him complicit in his acts. We could blame his sister, who is his caretaker, but she appears to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the death of their mother and disappearance of her lover. As always, we need to look at the lack of social services available to the majority of people with (and without) disabilities in this, the richest country in the world. We can, for example, give billions of dollars in "aid" to Israel and Saudi Arabia (and in this case "aid" means "weapons to kill people with") but we can't get a respite care worker to aid Dickens and his sister.
2) That Dickens dies implies that he simply cannot live in this "able-bodied" world. There is no place for him in the world that Gilliam shows us in Tideland. Again, this is a common theme that goes something like, "The safest thing for 'us' and the best thing for him is that he should die so he can never hurt anyone else." (Again, see Of Mice and Men for another "fine" example of this.) Gilliam, and the rest of us, should at very least become reconciled to the fact that the difference we label as disability has always existed and always will. We may be able to kill "them" off in film and literature (and we may attempt to do so in real life- see, for instance, the Nazis) but "they" are here to stay. When we accept that we might be able to start figuring out how exactly "we" are going to have a society that considers "them" as more than an after thought we'll be getting somewhere.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Audience in Performance
When I started playing music in middle and high school I was playing in bands that wanted to "rock" the audience. The music was designed to be audience friendly- though of course, we found it fun to play as well.
In college, when I started to play more difficult music (as in, difficult to listen to), I dismissed the audience as irrelevant. This was useful because when you play difficult music you can't count on an audience to respond positively to what you're doing so convincing yourself that you don't care what they think and that you're playing the music solely for your enjoyment is a practical defense mechanism. Though the music I played at the time was intensely personal in many ways and it was satisfying to play it in rehearsal with my band mates and we could even play shows to no one and still have fun, it was still obviously a lie that the audience was irrelevant.
Now that I play improvised music that is, by definition, different every night, I've started to rethink my ideas about audience. In improvised music, unlike in structured music, the audience can truly change the performance. For instance, if you're playing a structured song and you see that people are enjoying it- singing along, dancing, etc - then you might get excited and play your part more intensely or jump around but the music itself doesn't change much because it's preplanned. However, if you're making it up as you go along, as we do in my bands, and the audience (if we're lucky enough to have one) is visibly or audibly excited, it can literally change the music by affecting the decisions we make about what to play as we're playing. Case in point: when we played a punk show in Salt Lake City, we weren't sure if any one there was going to enjoy it. Five minutes into the first piece people in the audience were yelling encouragement and had their fists up in the air like they would if a punk band was playing. That's a shot of confidence that has to affect to music.
Furthermore, when we play different venues we have a lot of options for how to present the music. For instance, when we play a gallery show, we can assume the audience will probably have more patience and we can take advantage of that by allowing the music to develop more slowly. If we're playing a punk show, we generally plan to present our most intense and chaotic side more quickly. If you have a set of songs you play each night, you don't really have the ability to do this.
The reason I've been rethinking the role of audience is because I don't know whether it's a good thing to consider audience or to allow yourself to be affected by them in performance. Does it make it less honest? Or is it just a lie to attempt to ignore audience? How do we acknowledge the role of audience while still playing music that is true to ourselves?
In college, when I started to play more difficult music (as in, difficult to listen to), I dismissed the audience as irrelevant. This was useful because when you play difficult music you can't count on an audience to respond positively to what you're doing so convincing yourself that you don't care what they think and that you're playing the music solely for your enjoyment is a practical defense mechanism. Though the music I played at the time was intensely personal in many ways and it was satisfying to play it in rehearsal with my band mates and we could even play shows to no one and still have fun, it was still obviously a lie that the audience was irrelevant.
Now that I play improvised music that is, by definition, different every night, I've started to rethink my ideas about audience. In improvised music, unlike in structured music, the audience can truly change the performance. For instance, if you're playing a structured song and you see that people are enjoying it- singing along, dancing, etc - then you might get excited and play your part more intensely or jump around but the music itself doesn't change much because it's preplanned. However, if you're making it up as you go along, as we do in my bands, and the audience (if we're lucky enough to have one) is visibly or audibly excited, it can literally change the music by affecting the decisions we make about what to play as we're playing. Case in point: when we played a punk show in Salt Lake City, we weren't sure if any one there was going to enjoy it. Five minutes into the first piece people in the audience were yelling encouragement and had their fists up in the air like they would if a punk band was playing. That's a shot of confidence that has to affect to music.
Furthermore, when we play different venues we have a lot of options for how to present the music. For instance, when we play a gallery show, we can assume the audience will probably have more patience and we can take advantage of that by allowing the music to develop more slowly. If we're playing a punk show, we generally plan to present our most intense and chaotic side more quickly. If you have a set of songs you play each night, you don't really have the ability to do this.
The reason I've been rethinking the role of audience is because I don't know whether it's a good thing to consider audience or to allow yourself to be affected by them in performance. Does it make it less honest? Or is it just a lie to attempt to ignore audience? How do we acknowledge the role of audience while still playing music that is true to ourselves?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Inclusive classrooom set up
An inclusive classroom set up should be uncrowded. I mean this in a few ways:
1) Students, regardless of whether they are typically mobile or use wheelchairs or other assistive devices, should be able to get around the whole classroom easily. The reality is that it's not always possible to do this because most schools were not built with inclusion in mind. We can do our best with what we've got by removing any furniture that isn't directly useful to our students. This means that if space is tight we toss our bulky teacher's desk and cabinets of materials that only we use. We make the aisles wide and try to create some open spaces when possible. Again, the reality is that most of us teach in classes that are too small for the number of students we have and as teachers we hate to get rid of anything. However, it's imperative that we do what we can in order to make it possible for all students to attend and be included in our classes.
Another word about why this is important: We've all felt like so much cattle in a pen when we've been squeezed into a tiny space with a large number of people. This is insulting just about whenever it occurs but extremely so when it's in an educational setting. Overcrowding in schools sends a terrible message to our students about the value of their education. Furthermore, when students with emotional and/or behavioral issues are added in, we have to assume difficult behavior will be the result. And it would be unfair to entirely blame a student for acting out in this situation.
2) Though hanging up posters and charts is very important, it's also important that it is clear to all students where they should be focusing their attention. I like hanging up charts to remind students of what we've been working on and as references for them. However, too many make it so that some students just block them out entirely as they home in on the salient information while other students who find it difficult to determine saliency (students with learning disabilites, ADHD, etc) lose their focus. Aside from being careful with packing our classrooms with furniture, we must be careful of packing our classrooms with visual stimuli.
3) Much has been written about the arrangement of desks in a classroom- whether all desks should be in rows or cooperative groups and whether the classroom should be arranged so as to clearly channel attention toward the front where, presumably, the teacher is standing or so that students are facing each other. In my experience it's important to pick a method and stick with it so that students are not wondering/worrying about where they will be sitting as they're walking to your classroom. Being able to balance students' needs for accessing other students at times while being able to work privately at other times is important and being able to make the transition between the two predictable and smooth will help many students shed their anxiety over seating.
As with all planning, we must considering that any student, not just the typical ones, may come to our classrooms and it will be our responsibility to include them to the full extent possible.
1) Students, regardless of whether they are typically mobile or use wheelchairs or other assistive devices, should be able to get around the whole classroom easily. The reality is that it's not always possible to do this because most schools were not built with inclusion in mind. We can do our best with what we've got by removing any furniture that isn't directly useful to our students. This means that if space is tight we toss our bulky teacher's desk and cabinets of materials that only we use. We make the aisles wide and try to create some open spaces when possible. Again, the reality is that most of us teach in classes that are too small for the number of students we have and as teachers we hate to get rid of anything. However, it's imperative that we do what we can in order to make it possible for all students to attend and be included in our classes.
Another word about why this is important: We've all felt like so much cattle in a pen when we've been squeezed into a tiny space with a large number of people. This is insulting just about whenever it occurs but extremely so when it's in an educational setting. Overcrowding in schools sends a terrible message to our students about the value of their education. Furthermore, when students with emotional and/or behavioral issues are added in, we have to assume difficult behavior will be the result. And it would be unfair to entirely blame a student for acting out in this situation.
2) Though hanging up posters and charts is very important, it's also important that it is clear to all students where they should be focusing their attention. I like hanging up charts to remind students of what we've been working on and as references for them. However, too many make it so that some students just block them out entirely as they home in on the salient information while other students who find it difficult to determine saliency (students with learning disabilites, ADHD, etc) lose their focus. Aside from being careful with packing our classrooms with furniture, we must be careful of packing our classrooms with visual stimuli.
3) Much has been written about the arrangement of desks in a classroom- whether all desks should be in rows or cooperative groups and whether the classroom should be arranged so as to clearly channel attention toward the front where, presumably, the teacher is standing or so that students are facing each other. In my experience it's important to pick a method and stick with it so that students are not wondering/worrying about where they will be sitting as they're walking to your classroom. Being able to balance students' needs for accessing other students at times while being able to work privately at other times is important and being able to make the transition between the two predictable and smooth will help many students shed their anxiety over seating.
As with all planning, we must considering that any student, not just the typical ones, may come to our classrooms and it will be our responsibility to include them to the full extent possible.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Mind Set
Part of the reason why I've met with some success as a teacher is because of the mind set I have. I don't think that the following is the only way to think about about work with students with diffficult behavior (SWDB) but it's been useful for me to do so.
Teaching generally, and students with difficult behavior specifically, require a lot of patience.
SWDB test limits again and again for various reasons. Some want to see if you can set limits and stick to them. When you do so you're creating a safe place for students and that helps many students avoid acting out. On the other hand, if you make a rule and then allow students to violate the rule, the implicit message is that there are no rules. Additionally, if you have a short fuse and blow easily students feel unsafe because an angry adult is often an unsafe adult. It seems reasonable for students to think that if you can't keep your own emotions in order how can you maintain order in the classroom?
SWDB also want to be in control. This is a typical characteristic of students labeled emotionally disturbed in particular. One way of being in charge is by being able to make the teacher upset. This provides these students with a feeling of power. There's nothing wrong with this impulse- we all want to be in charge at times and we all like to feel powerful. As an educator it's my job to provide these students with authentic opportunities to make decisions and feel empowered. This often cuts down on the number of times a students will try to gain control over the class- the need for control has been met elsewhere.
How to be patient with these students? It must be acknowledged that it is extremely difficult to be patient with SWDB because their behavior, by definition, is challenging. We can't let this be our excuse though because I would argue that it's more important to be patient with these students than with typical, unlabelled students. These students are more fragile and often more prone to even more extreme behavior when confronted with a power struggle with an adult. In some ways I find it easier to be patient with SWDB because these students are difficult for good reason and often without choosing to be so.
Without fail, the SWDB have baggage. As the social worker at my first school liked to say, these students come to our classrooms with heavy baggage that they set down next to their desks and start pulling stuff out of when class starts. It's been important to me to find out what their lives have been like before they get to my classroom. This is so because it turns my students into real people rather than a mere warm body and it's much more difficult to mistreat people whose history you know because you can't help but feel some compassion for them. This is why dehumanization is an integral part of sexism, ableism, racism, slavery, genocide and all other forms of discrimination and prejudice. You can't perpetrate these sorts of horrors on those that you know and accept as human. So when I know that Math Major's father is extremely grumpy and mean all the time, I can have a lot more patience for his need to have my attention all the time. When I know that C's house is absolutely vile and his mother does nothing resembling parenting, I can easily understand why behaves in seemingly bizarre ways.
So the mind set is that I must have patience with these students. I know them as people and I have compassion for them. Patience flows naturally from that position.
Teaching generally, and students with difficult behavior specifically, require a lot of patience.
SWDB test limits again and again for various reasons. Some want to see if you can set limits and stick to them. When you do so you're creating a safe place for students and that helps many students avoid acting out. On the other hand, if you make a rule and then allow students to violate the rule, the implicit message is that there are no rules. Additionally, if you have a short fuse and blow easily students feel unsafe because an angry adult is often an unsafe adult. It seems reasonable for students to think that if you can't keep your own emotions in order how can you maintain order in the classroom?
SWDB also want to be in control. This is a typical characteristic of students labeled emotionally disturbed in particular. One way of being in charge is by being able to make the teacher upset. This provides these students with a feeling of power. There's nothing wrong with this impulse- we all want to be in charge at times and we all like to feel powerful. As an educator it's my job to provide these students with authentic opportunities to make decisions and feel empowered. This often cuts down on the number of times a students will try to gain control over the class- the need for control has been met elsewhere.
How to be patient with these students? It must be acknowledged that it is extremely difficult to be patient with SWDB because their behavior, by definition, is challenging. We can't let this be our excuse though because I would argue that it's more important to be patient with these students than with typical, unlabelled students. These students are more fragile and often more prone to even more extreme behavior when confronted with a power struggle with an adult. In some ways I find it easier to be patient with SWDB because these students are difficult for good reason and often without choosing to be so.
Without fail, the SWDB have baggage. As the social worker at my first school liked to say, these students come to our classrooms with heavy baggage that they set down next to their desks and start pulling stuff out of when class starts. It's been important to me to find out what their lives have been like before they get to my classroom. This is so because it turns my students into real people rather than a mere warm body and it's much more difficult to mistreat people whose history you know because you can't help but feel some compassion for them. This is why dehumanization is an integral part of sexism, ableism, racism, slavery, genocide and all other forms of discrimination and prejudice. You can't perpetrate these sorts of horrors on those that you know and accept as human. So when I know that Math Major's father is extremely grumpy and mean all the time, I can have a lot more patience for his need to have my attention all the time. When I know that C's house is absolutely vile and his mother does nothing resembling parenting, I can easily understand why behaves in seemingly bizarre ways.
So the mind set is that I must have patience with these students. I know them as people and I have compassion for them. Patience flows naturally from that position.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Soccer Round Up
We interrupt this blog for a summary of my indoor soccer career to date:
Games played: Approximately 25
Injuries: torn left quad, torn right quad, sprained right ankle, sprained right knee, broken right index finger, pulled right and left hamstrings
Injuries found debilitating: Both quad tears for a total of 6 games missed
Gear purchased: red jersey (from Goodwill), blue shorts (from Goodwill), turf sneakers (from Sports Authority), soccer socks (from GI Joe's), shin guards (from GI Joe's), 3 Ace bandages (from Fred Meyer), two leg braces (from GI Joe's), ankle brace (from Rite Aid)
Goals scored: 3
Goals intentionally scored: 1
Goals let in playing goalie: Upwards of 12
Conclusion: I am not 18 any more
Games played: Approximately 25
Injuries: torn left quad, torn right quad, sprained right ankle, sprained right knee, broken right index finger, pulled right and left hamstrings
Injuries found debilitating: Both quad tears for a total of 6 games missed
Gear purchased: red jersey (from Goodwill), blue shorts (from Goodwill), turf sneakers (from Sports Authority), soccer socks (from GI Joe's), shin guards (from GI Joe's), 3 Ace bandages (from Fred Meyer), two leg braces (from GI Joe's), ankle brace (from Rite Aid)
Goals scored: 3
Goals intentionally scored: 1
Goals let in playing goalie: Upwards of 12
Conclusion: I am not 18 any more
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