Frost occurs when temperatures drop to low levels, usually below 32 degrees F. At these temperatures ice crystals can form on plant life, injuring and sometimes killing them. In order to avoid damage by frost, we must start a plant indoors, and eventually transplant it outside when the temperatures are warmer. However, we don’t always get it right. If a frost hits, its important to be prepared with materials to cover the plants to keep them warm and help them survive the frost!
Just like plants, it takes a lot to care for students. Like frost, the school environment presents many challenges that many students aren’t yet equipped to face. As teachers, it is our job to find ways to protect our students by advocating for their needs and helping shape their learning environment into one that supports their growth. Like a gardener, it is important for the teacher to protect, but it is equally important to encourage students to advocate for themselves and to help them develop the skills they need to face their challenges.
~ Address social, moral, and ethical issues of inclusive education~
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~Advocate for students and teachers, develop student self-advocacy and involve parents in educational support for students ~
Although we strive for inclusion, it has become apparent how inaccessible education can really be sometimes. The GDE program has helped me take an intentional look at education through the lens of inclusion and made me realize how far we still must go to achieve that vision. As a new teacher, when I started this program, I had little knowledge about the world of disabilities, designations, IEPs and the like. In fact, looking back, I am almost embarrassed about how much I didn’t know. The knowledge and experiences that I acquired through my work and the GDE program have expanded how I understand learners and their diversities and caused me to realize some of the glaring issues with how schools run their special education programs and also about how people think about disabilities in general.
I think back to monumental moments in this program like our visit from Laurie Meston, who shared her experiences with us of working in facilities like Woodlands. Seeing video footage of how people with disabilities were treated was not just eye-opening, but ground-breaking in helping me understand the depth of discrimination and exclusion that has existed and, in many ways, continues to exist in our world. Like frost restricts plants growth, there are things that we do in education that stifle the growth of our students. In class, I remember discussing the power of designations. No matter how hard we try to ignore it, each letter carries a stereotype and tells you a story about a student that paints the way we look at them and treat them. However, if we don’t look further, if we choose not to bother to look past the letter and at the student, we will never really get to know our students. Despite our best efforts, we have a long way to go towards inclusion. That is why it is so important to take the knowledge that we have and advocate for our students and demand that they get what they need to grow. I was inspired by the words of Dr. Julie Lane when she persisted that we must “be curious,” and not take everything at face value. Even as new teachers, we should ask questions about the way we are doing things a certain way and feel empowered to try something new. It inspired me to look at new ways to support my students who struggle to learn in a traditional setting and made me shake the fear of possibly getting it wrong. Like a good gardener cares for her plants, we must learn how to care for our students and help them build resilience. As teachers, we try to instill in our students the capacity to understand their own learning and advocate for themselves, however, like the gardener, we need to know when it is time to bring them back inside and nurture them and take action on their behalf, before again putting them out in the elements to build their resilience.
I think addressing social, moral, and ethical issues of inclusive education is something that takes on different forms. It is part of my work as I support my students, but it is also a matter of changing mindsets. Just a few years ago I thought I would be correct in staying that the stigma that used to exist around disabilities was no longer there, that it had faded through the years as the world became more educated and aware. However, this is not the case. This was exemplified during my first inquiry. My first inquiry was a simple one where “every block, we walked.” It was an attempt to take a brain break and get some fresh air and exercise with our students. Overall, it was a huge success! Students started to remind us that we hadn’t gone on our walk and insisted we try new routes around the school and outside. However, not everyone felt this way. There were some students who I slowly started to notice would want to fade into the background, walk ahead of the group, or not come at all. Overtime, I realized that they were afraid to be seen as part of the “special education” class. It was in that moment that I realized how important it is to continue to find ways to help people shift their mindset from “disability” to “diversity,” and to understand the commonalities that connect us. There are so many ways to start to change our schools and our mindsets. As Todd Rose (2013) effectively demonstrates in his TEDTalk “They Myth of Average,” each person is unique in their attributes and there really is no “average.” Similarly, in education there is no average learner. Designation or not, each student has a unique way of learning.
