Today Scott gave me a scenario to think about. I’m going to tell you what I think and I would like your feedback as well.
Three boys are at a baseball game, but unfortunately for them, they have to look over a fence to be able to see the game. The height of the fence is 5 feet tall. The boys range differently in heights. They have three milk crates to stand on. One of the boys does not need a milk crate because he is 6 foot tall. The other boys however need one because boy 2 is 4’ 6” and boy 3 is 3’ 10”. Another question Scott asked me was if one or two of the boys use more than one crate. I feel that each kid should get as many crates as they need so that everybody can see. Look at it this way, if you’re a special education teacher, do you give one student more help than another? Or is the help that you give spread out to all of your students equally? My first guess would be that you don’t just give all of your help to one student; you spread it out amongst your students. For instance a five-year-old would need more help with figuring out a math problem like 10×12 versus a 12th grader who could figure that out almost instantly. The point that I am trying to make is that you should always treat people fairly no matter if they are disabled or not.
What do you think?
Chandler,
This is a great scenario that Scott gave you! Personally, this really relates to what I am currently learning about at school. Being a second year Early childhood/special education major, we are learning all about how to treat our students, and different techniques we can use in our classroom, especially working in the Special ed. field. One thing that I would love to share that I learned, is that we should always put the person before the disability! For example, the right way to say it would be: “this little boy who has a disability,” and the wrong way would be: “the disabled boy…” I thought that was very interesting, and that we should all watch how we phrase things! Also keeping on topic about the scenario, I believe that it is very important for the teachers to treat everyone equally. And like you said, it doesn’t matter if they’re disabled or not. Some teachers have their “favorites,” but it is important for them to not show what/how they feel about their students as far as liking and disliking more or less.
Everytime I step foot in a classroom, I will now think more in depth about how to treat everyone equally, and give each student the same amount of help and care as needed.
Thanks for this life/classroom lesson!
Kathleen 🙂
Chandler
That is some great insight, I could not have said it any better than that. That train of thought will carry you far in life so please do not change a single thing about you.
That is one of the greatest statement I have ever read. You are well bless and a beautiful person