What are some suggestions for teaching the rest of the class to be accepting and respectful of a physically challenged student?
I am doing an assignment for my credentialing program in California and seek all advice and suggestions as soon as possible.
Does it differ from public to private school? I spoke to a private school teacher earlier today. She suggested that awareness is important. The other students need to understand the limitations and strengths of the student, and come to an understanding of what can and can’t be done.
Anything other ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
thank you so much!
I so agree -- what the teacher feels/believes will be...
picked up by the students (including subtle clues to suppressed feelings and attitudes!) and they will act accordingly.
In Gr. 2 my son was constantly picked on. Teacher tried to make a case for ‘social problems’ partly based on his bad reaction to others in class and his refusal to work cooperatively in small groups. BUT…she and I had clashed over certain attitudes and behaviours early in the year, which got her in much trouble with the VP (quite deservedly, though I know now I should have handled it better!) HER attitude to my son, it became clear, gave permission to the others to pick on him. And trust me, THEY DID! He did not act out — but he did not join in, and this hurt him academically and socially. He HATED school.
This was radically different in Gr. 3 — when he evidenced this ‘outsider’ behaviour early on, the teacher called me and we had a heart-to-heart, with said VP in attendance. He settled right down, and it soon became clear that NOBODY in this classroom was allowed to pick on ANYONE else — this teacher made certain of it! My son had a wonderful year, though our academic struggles were still a problem as he was not quite reading at grade level yet, and had an undiscovered hearing loss. However, this teacher did a great deal to repair his hatred of school!
Last year, Gr. 4: school was ‘OK’ — but this was an atmosphere such as Sara describes. Children who ASKED for help — got it. Children who didn’t (my son) DID not…bullying was a problem, but only from one problem child, whom my son was successful for the last 7 months of the year in ignoring. Teacher was overwhelmed, and I think this led to the atmosphere where only the squeaky wheels got greased — any requests for grease for quiet wheels were met by ‘I’m overworked, I can’t pay attention to every child when I have so many needy ones…da da da da…’ So academic strugglers like mine, and behaviour problems like the bully, pretty much got ignored! Not too good for either one.
This year: my son has had wonderful marks for cooperation and behaviour since the beginning of the year…BECAUSE of the ‘leader’, who seems to have much the attitude that Sara does. This teacher is not particularly admired by the other ‘involved’ moms, and nobody fights to get into his class — except for me! No fancy bells or whistles, just a good teacher who said at the beginning of the year that his goal is to make the classroom ‘a safe place for children to learn’! AND IT IS…my child is blossoming, and gets about 60% more work done than ever before! THis teacher notices both the bullies AND the strugglers — and both make progress towards their individual goals! My son enjoys school!
Sorry to be so long…but this is so important, I had to chime in! Teachers have SUCH a power to do good, and their job is SO important…they ought to be treated like top athletes…they will never be, but just think how it feels when you have REALLY made a difference to a child’s life!
Re: teaching acceptance
It’s worth spending serious time actively teaching acceptance just as you’d teach arithmetic skills.
There’s a nifty article with lots of good ideas at http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/social_skills/teaching_tolerance.html
The leader of any classroom is the teacher. The tone you set is crucial. First, a classroom should be a community and that should be emphasized to the children. That they come to school each day to join in the safe community of the classroom. To keep the classroom a community and a safe one where all may feel comfortable and learn well, the teacher and students alike have certain duties and responsibility that make the classroom a safe community. We treat each other as we would want to be treated ourselves. We are caring, kind and respectful of each other. We are all individuals and some of us have different needs. As a community, we look for support for our different needs with the goal being everybody’s well-being.
Too many classrooms have an underlying ‘feel’ that there is only just so much attention and good and somehow communicate to children that they much compete with each other for the teacher’s attention to have their needs met. Such an environment does not foster caring cooperation between children - it rather pits them against each other with the strong prevailing over the weak.
It isn’t about contrived curriculum or contrived activities - it’s what you do everyday in your classroom as the leader of it that fosters the acceptance of a student with physicial challenges. You deem your classroom a community and adopt practices that foster cooperation rather than competition between students. You treat your students with the caring respect that you expect of them. Model the behaviors that you want them to adopt.
Good luck.