Hehir, Toward Ending Ableism in Education (reflection)

     When reading the section "Education of Students with Learning Disabilities" it talked about how much more common learning disabilities are than other things such as blindness or deafness. Many students in school may have some sort of learning disability whether it is diagnosed or not. It also talks about how these students may not get the proper learning methos or teaching that they need for them to succeed. 

    Growing up throughout high school one of my best friends had a learning disability. I went to school with him for years of school until he dropped out end of junior year because he gave up on school. He always struggled in school and was barely passing and making it to the next grade all the time. One of his biggest problems was math because he couldn't understand numbers at all and was constantly confused. About halfway through sophomore year in high school he basically gave up and didn't care anymore. He had given up because he was always struggling and none of the teachers would try different things for him to succeed. they just kept telling him the same thing and after a while there was no hope. They weren't willing to adapt for him and that failed him. This led to him dropping out. 

    This just shows the trouble some students may face if they have a learning disability. For this to change teachers need to learn to adapt and be willing to change their ways in order to help a student who may be like others. I think this can be done by being more aware of this problem. Also, all teachers should be willing to help their students because that is what their job is even if they don't think it. They should always try their best to help even if they don't fully know how to. 

   

Although still high the dropout rate for students with learning disabilities is going down slowly. It still needs a lot of improvement, but it is on the right path. 

Aria and youtube videos on teaching bilinguals (reflection)

 When watching the first video the speaker made a very good point. It was that each student who is bilingual brings something different valuable to that learning environment. Although teachers may find it challenging at first, if they can figure it out the learning environment will actually be very different but strong. I see this firsthand when I go to my service learning. Many of the kids are bilingual and still learning to be fluent in English. The teacher doesn't speak Spanish and sometimes it can be tough for her. Although she doesn't speak Spanish, she still knows some words and tries to incorporate this into her learning when she can, or it will make it easier for her students. 

    Since she struggles with Spanish, she sometimes doesn't understand what they are saying if they speak in Spanish. I have seen her ask the students what they are saying, and they will translate it for her. Even though the teacher isn't fluent or doesn't know much she still makes a good effort and values the student's language by trying her best to understand. I also think this creates a richer learning environment. This is because it unites the students and teacher by working together. It is very simple but something like this is valuable in my eyes. It engages all the students in translating when needed and allows for students to hear stuff in the language they can speak best. Lastly it allows the students to feel more comfortable since they can speak their most fluent language. This could be easier for them and could possibly increase learning due to them being able to communicate better with their classmates. 

Posters similar to this are on the walls in the classroom and it seems to help students understand better because there is a reference they can actually understand. 

Video Analysis

Classroom Tour- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QjVKobauZzqsdZAwWAkksXcxLE12j9jGRcoZ-K4rJU0/edit?usp=sharing

Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick J. Finn Reflection

 After reading this short reading I've come to notice that teachers assert their dominance over their students more frequently than they should and it is an issue in classrooms that may go unnoticed. Yes, teachers are supposed to have control of their room, but their "power" should not be abused like it was in the examples given in chapter 2. When a teacher uses their power in a bad way or uses it which results in their students getting down on themselves or not wanting to be in that environment anymore, they have failed and should not do that again. Their job isn't to put students down, but rather to bring them up and encourage them to learn to the best of their ability. 

    In high school I saw this a lot. The teachers had all the power on every decision, and everything had to be a certain way, or it was not acceptable to them. And when this happened in most cases, the students did not enjoy the class and did not care about what was going on. All they cared about was how much longer they had in class and when they could leave. They got nothing out of it and their time was wasted. This also goes unnoticed and isn't talked about enough. Everyone usually looks over it and says that it's normal. This is the norm that needs to be broken especially if we want students of all ages to reach their full potential in the classroom.