Okay, okay, I'm finding it a bit hard to get anyone to give us some exclusion success stories. (See Inclusion Co-Teaching Helps and Hints for the Rest of Us.) So, I guess I have to start the ball rolling with an inclusion horror story of my own.
I believe in inclusion. Really. I think it's great for both students in special education and typically developing kids. My own children benefited from being in an inclusive school, although their more severely disabled classmates (usually autism) left the room for instruction. Both boys are very empathetic and kind with disabled students, and I am encouraging my older boy to come and work as a residential counselor at my school while he figures out the rest of his life.
I interviewed for a full inclusion job in the large metropolitan district where I was teaching. The person who was to be my partner took a job at charter school, and my new partner took the job off a list in the district office. Big mistake. I doubt seriously she will ever read this, and also doubt that she would ever see herself in this blog. She should have never left her safe suburban enclave or her safe spot behind the beauticians chair (Yeah, she cut hair.)
We had 33 students. 15 were fourth and fifth grade special education students, one of whom just graduated from a behavioral program contracted by the district (the district didn't let you classify a child as ES because they couldn't provide the student to staff ratios. They preferred to have a child assault someone so they could move them out of the school or get the county mental health agency pay for an alternate behavioral placement.) The balance of the children were fourth graders who, believe it or not, were mostly reading at or above grade level.
At first I thought my partner was just inexperienced. I started to believe she was evil. One of the special ed kids was a survivor of lead poisoning. He was pretty heavily medicated and would fall asleep when he arrived in the morning. Besides cognitive differences, Jeremiah (not his real name) also had behavior problems that his medication helped with. He was actually a real sweety, and the other special ed kids knew it. She insisted on screaming at him first thing in the morning "You're not sleeping in my classroom. Do I have to call your mother?" I knew if you let him sleep, he woke up pleasant and compliant and had a lovely day. She, however, succeeded in not only setting him off, but all the special ed kids, who had been together since kindergarten.
Children could not go to the restroom without adult supervision: they clogged the urinals, peed on the floor, the walls, whatever, and fought. She refused to help supervise, so I ended up dealing with behaviors that she instigated.
They finally pulled me out with the 15 special educations students after Christmas, half 5th grade, half 4th grade. By that time they were so mad at my partner, the system, the principal, the dean of students, that it took 6 weeks to start getting them under control. By the end of the year the curriculum lead teachers were walking into my room and saying things like, "Oh, I didn't realize you had any students in here!"(They were working.) In the meantime, a lot of people said, "I can't believe you show up for school every day." In the end, I won that one. And went on to another job in another school district.
So how about you? Share your horror story here, or better yet, give the rest of us some encouragement by responding to the link above!
Comments
The only comment I would place to this is… when referring to students with disabilities, refer to them in person first form. They are not special education students. They are students in special education. They are not disabled children. They are children with disabilities. When referring to a child with the disability first, you are implying that they are defined by their disability. These students are more than their disability. They are funny, smart, animated, and well liked by many. Their disability is a part of who they are, but it is not them.
I worked in an inclusive classroom with other teachers whose responsibilities weren’t shared equally nor did we have the same teaching philosophy. The special educator felt that she was there to teach one subject and work with the below reading students– those students who were not identified could have used her expertise also, but she would not work with them. It got to the point that some of the students were aware of it!
It seems to me that you’ve obtained a lot of wisdom about dealing with special ed kids. Very smart person and one to contact in a case involving special ed kids. On the other hand, it seems you have been unable to formulate a plan of action indealing with your co-workers. That strikes me as rather strange – Your a self proclaimed wiz kid with special ed kids but fall on your face when dealing with co-workers. I don’t know if something sounds amiss to anyone else, maybe it’s just me, thinking…