What a student brings into the classroom can vary on any given day. Some bring tools to be able to do school. Others bring personal trauma and challenges that they can and cannot share.
But when we look at the things we enjoy about our students.
The student who comes in, every day and asks how you are. And no matter what, you find it in yourself to find a smile for the student because even when you aren’t working at your full capacity, you find something to be happy about to respond to that student.
The student who has been giving you the most unkind behaviors all week turns around when another student is being rude and says, “You don’t get to tell an adult working with you that!”
The student who has been fighting the entire year over a school policy has written five complete sentences on how the school policy is wrong.
The smile on the student’s face when they got a win at the wrestling tournament.
When we celebrate the strengths, we remember that students are just students. While we also have to remember the things we have to help a student with, because ultimately they are not able to do everything that may be asked of them minute to minute and day to day. School is hard for many students with a disability. Find a smile in every hour to enjoy.
Before we leave this week…
Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! Enjoy the season and the spirit!
National Inclusive Schools Week
It is National Inclusive Schools Week. We are often still struck sometimes when we walk onto a campus in another area and we realize that they are happily chatting with us and they are not an inclusive campus. But to the normalcy of segregated classes for students with disabilities for the majority of their day makes us twitch. We can point out the research that supports life long benefits for all students with inclusive education, but we also recognize that even within each student: their academic pursuits will vary.
We have lots of thoughts about inclusive schools and we have some more plans soon to keep this discussion going. And as always, we keep looking for ways to make education #BetterTogether. Stay tuned!
ParaEducate will sign off for Winter Break December 20. Do you have any comments about this week’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to be a guest blogger? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, here,and on ourwebsite. Paraeducate is a company interested in providing materials,information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published weekly during the academic school year on Thursdays, unless a holiday. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.
