I first have to start off by saying
that this reading was not as difficult to get through as I thought it would
be. I never looked at Down Syndrome the
way Kliewer argued or rather realized how the
behavior and ability. This
reminded me of the article we read by Oakes. How tracking students is so
controversial and even our own class discussion about being separated by honors
classes, EEP credits and college prep classes. Children begin to realize and
compare themselves to others. In relation to the ability and behavior, students
who are seen as having these behavior and ability problems are separated and
not kept within a regular classroom. Biklen states, “success in life requires
an ability to form relationships with others who make up the web of community.”
The community at school is the entire makeup of al the students. It is all the
learners, all the teachers and all the people who make up the community of the
school. Though for some, controlling who is met and interacted with is not
possible. Sometimes we meet people who are not going to be the best around, but
learning to work together and finding ways to work and interact is all apart of
being in the democracy of school in a community.
separation of classrooms makes an
impact on these students . Many children are put into classrooms where they are
not able to interact with other children and never experience being able to
work with other children on group projects, at recess or even just having a
conversation. Douglas Biklen stated “ society itself is hurt when schools act
as cultural sorting machines- locations that justify a competitive ethic that
marginalizes certain students or groups of students.” Race, ability, ethnicity,
gender are all part of this sorting method of the students in schools. This
method later elaborates into sorting of just ability and behavior.
Within this
democracy there will always be judgment and that's something that cannot be
avoided.
Judith Snow a self-advocate in the
disability rights movement stated, “ how absurd to be judged by others at all,
especially by those who have never experienced a disability or who are
unwillingly providing us with support or who don't listen to the voices we
have.” Makes a lot of sense and many people do not realize that people with
disabilities are able to function just as you or I.
My favorite part of this reading was about
Lee, a young boy who has Down Syndrome, and Colleen Madison who’s response to a
question truly hit me and made sense.
Madison believed that no child was inherently
an intellectual burden to the classroom but that each student brought something
unique to the relationships that are formed at school in the community. She was
a leader in Lee’s classroom and when she was asked
“ wouldn't anyone who come into the room pick
out Lee as the student with a disability” and she responded in such a way that
I was like BOOM you GO! The quote is really long but to sum it up she stated
that, people who do not know lee, but have that “stereotype and mind set” would
pick him out as the child with the disability right away.
People see the mental challenge, the see the
Down Syndrome, but they do not see how the child is, they see what they know.
Make sense? They do now see how this boy reads, solves problems and works in
the class. They brand Lee and in a way, they give him a label. That's not only
true with just this case of Lee, but with many students just like Lee.
Quick judgment of any child with Down
Syndrome will get you no where because not every child is the same.
Honestly when I read this I was just so in
agreement and couldn’t wait to blog this part of the reading.
There’s a
young boy in my swim lesson class who has Down Syndrome and he is a great
swimmer. He is well behaved and to be honest, the other kids do not think
anything less of him. All my students talk and laugh and I know they would
agree with me that he is just as capable as they are in swim lessons.
There is so
much of this reading I could blog about and I could go on for days about this
reading because I was truly amazed and learned a lot about children with Down
Syndrome and the classroom setting. These students should be around other
children and not held back from doing the same things. The teacher, Shayne Robbins,
was another interesting part of the reading. The way she included Isaac in her
classroom and made every opportunity in the classroom for all her students. Examples in this article of teens who have Down Syndrome holding jobs and being apart of their community is something many people need to realize. It's like when we talked about the window of glass. This is like a tap in the glass, these students and even teens or adults with Down Syndrome are capable of preforming tasks, they just need time and patience from those around them. I found this
reading that describes various classrooms that have students with Down Syndrome and how the teachers work with the students, and also another
link about Down Syndrome in the classroom and how many students learn and interact in class.