Advocating change for Alternative Forms of Education
As the head of the social sciences department and teacher, I advocate for change at the high school I taught at last year and the previous year, in regards to accommodating ‘special education’ students.
First of all, I strongly believe in inclusive education and that all of my students have the potential to excel. I had students with ‘other abilities,’ and some were slower learners because they had their own personal medical reasons. For instance, I had one student who had a head injury, which caused when he was in a MVA –Motor Vehicle Accident, where his mother became paralyzed from the waist down.
Overall, administration didn’t want these types of ‘other ability’ students, as they saw themselves as an academic high school. As a result, together with the parents of these students, we advocated for ‘inclusive education’ for all learners. The parents didn’t want to send their children to special education based schools. They believed that their child had the right to immerse and engage themselves in an academic school, where the student already had lots of friends.
As a teacher, I did everything possible to provide extra help for these students, during class and afterschool. I advocated to administration that they implement IEP – Individual Education Plans for ‘other ability’ students. This was very new to administration, and they weren’t very familiar with individualized learning programs. However, I did implement my own personal IEP for each student that required special accommodation.
I have taught these students for two years, and I have seen them flourish and excel through my sincere support and dedication. Moreover, now their confidence is boosted and they are more academically engaged. For example, I registered a few of my ‘special education’ students from my CLU3M class, to the UofT summer Law School Program: YSP http://www.ysp.utoronto.ca/law Overall, through my advocacy and nurture for these students, I was able to prove to administration that ‘inclusive education’ does work, and we shouldn’t be quick to judge students abilities, as they are still learning and flourishing.
First of all, I strongly believe in inclusive education and that all of my students have the potential to excel. I had students with ‘other abilities,’ and some were slower learners because they had their own personal medical reasons. For instance, I had one student who had a head injury, which caused when he was in a MVA –Motor Vehicle Accident, where his mother became paralyzed from the waist down.
Overall, administration didn’t want these types of ‘other ability’ students, as they saw themselves as an academic high school. As a result, together with the parents of these students, we advocated for ‘inclusive education’ for all learners. The parents didn’t want to send their children to special education based schools. They believed that their child had the right to immerse and engage themselves in an academic school, where the student already had lots of friends.
As a teacher, I did everything possible to provide extra help for these students, during class and afterschool. I advocated to administration that they implement IEP – Individual Education Plans for ‘other ability’ students. This was very new to administration, and they weren’t very familiar with individualized learning programs. However, I did implement my own personal IEP for each student that required special accommodation.
I have taught these students for two years, and I have seen them flourish and excel through my sincere support and dedication. Moreover, now their confidence is boosted and they are more academically engaged. For example, I registered a few of my ‘special education’ students from my CLU3M class, to the UofT summer Law School Program: YSP http://www.ysp.utoronto.ca/law Overall, through my advocacy and nurture for these students, I was able to prove to administration that ‘inclusive education’ does work, and we shouldn’t be quick to judge students abilities, as they are still learning and flourishing.