Well, I’m in the thick of the Bay Path Special Education Graduate program, now. Whew.
I am taking three courses this semester, but two concurrently – one on Inclusion and Collaboration and another on Managing Challenging Behaviors. Both courses require a substantial amount of work, but have a totally different “feel” to them. It is a wonderful contrast to experience. I suppose the best description would be to say that the classroom that I hope to one day be a part of should have elements of both – collaboration and discipline; both for teachers and students.
One of the first projects I have been assigned to do (for my Inclusion course) is to observe a co-teaching team. I am so looking forward to this. I was concerned that it would be a huge obstacle, but as it turns out, everything is flowing effortlessly. I plan to observe this week and next!
The assignment for the Behavior course is a little more difficult. I have been assigned 3 papers which are based on personal experience using the strategies outlined in our textbook. Without my own class to actually implement these strategies, it seems a bit unlikely. However, I was given a little gem of an idea from someone outside the program. She suggested that another student in our course who is a teacher in a classroom perform the activity while I observe and record the events. Then we can both work on the paper together – with the bulk of the written work completed by me. I have often said that it takes someone outside of the situation to see the perfect solution. In this case, it seems absolutely true! I am excited to propose this idea to the professor and our class as a positive solution.
Before I end this post I have to mention the film that our Inclusion professor showed us in class. It is a remarkable documentary and I have been looking for it to suggest to others to see. The film is called “Including Samuel” by Daniel Habib. As it turns out, Daniel is a photojournalist (as is my life partner – she knew who he was immediately) and has two sons. His youngest son, Samuel, was born with cerebral palsy. The film centers around Samuels experience in an inclusion classroom. Please check to see if the film is being shown on your local PBS station. If it is not, call the station and request it!