This week we have been focusing teaching and assessing students with needs as well as assessment tools and strategies including the good bad and ugly of rubrics. To me and for anyone who has ever done it I believe working with students with special needs is the most rewarding part of teaching if done correctly. Teaching students with special needs certainly can be frustrating but Cooper gives some ideas on how to make sure it is a rewarding experience for everyone involved. For the last 2 years before I started teacher's college I worked at a company called Junglesport. We would set up a rock/rope climbing structure for the students to use for a week in place of their regular Phys. Ed. class and every school had special education classes either mixed in with other classes or separately on their own for more 1 on 1 instruction. Both situations provided a unique experience for us during the integrated classes I would take the special education class and get them in their harnesses and get them started before the rest of the class would get started. This allowed me to be able to get all of them in the air even if it was only a few feet off the ground. The majority of the students who were terrified of leave the ground until I got them up and their favorite word became higher and higher. There were also the students who would surprise you some of the greatest climbers we have ever seen came from special needs classes. We also had students surprise their own teachers and parents who were unsure or unaware of these student's true capabilities. These students definitely erased some of the myths that the teachers and parents had of them. In my experience 5 of the 6 myths that Cooper laid out were broken by the students I have encountered. I hope that everyone in their teaching career has a chance to work with special education students at least once it is a thrill.
1 Comment
linda radford
10/13/2015 07:37:02 pm
Junglesport sounds like a really fabulous program. What a great way to gain teaching experience while having fun too!
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