Fairness In Special Education
The topic of Special Education can be a difficult topic to talk about. As educators and parents we think about the topic of fairness every day and make assumptions. This paper will explain and answer four questions about the “F.A.T. City: A Look Back, A Look Ahead— A Conversation about Special Education” Video. The questions this paper will focus on are how Richard D. Lavoie defines and explains fairness in the classroom?, what advice he offers to parents regarding fairness?, what he says about assumptions, and why he discuss them?, and what are three concepts from the video that are especially meaningful to me and how will they impact my professional teaching practice?
How Richard D. Lavoie defines and explains fairness in the classroom In the video Richard says to treat children as you would an adult. He says that fairness means that everyone gets what t each student’s needs not that everyone gets the same. He states that teacher’s should not try to make it up to others students when re working the curriculum for another student. Fairness can be a hard topic for teachers to think about. Teachers are always trying to make fairness a big thing in the classroom from the amount of time each student gets on an assignment to the amount of time spent …show more content…
with each student. I love his definition of fairness as I truly believe that fairness means that fairness means every student gets what they need.
Advice Richard D. Lavoie gives to parents regarding fairness Richard tells parents that every child understands fairness.
He says that parents need to except that fairness doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same. Parents along with teachers need to realize that they can treat each child differently. Fairness is what the student needs not what everyone needs. Parents on today’s society always feel that if one child gets more than the other that they aren’t being fair. Parents struggle with fairness just as much as teachers do it might be in different ways but they still struggle. Children always look at why did one child get something but the other one did not, as parents they need to help their children understand that one child might need something where the other one did
not.
What Richard says about assumptions and why he discusses them? Parents and teachers make assumptions everyday about their child’s and student’s needs. As educators when we see a student be bad or act up in class we assume they are just being bad. Richard states that that is not always the case. He says that if a student is acting up in class he or she is most likely just doing so because they don’t want to look dumb in front of everyone. As educators we see students as being lazy when in fact they aren’t lazy they are having difficulties learning. Assumptions make up a lot of what we do in our everyday lives. We make assumptions about why a person is wearing a type of clothing to how things work.
Key Concepts that are meaningful to me and how they will impact my professional teaching practices One concept that Richard talks about in the video is that not every student should be treated the same. This concept will help me see that I need to truly focus on each individual student and not my class as a whole. If I see everyone as the same then my students can’t truly learn. In the end I’m holding some of my students back. The second concept that I got from the video is to help my students be able to learn how to re-visualize how to do things. Richard states that students with a learning disability can’t re-visualize which is a big reason they have problems with things like spelling. As an educator I need to make it easier for my students to learn how to re-visualize by making things easier and giving student’s instructions step by step. The last concept that I got from the video is the need for attention. As an educator we are taught to give every student an equal amount of attention during the day. In the video he states that when a teacher sees a student doing something bad or doing something that makes them stand out that they just want attention. For me I need to see that yes the student wants attention so as a teacher I need to maybe see how I can give the student more attention. In conclusion, the idea of fairness is something that every teacher and parent needs to deal with every day. Students might not always understand how fairness works, but in the end fairness is what we say it is. As an educator the question of fairness will be discussed about by my students and their parents as they just want to make sure that things truly are fair.
Resources
Beyond F.A.T. City: A look back, a look ahead—a conversation about special education [Video file]. (2005). In Films On Demand. Retrieved September 1, 2015, from http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12129&xtid=41097
How Richard D. Lavoie defines and explains fairness in the classroom In the video Richard says to treat children as you would an adult. He says that fairness means that everyone gets what t each student’s needs not that everyone gets the same. He states that teacher’s should not try to make it up to others students when re working the curriculum for another student. Fairness can be a hard topic for teachers to think about. Teachers are always trying to make fairness a big thing in the classroom from the amount of time each student gets on an assignment to the amount of time spent …show more content…
with each student. I love his definition of fairness as I truly believe that fairness means that fairness means every student gets what they need.
Advice Richard D. Lavoie gives to parents regarding fairness Richard tells parents that every child understands fairness.
He says that parents need to except that fairness doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same. Parents along with teachers need to realize that they can treat each child differently. Fairness is what the student needs not what everyone needs. Parents on today’s society always feel that if one child gets more than the other that they aren’t being fair. Parents struggle with fairness just as much as teachers do it might be in different ways but they still struggle. Children always look at why did one child get something but the other one did not, as parents they need to help their children understand that one child might need something where the other one did
not.
What Richard says about assumptions and why he discusses them? Parents and teachers make assumptions everyday about their child’s and student’s needs. As educators when we see a student be bad or act up in class we assume they are just being bad. Richard states that that is not always the case. He says that if a student is acting up in class he or she is most likely just doing so because they don’t want to look dumb in front of everyone. As educators we see students as being lazy when in fact they aren’t lazy they are having difficulties learning. Assumptions make up a lot of what we do in our everyday lives. We make assumptions about why a person is wearing a type of clothing to how things work.
Key Concepts that are meaningful to me and how they will impact my professional teaching practices One concept that Richard talks about in the video is that not every student should be treated the same. This concept will help me see that I need to truly focus on each individual student and not my class as a whole. If I see everyone as the same then my students can’t truly learn. In the end I’m holding some of my students back. The second concept that I got from the video is to help my students be able to learn how to re-visualize how to do things. Richard states that students with a learning disability can’t re-visualize which is a big reason they have problems with things like spelling. As an educator I need to make it easier for my students to learn how to re-visualize by making things easier and giving student’s instructions step by step. The last concept that I got from the video is the need for attention. As an educator we are taught to give every student an equal amount of attention during the day. In the video he states that when a teacher sees a student doing something bad or doing something that makes them stand out that they just want attention. For me I need to see that yes the student wants attention so as a teacher I need to maybe see how I can give the student more attention. In conclusion, the idea of fairness is something that every teacher and parent needs to deal with every day. Students might not always understand how fairness works, but in the end fairness is what we say it is. As an educator the question of fairness will be discussed about by my students and their parents as they just want to make sure that things truly are fair.
Resources
Beyond F.A.T. City: A look back, a look ahead—a conversation about special education [Video file]. (2005). In Films On Demand. Retrieved September 1, 2015, from http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12129&xtid=41097