“Eliminating Ableism in Education”

 

This week for my blog post I read “Eliminating Ableism in Education”.  In this reading I found three quotes that I liked that made me think about how I want to be as a future teacher.  

The first quote is “a child who has received the help he needs to walk is at an advantage in a barrier-filled world”.This quote just reminded me of how important it is to be able to help our students in the ways that they need us too.   No matter in what ways students are different from each other it is our job to be able to support any of our students and provide them an education that is best for them and encourage their minds to grow.  As their teachers we have to be the ones to provide them that help.

The second quote is “I was taught to read print, not Braille, because everyone felt it would make me more like sighted people”This quote reminded me that as a teacher I want students to feel confident and comfortable with who they are in my room.  No matter how our students are different then we as teachers should surround our students in a safe environment so that they feel that they are enough just being who they are.  I want my students to know that they are perfect for who they are.  They should feel safe to embrace what makes them different instead of feeling they need to be just like everyone else. 

The third quote from this reading is “Special education does not mean a different curriculum”This quote made me think about how it is important that students that are different and do need to be receiving specific help not only get the help they need but also not completely change their lesson from everyone else.  Just because these students may need specific help does not mean that they need to have what is being taught to them changed.  Just because students may need extra specific help does not mean that they can’t still be learning what everyone else is being taught, it just means that they need to be taught and supported differently.  I want to be a teacher that provides the adjustment to the lesson that students need in order to best fit the student but not change what they are learning so that way they are getting an education like everyone else in the class is.