Helping Students with Learning Disabilities is Common Practice

       In my lifetime, the transformation in public schools towards helping students with learning disabilities has been incredible.  We've gone from self-contained classrooms--in which these students rarely or never interacted with their peers, to full inclusion--in which, today, it is rare for almost any classroom to not have a student with a learning disability.  We used to call it "Mainstreaming"; but now we just call it normal.  Teachers from the 1970's and 1980's would have never imagined a world in which this was possible.  They never had the training that our teachers have today.

       Teachers know that the sort of strategies that help our Special Education students are just good teaching strategies that help all students.  We are better (now) at teaching students who might be weak in reading or mathematics (and don't have a learning disability) than we were in the past because of our training for Special Education students.  Every school has a Special Education department chair or specialist that works with a team of teachers that assist students with learning disabilities AND help to train teachers on best practices.  These students have special learning plans that we call Individual Education Plans (or IEP for short) that give them goals to reach.

       Every year we look at data that measures the learning of our students with IEPs and we consider ways to increase their achievement.  Gone are the days when these students were made to feel that couldn't learn and they spent their days doing basic reading and math skills.  Companies outside of our public school system have developed software and resources and programs designed to help these students to reach their potential.

       The story of our special Special Education students is (indeed) a success story of our public schools.  It was a huge problem and we figured out a way to make it a much smaller problem.  There are lots of young adults in our society today that proudly hold their high school graduation certificate thanks to our public school's efforts to identify their learning disability and to find a way to help them to learn.

       This success story gives me hope that our public schools will solve today's issues:  increasing the achievement of our poor students, better education for our English Language Learners, raising the high school graduation rate without compromising our high standards, and eliminating the achievement gaps that exist between certain student groups.  These are huge problems and every one of them has a solution.  I believe that we have already begun to address these issues.  And I believe that when my students are my age they will look back on the early years of the 21st century be proud of the accomplishments of our public schools.

We Are a Community of Learners

       Teaching students is not like like building a model airplane.  We don't have distinct steps to follow that will lead to a completed project in the end.  Students learn differently; they come to school with different experiences and different abilities.  Good teaching requires an understanding of the learners in each classroom and daily lesson plans that are designed to help those learners.

       Good teachers understand the difficulty of reaching each individual student and they seek out the best strategies from experts in the field of education and from the teacher across the hall.  We (educators) are a community of learners.  We have to be.  We can't learn everything from experience and we can't figure out everything on our know.  We can't be experts in child psychology and special education and mathematics and English Language Learners and student engagement and formative assessment and ....  We need each other to be the best teachers we can be for our students.

       After more than 25 years in education, I am still learning and improving by listening and reading and following other educators just like me who have something great to share.  Here is my short list of excellent sources of information for educators who strive to make a difference with their students and who seek to improve their abilities every year:

1. Annie Murphy Paul - The Brilliant Blog
1. Her recent writings on how to using testing as a learning tool (aka - formative assessments) are informative and eye-opening to those who only see testing as an end-of-unit assessment.  She has also recently released an e-course that will show parents, teachers, and school leaders how to implement testing strategies as opportunities for student learning and growth.
2. Robert Marzano - Marzano Research
1. Great professional development information for teachers and for whole schools on topics ranging from Student Engagement to Assessment and Grading to Instructional Strategies to Teacher Effectiveness.  Don't let the "research" part scare you; Marzano provides effective tools and ideas that are simple to understand and to implement.
3. Doug Lemov - Teach Like a Champion

1. Excellent tips that any teacher can use to improve student learning and student motivation.
4. Starr Sackstein - Changing the World, One Mind at a Time
1. Great ideas and thoughts from a National Board Certified Teacher
2. Lots of great recent blog posts about emphasizing learning and de-emphasizing grading

       And teachers don't have to go online to find excellent educators to collaborate with; look to your administrators, and district and state-level leaders.  Find ways to collaborate with teachers in other school buildings in your school district.  There is great value in learning from other professions.  I would say that it is a necessary element for teachers who strive to improve year after year.

     We are a community of learners.

Problems Seen and Problems Solved

          American public schools can be described in some very large numbers:

100,000 schools

3,700,000 teachers

55,000,000 students

700,000,000,000 dollars

       Yipes!  Those are certainly huge numbers.  Of course, the United States is a big county of over 300 million people.  When we talk about any "system" in the United States, we are going to use some very big numbers.  And sometimes big numbers can make it seem as if the problems with our educational system are too big for us to solve.  But there is no such thing as a problem that is too big to solve.

       At one time in America it seemed ridiculous that women would ever get the right to vote.  At one time it seemed impossible that man would ever walk on the moon.  Separating our garbage into plastic and paper items in one spot and everything else in another spot was unheard of.  Smoking cigarettes used to be common in restaurants and offices.  And in our schools, it used to be practically impossible for students receiving Special Education services to sit in regular "mainstream" classrooms.

       All of these problems weren't even viewed as problems by most of our society at one point.  But then we recognized the problems and we changed public opinion about the problems and we took steps to address the problems.

       Our public schools take steps to improve the lives of all of our students everyday.  We all play a large part in our large system by finding ways to solve problems one student at a time; one problem at a time; one school at a time.

       Nothing is impossible.  Every problem has a solution.  Strong, dedicated professionals in our schools are problem solvers--everyday.

       Be a problem solver!

Lots of Helpful People

     In the one-room school house, there was a teacher and that was it.  It was probably a very caring teacher who (maybe) knew her students and their families very well.  But it was one person and that was it.

     Today, our public schools have librarians and nurses and school counselors and aides and assistant principals, and (maybe) math specialists and reading specialists and special education teachers.  We know that students need good teachers, but they also may have other needs that can be addressed by other professionals.  We want our students to be good learners, but also want them to be healthy, happy members of society.

     And these people are here to help the parents as well as helping the students.  Our public schools take on a lot of responsibilities in an effort to help our students to be the best that they can be.  It is a big job to educate children and it takes a lot of people to do the job right.

     So, in addition to thanking your teacher, be sure to thank the other people in the schools that come to work everyday to make the school experience positive and to help your child in every aspect of their growth and development.

     What's so good about public schools in America?  Lots of helpful people!

Learning about People with Disabilities

When my daughter was in kindergarten, she had a classmate named Jack.  Jack was (and is) developmentally delayed.  Jack has an adult personal assistant with him all of the time when he is in school.  Jack doesn't talk.

My daughter's welcomed Jack to class in kindergarten in the same way that she welcomed all of her students.  Jack participated in all activities--as much as he could--just like everyone else.  My daughter and her classmates viewed Jack in the same way they viewed everyone else.  "He is a student just like me."  "We have the same teacher."  "We all do the same things."

My daughter is in eighth grade now, and Jack has been in her grade all along the way.  My daughter and her peers view Jack in the same way they did in kindergarten.  "He is a student just like me."  "We have the same teachers."  "We all do the same things."  Of course, as my daughter grew, she also grew to understand that Jack has learning difficulties that other students do not.  But since she knew him since kindergarten, she didn't view his "differences" as a negative thing.

Public education exposes our children to different people and it shows our children that differences are OK.  Students see how the school and the school system helps students with varying abilities.  I think that this helps our children to grow with a good understanding of the world that they will enter.

We all have disabilities of some sort.  Our students' experiences with peers that are learning disabled helps them to see the differences and to see how these differences can be addressed by caring adults.

Jack is part of our public education family and we are all so lucky to know him.

Special Ed. Makes Public Schools Special

     When I started teaching, I knew my content (mathematics) very well and I learned a few things about managing a classroom of students from my teacher prep classes in college.  But I knew nothing about Special Education.

     Fortunately, I had some great Special Education teachers in the building where I taught.  They helped me to better understand students with learning disabilities and how to teach them.

     I've since come to learn that Special Education is one of the true jewels of Public Education in America.  Special Education teachers and supervisors work everyday to find the best way to help students who find it difficult to learn in the same way as their non-disabled peers.  It is a tough job; no two special education students are the same.

     So thank a Special Education teacher today!