FAT City Movie, Continued

Hi There (again),

In today's class we continued to watch more of the Rick Lavoie's FAT City movie that I discussed in my last blog entry. He brought forth some very interesting points, and I feel they are important enough to discuss on their own. For this reason, this blog entry will focus on the video, and then I will return to the discussion of IPPs in the next entry.

So once again, I learned some new information from the film, which was then followed by a pretty fulfilling class discussion, and it was interesting to hear everyone else's thoughts. One of the things that Lavoie mentioned several times in this portion of the film was based on the idea of "kids seeking attention". I've grown up in a society that has taught me that when kids are pouting, acting out, crying or displaying some other unusual emotion, that they are just doing it for attention, and to just ignore the child/person. Well Rick Lavoie says... "If they are asking for attention, that you better give them some attention!" This actually makes complete sense, especially for teachers... why would we ever deny the students of something that they need?? However, this made for an interesting discussion in class because we realized that yes, it is in fact important to give the student attention, but at the same time you don't want to give the student attention as an "award" for misbehaving in class, because all that will do is teach the child that if he/she misbehaves, then they will get the attention that they need. So it is crucial that you see and understand that the child needs attention, and it is also important you give them that attention they are seeking, but you need to ensure that it is at an appropriate time so that the child doesn't actually develop a bad attitude. So yes, this all makes sense, for quite obvious reasons...however I am just a little unsure about when exactly that 'right time' is! I'm assuming as I gain experience in the education world, that it will become an instinct - but then I get concerned because I know that their are obviously teachers still out there who are either rewarding this bad behaviour or ignoring it all together because they were taught the same thing I was! Next, Lavoie discussed the idea of schools and how they are dealing with their students who have learning disabilities. Many schools are providing the accommodations that the students need, but they are not going out of their way to help the student work towards improving their specific disability. What is actually happening is that schools are for example putting books on tape for kids that have a learning disability and cannot read, which is helping them out because they can still learn the necessary information, but the school has not took the time to realize that the student still cannot read. So schools need to provide those accommodations, but still be prepared to help the student out. So in this example, the school needs to actually ensure that yes, the student has access to the book on tape, but that maybe an educational assistant is working with the student on a daily basis, so that his reading ability begins to improve. This whole situation relates to the term, compensatory education because the problem still exists but the school is simply just covering it up to make it less obvious. Lavoie then went on to discuss "Difference of Diagnosis", which means that people can have the same symptoms but be suffering from something completely different. Doctors are able to look at two people with similar symptoms and understand that they may have different problems, however teachers are horrible at grouping students and labeling them. For example, if 5 kids have their heads laying on the desk, a typical teacher simply believes that they are all just being lazy! However, this may or may not be the case. 1 of those 5 kids could be being lazy, but the other 4 may be suffering from learning disabilities and cannot concentrate in your classroom because you have not provided them with any accommodations to help them succeed. When reflecting back to my childhood, this definitely makes sense, because I remember the teacher always having the attitude that those students were just being lazy, but I now know different, and I really hope that if those teachers are still teaching then they know about this term, difference of diagnosis. This then leads right into the next thing that Lavoie mentioned, which was in regards to teachers following the belief that all students need to be treated fair, and this means that all students receive the same attention. However, Lavoie states that "there is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of individuals", which makes complete sense and also relates back to what I discussed in the beginning of this blog post. As a teacher it is your job to make sure that ALL of you students are being successful, so if you are providing them with all the same materials and attention, how does the kids that actually do require more attention benefit at all? If those students require more assistance... shouldn't they be granted more help!? Definitely some thought provoking questions for sure! The last two things that Lavoie mentioned in this part of the film deals with 'disabled kids' and their inability to visualize specific things, and finally kids with Attention Deficit Disorder. So until today, I didn't know that kids with disabilities are unable to visualize certain things. For example, when I'm cleaning my car, I am able to visualize what my car looks like clean, so I will continue to clean until my car matches the car in my visualization. However kids with disabilities are not able to picture that clean car, clean room, or an event that happened in the past, and this is why they struggle so much in retracing their steps. Lastly kids with ADD seem to act out a lot in class, and Lavoie taught me today that this is because these kids need to be constantly stimulated, and when they are not... they act out so that they can become re-stimulated! Ah, yes makes perfect sense now! So all my questions about kids and learning disabilities have been answered now, and I know everything there is to know now! Right!?.... Ah, not even close - Now I just a million more questions buzzing around in my head because, with all this new information I now feel even more uneasy about inclusive education. Well, good thing I still have quite a few more classes left :)

Fortunately, Rob did provide us with two good hints to use with these students to help them focus better in class. So when these are reading, it is important that they stop after each paragraph and essentially summarize what has happened so far since they struggle to comprehend large amounts of information and they put all their effort into reading the words, rather than actually understanding what they are reading. Secondly, it's a good idea to provide kids, especially those kids with ADD, something to play with on their desk like a plastic slinky or something. This way, they stay stimulated, and find it easier to focus, and they don't feel it necessary to distract the students around them. Two hints that I feel well benefit me huge in my future career (yay!), thanks Rob!

And this also concludes this blog entry, I hope you enjoyed.