CURRENT ISSUE REPORT #4
Foundations II
By: Chana Raitzik
I
chose the article : “Reading and Writing and Special Attention in Queens” by
Jennifer Medina in the New York Times. I
was amazed when I read that Public
School 87 in Middle Village, Queens -- where about 20 percent of the children
are considered special education students -- has earned a reputation for
successfully integrating students with disabilities into mainstream classes.
It is almost impossible to pick out the special needs students in the classroom
from an observer standpoint, since they are all thriving!
This school uses a wide array of
activities and teaching methods to engage children with an equally wide array of
learning abilities. And it has trained its teachers on how to observe children
to determine what methods each student will respond to best.
If there is one lesson to be learned from P.S.
87, it is how much work and money are needed to create a successful special
education program. Using funds available for special education and private
grants, the school has been able to offer dozens of extra activities, from
computer learning programs to music, sports, ballroom dancing and even yoga.
Classes are kept small -- about 22 students in each -- and nearly all have at
least one full-time instructional aide. Teachers attend countless seminars, and
many complete 40-hour training programs to work with special education
students. The school spends an average of $17,341 per student each year,
compared with a citywide average of $10,049.
Unfortunately in too many other
districts there is a gross segregation of children who have been wrongly
identified as disabled while not being provided with equal opportunity and
learning possibilities.
In Ms. Murphy’s classroom during
reading, Ms. Murphy and instructional
aides work with groups of eight students, those with disabilities mixed in
according to their reading levels. All the students write predictions for the
end of stories they read and use sentences to practice vocabulary. Once their
basic lesson for the day is completed, they are encouraged to work with
computers on their own or listen to books on tape in the reading center. The
more ways they can read, the theory goes, the better their skills become.
The teachers ensure that the
students connect to their learning whether it’s via dancing, choreography, singing,
video or acting! These teachers can do this since they have spent hours
training to reach ALL children in their classroom.
Mrs. Brody, who plans to retire this year, is
always hunting for new technology to add to her ''artillery of innovation,''
which includes a computer lab with 50 iMacs, a room full of keyboards and a
science program that uses Legos to teach physics. How wonderful it would
be if all our teachers and educators would have the same passion and idealism
as the teachers in this school!
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