This diary started as a comment at the Teacher's Lounge thread and grew so long I decided to make it my first diary at Daily Kos. We have a lot of teachers here, and I have great love and respect for teachers, because I know it's a job I could never do.
My question, and it's a long one, starts like this:
I have an 11 year old boy who is in special ed -- these days known by the PC name of 'resource classes.' He's in a good middle school now within USD 501 in Topeka KS.
He spent elementary school pretty much isolated from the mainstream classrooms, but as he progressed, by fifth grade he was going into mainstream classes for Math and English instruction, then coming back into his regular classroom for extra help.
In middle school he's been mainstreamed even more, but does have Math, Science, Reading and Language Arts in resource classrooms with teachers trained in special ed. His Math/Science teacher actually has a master's degree in special ed.
Anyway, the boy has problems transitioning. Beginnings of the school year are always problematic. He also has a very, very difficult time functioning in large classes, say, of more than 25 students. The teachers who teach his mainstream classes have very carefully seated him at the front of the class, and placed students around him who are not likely to pester him or distract him or get him upset. He is succeeding in this setting.
However, I found out yesterday that the high schools in my school district have NO resource classes. 501 is moving away from separating the special needs students in any way, and they get little help. I know I'm jumping the gun worrying about this, as we have two and a half years before he gets to high school and many things can change -- starting with changing superintendents, which I'd really like to see. I'll keep my fingers crossed for that, as I know he's interviewing for jobs out of state.
My question to teachers really is, what school model do you think is most beneficial for students and special needs kids? I've had administrators within my school district say that in an ideal world, every student would have an IEP and that would be the measure of progress.
My mom, a former teacher, thinks there was more than met the eye when it came to those old one-room schoolhouses. She thinks that's a good model, but it's probably not realistic to think we'd ever go back to it.
I've heard a school district attorney wonder aloud how it happens that energetic, excited kindergartener turns into an apathetic, failing high schooler in the span of 10 years. This same person has called our school model an assembly line model and acknowledges that our systems need big changes.
So my question to teachers is, and if there are any administrators here, in an ideal world, what is your dream model for public schools? How would you handle special needs kids like my son, and the gifted kids who need more challenge? What about the regular student who doesn't need extra help but still needs to be challenged? How do you keep high schoolers invested in and excited about their education? What do we do next? Our world is changing and the way we teach kids should change too.