Desks

The blog that we read called "Choices, choices, choices" really got me thinking about how I want to set up my classroom. As a future teacher, I have often thought about what my classroom might look like. I know that I don’t want my students to sit by themselves in isolated rows while I stand up in the front of the classroom and talk at them for an hour or so. So what should I do? Push the desks together so that they can sit in groups? Form a circle of desks so that everyone can see and discuss with everyone else? Should I assign seats or let my students decide for themselves where they would like to sit? There are benefits and drawbacks to all of these options.

One thing that I worry about in letting students pick their own desks or groups to be in is the ones who get left out. As Paley noted in her book it is always the same kids over and over who are told that they can’t be in the group. Another thing that worries me, since I am looking at working within the middle schools, is that this will only reinforce the cliques that begin to really establish themselves during adolescent years. Students will continually choose to sit with the same people and never get to know or work with anyone else. We already have this in school- it is called lunch. One of our jobs, as teachers, is to help our students prepare for the “real” world. Well, in the “real” world they will have to work with other people that may not be their best friends. In fact they may even truly dislike the people they are working with, but they will still have to do it, and do it in a professional manner. If we are trying to teach our students of what to expect after they finish school, then we should be providing an example of it within school.

I do want to give my students choices though. So how can I do this without completely dictating where I want each of them to sit? Maybe some established rules like: you can’t sit with the same person or group twice or you can pick one person you want to be with and then I will choose the rest of the group? Maybe I can decide some group projects and let the students choose their group members for other projects? Or I could take Paley’s example and discuss it with the entire classroom to see how they would like to work together. It is an interesting question, and one I do not have the answer to yet.

Including children with disabilities

Another idea that really struck me during our studies of classroom inclusion was the idea of including children with severe disabilities in the regular classroom. I had never thought that it was appropriate before. I know that there is a very wide range of students classified to have learning disabilities so it is hard to draw the line between what constitutes 'severe' and what not and I don't want to be insensitive, but in my own experience, children with severe disabilities never do well when placed in a regular classroom. I find it difficult sometimes, when working at the schools, to work with children with these types of disabilities. I am not quite sure how to act around them or what is appropriate to try and teach them. Since I am a substitute and they don’t know me very well, they are usually uncomfortable around me and I am equally uncomfortable. I am not against having students with disabilities in the classroom, I just have never seen it successfully done before.


The article “Holding Nyla” was, to me, a beautiful story about how including children with disabilities in the classroom is possible. Kissinger had some fears about Nyla in the classroom as well but instead of staying afraid of interacting with her, she decided to do the complete opposite and include her in every aspect of their classroom activities. She states afterwards, “As soon as I changed my behavior and began a relationship with Nyla, the other children began to see her as a classmate. I have never had a clearer lesson about the power of the teacher as a role model.” (Kissinger, p. 26) Very powerful indeed! Because Nyla was in their classroom, these kids got to interact with someone who was different than them. They came to understand Nyla’s condition and the equipment she needed to use and more importantly they got to know Nyla as a classmate and not simply as a girl with disabilities. My only issue with this though, is that this is a preschool setting. I am wondering how this might work out in elementary school, especially as you start to get into the higher grades. Just wondering if anybody has any other thoughts on this or examples that they can share where this type of classroom inclusion worked well.

Gay and Lesbian Inclusion

When I read “A Mother Speaks Out” in Rethinking Our Classrooms I almost cried.  Obviously we need to raise awareness about gay and lesbian issues to our students just as we need to raise cultural awareness and racial understanding.  I know that this can be a tricky subject, but I think if we teach it in the same context as how we might teach about other religions or holidays (we teach and provide information to educate but we don’t participate in religious activities or celebrate holidays in a classroom setting) then it is possible. I am curious to know what anybody else has to say on this issue. Thoughts? Ideas?

You can't say you can't play

I have just finished reading Vivian Gussin Paley's book "You Can't Say You Can't Play". Although it was a fairly easy read, I struggled in the beginning to get the point. Throughout the entire first half of the book Paley seems to be agonizing over whether or not to implement a new rule: You can't say you can't play. She brings it up to her class and they discuss it often. She also goes into the 1st-5th grade classes to see how those children react to the rule. Many are opposed to it, but Paley is tired of seeing the same students, over and over, never let into games or play with others. As I said before, I didn't really understand the point of it at first. Why was Paley dragging out these conversations with her students? Why was she putting all this energy into interviewing others? Why not just make the new rule and see if it worked?

As we sat in class on Wednesday, discussing the first half of the book I began to realize why Paley hadn't just told her students that they could no longer say you can't play. By turning it into a question that the whole class explored, the students started to see how hurtful simply excluding someone could be. All the children knew what it felt like to be left out and as stories from each of them came out, Paley started drawing more students to her new rule. The class had to go through this process and examine all of the consequences, good and bad, to this new rule before it could ever be put into place. Once they understood why the rule was in place, they would be more likely to follow it.

Others in our class mentioned that they currently have this rule or a similar rule and that it doesn't work in their schools. I think the difference between Paley's class and these other classes though, is the process by which the rule came into existence. Nobody probably bothered to explain or discuss the reasons for this rule with the students at these other schools. Furthermore, there isn't really any way to enforce this rule, and students know this. Paley never offered up any consequences for not following the new rule either and yet the children continued to follow it. Again, I think because the whole class was involved in the process of examining the rule, they understood why it was in place and that it was in their best interest to follow it. They weren't forced to, they wanted to. What a clever way to get your students to start caring and thinking about how their actions affect others!

Poverty and Education

This last week's readings and discussion really had me focused on the issues of poverty and education. I thought the Donna Beagle reading was very eye-opening and informative about what is really going on for parents and children that deal with homelessness and poverty. One of her very first points  was that "the prevailing view is that education is there if you want it and you can get a good job if you work hard." I used to believe that myself. I now know that this is not always the case. For people in extreme poverty, they are worried about basic survival. Education is not in their realm of primary needs and something they simply cannot think about until those things are met. Children often go to school just so that they can eat or be in a warm place, not because they realize that education will help them in the long run. As teachers, it is our job to keep an eye out for these children. If we pay attention and ask questions and get to know our students we can find out who in our classrooms might be coming from this type of background. Once we know, we can then find ways to help. This might be by directing them to agencies in that area that work with the poor, by emphasizing the importance of education to them, or even just be a constant source of comfort and encouragment in their unstable world. We have to get below the surface level of our students, though, to really find out who is dealing with what.

This reading also inspired me to look into my local community to see what options there were for the homeless, as I really had no idea where I could direct someone who needed a place to sleep and food to eat. I found several places that looked to have very good programs that not only help people who are homeless by providing them with food, clothing, and shelter, but also help them to get health issues taken care of, job training, education, or even affordable housing. These programs are essential to helping people get out of poverty and stay out of poverty. As Beagle points out, the government is not all that helpful in funding projects to support the homeless, and so it is up to non-profits like the few I came accross to do so. In turn, that makes it up to us, the community, to support these non-profits because without donations and volunteers they cannot continue to exist. I would encourage all of you reading this to look into your own community for ways in which you might help out. I know that time and money are things that we all feel we lack extra of, but often it doesn't require much to help someone with so little.