I found a site for teaching strategies for students with Down Syndrome. It has a lot of info about the condition itself, and has many of the same ideas presented in Kliewer's article. It was nice to skim over it and notice many similarities with what we had already discussed and read about!

Talking Points # 8 - Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

by Christopher Kliewer

The author argues that all children can learn and be a part of the community, but only when they are seen as the people they are, and not their disability, and are then accepted into that community. This requires the listener to actually pay attention to what the child says he or she needs, and also to acknowledge that the reciprocity is important as well.

• "Success in life requires an ability to form relationships with others who make up the web of community."

In order to be successful, we must be able to communicate with others, regardless of the job we hold. Children who are segregated from non-disabled students will have trouble forming any relationship with them. School is an institution that is designed to not only educate students, but also to prepare them for life, and segregation is in no way doing that for them.

• "So what if you don't fit exactly what you're supposed to? You know, it's not like I fit many people's idea of what a teacher's supposed to be like," Shayne Robbins had said of her students.

When children seem to fall short when measured against high expectations, these students are labeled disabled. Shayne had not thought of her students' idiosyncrasies as an unfortunate result of their genetic defect, rather, she recognizes it as "natural human diversity," Teachers should recognize the individual values of students instead of simply concentrating on the obstacles they may face.

• "To eliminate a single person through any form of banishment, no matter how benevolent the logic, reduces the web and makes the community a less democratic and less rich place."

Class membership views diversity to be the norm and views all children as equals. Community is made up of a "web" of all individuals who constantly change and develop, but all interact and benefit from the relationships that result with communication and acceptance. Community is only reached when all human beings are accepted, regardless of status or disability.

This was a good read. I really enjoyed reading about the individual students and their experiences in the classroom and the community. But it made me sad when Shayne Robbins was describing her experience with the transition committee regarding Anne's work site. She had wanted to work with movies, and not children, but they were all but insisting upon it. What really stopped me in my tracks while reading was when she had stated that they thought the movie store job was unrealistic for her, that it was above her ability level. A movie rental store? And they wanted her to teach children? "Here they have her educating America's future, but they're scared to let her work at a movie place," Shayne had said. People just don't think sometimes!

A major point that I will take away from this is that teachers must learn to look past the label of Down Syndrome, and other disabilities, and look at the student him/herself. Only then will the condition shrink back down to size and his/her true light will be able to shine through, and the student will be seen and appreciated by others. "Only then will we find ourselves able to see and receive the variety and richness of possible gifts." (Van der Klift and Kunc)

Talking Points #7 - "One More River to Cross" -- Recognixing the Real Injury in Brown: A Prerequisite to Shaping New Remedies

by Charles Lawrence

The author argues that the Brown decision blinded many Americans from the existence of racism in our country. The only way to remedy the situation, is by first, recognizing this fact; only then can we begin to make this ruling as effective as it should have been decades ago.

• "The mere placement of black and white children in the same school does not remove the brand imprinted by years of segregation."

Because the physical separation was never the cause of the harm inflicted upon black school children, integrating whites with blacks would not be the solution. Due to the fact that it was the label of inferiority experienced by black students that was the major source of hurt and discomfort, a solution cannot be found without the removal of the label.

• "Once it is understood that segregation functions as a systemic labeling device, it should be clear that any state action that results in the maintenance of the segregated system is a direct and proximate cause of the injuries suffered by black children in segregated schools and is in violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment."

Not only is segregation in the schools a violation to this amendment, but zoning practices and segregated housing as well. While experiencing this discrimination, blacks are being labeled, "not fit to live with," and "not fit to go to school with," but they are all ways of blatantly labeling blacks as inferior.

• "The injury inflicted by a segregated school system is inseparable from the injury inflicted by segregated housing or public accommodations because each reinforces the other and because the removal of one will not heal the injury without the removal of the others."

It is the segregation within the school system that initiates the feeling of inferiority among black students, but there is more. They also feel it when they realize that they can only live in certain parts of town or can only use one bathroom or sit in the "colored" train car in public. All of these individual acts help to make black children feel inferior, and so all must be remedied in order to reverse the affect.

Schooling, for the most part, is preparation for a child's future, a means for teaching a child how to be a successful and active participant in society. But segregation was a means for labeling a black child, or person, as inferior, therefore denying them access to equal opportunities in society. Because of the inadequate education they received, as well as the poor cultural backgrounds they experienced due to housing segregation, their ability to be a successful and contributing member of society is limited, therefore, living up to the feeling, and the label, of inferiority. However, to integrate schools, to raise more funds or to change the curriculum is not enough. Those with the power of privilege raise and prepare their own children to assume similar roles of power in society. However, black students will always be perceived as being "less qualified" until there are more black teachers preparing them, and until some of the positions the students are being prepared for are filled with black people.

This article was a bit tedious for me to read, but it was filled with some interesting points and I am glad that I read it. I really liked a quote toward the end of the article and thought that it helped to sum up some of Lawrence's thoughts.

• "It will not be enough that we are more articulate and imaginative in our pleadings and prayers for relief. The oppressor's understanding of his oppression is limited by self-interest, and ultimately we must find ways to make our oppression operate against the self-interest of those in power."

Talking Points # 6 - Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route

by Jeanne Oakes

The author argues that tracking in our schools, which groups low-ability students together and high-ability students together, may be helping the latter group, but does little for low-ability students, therefore, an alternative to tracking needs to be implemented.

• "Since so much of importance was omitted from the curriculum, students in the low-ability classes were likely to have little contact with the knowledge and skills that would allow them to move into higher classes or to be successful if they got there."

Low-track students receive less quality instruction and very little is expected of them by their teachers. They are often expected to simply memorize and repeat information, without being challenged. More class time is often spent on discipline than on instruction. They are viewed as being "less-able" and are given fewer opportunities to learn, therefore, few students improve.

• "The achievement gaps we observe among students of differing abilities are exacerbated by the failure of classrooms to provide all students with the time, opportunities, and resources they need to learn."

High-ability students seem to have more resources available to them, and more often, they have more attentive and more enthusiastic teachers than low-ability students. This contributes to the inevitable cycle: those students who need more help seem to get less, those who are more independent and self-sufficient, have an abundance resources at their disposal.

• "To be successful, heterogeneous classrooms probably need to lean toward placing students more in charge of their own evaluation--checking their own understanding and asking for and providing feedback."

When evaluating their students, teachers should ask "What did she learn?" instead of "How did she compare with others?" The teacher should compare the knowledge of the student before and after instruction, grades should then be based on the student's overall improvement, rather than how she compares with her classmates.

Although tracking seems to work for the high-ability students, providing them with resources, attentive teachers, and a more challenging curriculum, this practice leaves the average and low-ability students behind in the dust. It often labels these low-track students as "less able" and therefore, they are not given the instruction or the resources they need to succeed. Tracking is both a reaction to the differences between high and low-ability students and a contribution to them, therefore an alternative to tracking is needed. Students cannot simply be mixed up, they need to be taught how to work well with groups. The type of knowledge they are expected to learn needs to change, and student evaluations should be implemented. But one more thing is crucial: unless educators believe in the abilities of their students to learn, they will most likely be unsuccessful in creating an environment in which the students themselves believe in their ability, and are willing to devote the effort needed to succeed.