Backyard Songs

How often have we, as parents of special needs kids, found ourselves in the position of trying to convince our children’s teachers, counselors, principals, coaches that just because our kids may have some differences, that does not make them deficient?

The answer: All the time!

Recently Jeremiah Wright gave a speech at the NAACP dealing with this very issue. Bill Wolff on his site “Composing Spaces” provide excerpts from the speech and an excellent analysis of it. Check out his posting ” Different doesn’t mean deficient”.

I found this discussion extremely validating.

Check out this National Geographic  video/story “Balding Penguin Gets wetsuit”.

It’s about a penguin who is lost his back feathers and was fitted with a wet suit so that he could swim with the other penguins. Apparently, when penguins lose their feathers, they get ostracized and picked on by the other penguins. Maybe this is a stretch. . . but isn’t he a lucky penguin to have such caring humans who worked hard to come up with a creative solution that enables this penguin to be accepted by his peers?

The Courier Post reports that the New Jersey High School Redesign Steering Committe is recommending that New Jersey school districts provide all students with access to college prep courses in an article entitled “Upgrade high school standards, panel says”. According to the article these changes will be taking place beginning with the incoming freshmen in the 2008-2009 school year.

Last Saturday was one of those days when no matter what else you NEED to do, you absolutely HAVE to get out of the house and explore. My son immediately suggested that we head to the shore. With gas prices the way they are, the thought to running down to the shore for the day didn’t seem all that appealing.

“I got it! How about if we go to Red Bank Battlefield in National Park? That’s not that far - and wait till you see all the planes that come in over the river! How ’bout that?” My son, once again, had come up with a great idea for exploring. “Sounds great! Let’s do it!” I was happy about the thought of staying local, and it would be good to get out in the sun and hang out by the river for a couple of hours.

Red Bank Battlefield is located in National Park, New Jersey along the bank of the Delaware River - and, as my son pointed out, right below the Girard Point Bridge and the Shipyard. We walked down the stairs to the river, and walked along the bank. It was a gorgeous day. From the river bank, we could see boats and barge and airplanes coming in with the City of Philadelphia in the background. We walked up long stairs to the monuments to fallen Revolutionary soldiers, talked about cannons and battles, and finally decided it was time to leave.

As we are getting in the car, my son says, “You know, Mom, we’re not that far from the shore. We could just go right down Route 45 to 55 and we can get to the shore easy from HERE.” At that point, I realized that I’d probably been had, but what the heck, it’s a beautiful day, we’re already out in the car, might as well enjoy the ride.

With my son as navigator, we made out way to Route 45 through Mullica Hill, New Jersey. Since we used to live there, we enjoyed rememisicing about out time there as we drove through town. Unfortunately, I missed the turn to Route 322 (which would have taken us to Route 55), but I thought that this may have been a lucky break and If things worked out my way, we could avoid the trip to the shore.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea! How about if we drive through Woodstown and check out our old swim club?” (My plan: Ride through historic Woodstown, check out the Chestnut Run Swim Club, and head home.) As we got in the car, after seing the swim club, my son smiled, “You KNOW, Mom, we’re not THAT far from the shore. This road will take us to Route 49 in Salem County, and from there we can get to the shore. . . . Wanna go?”

At this point, I gave up and decided to just enjoy the ride. Route 45 continues straight through Woodstown and meanders through the farms and country roads of Salem County full of tractors, irrigation systems, horses and cows. We kept passing farm after farm and started to think that maybe we were lost. My son kept assuring me, “No. . . Mom. . . we’re going to catch Route 49 up ahead. . you’ll see!” You’d think I’d know by now not to doubt my son when it comes to directions. He’s ALWAYS right when it comes to directions. That’s one of the things that makes traveling with him fun!

Route 49 took us through Hopewell, Bridgeton and into Millville. And what did we find in Millville, but the Millville City Airport , America’s First Defense Airport. Of course, we HAD to check that out. The size of this particular city airport impressed me. Even though the airport only serves private planes and corporate jets, the runway seemed large enough to accommodate larger planes - AND there was the museum, The Millville Army Airfield Museum The museum there is great, especially for World War II buffs! It has a fine collection of World War II artifacts - and you can see them up close!

It was hard to leave the airport, but we continued on to the shore. Following a sign that said alternate route to Sea Isle City, Taking an alternate from Route 49, we wound up in the townn of Woodbine. Woodbine also has an airport, but it was getting late and since we have a one-airport-a-day rule, we decided to save the exploration of the Woodbine airport for another day.

So we wound our way through Woodbine, connected with Route 9, made a left on Sea Isle Boulevard and into Sea Isle City. It took us about 4 hours to get there, but the sights along the way were definitely worth the time!

The Holiday Inn on King is right down the street from  the Rogers Center (former Skydome) and the CN Tower.

By staying there we were easily able to walk to the Rogers Center where took in a Blue Jays game and toured the stadium.  My son wasn’t especially interested in the CN Tower and instead insisted that we see some of the city’s other attractions. My son  was especialy interested in checking out the Toronto City Airport.

One of the cool things about the Toronto City airport is that you check in with your ticket at a gate that leads you to a ferry that takes you to the airplanes. My son was disappointed that we couldn’t take the ferry because we didn’t have a ticket, but his mood brightened when he looked out onto the water and saw two ferries taking people to Toronto Island. That, he decided, would be our next destination.

We started to walk from the Airport to the Ferry along the waterfront, but it was a long walk, and there was no continuous waterfront walkway from the Airport to the Ferry so we decided to go by cab.  The cab dropped us right at the ferry. The ferry ride to  Toronto Island Park gave us a chance to view the planes taking off and landing at the airport as well as the opening of the roof at the Rogers Center from the water. The island itself was awesome! It  has beautiful pathways with benches along with water,  amusements for kids, a lovely garden,  a beach,  snack stands, and my son’s favorite - a view of the airport.  We loved it so much, we visited it it twice. 

Autism. . . Say the word and you immediately get attention. And rightly so!

Those of us with children on the autistic spectrum know the physical, social, emotional, and academic problems that our children must face. In my search for therapies and cures to help my child, I know that a therapy that works great for one child will fail for another. . . so even when I find a helpful treatment,  I keep looking for others.

The place where I usually look for information is the web. For the past 8 years, I’ve constantly viewed website after website as I try to make sure that I have provided the best therapies I can for my child. Sometimes I’m disappointed. Like the time about 7 years ago when I found information on the web about Sensory Integration Therapy. My son desperately needed that, but 7 years ago Sensory Intergration therapy was considered experimental. My insurance company wouldn’t pay for it and I didn’t have the money to pay for it myself so my son couldn’t get it then.  Two years ago, I looked into the therapy again. This time I was pleasantly surprised to find out that S.I. was no longer considered experimental. With our doctor’s prescription in hand, we went to a therapist and  my son got his therapy. It has helped him tremendously, but I can’t help but wonder how much better off he would be now if we could have had the treatment sooner.

It’s frustrating to look for answers on the web only to find possible therapies that are unaffordable.  A few days ago, I was reading the Autism section of CNN’s website “Impact on the World” .

There are a number of very inspiring stories on that site. But at the bottom of the the list,there is a link to something called “HALO”. The acronym spells “Helping Autism through Learning and Outreach”. I went to their site and clicked on the “About” . This non-profit organization provides one-on-one educational instruction for students with autism. Soma Mukhopadhyay came up with a technique for teaching her severely autistic son all kinds of things and the technique is reported to be very successful. There is also information about what Mrs. MuKhopadhyay was able to do for her son, and her commitment to helping others. I was looking through the site for the techniques that she used, but all I could find was a reference to her trademarked Rapid Prompting technique. I also couldn’t find any immediate information about cost

By looking further into the site, I was able to find that  a Rapid Prompting Instructional Summer Camp is available at the cost of $370 for 2 days, 3 days $545, and 4 days $720 plus and additional $50 a day for a professional observation plus a $25 observation fee. But there is not mention of how much the one-on-one instruction at the clinic would cost. Maybe it would be covered by insurance, but maybe not. the site doesn’t say.

It’s probably a wonderful therapy, but without the money to investigate further, it’s hard to find out.

After a very lively, and at times, heated discussion of Martin Kevorkian’s book Color Monitors in our Writing for Electronic Communities class, I still can’t shake the opinion that his book is not fully thought out, stretched its examples, and appears to me to be racist in its claim that there is a problem with placing African-American males in positions where they use their brains rather than their brawn. My professor was equally adamant that the book was not racist at all and was based on solid theory developed as part of the Race and Gender studies program at Cornell University.

Since we are at an impasse on this subject, I thought I’d check around to see what others in academia might have to say about this book. Mr. Kevorkian hasn’t been around that long. Since he only completed his doctoral studies a few years ago so a “google” search didn’t bring up much. However, I did find the book reviewed at the Resource Center for Cyberculture

by two scholars Cristina Lopez and Paul Khalil Saucier. Mr. Kevorkian also wrote his own response to the reviews which might be helpful in trying to understand his motivation in writing the book. Mr. Kevorkian addresses both reviewer in his response. First, Ms. Lopez and then Mr. Saucier, but it was the section that he threw in at the end that caught my eye. I have copied it here and set it forth below:

“Most notably, these scholars enact the spirit of what Saucier calls the “promising note” on which Color Monitors ends. Brown and Wolff are exemplary cultural workers, here situated in the academic humanities — too often a bastion of cyberphobia — engaged creatively with technology. Whatever ambitions we academics may have for our cultural critiques, it can’t hurt to take stock of attitudes within the academy and our home disciplines. While composing Color Monitors, I was energized by work in progress by Jeff Howard, a fellow literary scholar whose meditations on techne and logos are now a forthcoming book entitled Quests: Theory, History, and Pedagogy (an overview of his project’s contribution appears in Digital Humanities Quarterly for Spring 2007; those first two words of that journal’s name are music to my ears). And I continue to be inspired by thinkers like Wolff and Brown, in their technology-centered work on “composing spaces” and on what Brown felicitously terms “hospitable texts.” And on that note: thanks, RCCS, for the hospitality.Works Cited:Brown, Jim. (2007). “Hospitable Texts.” Confessions of a Graduate Student.Howard, Jeff. (2007). “Interpretative Quests in Theory and Pedagogy.” Digital Humanities Quarterly.Wolfe, Cary. “Faux Posthumanism: The Discourse of Species and the Neocolonial Project in Michael Crichton’s Congo.” Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory. University of Chicago Press: 2003. Wolff, Bill. (2007). Composing Spaces. Martin Kevorkian <mkevorkian@mail.utexas.edu>”

“But I just don’t think that she’s “honors material”!

“He may be smart but he’s not motivated enough to qualify for “honors”

“Only a select few should be in “honors courses! Those courses shouldn’t be available to everyone! Only the cream of the crop should be able to take those courses. “

These comments can be heard in faculty rooms all around the country when teachers talk about which students should be allowed take upper level courses and which should not. Since it is recommendation time at my school, I’ve heard a lot of these comments lately.

My response usually goes like this:: “But this is America, not China! We do not have the right to decide what career path a student will take or which courses students will be allowed to study. The parents of our students pay a lot of money in taxes for their kids’ education! Students should be able to take any course they want. Since when did we become a society that closes doors to students instead of opening them. “

My colleagues usually don’t try to argue with me on this. They’ve learned that my mind won’t be changed when it comes to issues of children’s rights. Instead they usually roll their eyes, give me that “There you go again” look, and change the subject.

So. . . . . what’s the purpose of Honors courses anyway? I’ve never understood why they are even necessary. I’ve heard the argument that those students who are brighter, or who APPEAR brighter, should be challenged more and should be required to do more work, and that as result, their grades should be weighted higher than those students who merely take College Prep courses.

This sounds like a wonderful idea until you take into account the fact that Honors, and A.P. courses, for that matter, are not available to everyone. In fact, large numbers of capable students are engineered out of these courses by teachers from the previous years who refuse to encourage students to stretch themselves. As a result, an academic elite club is created in which certain students are in and others are out - and others can never get in because they found out about the elite class too late to join.

In some districts, like mine, it is possible for students to take upper level courses with a teacher recommendation or if a parent contacts the guidance office and insists. But other districts fix their sights heavily on prior grades and standardized test scores as qualifiers. Those students who make it through the gate, get the prize of more interesting courses, better field trips, higher GPA’s, and admittance to four year colleges, including the Ivy League. Those not permitted through the gate miss those opportunities and wind up ranked behind their more fortunate peers in the race for college spots. I’m sorry. I just don’t think that public high school course selection should be set up in such a discriminatory manner.

You would think that American parents would be up in arms about this, but they don’t seem to be. A society which prides itself on inclusion and opportunity, and which refuses to except discrimination in so many places, continues to allow students to be tracked and excluded from educational opportunities solely on the basis of test scores or a teacher’s opinion - and no one complains! I just don’t get it!

I can think of a number of reasons why this whole system could be scrapped, but since that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, I’d be interested in hearing what can be done to make the current system more fair - and how to give parents the information necessary to make sure that their children get a fair shot at all of the educational opportunities available, including Honors and A.P. courses.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do with these students. They are failing! They just refuse to do the work!”

” This student does great on the tests, but has not turned in any homework so instead of getting an A, he’s getting a D. If he would just do the homework, he’d pass.”

Whenever I talk to my colleagues about student achievement or progress, the conversation usually reverts to comments like these. The assigning of homework is viewed by a large number of educators as essential to student learning - and teachers who give little or no homework are usually viewed by their colleagues as too easy.

Over the weekend, I had another one of these continuing conversations with one of my colleagues. I found myself saying the same things: “What’s the purpose the homework?” “Maybe the students don’t understand it?” “Maybe it’s too much in one night?” “Maybe it’s just not relevant?” “Broken record” syndrome was setting in so I decided to see if there was anyone other than me who felt that homework might not be all that’s it’s cracked up to be. Last year, The Center for Public Education did an article on the Value of Homework. While the article does not say that homework should be eliminated, the article does provide what I feel is a balanced view of homework.

Anytime I assign homework, I always ask myself what the purpose of the assignment is, and then I communicate that purpose to my students. If I can’t articulate a good reason for it, if the assignment doesn’t extend the lesson that I’m teaching, if it isn’t going to provide an easily identifiable benefit, I don’t assign it. As a a result, some days, my students have homework; some days, they don’t. By doing it this way, I’ve found that, unlike my colleagues who complain that students don’t do the homework and are failing, most of my students do mine, and they are passing! - but I still have questions about the whole issue.

So. . . parents, teachers, students, anyone in between. . .  . . does homework have any value? or is it just a waste of time? Inquiring minds want to know.

Every parent of a kid whose been bullied, and every parent of a bully needs to take a look at this story:

Parents sue son’s bully, threaten school district.

The teenager in this story has been a victim of constant bullying since he was 12 years old. This is a parent’s nightmare! It shouldn’t happen to anyone! The reality is, though, that every day, during and after the school, children are being picked on and bullied by their classmates in a cycle of intimidation and violence that seems to have no end. Everyone knows that bullying is wrong, but that knowledge doesn’t stop kids from bullying other kids. Parents of victims spend a lot of time and energy to call the schools, write the schools, call police, talk to the parents of bullies, all the while living with the constant fear and anxiety that goes with sending a child to school knowing that the child will not have a peaceful day.

Billy Wolfe’s parents are taking the steps that some parents can only dream about. In addition to considering filing a lawsuit against the school district, Billy Wolfe’s parents are suing the bullies themselves. That means that the parents of the bullies are going to have to hire lawyers to defend their children and themselves against these lawsuits. Maybe if parents of bullies have to spend their hard-earned money on defense attorneys for their poorly behaved kids, they will do what they should have done in the first place - teach their children that bullying behaviors are not OK.