My project has really been flying by! For the last three weeks, I’ve been working at Stephen Gaynor School, and in the next three weeks, I’ll be moving to the first grade at LREI. In the Pink Cluster at Stephen Gaynor, everything pretty much went exactly how I’d planned it in terms of logistics and scheduling, but my personal reactions and behavior in that setting were very different. At the beginning of my time there, I was much quieter and more reserved, really only interacting with the students on an individual basis, not as a whole class. If I had really thought about it deeply, I’m sure I could have predicted this, but I was really going in assuming that I would jump right in and feel natural and comfortable in that environment. As the weeks went on, I definitely became much more comfortable, and by the end, I was fully involved in the classroom experience, interacting with the entire classroom unit. It was definitely an adjustment, but it really ended up working out.
In addition to not feeling immediately at home at Stephen Gaynor, I was also surprised by the number of questions I had about really small details of the classroom experience and environment. Probably the most overarching question is about equity in special education schools. Stephen Gaynor is a private school, and out of twelve students in the class I was working in, only one was a student of color, and out of all of the teachers I met, only one was a person of color. I’m not sure how financial aid works at Stephen Gaynor, but the tuition is extremely high. I’ve done some research about students of color in special education, and there are a lot of different things that come up, from being under-represented in classrooms because it’s harder for many to get a diagnosis, to being over-represented in classrooms (especially in public schools) because new teachers aren’t always sure what to do with students of color with behavioral issues. That was a huge question for me about Stephen Gaynor, but I also had much smaller ones about teaching in general, like why do students need to write letters in specific ways (i.e. starting an i from the top)? I’m there’s a reason for this, but it’s just not something that I’ve ever really thought about in-depth. Other questions came up for me about special education in general, like do students need diagnoses to enroll in special education schools like Stephen Gaynor?
My goals have definitely shifted slightly throughout this project. Initially, it was to learn as much as I can about being in an educational environment and to compare special education to traditional/progressive education. These goals are definitely still present, but I’ve also started thinking much more about how I behave in classrooms, what my natural habits and inclinations are, and how I can improve to be a more well-rounded person. This is going to be especially important for me to think about next week and going forward at LREI, because I know I’ll want to sink back into older patterns and routines when I’m in an environment I’m more comfortable in.
Overall, I’m so happy with how my project is going, and I can’t wait to start at LREI!
A drawing one student made of me:
A list of board members of one student’s company, Tomorrow:
