tours

Hello Friends,
Yesterday I went with a friend of mine on a city tour of Spokane (um…). My friend is a tour guide and is being trained along with two other people to be professional tour guides for the city. On this particular run-through of the tour, the trainees were supposed to bring two people to act as an audience and I had the privelige of tagging along.

On our way to meet the bus, I asked out of curiosity if, at any time in her training she and her classmates had been given any instruction as to how to facilitate individuals with disabilities on tour. They had not.

As it turns out, the only audience consisted of myself, one other adult and two children. One tour guide took her turn at the microphone for her portion of the tour and, in an attempt to make things interactive for the kids said there’s this tower,” (blab la bla) “Now, I want the first person who sees the tower to put their hand on their head. Well, almost everyone, someone is obviously excluded so we won’t worry about her…” Wow, I’ve lived for 20 years with humanity’s lack of respect for diversity etc. Somehow, though, this bothered me more than I expected.

These are tour guides in training. A tour guide can make or break a vacation experience for an entire family (or more). So, to take a proactive approach, I was wondering if anyone has stories or suggestions about tours and individuals with disabilities. What have your experiences been? What could have made it better? Was it a walking or a bus tour? I would like to combine any information received in to a hand-out for my friend and so that she may distribute the ideas to her colleagues. And, in case you’re looking for a career change, there is obviously a serious need for actual training on facilitating people with disabilities in this field.

Thank you all very much.
-Jess

(Cross-posted everywhere found even slightly relevant)
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Special Education Book

I worked in special education for about two years. Intially, I thought it could have been my calling, because I related so well to the special education kids and it felt so right.

Then I became very disilussione with the whole school system. I even wrote a book about it. I give this book out for FREE (in PDF format for now), so if you are interested in reading a book length expose about education in general and special education in particular, kindly provide me with your email address.

(no subject)

I am wondering....how many of you have a teacher's pet and what makes them your favorite? How are they treated by other students? I am a special education middle school teacher in an urban setting. I would love your feedback because I don't know if I have one!! Looking forward to any answers!

HS Language Arts ....Unit ideas?

OK, so I just began my final student teaching placement on Monday. I'm teaching 9-12th graders in LD Resource, but also will be teaching a Language Arts class. I will be doing a Unit for this...it only needs to be 10 days long, but can be longer (as I'll be at the placement for 7 weeks).

My cooperating teacher loves to incorporate technology into their LA...which I think is great! The students are currently doing PowerPoints on their favorite band/music group, and another on a culture of their choice. THEN COMES MINE. I was thinking of having them to make their own "newspapers" and use MS Publisher along with it. Either that, or starting a book/novel (Elie Wiesel's Night, perhaps?) and making a graphic organizer, and then doing research on the Holocaust/Holocaust survivors on a PowerPoint.

I tried the internet but there is SOOO much and most require a lot of reading; some of my students have issues with comprehension. Which I also thought about doing a Unit on.

I don't know.

Anyone do any LA Units for High School? I'd appreciate any ideas you may have.

Anyone else in an Alternative setting?

I'm currently student teaching in a self-contained 8th grade room in an alternative school. The kids obviously all have behavior/socio-emotional issues, in addition to such dignoses as bi-polar and ADHD.

Things were going OK for the past few weeks - I realize change is difficult, and they're trying to test me, but it really wasn't all that bad. Until TODAY. Oh.my.God. From the moment they walked in until the last period, they were seriously out of control in terms of disrespectful comments towards me, cussing at me, and blatently disregarding the rules. 4 of the 6 students present today had to be removed multiple times to the "Time Out" room. That hasn't been characteristic of them at ALL - usually one, maybe two students will have a bad day, but not like THIS. Normally my cooperating teacher tries to leave the room while I teach so as not to be the authoritative figure and influence their behavior, but she came back many many times today. Needless to say their behaviors didn't change.

Absolute chaos. I had barely any control all day long...and...crap, it's NEVER been this bad.

I seriously almost lost it today, a few times. I was sooo frustrated, on the verge of tears; but I knew if they saw me cry they'd have known they'd won, and I'd NEVER regain any ounce of control again. I still have 4 more weeks at this placement.

At the beginning it was soo hard to form relationships with the students; some even refused to work. Over time that's improved, and some of the students who expressed dislike for me and the changing roles in the classroom have warmed up to me considerably. Others, whom I thought I had "gotten through to" seem to be digressing. I'm not trying to take it personally, because I know I can't. It's just frustrating; I want them to succeed.

Ahhhh, OK, </endrant>. Any feedback would be appreciated!
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Help!

Hello!
My name is Dana. I am an undergraduate student majoring in Special Education. I am currently taking a class examining early intervention. We are required to interview a early intervention specialists and a family member of a child in special education.
I have already interviewed a family member, and now need to interview a early interventionalists.
This paper is due on Thursday, yes I am waiting till the last minute. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to be interviewed. We could do this via the internet chat, email etc. or I can call you.
Whatever is best for you!
I would really really appreciate this!!
Thank you!
simply reply to this email with your email address or aim name etc. and I will get back to you asap!