Alone in a Crowd
Philosophy
Q: Is the regular classroom always the best place for students with special needs? Why or why not?
After reading this case study, my heart hurts for Darlene, her teachers and her peers. I can’t help but feel empathy for all parties—what a tricky situation. In all of my past schools, there was a classroom specifically for students with special needs abilities. The students that attended these classrooms were still in our regular classroom, but when we had to do work or assignments, they went to their special classroom. I was always an inquisitive little girl and I remember watching these students and trying to figure out what made them different from me. I later realized that these students also struggled with sensory overload and struggled to control their anger and emotions. From my personal experience, I believe it is essential for children with special needs to be placed in a standard classroom instead of being isolated to their own classroom because it is important to embrace diversity. These particular students have so much to offer to other students and so much learning takes place in the classroom; students are always learning new things from each other. If we isolate them to a different classroom away from the other abled-bodied students, I believe they miss fundamental learning. I think that giving students with special needs a choice of working in private or in the classroom setting is helpful for them, their education and their agency. Therefore, I fully believe that students with special needs should be in a regular classroom, but precautions must be in place. In my experience, when my classmate had an outburst, we all knew to grab our art book or silent reading book and head directly to the library and the teacher will stay behind and work with that student privately.
From this case study reading, I learned how important faculty meetings can be. This teacher was meeting with other faculty members to discuss Darlene’s outburst from previously that day. He was able to discuss with others what had happened. This opens up the floor to discussion and choice of action ideas. This is beneficial because the teacher is able to hear other perspectives on how to deal with these tricky situations that he might not have thought of on his own.
Brave New World
Sociology
Q: How might social media both enhance and disrupt relationships inside and outside of the classroom?
After reading this case study, I can understand why some of the staff members favour banning social media from schools and classrooms because it is so easy to complicate situations or outcomes. Still, I think social media can be very beneficial if integrated into the school correctly. In my past experiences, social media is more-so helpful in enhancing learning, but it can easily be disruptive if not used properly. For example, in group projects, social media makes coming together and planning much more manageable. Group chats always work nicely for group projects because everyone can message and converse with each other in the same chat, and it minimizes the chance of information not being passed on. However, the drawback of this is miscommunication. It is so easy for people to read into messages and understand the message, not how the sender intended, and it can create group conflict.
In one of my past assignments, I needed to survey people and collect first-hand data. I used the poll option on my Instagram story to gain information from my followers and used those statistics in my paper. This is an example of how social media enhanced my learning. Still, on the contrary, if social media is abused in the classroom, unfortunately, the negatives tend to outweigh the positives. In my experience, if another student beside me is using their devices for recreational use during class time, such as scrolling through social media, shopping, messaging etc, it can be very distracting for me and take my attention away from the class. This is an example of how social media can have a negative effect rather than a positive effect in the classroom. Ultimately, I believe more positives are involved with integrating social media into the classroom, but it is essential for the teacher to patrol the class’s social media use and ensure it is used correctly.
From this case study reading, I gained a new perspective on how useful social media can be used but how it can also be used for bad. It’s terrifying that others can do horrific acts such as bombings but have it live broadcasted through social media for their benefit, it’s sickening. On the contrary, this case study raised some excellent points on how it can be used for good. It opened my perspective on good vs evil in terms of social media.