Recently during a staff meeting, Katy and I heard the best news. Our new principal (happiest damn woman in the world), had us go around the circle and say something positive that happened at school today.
*Quick Note: Katy and I have been practicing Buddy Class for three years now. Our students who were first apart of Buddy Class are now 5th graders!!*
The 4th-5th grade Special Day Classroom (SDC) teacher 👩🏫 started talking about PE, she mainstreams with the 5th grade classrooms. They were playing kickball. Right when Joey (one of my former students) got up to kick, the pitcher got a little closer to him and slowed down his pitch. After Joey kicked the ball, the other students took a little more time to get the ball so Joey can get the proud feeling of successfully making it to first base.
No teacher prompted the students to do this and no one was that surprised that it even happened. These students have been mainstreaming, reverse mainstreaming, and including each other for the last 3 years. They didn't think twice about including every student. However, I definitely teared up a little after hearing this story. Buddy Class is forming friendships, teaching empathy, and community building.
The word INCLUSION can sound scary to most GE teachers, but look at what we are able to do! We are able to teach students how to be good, kind-hearted people! The golden rule shines through!!
-Proud teacher
