Sheena: Waiting for Superman

I was deeply moved after seeing the new documentary “Waiting for Superman.” The end of the film brought me to tears and I couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair and unequal our education system is, especially as minorities and children in poverty continue to fall behind their more proficient peers. How is it that a world leader like the United States is consistently outperformed by the educational achievement of other developed countries?

The film did not mention special education at all and I was left wondering how these radical, forward-thinking dream schools, like the KIPP School, engage and educate students with disabilities. Do these schools use co-teaching? How do they set the same high expectations for all students? How can I get a job with Geoffrey Canada to help make a difference?

Last week, I wrote about acceptance and the process of learning what is within and beyond my realm of control. The documentary highlighted so many problems with the public school system that seem beyond this realm of my control—after all, I am just one body within a highly structured bureaucratic system.

With these roadblocks etched in my mind, I then had an IEP meeting that changed my outlook. We met to discuss a draft Behavioral Intervention Plan for a student with perplexing and seemingly unpredictable disruptive behaviors. But after our school social worker shared some of his struggles at home, I was struck with an intense sense of purpose.

Amidst all the systemic giants that can stand in the way of a youth’s education, I realized that I could make one significant difference. I could be a support system for this child. I could give him positive feedback and expose him to possibilities beyond his daily reality. I could believe in him until he believed in himself.

When I saw this student the next day, I thought of Debbie Silver’s words, “I am a teacher.” And I changed those words to “I am a believer”—a believer in the potential of these children, who need to know that they are gifted and talented and that they can be whatever their hearts desire.

We had a career fair this week and I wanted all of my students to see my slideshow presentation on the Peace Corps. I especially wanted my student with the BIP to see pictures and videos of my travels in Africa. I wanted to expose him to a world that he can access if he applies himself. This is what I want for all of my students: exposure to the world of possibilities that lies beyond the limits of their neighborhoods and communities.

We can actively mentor youth with disabilities . . . even if the system isn’t ready for the radical notion of equality that idealistic special educators would like to implement through active and meaningful teaching partnerships in co-taught classrooms . . . even if content teachers are resistant to letting go of that control over their classes . . . even if we must resign to accepting the readiness of colleagues (or lack thereof). We can mentor them through our presence and the sharing of our experiences and personal gifts and talents.

As soon as I get some time, I’d like to host an after-school event for students to view my slides, research college programs of study, and explore internship opportunities available through community partnerships with our local high schools. I must remind myself that I am an optimist and a believer, and that mentoring is just as important, if not more important, than teaching. 

So tell me: What did you think of "Waiting for Superman"?

Comments

[Skakena]

Sheena, like other people who commented, I have the same questions about the movie regarding students with special needs. I think it was a moving movie overall and really open my eyes to thinking about my students as people of the future. It's true that we have these unique structures in our hands and can mold them. But, I did see some issues not covered in this movie which I also found to be interesting. Thanks for talking about the other half of this movie.

[C. from San Francisco State University]

I would like to commend and second commenter "Pearl": charter schools can block students with IEPs from their settings, and have on average proportionally far fewer students with IEPs than regular public schools.

Sheena, get in touch with your local teachers union for more information. Also, I recommend you visit www.t4sj.org to learn about how you can implement social justice in your own school, and collaborate with a group of dedicated and passionate educators--Teachers for Social Justice. There is a lot of misinformation out there parading itself as meaningful data--ie Waiting for Superman. As educators of both tomorrow's leaders and incarcerated populations*, we owe it to our students and ourselves as teacher-intellectuals to be critical consumers of both mainstream and alternative media.

*Researchers in California hypothesize that anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3s of our incarcerated population in the U.S. has a learning disability (diagnosed or otherwise). Talk about idealistic special educators? We may be the crucial stopgap in the poverty-to-prison pipeline for many of our students.

[Dana]

I saw the movie as well and I had the same questions about the "success story schools". Do they have special needs students. Out of the stats used in the movie how much of them included students with IEPs. How many dropouts are special needs students? If you are counting stats that show one area of the district has 40% foster care youth.. it would be likely that many of those children are receiving or in need of special services. I would like to see more information on how they collected their stats.

[Endersdragon]

Sadly, many of these schools either don't allow special needs kids in, or "counsel them out" after they get in. I am extremely familiar with a school in Utah that is a charter especcially for those with Asperger's (but they take other kids in as well, generally those with special needs), called Spectrum Charter Academy I believe (you will find it if you look it up). They seem to be doing extremely great work and just expanded to fill a high school as well.

Sadly, it seems that one of the biggest problems they have is that they get the same amount for each of their students that the average student in the area gets. No problem, except for the fact that their students aren't "average" and need far more attention. You can't have a classroom with 30 Asperger's kid in it for example, not to mention a classroom with 15 AS kids, 10 ADHD kids, and 5 ASD kids. It just doesn't work. Therefore, the teachers and paras there basically make nothing, and they can't do a lot of special programs they would like to do. There definately needs to be some reform there.

[Pearl]

Hello Sheena,
I saw the movie and it left some important pieces out such as:no teachers points of view, no mention of special education, did not highlight the great work going on in some public schools, did not highlight the teachers and paras that go beyond the call of duty to make a difference in the students and families lives, no input from the parents, did not focus on lack of parent involvement in many public schools. Mr Canada is not the spoke person for the education system world wide and charter schools are not the magic answer to a system that needs reforming. I could go on and on because there are many things that have contributed to an education system in need of repair.