Disabilities: Understanding and Educating

Teaching Team:

Grade Levels:

11^th Graders, English Resource Room Special Needs

Academic Focus/

Core Curriculum Standards:

Respect for all members of society

Leadership/Becoming Role Models

Empathy and Compassion

Students in an English resource room class will be adopting students in a class at Bankbridge Regional School (for disabled children) in hopes of educating them about a pillar of character education. Students at GCIT will write letters to their adopted students to introduce themselves and their project. In the meantime, GCIT students will be researching and writing a paper on a specific handicap to develop understanding and empathy. The project will culminate in students writing a fable that focuses on a pillar of character education and reading said fables to their adopted classroom.

Target Audience:

Students at GCIT were assigned a disability to begin researching during the week of November 26^th. Bankbridge will be contacted in early December so that a classroom can be adopted. A preliminary visit to Bankbridge will be made so that Ms. Morse’s students can meet their adopted students. In this visit, Ms. Morse’s students will have an opportunity to interview the middle school students and get a better idea of who they will be working with. The project will culminate with a visit to Bankbridge at the end of January during which fables will be presented.

Students will work during the English III Resource Room which meets Monday – Friday from 9:30 – 10:50.

The Arts (Visual and Performing): Students will be creating fable books to be presented to middle school students. 

Language Arts Literacy: Students will be researching a specific disability and putting together a research paper. They will also be presenting a fable to middle school students. 

Science: Students will need to understand the physiological explanations for the disabilities they are studying

Technology: Students will conduct a large portion of their research using computers. In addition, they will be typing research papers.

Consumer, Family, & Life Skills: Students will be communicating what they have learned to younger students. Also, they will be teaching young children about some of the pillars of character education. Through their research on disabilities, Ms. Morse’s students will become more familiar with important values such as compassion, respect, and community assistance.

Hurdles Encountered:

Hurdles: Finding a date/time that GCIT students can travel to Bankbridge Elementary.

Solution:  Keeping open lines of communication with partner classroom and exercising as much flexibility as possible.

Performance-based Education: Students will be creating, organizing, and implementing an activity based on a subject that is extremely important for middle school students.

Cooperative Learning: Students will be working together not only in doing research but also in coming up with creative ways to put together their fables.

Interdisciplinary Approach: Students will combine skills in the arts, language arts literacy, science, technology, and life skills. 

Students will become more aware of the causes and effects of disabilities. They will also become more empathetic and attuned to the needs of others. On top of that, students will fulfill leadership roles in their community. 

Celebration: Presentation of fable books to elementary students.

Recognition: Press release to local paper and appreciation from middle school teachers.

Community Involvement: The staff at Bankbridge Elementary School will be heavily involved in scheduling and reserving classroom hours for GCIT students.

Parents will be informed about the partnership between the two schools and welcome to attend the final meeting during which fables will be presented.

Students will compose a reflection article that focuses on what they learned over the course of the project. In addition, the fable they create will allow them to reflect upon what they have learned about character education and the ways in which they will be having a positive impact on the students at Bankbridge.

Students will be graded on the four aspects (intro letters to elementary students, interviews, research papers, fable books) of the project and on their final reflection paper.