Creating a Culture of Empathy for People With Disabilities
Help me give my students a deeper understanding of Autism by donating a class set of the book Rules by Cynthia Lord.
$245 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
My Students
My amazing school is a Title I school located in Brooklyn, NY. My school is an outlier in our district due to it's poor socioeconomic status. Unlike the other schools in the district our school budget is always tight. I frequently run out of supplies like copy paper, printer ink and pencils. Some of these items, such as printer ink and high interest books are expenses that are paid for by classroom teachers. Our parents aren't able to provide donations to the school PTA like many of the other schools in our district.
The majority of my students are first generation immigrants hailing from such locations as Bangladesh, Mexico, Ukraine, Yemen and China.
Our school is a cultural melting pot where over 15 different languages are spoken! Since we are a Title I school, most students receive free breakfast and lunch. Although we don't get many donations from our parents, our PTA has managed to offer fantastic after school clubs and art opportunities to our students, and they have figured out ways to extend our budget so that many students can participate in these programs free of charge.
My Project
Being a special education teacher has given me the opportunity to work with students with a range of disabilities. My school believes in CTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) classrooms where a mixture of general education and special education students are being taught by a general education and special education teacher working together.
Because of this amazing community of diverse learners we are always working on deepening our understanding and empathy for everyone we encounter.
Our students ask many questions about disabilities and many of our students have yet to understand that they may have a disability. This would allow for us to discuss these topics with more comfort and ease. Additionally, we will even be forced to think about multiple perspectives.
I would like to bring more books about characters who are reflective of our environment into my students' hands. These are fantastic books that my students would benefit from reading.
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