When you watch a student with special needs with friends around, going on her own to the cafeteria, you feel good.
I think the biggest thing that we’ve done, other than integretion, is to make teachers aware of the fact that all children are not learning at grade level, and that they have to teach them at their level and have them meet with success at that level. A lot ofchildren are having their needs met, [who] before would have just been pushed along or ignored. Teachers are addressing the whole situation differently.
What we’re really talking about is just good teaching practice anyway. We’re not neally saying anything new to teachers. It’s just making them re-think and look at what they’ve been doing all along. I think there’s a tendency now for teachers to see every child as an individual rather than have a mass of thirty kids. I think in a few years teachers won’t be as reluctant to have multi-level instruction in the classroom as now. Everybody doesn’t have to be learning the same material at the same time.
CONCLUSION
It is clear that the recruitment and selection of appropriate candidates is essential for the M&R teacher concept to work. Special education training would be a benefit, but regular classroom teaching experience is an essential prerequisite. Teachers with successful teaching experience bring a background and measure of credibility to the position that can’t be taught. Ongoing training is necessary and teachers who have the potential should be recruited and encouraged to switch to the M&R teacher role.
