The purpose of this assignment is for you to examine disability in the context of public schools.

The purpose of this assignment is for you to examine disability in the context of public schools. More specifically this assignment asks you to consider what constitutes equitable and inclusive educational opportunities for children and youth labeled with disabilities/disabled children and youth. 

This assignment address the follow two learning objectives for the course:

1) Critically examine normative assumptions about physical, intellectual, and social ability in educational and social contexts.

2) Link conceptualizations of disability in schools and society to issues related to social change and equitable access to opportunity.

Prompt:

Jasmine Lavine (2010) in her piece, Some Thoughts form a “Minority” Mother on Overrepresentation in Special Education asserts, “Special education becomes a stumbling block in [these] student’s lives” (p. 3). Using the course readings on disability in the context of schools, craft an argument that analyzes  Lavine’s statement. Your response should consider how schools structure educational and social opportunity for all students.

Link: https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/dots/da…

Paper Writing Equivalent: Using Metaphor, Art, and Mixed Media

There is a tendency in schooling to focus on traditional tools rather than contemporary ones. This tendency has several liabilities: 1) it does not prepare learners for their future; 2) it limits the range of content and teaching methods that can be implemented; 3) it restricts learners ability to express knowledge about content (assessment); and, most importantly, 4) it constricts the kinds of learners who can be successful. Current media tools provide a more flexible and accessible toolkit with which learners can more successfully take part in their learning and articulate what they know. Unless a lesson is focused on learning to use a specific tool (e.g., learning to draw with a compass), curricula should allow many alternatives. Like any craftsman, learners should learn to use tools that are an optimal match between their abilities and the demands of the task (CAST, UDL Guidelines, Expression & Communication, 2020).

In alignment with UDL, I am providing you with the following option(s) for written expression in all assignments for the quarter. The following guidelines are provided and are based on the scholarship of teaching and learning from Vanderbilt University (2020).

Construction and Composition of Assignments

Reflect on the assigned concept, text, media, focusing on what you consider to be the most significant components and the prompts provided.

Think of way to represent how you make sense of the concept, text, and or media. This may include any form of expression you choose. For example, create a metaphor, art piece, digital recording, photographic representation, poetry, etc.

Clarity and depth are important.

Provide an explication of your creative work that interprets it for others, clearly explaining your work and all of its details, with specific attention to how it captures the significant components of the concept, text, and media in the assignment.