Melissa Shortridge Week 6 COLLAPSE My own attitude has changed from lack of understanding to enlightenment over the years. In elementary school I never experienced students with disabilities in my classrooms, growing up. But as the years went on and legislation changed students with disabilities started trickling into general education classrooms. They were always ignored by other students and often times had an aide to assist them with assignments.  As an adult my heart has opened up to accept all types of people. In the Pennhurst documentary, it was reiterated, they are just people (Baldini, 1968). Which is my outlook on how to treat everyone. Every single person is a human being, treat them the way you wish to be treated. Everyone no matter their race, disability or socio-economic status deserves to be treated humanely.   As an educator I have worked with several different types of students. Students from low socio-economic areas, behavioral issues, vision impairments, hearing impairments, with autism, hyper activity and down syndrome, and with all of these students I have given them my best effort to show them that they are students first. Slavin and Schunk (2017) said it best, “Each student has many characteristics, and the disability is only one of them. To define the child in terms of the disability does him or her an injustice” (p. 235). It is our role as an educator to incorporate different learning styles to give each student, regardless of disabilities, the education that they deserve.  Welcoming students with disabilities into my classroom will be an important aspect in my role as an educator. Allowing each student to feel love and acceptance by peers is important for any students success. Van Brummelen (2009) states, “ It is important to appreciate students with special needs for who they are. Always look beyond their disabilities and teach them as whole persons” (p. 208). Being an advocate for my students with learning disabilities will garner them respect and dignity that they need to be self sufficient.  In the Pennhurst documentary, the children did not have complete proper advocacy from the people that worked with them. They were simply shuffled along and not given the proper education and care that they needed to be self-sufficient (Baldini, 1968).  “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4, New International Version). It is our Godly duty to defend individuals who can not defend themselves. In His eyes we are all created equal and in that we all deserve equal treatment and opportunities. References  Baldini, B. (1968). Suffer the Little Children: Pennhurst Pennsylvania State Home for Disabled Children [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://youtu.be/YG33HvIKOgQ Slavin, R.E., & Schunk D.H. (2017). Learning Theories: EDUC 500 (1st ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson. Van Brummelen, H. (2009). Walking wit.

1. Melissa Shortridge
Week 6
COLLAPSE
My own attitude has changed from lack of understanding to
enlightenment over the years. In elementary school I never
experienced students with disabilities in my classrooms,
growing up. But as the years went on and legislation changed
students with disabilities started trickling into general education
classrooms. They were always ignored by other students and
often times had an aide to assist them with assignments. As an
adult my heart has opened up to accept all types of people. In
the Pennhurst documentary, it was reiterated, they are just
people (Baldini, 1968). Which is my outlook on how to treat
everyone. Every single person is a human being, treat them the
way you wish to be treated. Everyone no matter their race,
disability or socio-economic status deserves to be treated
humanely.
As an educator I have worked with several different types of
students. Students from low socio-economic areas, behavioral
issues, vision impairments, hearing impairments, with autism,
hyper activity and down syndrome, and with all of these
students I have given them my best effort to show them that
they are students first. Slavin and Schunk (2017) said it best,
“Each student has many characteristics, and the disability is
only one of them. To define the child in terms of the disability
does him or her an injustice” (p. 235). It is our role as an
educator to incorporate different learning styles to give each
student, regardless of disabilities, the education that they
deserve.

2. Welcoming students with disabilities into my classroom will be
an important aspect in my role as an educator. Allowing each
student to feel love and acceptance by peers is important for any
students success. Van Brummelen (2009) states, “ It is
important to appreciate students with special needs for who they
are. Always look beyond their disabilities and teach them as
whole persons” (p. 208). Being an advocate for my students
with learning disabilities will garner them respect and dignity
that they need to be self sufficient. In the Pennhurst
documentary, the children did not have complete proper
advocacy from the people that worked with them. They were
simply shuffled along and not given the proper education and
care that they needed to be self-sufficient (Baldini, 1968).
“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the
poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver
them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4, New
International Version). It is our Godly duty to defend
individuals who can not defend themselves. In His eyes we are
all created equal and in that we all deserve equal treatment and
opportunities.
References
Baldini, B. (1968). Suffer the Little Children: Pennhurst
Pennsylvania State Home for Disabled Children [Video file].
Retrieved from
https://youtu.be/YG33HvIKOgQ
Slavin, R.E., & Schunk D.H. (2017). Learning Theories: EDUC
500 (1st ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Van Brummelen, H. (2009). Walking with God in the classroom:
Christian approaches to learning and teaching (3rd ed.)
Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design.