By Candice Smith, Assistant Principal for the Division of Special Education in Los Angeles
Culture & Equity Project Blog
As I walked around the classroom, I noticed a certain level of calmness. I saw co-teaching happening in this 1st
grade classroom and students actively engaged. The teacher called on “Sara” to talk about what she liked most in the story they read together as a class. Her friends tentatively sat and waited for her response. Her friend “Justin” held her hand and said “Sara, what did you like?” Sara waited and responded “I liked the pictures!” Sara’s response time took a little longer than some of her other friends but no one seemed to care.
Sara has spina bifida as well as blindness in one eye. She sits in a special seat in her classroom and needs adult assistance most of the day. Her 1st grade class was a welcoming, patient, and most of all a normal classroom environment and looked no different than any other classroom on campus. I wondered as I continued my tour of the school, how do teachers and staff prepare for such diverse learners? Did the other children always embrace Sara or students much like her? Why don’t all classrooms look like this?
